ARCore, Google’s augmented reality software development kit for Android devices, was recently made available on 13 flagship smartphones – giving over 100 million devices, the company says, the ability to run AR apps. At GDC today, Google highlighted two upcoming apps arriving on the Play Store today, and two arriving in the second half of year.
eBay
eBay is focusing in on sellers by updating its mobile app to include an AR feature that helps you calculate which size shipping container you need for a product. To try it out, you simply head to the ‘Selling’ section on the eBay mobile app and look for the ‘Which box?’ option. You’ll need to find a non-reflective surface, and then move your phone around while pointing where you’ll eventually place the item. Place your item on the surface and try out a number of common box sizes. Who knows, maybe people will use it?
The Walking Dead: Our World
Much like the hit mobile game Pokémon Go, Walking Dead: Our World is a location-based AR game that, instead of hunting cute little pocket monsters, pits you against a world of zombies. The goal of the player is to defend their surroundings by fighting walkers in real-life environments. Walking Dead uses the Google Maps API and ARCore together, in order to build a real-world game with immersive experience that ties to players’ location. The game is currently in pre-registration and the release is planned for Q2 2018.
Google’s ‘Just a Line’ Art App
Google just introduced its new mobile art app Just a Line, which lets you draw in 3D space with a white marker, then record a simple video. Google is also open-sourcing the core code of the Just a Line app so developers can use it as a starting point for their own ARCore projects. Supported phones can download it here.
TendAR
TendAR is a game from Tender Claws that features a virtual fish named Guppy that responds to users’ facial expressions, and survives by “eating” other people’s emotions. The game was created by combining ARCore with the Google Cloud API, which provides computer vision and object recognition. TendAR will be available for download starting in July 2018, Google says.
We have boots on the ground at this year’s GDC. Check back for more AR/VR news this week.