Our newest Augmented Reality project is now live. It’s a Motion Capture based Augmented Reality game we concepted and developed for Nestle called “Nesquik Factory”. “Nesquik Factory” puts people in the role of being a new hire that’s put to work filling Nesquik bottles. To be successful at the job the player must keep the production line flowing by making sure the right flavor of milk goes into the right bottle.

By utilizing our proprietary Motion Capture Augmented Reality Software, “ZugMO”, we are able to turn a standard webcam into an input device that translates a person’s motions in front of the camera into data that casual Flash games can utilize.  And since the software was developed in Flash, not a proprietary platform, players won’t be turned off by a bulky download or the like.  ZugMO enabled us to create an immersive experience for Nestle’s customers by turning their webcam’s video stream into the Nesquik Factory. Now, rather than using a mouse or keyboard to play the game, people are actually in the game itself and using their motions to fill the Nesquik bottles.

“Motion based gaming is already popular, but it’s really poised to explode over the next six months,” said Matt Szymczyk, CEO, Zugara. “The Wii is the fastest selling console in history, and both Sony and Microsoft are launching their entries into the motion based gaming market this year. People will be clamoring for these types of experiences, and with ZugMO, brands can meet that demand by creating incredibly dynamic and engaging online flash games. The great thing about creating online games to engage your audience is that people won’t need to purchase any expensive hardware to play. All they need is what they most likely already have, a computer and a standard webcam.”

“Nesquik Factory” was developed to be a social gaming experience. To help players share the fun with friends and family a “snapshot” is automatically taken at that exact instant they lose. Then, if they choose, players can easily share their snapshot (and their score) on Facebook.

“It was a fantastic experience working with Nestle, and quite frankly they really challenged us to ‘up our game,’” Matt said. “It was incredibly important to them that an actual bottle of Nesquik be recognized by the application to initiate the experience. In the past, this type of execution required that the client put a marker on their packaging, or the consumer downloaded a proprietary plug-in. Neither option was acceptable. As you’ll see when you play the game, we were able to meet this challenge and have the application recognize the iconic Nesquik bottle without a marker or a consumer download.”

Brands and agencies looking to either purchase the ZugMO Software Development Kit (SDK), or couple the SDK with our interactive marketing services like Nestle did can contact us at: info (at) Zugara (dot) com.

ABOUT ZUGARA
Zugara is an employee owned Los Angeles based Augmented Reality Software developer. Founded in 2001 Zugara is the only Augmented Reality Software developer with an expertise in consumer engagement strategy, user experience design, and interactive production. This is because prior to restructuring as an Augmented Reality Software Developer in 2009, Zugara was an interactive marketing agency that created award winning work for Fortune 500 Brands like Reebok, Sony PlayStation, Toyota, Lexus, Casio, Red Bull and the U.S. Air Force.

To play “Nesquik Factory”, click here.

To learn about a motion capture game we created for AT&T, click here.

Copyright 2010 ZugMo Motion Capture Augmented Reality Software

Copyright 2010 Zugara Inc.

Hype Cycle Definition

2008

Note: As you can see below, Augmented Reality was looking at more than 10 years adoption by mainstream…

2009

Note: In one year, Augmented Reality went from more than 10 years to mainstream adoption down to 5-10 years.

2010

Note: AR Continues to climb so expect even more of it in Q4 2010 and all of 2011

Conclusion: AR has been on a unbelievable trajectory and will continue so with mobile and kiosk-based AR sure to capture the imagination of marketers everywhere – especially in 2011.  Throw in Kinect and the adoption of ‘gestural controls’ in the digital living room, and I think you’re going to see much faster mainstream adoption of AR than predicted here.  If you’re sick of hearing of AR already, I think you’re going to need to deal with it because it’s not going away anytime soon…

P.S. The webinar also had another interesting graphic showing a different view of information in the hype cycle.  I personally think AR is transformational but that’s just me Embedded below.

Eyeborg Phase II from eyeborg on Vimeo.