Entertainment / Wallace and Gromit
Join Wallace and Gromit’s latest adventure via augmented reality app
Wallace and Gromit are back with a new adventure today – and for the first time, audiences will be able to join in their escapades.
The Big Fix Up is a new app that uses augmented reality (AR) technology to allow users to interact with the game’s characters, as employees at the pair’s latest business set-up.
Wallace and Gromit are always trying some new venture, whether it be building a spaceship to collect cheese from the moon or setting up a pest-control outfit. In The Big Fix Up, they are the proud new owners of Spick & Spanners, a repair business, and have just been commissioned the task of ‘fixing up’ Bristol.
is needed now More than ever
But the pair simply can’t sort out the whole city on their own. They need a recruitment drive!
“As an employee of Spick & Spanners, you will be able to interact with them every day if you want, doing a job for Wallace or helping Gromit out,” says Merlin Crossingham, the creative director of the film series.
The game is played over the course of a month, with videos, tests, comic strips and even holographic messages used to tell the story.
Holographic messaging is where the user can view a video message through their phone in a way that looks like a hologram has popped up in the room they are in.
Lee Cummings, the creative director and story lead at Fictioneers, says: “When a rocket appears in your back garden, it’s a fundamental reshaping of what storytelling is.”
Users will be able to give Wallace’s inventions a run for their money, creating their own contraptions which can then be placed in the game world using AR technology.
“Using an app to look at the real world and see AR elements coming to life was just completely new to me,” says Aardman graphic designer, Sarah Matthews. “The Big Fix Up is different from anything I’ve ever worked on before.”
Clay models of the characters were given a 360 degree scan to create complete digital representation of them. Photo: The Big Fix Up
Aardman joined forces with Fictioneers and the University of South Wales to create the app, which can be bought for free at the App Store or on Google Play.
“It’s very exciting having Wallace and Gromit involved in this project,” says Wallace & Gromit creator, Nick Park. “Wallace is an inventor and loves technology, so he would give this a big thumbs up.”
Main photo: The Big Fix Up
See more: Wallace and Gromit’s moon rocket makes maiden balloon flight
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