Yoofz – iOS app
For this experimental app for iPhone and iPad I set out to explore one of the key pillars of good Mixed Reality design, that you make good use of the user’s real world context.
Half-virtual pets
We have had virtual pets for some time now, I worked on EyePet for PS3 for Sony London studio back in 2008. I was thinking it would be interesting to explore the idea of characters that exist half in the real world, and half in the virtual one.
Face-Pareidolia?
Pareidolia (Pa-Ray-Dolia) is what happens when our brains make things of interest out of random objects, like the famous Rorschach ink blot test.
Face-pareidolia is when we see faces that are not really there.
A Mixed Reality
I thought it would be cool to make an app that allowed you to play with the face-pareidolia effect. In my app, Yoofz, you look around your environment for anything you think looks character-ish. Yoofz generates only the eyes, leaving all other features to our perception.
NEW! LiDAR sensor
The app works with any iPhone Pro or iPad pro. Since 2020 all pro iPhones and iPads have had onboard LiDAR scanners onboard. These LiDAR scanners sense the world in 3D, which is super helpful when we are doing Augmented Reality. The Yoofz app wouldn’t be possible without this component.
The app-less future
In 2024 and beyond, Meta and Apple are expected to shift their strategy away from ‘apps’ and towards something more like ‘layers’ that you add to your reality. Meta are calling these “Augments”. Augments are persistent digital objects in your environment, and they are due for release in 2024
Pet “Augments”
You might have a weather forecast layer floating next to the kettle in the kitchen, and have a TV screen with the big game on floating above the dishwasher. Perhaps a virtual pet would wander the worktop, providing a companion whilst you get your kitchen chores done.
Ambient Mixed Reality
Back in 2021 when I made the app, it was a bit ahead of it’s time really, not quite all the full pieces of the puzzle were in place, Apple’s Vision Pro still 3 years away.
But it was exactly this ‘augments’ vision that I wanted to prototype.
Currently people use their XR headsets very actively, they put the headset on, and focus on a single app at a time. In the future as content is more layered like it is in the real world, then XR content will become more of an ambient, background part of our environments.
In these conditions, I expect the market for virtual pets will grow significantly, I’m sure Meta are busily preparing a augments shop that works something like how you buy a skin on Fortnite.