castAR (Augmented Reality) gaming support

rjshae

Periapt vs Paronomasia
RPGWatch Donor
Joined
March 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
The castAR Kickstarter is to fund a lightweight, 3D Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality headset. They describe it as follows:

"castAR is a projected augmented reality system that displays holographic-like 3D projections right in front of you. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope sparked our imaginations of what might be possible in the future by showing R2-D2 and Chewbacca playing a holographic 3D chess-style game. It has taken nearly 35 years since the film was released for this technological dream to come to reality, but with castAR, that reality can be yours."

The relevant part for us is that it is intended to support tabletop gaming. The $600,000 stretch goal reads:

"Due to the popularity of the tabletop gaming portion of our Kickstarter video, if we raise $600K, we would like to create a fully functional dungeon tiling tool for use with both the RFID Tracking Grid and the Magic Wand independently. (For example, imagine a GM with local players using the RFID Tracking Grid with RFID Bases on miniatures, and a remote player without a Grid using the Magic Wand to specify positioning within the shared game world. This will be the topic for a future development video, so if you have specific questions about the implementation or usage, please ask and we will address them.) This tool will come with a default set of wall, floor, and obstacle tiles for immediate use, but will also allow for the inclusion of custom player-created tile sets as well."

It looks potentially very cool and they appear to have the technology already working. In some respects it is reminiscent of Oculus Rift, except less bulky and with a wider range of application. Hopefully they don't run into the same hardware issues.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
Erm... But I want it to support TheWitcher gaming. Or DeusEx gaming. And of course Gothic gaming.
Any hope for me?
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
Erm… But I want it to support TheWitcher gaming. Or DeusEx gaming. And of course Gothic gaming.
Any hope for me?

The games themselves would first need to be modified to provide stereoscopic imaging feeds from the GUI, then they would need to interface with the appropriate drivers. Implementation would depend on market demand, which at this point probably isn't going to come from the waning 3D HDTV technology. Possibly if AR/VR technology finds a market that will sustain it, the technology will continue to improve and at some point it may be enhanced to work with top flight video games.

I'm not sure what the resolution is with the castAR, so it's hard to say how good an image you'd get.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
Erm… But I want it to support TheWitcher gaming. Or DeusEx gaming. And of course Gothic gaming.
Any hope for me?

you just want them to implement it so you can complain about this kind of gaming and tell the world repeatedly you would never buy it.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
5,212
Location
The Uncanny Valley
They just passed the $600,000 stretch goal for the customized dungeon tile mapper.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
I had seen this earlier, but the pitch video turned me off. So superficial of me. ;)

Cool tech, without a doubt. I'd like to see it go into production!
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2008
Messages
15,679
Location
Studio City, CA
The KS is nearing the end and they are just $44k away from the one million dollar mark. Their newly announced stretch goals if they reach it:

  • MP Zombie Game: the experiment that started it all, remade in full multiplayer glory under Unity.
  • Stylish Clam Shell: protect your castAR glasses with this case
  • Plugin for Maya: you’ll be able to view your creations in Maya with castAR
  • RFID Synth Factory: use RFID cards to create and play the synth
  • Haptics: feel the rumble of the Magic Wand
  • Pew Pew Eyes: you can turn the projectors into glowing eyes of various colors indicating your mood towards other people
  • Ambient Light Sensor: the projectors will brighten or darken accordingly to ambient room lighting conditions to keep the image perfect

Gotta like the Pew Pew Eyes... :)
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
Well they made their $1 million goal and the Kickstarter is obviously a big success. I hope they do well with their product.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
Back
Top Bottom