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SPECTACLES LENS FUND PROPOSAL
Practical Magic
Jestr is a new user interface for XR that uses only hand gestures. No point and click, no gaze and pinch, no hardware controllers.
All Jestr commands originate directly from the user’s hands, as compared to existing XR interfaces where menus and virtual controls appear in the field of vision. Because there are no floating windows, the user has a clear, unobstructed view of everything in the room at all times.
Jestr commands are designed to flow seamlessly in a continuous sequences.
We draw inspiration from the ancient art of tai chi, the practice of manipulating chi (vital energy) through fluid body movements. Jestr gives users a similar experience: manipulating glowing virtual objects with fluid hand gestures that flow seamlessly from one to the next.
We use a sorcery interface metaphor—conjure and cast. The user conjures a sparkling virtual object with their hands and then casts the object out into the space in front of them. With easy gesture combos, things move, light up, and dance in the virtual space. It feels like magic.
If Jestr is set up to control secondary devices such as LED lights, things happen in the physical space as well. This is the user casting spells on the physical world.
This interface is unique, unlike any existing XR interface or command system. It’s a new paradigm for how a user interacts with the virtual and real world. It’s comprehensive and versatile to the point that we don’t think of it as an app but instead see it as a platform for a new family of exciting XR applications.
Our mission is to imagine what tech might look like if it had evolved as part of us, not something separate that exists within boxy devices and screens that are only accessible through keyboards and mouse pads.
Our proposal below describes two paths: the Wizard series of applications and the Light Wave port. The Wizard series is our planned suite of entertainment experiences, and Light Wave is a creative tool -- our professional lighting controller already in use.
The key to the power of Jestr is that it's all the same interface, whether playing games or running a professional application. A user who works through the progression of Wizard Trainer has all they need to create a light show; a user who masters Light Wave is ready to crush it in Wizard Battle.
WIZARD TRAINER
Wizard Training, opens the gateway to of Jestr magic. In the early stages, aspiring wizards learn to summon the flow of magic between their hands, feeling the spark of power as it swirls to life.
At level two, they unlock the secrets of casting. Every movement matters: the angle of your hands and the speed and direction of your intent, all weave together to shape the spell's force.
Higher levels teach spells—combos for creating complex effects in the virtual and real world. At the highest levels, wizards practice combining the spells to create their own advanced attack and defense sequences.
There is a narrative woven through of a wizard discovering their magical powers. The user is the protagonist in this adventure. The progression encourages them to experiment, customize their spells, and practice to gain speed and accuracy—to level up to be prepared to engage in combat with friends in a wizard battle.
WIZARD BATTLE
Step into the role of a powerful wizard and prepare for an epic showdown with your friends in an immersive AR experience. In Wizard Battle, players don their Spectacles and face off by casting vibrant virtual spells and shielding themselves with strategic counterspells.
With each battle, players earn points, and unlock new abilities. Wizard Battle pulls players into a captivating world where every duel strengthens their wizarding prowess and brings them closer to mastering the art of magic
WIZARD JOURNEY
Wizard Journey is our vision of our location-based role-player experience. It’s a story-driven game that incorporates all the latest features of Jestr to challenge the skill, luck, and strategy of gamers in new ways. It could be in a contained physical space, or in public spaces mapped with GPS. It borrows from the genre of open-world video games, but goes beyond to create a new type of group experience where the players generate and share their own spells and interact wirelessly with lights and devices.
LIGHT WAVE
Jestr is more than a gaming platform. It’s a creative tool, sufficiently robust to do real work.
Light Wave is the first app we developed for XR. It was designed for the HoloLens as a better way to control real lights in a physical space.
Light Wave communicates with the lights through the DMX protocol. Controlling lights on a movie set was our first use case, and so from the beginning, it needed to be reliable with enough depth to control many parameters. (It can also control the movements and actions of digital cinema cameras.)
Light Wave being used on set for Paramount Pictures' Hip-Hop Christmas, August, 2022
We would like to bring Light Wave to Spectacles
to begin a new era of lighting control
In the process of developing and testing Lightwave for film sets, we discovered that it is so intuitive that people with no lighting experience can learn it in a few minutes and create an improvised light show.
We exhibited Lightwave at music events, dance clubs, and festivals around the world and were surprised at how quickly these party people found ways to shape Lightwave to their own expressive styles.
In some cases, our newly recruited wizards went on to use Light Wave to perform as lighting designers at music venues. None of these wizards had prior experience with professional lighting or lighting controllers.
Light Wave takes the power of sophisticated lighting sequences out of the hands of the technicians, and puts it in the hands of the artists.
Highlight reel of Light Wave at festivals and events in Europe and the US.
Location-Based Entertainment (LBE)
We see a near future where there are specialized arenas where customers come to don Spectacles and magic battle each other in an environment enhanced by LED lighting, external sound, and smoke machines. This will create a spectacular and absorbing experience for the players. Just as importantly, the experience can be followed and enjoyed by spectators not wearing AR glasses.
Because Jestr connects natively to OSC and DMX protocols, any of the wizards’ actions can trigger a lighting, sound, or smoke cue. When a wizard conjures a blue spell, the room could turn blue. The instance a wizard has been defeated, the lights in the room flash white and a "boom" reverberates from the sub woofer in the room.
We've already had success with an AR + LBE game: Color Hunter. So far Color Hunter is the only XR experience we've seen that grabs the attention of an entire room of people and keeps them engaged. (We'd also like to port Color Hunter to the Spectacles and add it to a suite of LBE offerings).
Color Hunter Trailer, "How to Play", and Tournament Event in Prague
Thanks...
From the beginning we designed Jestr to match the unique, expansive capabilities of AR by exploiting the z-axis and employing virtual objects in new ways. After struggling with the limitations of the HoloLens, we’re excited to discover Spectacles. We believe Spectacles is the first headset with the right form factor and features to demonstrate the full potential of AR.
