Book Image

Augmented Reality Game Development

By : Micheal Lanham
Book Image

Augmented Reality Game Development

By: Micheal Lanham

Overview of this book

The heyday of location-based augmented reality games is upon us. They have been around for a few years, but the release of Pokémon Go was a gamechanger that catalyzed the market and led to a massive surge in demand. Now is the time for novice and experienced developers alike to turn their good ideas into augmented reality (AR) mobile games and meet this demand! If you are keen to develop virtual reality games with the latest Unity 5 toolkit, then this is the book for you. The genre of location-based AR games introduces a new platform and technical challenges, but this book will help simplify those challenges and show how to maximize your game audience. This book will take you on a journey through building a location-based AR game that addresses the core technical concepts: GIS fundamentals, mobile device GPS, mapping, map textures in Unity, mobile device camera, camera textures in Unity, accessing location-based services, and other useful Unity tips. The technical material also discusses what is necessary for further development to create a multiplayer version of the game. At the end, you will be presented with troubleshooting techniques in case you get into trouble and need a little help.

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Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Augmented Reality Game Development
Augmented Reality Game Development
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Customer Feedback
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Getting Started
Getting Started
Real-world adventure games
Getting into mobile development with Unity
Getting started with Unity
Summary
2
Mapping the Player's Location
Mapping the Player's Location
GIS fundamentals
GPS fundamentals
Summary
3
Making the Avatar
Making the Avatar
Importing standard Unity assets
Summary
4
Spawning the Catch
Spawning the Catch
Creating a new monster service
Checking for monsters
Summary
5
Catching the Prey in AR
Catching the Prey in AR
Scene management
Introducing the Game Manager
Loading a scene
Updating touch input
Colliders and rigidbody physics
Building the AR Catch scene
Using the camera as our scene backdrop
Adding the catching ball
Throwing the ball
Checking for collisions
Particle effects for feedback
Catching the monster
Summary
6
Storing the Catch
Storing the Catch
Inventory system
Saving the game state
Setting up services
Reviewing code
Monster CRUD operations
Updating the Catch scene
Creating the Inventory scene
Adding the menu buttons
Bringing the game together
Mobile development woes
Summary
7
Creating the AR World
Creating the AR World
Getting back to the map
The Singleton
Introducing the Google Places API
Using JSON
Setting up the Google Places API service
Creating the markers
Summary
8
Interacting with an AR World
Interacting with an AR World
The Places scene
Google Street View as a backdrop
Slideshow with the Google Places API photos
Adding UI interaction for selling
The game mechanics of selling
Updating the database
Connecting the pieces
Summary
9
Finishing the Game
Finishing the Game
Outstanding development tasks
Missing development skills
Cleaning up assets
Releasing the game
Problems with location-based games
Location-based multiplayer game
Firebase as a multiplayer platform
Other location-based game ideas
The future of the genre
Summary
10
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Console window
Compiler errors and warnings
Debugging
Remote debugging
Advanced debugging
Logging
CUDLR
Unity Analytics
Issues and solutions by chapter
Summary

Problems with location-based games

Location-based games are a relatively new genre in games brought on by the prolific use of GPS in mobile devices. In many ways, this genre is still cutting edge and developers are still finding their way with what works with players. Let's take a look at the main problems with location-based games and what options you may or may not have getting around them:

  • GIS mapping services: Likely at the core of your game will be the requirement to display location on a map. The following is a list of options for how you could perform that:
  • Use your own GIS servers: While this is an option and there are a few good open source GIS platforms out there, be aware that you will still need to support the servers and GIS platforms are notoriously CPU hungry.
  • Use Google Static Maps: This is the option we used in this book with good success. However, be aware that using the Google Maps Static API is subject to limitations. The limitation is 2,500 requests per day per IP address...
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