A defining feature of augmented reality is how much the technology's promise has outpaced its real-world use. Despite years of glossy demos, AR’s predominant consumer experiences are still Pokémon Go and an iOS app that measures things. Advancing the medium will take not only impactful hardware—like Apple’s U1 chip and loudly rumored glasses—but innovative games and experiences. The kind that Punchdrunk, the theater company behind immersive shows like Sleep No More, knows better than anyone.
Now Punchdrunk and Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, are announcing a collaboration that will span multiple projects. Details such as what the debut effort will look like, when it will launch, and what it might cost remain a closely guarded secret, but as far as crossover episodes go, the cast of characters looks encouraging.
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Punchdrunk is no stranger to immersion. Sleep No More, the group’s signature piece, invites audience members to walk through a series of rooms at their own pace, in whatever order they like. The actors perform hour-long loops; as you wander, you cobble together their story fragments into a whole.
The trick of Sleep No More is to give the viewer a sense of free will while maintaining an environment that does not respond to their choices; immersive here does not equal interactive. The performance is fixed, regardless of what the audience does.
“Although it feels spontaneous, everything is meticulously choreographed,” says Punchdrunk founder and artistic director Felix Barrett (no relation). “Our process even at the most transitional beats is completely set. With that sort of precision, and the ability to set and rehearse different scenarios … It’s those sorts of learnings, almost like binary coding in a way, that enable us to think about how one could use that information.”
It’s no stretch to see how that philosophy might extend to AR. Punchdrunk has already dabbled in virtual reality, with a project for the Samsung Gear VR called #believeyoureyes, as well as mobile gaming with Silverpoint, an app that directed players around the streets of London.
