Back in January, Apple announced an update for their ARKit technology that would allow the software to recognize vertical flat surfaces like walls in addition to the floor recognition that the feature initially launched with. I’m sure there’s all sorts of ways developers can use the new tech, but Wizard Games instantly thought about how cool it would be to have something literally bursting through your walls in AR. They’ve adapted that idea into a defense game called Defend It! which sees you blasting away waves of enemies that smash through the walls in augmented reality and try to take out your special crystal. I’m doing a bad job of explaining it, but the idea is pretty clear in the following video for Defend It!
I was actually shown a very early demo of Defend It! back at GDC last month, and although the demo wasn’t quite polished enough to show off in a hands-on video, it was still really impressive to see. I always loved murals or even tattoos that seemed to show something bursting through from the other side, like a school’s grizzly bear mascot ripping through the wall of the gymnasium from the inside (to steal an example from my own childhood). Defend It! feels like that only brought to life, and I imagine it will be fun to find all the neat places to play this sort of game out in the real world. And honestly, how far off are we from a Kool-Aid Man bursting through our walls in augmented reality? Hopefully not far! No release date has been set for Defend It! other than “soon" but if you want to talk abut this one or ask questions of the developer then head over to the game’s forum thread.
