We asked Mike Wozniewski, founder and president of Hololabs, for a bit of history, favorite moments, and some anecdotes from the past 11 years.
Creating Outside the Lines: An Interactive Mural
Outside the Lines Interactive Mural located at Save on Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria, BC.
When the team behind the We The West Basketball Festival approached us about creating a giant augmented reality mural as part of the festival, we knew immediately that we wanted to be involved. This project had all of the elements that get us excited as creators: a wide audience, room for creativity and experimentation, and interesting technical challenges to overcome.
Our client requested that we use Spark AR as the technology for this experience, after seeing the success that it had garnered at the Vancouver Mural Festival. We started researching Spark AR to try to determine the benefits and limitations of the technology. We had many questions to answer about Spark. Most notably, “Will it work on a 40 foot high mural?”, and “How good is it for interactivity?”. While Spark does have a few limitations in terms of capabilities, it shines when it comes to accessibility because effects made in Spark can be viewed on nearly any mobile device via Instagram and Facebook. We knew that most people walking by the mural would already have what they need to experience our effect, which is ultimately what made Spark an excellent choice for this project.
AR free throw game prototype.
We got to work and started building a prototype to test the limitations of the technology. Our first experiment for the mural was a rather straightforward basketball game. The user would point their phone at the wall, a basketball net would appear, and they could shoot balls towards the hoop by swiping their screen.
This first free-throw prototype was fun, but ended up feeling somewhat wrong at the 20x40 foot scale and it was unclear how this type of game could be incorporated into the final mural design. We met with the team, shared our experiment, and started talking about different directions we could take with the mural. By this point, the imagery in the mural was starting to come together. Graphic designer Samantha Paul had provided an early concept of what would become the final “geometric court” design for the mural. Right away, the design got us excited - we saw so much potential in the geometric shapes in the mural. The We The West team wanted the mural to feel like it was “coming alive”, and this new design lent itself perfectly to that.
Outside the Lines mural
designed by Samantha Paul
Visions of geometric shapes were dancing in our heads. We decided to build an “AR Toy” with puzzle-like elements to invoke play, exploration, discovery, and of course, basketball. We started talking about the pieces of the mural in different ways, asking questions like: “What if these pieces were 3D blocks?”, “What if these squiggly pieces were water?”, “What if these pieces were tied to the music?”. Our goal was to create an experience that would feel whimsical - more like a toy than a video game - so everyone who took the time to try the experience discovered something fun. Soon after, we had more ideas than pieces in the mural.
Bounce puzzle prototype.
We started prototyping some of these ideas to see which felt most fun and surprising. A main feature became the bounce puzzle where guests would have to pop out shapes for a basketball to bounce off in order to score a basket. Music also became a feature of experience turning some parts of the mural into a mixing board that allowed guests to layer their own beats. And most importantly, we leaned into our biggest advantage using augmented reality, adding depth with 3D objects. Marine life and west coast themes extrude from the surfaces of the mural, while basketballs and shapes traverse the large volume of space in front of the mural toward the guest. Guests also discover a depth behind the mural by smashing the shapes at center court revealing a world beyond. We wanted to ensure that everyone who took the time to interact with the mural would walk away feeling like they had a complete experience, whether they had just tapped a few different things, or whether they fully explored each piece of the mural in completionist style.
As the final form of the experience began to take shape, we really felt that the direction we chose was delivering on the feeling that we were chasing. The day the mural went up, we were nervous and excited. Would it work at this scale? Would the mural be too glossy for tracking to work properly? Would people be able to open the experience on their devices? To our delight, all of the major pieces just clicked. We made some final tweaks for lighting and accessibility, and invited some volunteers to come try it. After a bit of troubleshooting, we had everyone up and running. The volunteers just “got it” and hearing their feedback, we feel like we delivered on the vision. Now that the festival has begun, we’re looking forward to opening this experience up to the thousands of fans who will pass by the mural. We’re hoping it’s a slam dunk.
Hololabs releases New Detective Game for Kids
Based on the best-selling books, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency brings history, mystery and coding to mobile
Hololabs has released a new kids puzzle game, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, for iOS and Android. Set in the fascinating time period of England's Regency Era, players aged 9 & up join a young Ada Lovelace (the world's first programmer), Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens as they catch "clever criminals" in 19th Century London.
Based on the best-selling book series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency combines whimsical storytelling with exploration, history and computer science to create a compelling educational experience for kids. Over 20 thrilling mysteries (written by series author Jordan Stratford) provide the backdrop for players to hone their detective skills through reading, logic and coding as they use the world's first computer to crack cases.
The world of 19th century London sets the stage for a suite of detective activities designed to put sleuthing skills to the test. Investigate suspicious crates on the Thames. Question witnesses at a popular Piccadilly tea salon. Puzzle over broken printing presses in Fleet Street. Use Ada's computing machine in Marylebone to track down hideouts, suspects and more. There's even a music machine to play with in augmented reality!
Complete with historical content illuminating little-known female scientists, writers and inventors of the time, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency is designed to inspire a new generation of curious minds.
Features
Over 20 original mysteries written by the author of the Wollstonecraft book series
20+ hours of story-based gameplay, plus endlessly replayable content
Explore beautifully detailed neighbourhoods in London for clues
Learn to code on Ada's "bleh" machine (based on the world's first computer)
Multiple Mini Activities: Hidden object searches, repair puzzles and pop "quizzlers"
Over 100 new vocabulary words and history facts to discover and collect
Historical content with a focus on famous female scientists of the Regency era
Unlock new areas and achievements
Track progress with a detective leveling system
Collect and play tracks on Ada's AR Music Machine
Free playable demo
One time purchase to get the full game - no subscription fees
Floor Kids Launches on Steam!
Hololabs is proud to launch Floor Kids on Steam on May 16, 2018.
Floor Kids is a one-of-a-kind breakdance game featuring a unique trick-style rhythm gameplay. Innovative controls allow you the freedom to play the way you like with a dynamic scoring system that rewards your moves based on musicality, originality, and style. Discover stylized hand-drawn graphics by award-winning animator JonJon set to an original soundtrack by world-renowned scratch DJ/producer Kid Koala.
More information at www.floorkids.com.
Merch for Floor Kids is now available
We've put up some awesome Floor Kids merch, including hats, pins, and a super dope double vinyl edition of the official soundtrack. Get it here: https://floorkids.store-08.com/
Floor Kids Launches on Nintendo Switch!
Floor Kids is now available on Nintendo Switch!: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/floor-kids-switch
Floor Kids is a new breakdance battle game for Nintendo Switch™ featuring unique freestyle gameplay, rhythm challenges, and multiplayer sessions. Discover stylized hand-drawn graphics by award-winning animator JonJon set to an original soundtrack by world-renowned scratch DJ/producer Kid Koala.
Hololabs launches VR/AR meetup group in Victoria
There's no question that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are rapidly growing industries. Given Hololabs' expertise in both and a lack of a formal organizations on Vancouver Island, we have decided to launch and maintain the VVAR Meetup Group for these topics. We plan to host events every month, with technical talks, demos, and social events for people interested in the industry.
Here's a photo from our first meetup (held at SpaceStation on June 21st), where we held introductions and demoed several games on the HTC Vive and Oculus. We had about 25 people in attendance, ranging from developers with games already available on Steam, to investors, audio engineers, and enthusiasts eager to get into the industry.
Floor Kids wins Seattle Indie Game Competition
Mike Wozniewski (head of Hololabs, and the technical director on the Floor Kids project) was in Seattle from May 20-21 to attend the Power of Play game festival. As a finalist in the Seattle Indie Game Competition (SIGC), he presented Floor Kids on stage to a number of judges and took home the winning title.
Photo credits: Joe Wilkes
Floor Kids selected for presentation at GDC
Hololabs was in San Francisco for GDC from March 14-18, showing Floor Kids to a number of publishers and developers. But the highlight of the event was presenting the game at the Experimental Gameplay Workshop among a number of other super innovative projects. The game was selected from almost 200 submissions to present its unique gameplay, and received cheers from the crowd when the touch controls were demonstrated!
A video of the full session can be found in the GDC Vault:
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023585/Experimental-Gameplay
Hololabs creates inter-studio partnership: MERJ Media
Hololabs has partnered with three other amazing companies to create a new multi-disciplinary studio called MERJ Media. This initiative brings together experienced players from the fields of music, video games, animation, film, publishing, technology, live performance, management and production. Together, they embark on their first project - a touch-based breakdancing game called Floor Kids.
The team is made of veterans from four different but complementary industries. Ryhna Thompson’s team at Envision Management and Production has been in the business, production and marketing management for almost 15 years. JonJon has been doing art and animation for over a decade, and Kid Koala has been producing innovative music and live shows for almost 20 years. Finally, the development team at Hololabs will be handling programming, implementation, and deployment for the studio.
While the official partnership is new, many members of the team have been working together for years, forming a collaborative and synergetic relationship. Envision has worked alongside Kid Koala since the company was formed almost 15 years ago, directing his career and projects, providing management and production through a range of ventures including the release of recorded music, books, live musical and theatrical tours. Hololabs has collaborated with Kid Koala and Envision on prior projects as well, such as the outdoor installation called Phonophotopia produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 2014. JonJon and Kid Koala originally came up with the concept for Floor Kids back in 2007, when they collaborated on the original short film, and they have been discussing the brand ever since.
Hololabs moves head office to Victoria BC
This summer Hololabs makes the move out west, re-locating its head office to Victoria BC. While projects will continue with Montreal, a new set of initiatives will launch in the Pacific Northwest.
Victoria is a growing scene in the games industry, with an active IGDA chapter and organizations like VIATEC that support and promote technical innovation. We're excited to be closer to other creative tech communities on the west coast, including those in Vancouver, Seattle, and all the way down to California.
We'll be opening a new studio in a coworking space called Spacestation, so if you're interested in visiting or have projects that you'd like to discuss, contact us.
Hololabs wins Best Social Game for Papercade (GameConnection 2015)
Mike shows GameConnection award for Best Social Game
Papercade won a Development Award for the "Best Social Game" at GameConnection 2015 in San Francisco. Taking place at the same time as GDC, GameConnection is a parallel conference that brings together professionals in the video game industry to develop their businesses and products.
Hololabs was nominated in three categories for their work on Papercade, which also included "Best Mobile/Tablet" and "Most Creative & Original Project". The full list of nominees is here: http://www.game-connection.com/development-awards.
Huge Papercade Update (v 1.8.0): New system to customize game behaviours
Hey there Papercaders!
We just launched a great new update to Papercade, with a whole new way of customizing your game mechanics, creating animations, and adding some special effects. Here is a rundown for you:
Custom Game Mechanics
When creating your games, you now have access to the new property inspector that allows objects to have different rules, animations and effects.
Start by tapping the gear icon that appears above any selected cutout, and choose a property type for the object. It can either be a collectible (meaning, it is added to the score counter), a hazard (the player loses the box if they tap it), or simply destroyable (disappears when tapped).
Deeper in the properties, you can configure when objects appear in the scene. For example, you may choose to reveal an enemy after a delay of 10 seconds, or only once the player has collected something in the scene.
New Win/Lose Conditions
Once you start crafting with this updated version, you'll notice a new score counter and timer up at the top of your screen. These are both ways to set win and lose conditions to your diorama box and can certainly add a degree of challenge to your story.
Tap the time button to open a slider that can be used to set the required time for completing your scene. Move the slider all the way to the left to turn it off, max it out at 60 seconds, or anything in between!
The score box shows how many collectible items there are in the scene. You can use the property inspector mentioned above to set up collectible objects, and each one increases the required score for the scene, allowing for all sorts of skill-based games.
Animations
On the second tab of the new property inspector, you can now add customizable animations for your cutouts. There are currently two versatile options: Patrol lets an object move back and forth along a certain axis; speed and range is customizable. Random moves the object to a new location either after a customizable amount of time, or whenever an object is collected in the scene.
Visual Effects
Cutouts can now also be assigned a visual effect to add flare to your storygame. Add anything from an explosion to a tornado - let your imagination run wild!
New Kits
As a result of all these new features, we have replaced the existing creation kits with all new versions that show many variations and combinations of these new game behaviours. Click the create tab in the main menu and try them out!
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We can’t wait to see what you create with these new features! Remember to tweet us a screen capture, or share a video replay with us on Facebook, and let us know what you think.
Happy scrapgaming, Team Hololabs
Happy Holidays from Hololabs
2014 has been an incredible year for us here at Hololabs, and we have you - our friends, family, and supporters - to thank for it!
Lots happened this year, including some good funding news from the CMF, the launch of Phonophotopia, and of course, the worldwide launch of Papercade.
There’s lots more in the hopper, and we can’t wait to share 2015 with you.
Happy holidays, folks.
- Team Hololabs
Hololabs will be in New York City for MontrealX Developer Showcase
On December 4th, 2014 Hololabs will be joining nine other Montreal-based indie developers to showcase our games in the Quebec Government’s Rockefeller Center office.
We will be there with Papercade, and Astrid will be moderating a panel discussion on the games industry in Montreal.
This event is organized by Rogue Counsel, with support from Alliance Numerique and the Quebec Government Office in New York.
For more information about who else is participating see the full event details over on Rogue Counsel’s site.
Visit the Papercade Demo Pod at MIGS 2014 in November
It’s that time of the year again!
MIGS 2014 is just around the corner, and Hololabs will be there in full force. We will be showcasing the latest version of Papercade in the new Demo Zone, and Astrid will be speaking about the Canada Media Fund.
If you’re coming to town and are interested in meeting please do send us an email, or get in touch on LinkedIn.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
- Team Hololabs
Papercade Update: Record and Share Videos
Hello Papercaders!
A new update to Papercade is now live on the App Store: recording and sharing videos directly from the game. Videos, like this one, or this one, can be made while playing any of the mini-games in the Play tab or even while crafting your own. There are two types of videos that you can record, which are outlined below.
Basic Video Recording
At the end of any Papercade you will see a new button (under replay and like) that says Share Replay Video. Tap that button and you will instantly be able to share your gameplay with friends on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or by email.
Recording Live Commentary
Before beginning any Papercade - where you see the game information if you’re playing, or the kit information before crafting - you will notice a new set of buttons at the bottom of the card (under the play / start craftingbutton). These are to enable audio recording or even a picture-in-picture video recording to accompany the gameplay.
Advanced Features
In the share window there are a couple other options available to make your Papercade video more personal. One is to add your own message and hashtags to encourage friends to watch your masterpiece. The other is to preview and edit the video by tapping the video thumbnail.
That’s it! Remember to share your videos with us and the Papercade community on Facebook and Twitter.
Happy scrapgaming!
Papercade at the October MRGS Craft Meetup
The evening of October 16, 2014 we will be presenting Papercade at the October edition of the MRGS Craft Meetup. Held monthly, these meetups focus on the craft and experience of designing games.
Throughout Papercade’s development we have often sought feedback from local game developers and enthusiasts. Our presentation on Thursday will be a discussion on the evolution of Papercade as a result of this feedback and - now that Papercade is live on the App Store - what type of improvements can be made to create a better in-game experience for our budding creative community.
We hope to see you there!
Papercade: Game-Making App Taps the Crafter & Storyteller in Us All
Mobile app lets players transform photos into games
and broadcast interactive, 3D stories to the world
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONTREAL – October 9, 2014 – Independent game developer Hololabs today announced the launch of its mini-game maker, the mobile app Papercade.
Papercade debuts in the spotlight, headlining as an Official Digital Selection at this year’s international game festival IndieCade, October 9-12 in LA.
Designed for all ages, free and easy to use, Papercade delivers a new experience to the growing worldwide audience making and sharing games today. Players can create “storygames” from funny to fantastical, from personal to political—and everything in between.
“We were inspired by the miniature worlds and dioramas that we built inside shoe boxes when we were kids,” said Hololabs Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Paul Warne. “Papercade brings back this simple joy of crafting and sharing stories from things we make ourselves.”
Charming sets and a vintage feel form the backdrop for Papercade, where players can place their own heroes, villains and props into the mix. Papercade provides a range of tools and actions to make original storygames and share them with friends. Players can easily customize characters from images of family, friends and pets, placing these cutouts into 3D scrapbook environments.
“In designing Papercade, we challenged ourselves to develop a mobile game that brings together the hands-on and nostalgic elements of today’s maker movements with the world’s insatiable appetite for taking and sharing photos,” said Hololabs Co-founder and CTO, Mike Wozniewski.
Papercade is available now on the App Store for iPad. Click HERE to download.
Watch the Papercade trailer HERE.
About Hololabs Studio Inc.
Hololabs is an award-winning production studio founded by industry veterans Paul Warne and Mike Wozniewski with the aim of developing new technologies to better serve creativity and play. The studio’s latest title Papercade, a mobile app for creating and sharing storygames, was financed in part through the generous support of the Canada Media Fund.
Links:
Download Papercade
Papercade Website and Trailer
Media Kit
Facebook
Twitter
Hololabs Corporate Website
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For more information, please contact:
Astrid Rosemarin
Hololabs
+1 514 448 1211
astrid@hololabs.org
Papercade Launches in Canada, UK, and US
We are delighted to announce that Papercade is now available for iPad in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. So hit that download button and join in on the scrapgaming fun!
Need a refresher? Papercade is an iPad game for playing, crafting, and sharing mini-game dioramas.
You can use Papercade to:
- Play storygames made by fellow community members from around the world
- Create custom characters by importing your own photographs into your dioramas
- Personalize each mini-game with backdrops, music, paper cutouts, speech bubbles, and more
- Share your creations with friends and the community
It’s been a long time coming for us to get Papercade up into the App Store, and we are really looking forward to seeing what you make!
Of course, this is just the beginning, and we will be working on adding lots more features to the game as the community grows. You can help shape the creative community - and the game itself - by letting us know on Facebook and Twitter what you would like to see, or like to see changed, in Papercade.
Happy crafting!
