Everyone knows the “Holo Chess” scene in the original Star Wars right? Well launching today on Kickstarter that game is finally going to be a reality! Today, Phil Tippett & HappyGiant announced the launch of HoloGrid Monster Battle -a new hybrid board game, CCG, and digital augmented reality game.
What is HoloGrid Monster Battle?
Hologrid Monster Battle is a new type of game that is similar to Collectible Card Games (CCG’s) such as Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone, but this one uses the physical cards to trigger an Augmented Reality experience with creatures and a game board. Players will be able to compete head-to-head, either locally or hopefully remotely. Hologrid Monster Battle is a “Hybrid” Board Game, Collectible Card Game (CCG), and Digital Game in one, it delivers to players a new type of gaming experience.
Who Is Phil Tippett?
Phil Tippett leads the animation team at Industrial Light & Magic before creating his own studio in 1984. He is an amazingly talented Visual Effect Supervisor and Director, with expertise in creature design, stop motion animation, and Computer Graphics. He has been a 2 time Academy Award winner, six nominations, one BAFTA award, and four nominations, two Emmys, and much more.. He is best know for his work on the original Star Wars films, Jurassic Park, Robocop, The Force Awakens, and others. Tippett is the guy who actually created the “Holo Chess” scene above, and he recreated that scene in the Force Awakens.
“For years I’ve been making monsters for Directors to play with, and now for the first time, I’m making monsters for YOU to play with,” said Tippett. “We’re excited about the new fields of Augmented and Virtual Reality, and to be working with our friends at HappyGiant to create HoloGrid: Monster Battle.”
Creatures Will Battle on Your Tabletop with AR
HoloGrid Monster Battle will hopefully be built for next-gen AR & VR platforms – like Oculus, HTC VIVE, and Playstation VR, as part of their stretch goals but will first release for mobile devices- IOS and Android. This will allow all players to play today. Using your tablet or phone will make it seem like the creatures of Phil Tippett are doing battle right in front of you.
“We’re excited to be launching this Kickstarter with Phil Tippett and his studio, and bringing to life a game so many of us have always wanted to play” said Mike Levine, President of HappyGiant. “This is our first step into a new world of AR gaming, and while we are launching it on mobile initially so everyone can play it, our long-term vision is to bring it to emerging AR and VR platforms.”
HoloGrid Monster Battle Gameplay
HoloGrid Monster Battle is a hybrid CCG/turn-based tactical strategy game, brought to you by Tippett Studio and HappyGiant.
With the goal to defeat your opponent’s Champion, the game uses team and spell based combat, set on an AR tabletop-like playing board, allowing intense battles to take place.
Platforms: Mobile for main goal (iOS/Android), many others if we hit Stretch Goals.
Boxed Product: The game is a one-time-fixed price purchase. This is NOT a Free-To-Play mobile game and we won’t bother you with in-app purchases (read my lips!). We may introduce new creature card packs over time, but only if you want ’em!
Strategy: If we hit our Stretch Goal of 30 Creatures, that’s well over 100,000 team combinations! The base 8 units provide over 400!
Unique Abilities: All units will come with their own unique abilities, movement ranges, and more; allowing for endless amounts of strategy. See Creature Gifs below for more details.
Character Classes – Champions, Tanks, Specialists, Ranged/Shooters and Fighters.
Spells – Like the Creatures, every spell will be unique, and have the ability to shift the tide of the battle.
Fast Paced: The game matches take only 10-15 minutes, so you can play a quick session or multiple matches in no time.
PvP / 2 Player Game – The game is for made for 2 players/teams.
MP – Local Multiplayer included, and Remote Multiplayer if Stretch Goal hit.
What is Photogrammetry?
Photogrammetry is the science of making measurements from photographs. The output of photogrammetry is typically a map, drawing, measurement, or a 3D model of some real-world object or scene. Many of the maps we use today are created with photogrammetry and photographs taken from aircraft. The teams used this technology to scan Tippett’s real-life physical monsters into 3D digital assets for the game, giving them a level of detail and character unlike any other.
“We’d been doing experiments with Photogrammetry.” said Levine. “At the same time we began exploring doing projects with Tippett, we had the idea, ‘What if we tried this on some creatures?’ The results blew us away. That’s really where this idea was born.” “And it’s the exact same technique we used on The Force Awakens,” added Tippett.
The Kickstarter launches on May the 4th (Star Wars Day) and offers many options for you to get your hands on this emerging technology and game.
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HoloGrid Monster Battle is a hybrid CCG/turn-based tactical strategy game, brought to you by Tippett Studio and HappyGiant.
