HappyGiant Turns Critically-Acclaimed AR Game Free-to-Play for Apple’s AR Tech Introduces New Characters, Spells, Competitive Match-Making & Arena-Style Play
Independent game studio HappyGiant announced that its critically-acclaimed Augmented Reality game HoloGrid: Monster Battle AR for iOS 11 and ARKit is available today in the iTunes App store. Created in conjunction with two-time Academy Award winner Phil Tippett, HoloGrid: Monster Battle AR brings the VFX legend’s monsters to life and took inspiration from the Star Wars HoloChess scene Tippett created more than forty years ago. Originally conceived as a physical card-digital AR premium board game, the ARKit version has been reimagined as an all-digital free-to-play title with several enhancements.
In addition to leveraging the motion-tracking and depth-sensing abilities of ARKitto bring monsters to life in your surroundings, HoloGrid: Monster Battle ARincludes new spells, game arenas and monsters. Players can now unlock new monsters and spells by opening Treasure Chests that are given for free over time, or earned in matches . Players can also earn currency by winning battles to level up their monsters and spells to make them stronger.
Most notably, the game now features a ranked, arena-based competitive match-making system, allowing for league-style AI battles against other players’ teams. Better still, HoloGrid: Monster Battle AR can be played indoors, in a contained space, like a board game “come to life”, or outside, with giant monsters you can walk amongst like a life-sized chess board.
“The ARKit version of HoloGrid is a completely different type of gaming experience,” said Mike Levine, HappyGiant’s CEO and Founder. “You can now play the game like before, on a flat table top surface. But we also allow to play it in a huge, “Harry Potter” chess-style, which really takes the game to another dimension. Being able to walk into and around a life-size board game with giant animated monsters is something we think people will enjoy!”
New features of HoloGrid: Monster Battle AR include:
- Ability to play indoors or outside; tabletop or life-sized, with full walk-around capabilities.
- Competitive match-making and arena-style league play.
- Earned/timed treasure chest drops to unlock new monsters and spells.
- Earned virtual currency that can be used to level up monsters and spells.
- New Monsters and Gameboards
- Examples of some of the new Spells:
- Blood for Blood: Destroy an ally minion to destroy an enemy minion.
- Agonizing Death: Choose an enemy minion. When this minion dies, it will deal damage to adjacent enemies.
- Blindsided: Choose an enemy minion. When this minion dies, adjacent enemies become stunned for one turn.
- Electric Strike: Stuns enemies in its attack range and un-fatigues friendly monsters.
- Sacrifice: Destroy any minion. That minion’s health is returned to its Champion.
