Snapchat AR Tower Defense

Inspiration:

Inspired by our teams fondness for both video games and interactive party game experiences. Enjoying games like Bloons TD 6 together led to our initial idea of creating a party game version of Tower Defense through AR. However, due to the time constraints and lack of multiple pairs of spectacles, we decided to focus on a single player Tower Defense experienced entirely through AR.

What it does:

Single player tower defense game visible through the AR of the Snapchat Spectacles. Users will be able to put down a tower to try to defend their base against continuous waves of enemies.

How We Built It:

Created using Lens Studio 5, using scripts made with Typescript and Javascript. We did have to make some scripts for specific game-focused objects and functions that were not yet available inside of Lens Studio. We used Github and Github Copilot to help coordinate our project, and within Lens Studio we used different API functions available to us.

Challenges:

Due to the recency of the Lens Studio 5 update, when learning the program it was difficult to find resources outside of documentation to learn the program. When looking for help online, there would be incompatible help that only functioned on older versions. In the same vein, the recent release of the Snapchat Spectacles in the last week means there aren't many videos about the product, so we had to test and learn by ourselves through trial and error.

Accomplishments that we're proud of:

Learning an entire platform, creating a major project in two languages we were not as confident in, and creating something for a hardware we had never previously interacted with has left us with confidence in our ability to adapt and learn in high-pressure situations. Even with the hours ticking down, we worked very well as a team and never let that stress make us lose sight of our goals.

What we learned:

We gained an in-depth understanding of Lens Studio and reinforced our skills in Typescript and Javascript. Being a project with four people continually working made us understand Github's functions for repo's in a clearer way and will likely make our future experiences with the application much more smooth. Due to the similarity of Lens Studio to programs like Unity, we also feel more confident in our abilities to master different engines.

What's Next for Snapchat AR Tower Defense:

Our later plans for the program would be to integrate multiplayer support. If a Spectacles user mapped out the room to set up the initial pathing, mobile Snapchat users would then be able to join in, creating a fun, collaborative party game. Other features we wanted to add include an AI generated pathing system, where the AI would recognize obstacles and plan a path from the enemy wave spawner to our base.

Built With

• ar
• genai
• github
• javascript
• lens-studio
• snapchat
• snapchat-spectacles
• typescript
• visual-studio