John Hanke, Niantic’s CEO has shared a video on Twitter showcasing Pokemon GO’s AR playground mode in action. The AR playground mode was hinted / announced months ago (see Niantic announces AR Playground: see your Pokémon in the wild!), but was never released to the general audience.
Short reminder: AR Playground mode was part of the ARKit Pokémon GO tech demo and enabled developers to place Pokémon anywhere in the world around them, or better, on any plane around them.
Hanke’s tweet is available below (pay attention to the device, this is running on a Motorola Android device):
#NianticDay Taking a friend out for a walk in the park @ Roppongi Hills pic.twitter.com/zSdXnlME3H
— John Hanke (@johnhanke) October 13, 2018
Similar to previous AR Playground demos, the model is anchored to a real world plane, it features full set of animations and even responds to touch, similar to how it does on a Pokemon detail page.
The demo was showcased during Niantic’s Pokemon GO AR Garden event, which takes place at Mori Gardens from October 12 to October 21.
In addition to the AR playground demo, another tech demo was presented, using advanced audio capabilities to allow listening to both natural sounds of Mori Gardens and to Pokemon cries in the wild. Crazy, but true.
#NianticDay audio AR experience pic.twitter.com/GlNjWm9H9U
— John Hanke (@johnhanke) October 13, 2018
