I chose to prototype the design because this project is a Mobile application, and a big part of this project is the user interface. This is because if the user is dissatisfied with the visual look and feel of the application it may reduce their interest. A great quote from Eric Ries is “Design is the new basis of competition”. Furthermore, I intend to ensure that the aesthetics/visuals accurately represent the tone of the project. Having a comprehensive user interface will also give an insight into how the application works and as famously quoted by Steve jobs “The design is not just what it looks like and feels like. The design is how it works”.

Other Examples

After researching the User interface principles, I started looking at multiple examples of already existing AR mobile Game User interfaces. The First Game I analyzed was Pokemon Go this is because I have already used this Game and thoroughly enjoyed my experience. Pokemon Go's User interface is easy to navigate with and has a great beginner tutorial for when you first Launch. The in-Game Map in Pokemon Go isn't visually overwhelming and is quite simple. There are minimal navigational buttons and icons on the screen putting the emphasis on the exploration of the Map. The overall design is simple but hi-def with 3D assets on the map such as the avatar and the various pokemon placed all over the map. I definitely see how the simplicity and high quality of the designs in Pokemon Go are useful. I think these components can be incorporated into the Tourist champion app, Especially the straightforward navigation. I have previously used "Zombies, Run" which Is similar to Pokemon Go but prompts users to Run in intervals, to escape zombies that are chasing them. The obvious benefit to this is that it promotes exercise with the incentive of player progression, in the form of collecting supplies for the survival base. It makes the user feel that they need to collect supplies by venturing out in order to fortify the Base. This Concept is brilliant because it takes something like exercising/walking and makes it fun. I hope to achieve a similar outcome with the Tourist champion app. I would like to infuse exploration and competition with the incentive of world progression (e.g. locations visited and Ar objects collected). The assassins creed Valhalla Map design is highly esteemed for the overall quality and Scale of the Map. The core feature that grabbed my attention is mistifying undiscovered areas in the map to encourage the user to uncover what be found in that location. It shows the user their current progress and that there is still more to be discovered. I would definitely try to incorporate this feature in the tourist championship Map but on a worldwide scale. For the first iteration of the app, it will be a small scale for example Coventry city and expand over time. Another great feature that's in AC Valhalla is the relationship between sound and map design. Different locations have different sounds so for example when you zoom on to the coast you can hear the waves which further immerses the user to the environment.

YouTube Tutorials

When developing the AR prototype, I had a look at a few tutorials on YouTube. Some tutorials were quite advanced for what I was looking for, so I narrowed it down to 2 tutorials. One of them was a basic tutorial that showed me how to set up AR in unity for mobile phones. The other tutorial showed me how the user can interact with the AR Object and place it on a surface. When I first attempted to set up AR in unity with an android, I had a lot of problems getting the phone to run the project. I also had a bunch of errors That stopped me from progressing in the tutorial. After creating a new project in unity four times, I finally managed to fix the errors and launch the project on the phone successfully. I then uploaded a Blender model into the Unity project as a test to see if it would work and it was also successful. I was excited to see that it worked because I will be using Blender to create the AR Objects in the Game.

Workshops

In week 5 for the unity workshops in class; we learned how to make an augmented reality object appear on a poster using Vuforia. This was my first-time using AR in unity and I found this workshop very useful because AR technology is a big part of the Tourist champion app. After finishing the workshop, I thought of a possible way of using posters to trigger the AR objects to appear rather than being in the radius of the Point of interest. This method would be easier but would require me physically placing the posters in these locations and getting permission. This would have to be a plan b method If for some reason I am unable to get the AR object to appear within the radius of the point of interest. Even though the Vuforia method isn’t my first option, learning this method has given me more ideas on how the User can interact with AR.

For this prototype, I made a questionnaire so I can improve the AR objects in the app and come up with more ideas for what objects people want to see in the Game. The results were interesting and it reassured me that I am in the right direction for the AR side of this project. One of the questions was a multiple-choice question to see if the participant could identify the point of interest, based on the AR object shown. I was glad to see that the participants identified the point of interest correctly. This directly meets the aim which was to make an AR object that can be identified by the user. I also asked what should be done to make this experience more immersive. A great response was that I should consider animating the AR objects when the user sees them in the game. I thought that this was a great idea but I know that it will take more time and resources. This could be a possible update in the future as the app gets more downloads.

Qestionare>>>>>https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=mqsYS2U3vkqsfA4NOYr9T1PqMRsdIpVKvSddUeqvPRlUQlJXNjZHT0dDRFBGUkpLMTdPNE1WUkc5WC4u