Square Sprite

Inspiration

As someone who enjoys traveling, I always found myself pondering what to do while sitting at places like the Trevi Fountain in Rome or Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. The most special moments were consistently discovered at places recommended by local friends. Enjoying the beauty at landmarks and observing the surrounding culture has always felt like the true joy of traveling. However, confronted with the reality of not being able to meet local friends every time, I realized that I was missing out on authentic local experiences in travel destinations. Thus, driven by this realization, I started the Square Sprite project.

What it does

Square Sprite project creates virtual local friends around landmarks for travelers:

Region-based sprite characters gather around landmarks.
Approaching sprite reveals their identity and the story behind their associated location.
Touching a favorite sprite integrates with Google Maps for navigation.
Sprites encountered near shops explain the history and significance of the establishment.
Pressing the star icon leads to Google Reviews, allowing users to check and write reviews.
Square Sprite serves as a gateway to engaging communication with new friends, making travels even more fascinating.

How we built it

Begin by choosing the landmark for the journey.
List appealing shops around the landmark for sightseeing.
Collect stories from the listed shops.
Organize a storyboard based on the gathered stories to suit the characters.
Design spirit characters in collaboration with generative AI using the stories as a foundation.
Utilize VoxEdit for modeling during the creation process.
Export the created characters as gltf files.
Specify landmark locations in Adobe Aero.
Place spirit characters on the landmarks.
Produce character voices needed for the storyboard using narakeet.
Add movements and voices according to each character.
Share the project link with the users.

Challenges we ran into

We thought that the AR environment was not yet familiar to users. We made efforts in this project to create a simple and convenient design from the user's perspective. Working on an intuitive UX design and character design to reduce the entry barrier for users to adapt to the AR virtual environment. Throughout the journey from the user flow to the destination, we strived to create a genuinely useful environment in both the real and AR worlds. It was crucial to streamline the core aspects in the complex development process.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The production time for creating characters of local shops using traditional 3D tools was insufficient. In exploring various 3D tools, we discovered a method that is both compatible with Adobe Aero and allows for quick and easy design. The use of VoxEdit to produce AR content for Adobe Aero was unprecedented before. There were no previously documented cases or tips found through searches, making this a notable technological achievement uncovered in this project.

What we learned

We’ve learned the importance of a friendly and comfortable approach to enhance user accessibility in a complex AR environment. Virtual characters created based on local data can possess diverse values. Operationalizing experiential events through features like signage, websites, and location-based game functionalities is possible. If developed as a comprehensive service, integrating AI technology in both data utilization and design aspects could enable faster and more flexible production.