Niantic’s ‘Peridot’ brings believable augmented reality to gaming
The "Tamagotchi"-like game lets players take care of virtual creature, but it's done through the smartphone screen
“Peridot” is Niantic’s most experimental game, and also, it’s most intriguing. The original title from the “Pokemon Go” developer is touted as a modern-day spin on Tamagotchi, those virtual pets that became popular in the 1990s.
As a member of the Peridot Keeper Society, players hatch the titular creature, which has unique characteristics, and they raise the virtual pet. They feed them. They teach them tricks. They play with them. They can take them on walks to explore the world, said Ziah Fogel, “Peridot” director of production. With each interaction, they gain experience and grow.
That sounds like normal fare for a Niantic game. It hits the touchstones of exploration and simple gameplay, but what sets “Peridot” apart is that the game is completely in augmented reality. The creature melds with the world seen through the smartphone, so that the screen is almost like a lens.
FROM PROTOTYPE TO GAME
“Peridot” was originally “intended as a prototype with an AR-first design,” Fogel said. But as the developers worked on what it could do with AR, it turned into a game with new experiences that push the boundaries of what’s possible.
I dabbled in the game, and what’s intriguing is how Niantic’s technology makes the virtual objects feel real when it’s interacting objects. If you throw an in-game ball, it will bounce of real-world walls or fences. Niantic got around creating constant walking animations for the Peridot by letting the creature float around almost like a Mew.
If the Peridot is in an area conducive to walking, it will naturally land on its feet and frolic around. The technology to identify objects on the screen and have virtual creatures and objects move as if they were part of the scene is impressive. It increases the feeling that Peridots are real.
It lets players buy into the fiction that they’re real creatures that were slumbering for hundreds of years and they’ve awoken in the real world. It’s the players’ job to help them flourish.
IN-GAME PURCHASES AND PARTNERSHIP
Coincidentally, Fogel said since the inception of “Peridot,” it was designed with AR headsets in mind. It’s almost as if the game were made for a certain mixed-reality headset. Although it appears the game has the potential for future platforms, “Peridot” is built for what’s at hand now, and that’s the smartphones in our hands.
The game itself makes money through a store that sells cosmetics to dress up your creature. Also if players want to add to their collection of Peridots, they’ll have to buy a Nest to hatch a new creature. What’s notable is that there is a breeding component, and players with Peridots that have unique characteristics can intermingle with another to create offspring with distinct traits.
Although it sounds like “Pokemon,” it feels as though collection wasn’t the emphasis of the experience. “Peridot” is more about the one-on-one interaction with a virtual pet. Players can spend 10 minutes with it just for feeding and play, or they can bring it out for a walk and let it forage for items. Those items are usually food or toys to keep it fed or occupied. What’s notable is that “Peridot” seems to know the environment, so if you’re in a grassy area or one with water, players can do gesture to tell it forage, and it will pull different objects from the environment. That’s another notable AR trick. The game also recognizes certain objects like flowers and faces so if players have a quest in which the Peridot wants to see a plant, players can walk up to it and it will register with the game.
Niantic even takes advantage of the Waypoints that’s shared through other games such as “Ingress” and “Pikmin Bloom.” In “Peridot,” they’re called Habitats and that’s where adult versions of the creatures hang out.
Lastly, “Peridot” will feature Amazon Anywhere. Niantic said it’s a shopping experience within the game, and it lets users order what they see in the virtual world to get real-life physical objects. I suppose that’s something that will work with AR games. Other apps let users see how a lamp or couch would look like in the living room, and because “Peridot” is a game that exists in AR, it appears to be a natural fit.
“Peridot” is an intriguing project that broadens the type of game Niantic produces. Unlike other projects, it doesn’t adapt the “Pokemon Go” or “Ingress” formula into a franchise that doesn’t work with it. It’s built from the ground up with an intriguing vision in mind, and it has potential for a specific type of player who are fans of “Nintendogs” or “Tamagotchi” but wants something a little more real.