In 2021, the introduction of Metaversal Deploymentwas a groundbreaking milestone in the evolution of augmented reality. It changed the way developers create and deploy WebAR experiences by seamlessly bridging the gap between various devices using the mobile browser. And today, we're thrilled to share the enhancements we've made to our engine, propelling Metaversal Deployment to new heights of performance and versatility.
We're excited to announce that Niantic 8th Wall now supports Japanese, allowing developers in Japan to create AR experiences in their native language. Marketing pages, XR Home, and documentation sections are all available in Japanese, making it easier than ever for Japanese developers to create engaging and culturally relevant AR experiences for Japanese audiences. To experience Niantic 8th Wall in Japanese, developers simply need to turn on the language setting in their browser.
Calling all AR enthusiasts!
We are excited to announce the continuation of the Niantic Developer World Tour. Earlier this year, we visited Miami and Austin. This May 2023, we are coming to London and Amsterdam with more locations in Europe coming up soon! Hosted by 8th Wall and led by our partners and community leaders, we welcome all AR enthusiasts to attend our “Hello 8th Wall” workshop. This is a half-day event dedicated to developers, creators, artists, storytellers and all AR enthusiasts to become more familiar with the 8th Wall WebAR platform.
Last month, we introduced the first 8th Wall challenge of the year focused on Sky Effects! Our Sky Effects Challenge was an opportunity for developers to learn, explore, and connect with each other and 8th Wall team members, all while competing for top prizes.
In February, the Niantic and 8th Wall team headed to Miami Hack Week (MHW) 2023 and sponsored the first AR+Web3 house, and the response was incredible. The week was a chance to build relationships with developers, identify new Web3 and WebAR use cases, and get developers confidently building with 8th Wall.
Last month, we challenged you to create your own personalized Character Camera Project to help the holiday season stand out (check out the template here). Submissions were published to your Public Profile to enter (see the contest rules here) and then shared in our Developer Slack community. You can find all of the entries in the #made-with-8thwall channel by searching for the #HolidayChallenge2022 hashtag
With that, let’s share our winners! These are shared in no particular order.
To begin, checkout "Gingy's Gift Grab" by the InVision Communications team. This fun and festive AR game challenged players to collect as many presents as possible before time ran out by controlling an AR gingerbread character named Gingy. The game's charming aesthetic and smooth gameplay earned it a spot among the top five winners!
Augmenting the world is the most common way developers, agencies and brands are using 8th Wall today. Up until now, world WebAR has been primarily focused on the ground. Today, we are over-the-moon excited to introduce Sky Effects, a new feature from Niantic integrated into the 8th Wall platform that allows developers to augment the sky with WebAR.
The 8th Wall team has been on a mission to supercharge your development by providing you with a complete set of tools to create WebAR content. Our cloud-based integrated development environment, the Cloud Editor, was built from the ground up for reality content development and it is now the predominant way our developers create 3D, AR and VR web applications. We designed the Cloud Editor to give developers superpowers and today we are unlocking a new power by making our biggest update since its launch with the introduction of 8th Wall Modules.