Insomniac Games, the minds behind Rift titles Edge of Nowhere (2016), The Unspoken (2017), and upcoming open-world adventure Stormland, today released their first AR experience for Magic Leap One. Dubbed Seedling, the experience is AR headset’s first paid app.

Seedling puts you in the shoes of a space cadet tasked with repairing a dying galactic ecosystem with the help of a mysterious field kit. You nurture, grow and customize alien plant lifeforms in your living room, letting your creations thrive in tune with its placement and the objects around it in the physical world.

 

There’s also alien critters that Insomniac says “respond to your touch in a variety of playful ways as you repair their galactic ecosystem.”

Speaking in a behind-the-scenes video (linked below), Insomniac Games lead gameplay programmer Joel Bartley says “our final version actually looks at the real world around you because the Magic Leap device is constantly scanning all the tables, floors, walls and everything. Our plant will grow around that stuff as it grows in.”

Image courtesy Insomniac Games

Next Reality went hands-on with Seedling, saying that while the app is incredibly beautiful and well realized, it “doesn’t immediately come off as a must-play experience that will garner many repeat plays from obsessed users. Rather, the meditative nature of the app seems more like a great demonstration of Magic Leap’s spatial computing technology, similar to Tónandi, rather than a paid app with a real chance at snagging major revenue.”

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As a developer-focused headset priced at $2,300, the release of Seedling on Magic Leap One represents the company’s first chance to test out its payment processing system and gather data on who’s buying, and how long people tend to play—all important steps along the way to creating a fully fledged app store as the company marches towards consumer-oriented AR devices.

The store already features a few free experiences and games including Weta Workshop’s Invaders, Angry Birds: First Person Slingshot, Sigur Rós’ music experience Tónandi, and Magic Leap’s sandbox experience Project Create.

Seedling is available in the ‘Magic Leap World’ section of the store, priced at $10.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Daemonic

    Am I cynical if I say that this is just AR navel gazing? I think I’d rather just spend time in the garden.

  • hugorune

    Wow! 2 billion USD spent and one can feed a plant with yellow balls! This is what I call ROI!

    I want an avatar of Anastasiya Kvitko running around my apartment with the voice and skills of Amazon Alexa! Is it that hard to build??

  • impurekind

    I still don’t really see the benefit of having 99% of these AR games/apps overlaid onto the real world rather than just shown in VR or even on a normal TV screen. The AR part seems very gimmicky and almost entirely pointless most of the time. I’m not really being sold on current AR so far. VR on the other hand has already proven itself time and time again as far as I’m concerned.

    • Hivemind9000

      I think in its current form you’re right – seems limited and gimmicky. Once AR becomes wide FOV and high res, and I can place virtual screens all over my room while still being able to use my keyboard, drink coffee without spilling it and see/talk to my girlfriend, I think it’ll hit the sweet spot.

      • impurekind

        Yeah, that’s seems like the better way to go imo.

        • jj

          well there’s the vive fo….. nevermind

          • Actually with the “Vive Fo… nevermind” I have been able to do AR and MR (and also released an opensource plugin for that). But the quality of the cameras is terrible, so it is not the MR that we want

          • jj

            yupp lol thats why i went to say it and stopped because it works but its terrible. I havent worked with it on my focus and the only reason i know this is literally because of your videos :)

            oh no shit? would you mind linking me to the open source plugin?!
            I also found your rock throw app on the focus btw :D :D pretty great and since it was a recognizable demo it gave the whole office a laugh!

            Keep it up! tbh you’re one of the worlds top AR/VR devs and idk if people really know it yet but its very very true. I’m a nerd for watching/reading ar/vr dev vlogs/blogs and you’re one of a very small group thats actually pushing things forward.

    • Gato Satanista

      “I still don’t really see the benefit in 99% of cases of having these AR games/apps overlaid onto the real world rather than just shown in VR or even on a normal TV screen” Here I think you are wrong. “I’m not really being sold on current AR so far. ” Here you are right. But “full” proper AR has way more mass consumer potential than VR. And If you think that in the future will be possible to obscure the real world in AR if you want, then you will have the best from two worlds and zero need for a separated VR device. But sure, we are not there yet.

    • brandon9271

      Yeah, AR seems to have a much more narrow use case when it comes to gaming. VR can transport you to another world and AR can bring virtual objects into our world. I could see AR being great for tabletop games and shooting/grabbing floating widget on the room.. other than that i don’t see much in the way of gaming. Productivity and entertainment is a whole different thing though.

  • fuyou2

    whoopty fucking doo!!!

  • fuyou2

    Did you see their promo video, They act as if they did next generation star-wars movie or something.Magic Leap What Kind Of A Delusion Are You Guys In??

  • airball

    Trust your gut on this one, folks. The emperor has no clothes.

  • jj

    and whos gona buy that ? only the ten other AAA devs that bought the kit

  • Ellon Musk

    Runs at 15fps. I don’t see anything beyond the use of enterprise for magic leap

    • jj

      REALLY? lol ive made fun of this for so long and i didnt even know it only did 15 fps.

      … after looking it up the ml targets 60 fps. wanna share where you’re getting 15 from? maybe im blind n just missed it

  • Kenny Thompson

    Watching a plant grow?

  • For sure it is original, but honestly I am not interested in it at all