Mobile Augmented Reality

Mobile is a huge opportunity for AR games. With smart phones prevelent everywhere, your game built with Escher Reality can run on millions and millions of devices through iOS and Android. On the other hand, this means that games have to be designed to fit well within the form factor, with modern smart phones having a screen of 3.5”-6”, and a high resolution rear camera.

Working with the Camera

Because AR works with reality through the back camera, we are constrained by the limitations of camera’s physical characteristics. For starters, while most cameras have a relatively wide angle lens, they are still very limited in the field of view (FOV) presented through the screen. For example, in the iPhone 7 landscaped, the FOV is about 59.0° in the horizontal axis and 44.2° in the vertical axis.

• This means that there is a limitation of how many items can be visible on screen at a single time and that also depends on how the user holds it.
• Make sure things are to scale, or scaled appropriately.

(An approximate distance chart in meters viewed at about 4ft height perpendicular to the ground.)

Consider the two ways the device can be used: horizontal and vertical.

Vertical

• Easier to hold in one hand.
• Can use the other hand to control, or the thumb.

Horizontal

• Requires two hands to hold.
• A wider field of view.
• Hand may accidentally cover camera.