Back in July of 2016, and at the height of the Pokemon Go hype, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella commented to CNBC that “Pokemon Go will hopefully boost interest in HoloLens.” While the hype has since died down, one HoloLens developer has brought Satya’s vision to life and has made a HoloLens Pokemon RPG game, blowing Pokemon Go right out of the water.
According to the description in the YouTube video, the genius behind the game is Kenny W. On his Twitter page, Kenny describes himself as someone who likes “Developing games and playing with augmented reality.” Kenny’s game, nonetheless, is very impressive (developed in Unity), and as seen in the video, brings Pokemon into the real world settings in very similar fashion to Pokemon Go (minus the phone of course!)
The video begins with a wild Pidgey appearing on a beach, the player of the game tapping on it, and then choosing Pikachu from one of pokeballs floating on the screen. Based solely on the video, animations for the experience appear to be very responsive even when the user chooses a move for the Pokemon to use. Animations for the moves themselves also appear to be true to life, and the Pokemon react accordingly to how hard and effective the moves are.
As it progresses, the video even takes us into battles at several other real locations, such a park, the bushes, and a train station. Lastly, with the player’s Pokemon still by his side, the video then ends with the user throwing a Pokeball to catch a wild Pikachu.
If the video has got your attention, you might want to follow Kenny W on Twitter to get further updates as his project progresses. We’ll also be following along right with you, and will be here to report any new developments in the situation.
