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I've seen different threads about the future of haunting lately, but none specifically about Augmented Reality (NOT virtual reality).
I think that VR might eventually become part of haunts, but i'm guessing long before that happens we'll see AUGMENTED REALITY in haunts. Why? Because you don't need expensive headsets for AR to work. People can use their phones to view the augmented content, and to play augmented reality games within a haunt. The content is also less expensive to produce. Augmented reality is NOT a total reality replacement like VR. Instead, it uses your phone's camera to show you your actual environment (such as the inside of your haunt, or whatever is currently in front of your phone), and then it overlays graphics on top of the real world. So you could put a dragon (for example) in the hall in front of you. It would not be there in the real world, of course, but if you held your phone up to look at your hall through it, you would see the dragon. Also you can interact with the augmented reality content using your phone. You could tap on your screen, and make the dragon explode. This technology uses phones most of our haunt audience already have, and it's not that expensive to produce (not much more expensive than an average iOS mobile game).
Now imagine being able to put animated zombies within your actual haunt, that your customers could shoot with their phones, and the zombies' heads would explode (all with no actual actor, or costume, or blood SFX mess to clean up and reset)! Imagine putting virtual hidden treasure in your haunt for costumers to find and collect. Imagine having some kind of virtual mystery game, where your customers collect virtual clues to solve it. Imagine a competitive augmented reality game played within your haunt, that has a leader board with high scores, and customers who pay to go through multiple times to attempt to beat their friends' scores. The possibilities are vast, and the technology exists NOW. No special headset or equipment needed, just a phone. As the name implies, it does not replace your current haunt, it augments it!
I will predict here and now that the first company to successfully integrate augmented reality into their haunt (especially an augmented reality game played within the haunt) is going to be hailed as the future of the industry, and is going to get unprecedented press coverage and popularity. I also predict that the first company to specialize in creating this type of content for the haunt industry will also see great success.
I think that VR might eventually become part of haunts, but i'm guessing long before that happens we'll see AUGMENTED REALITY in haunts. Why? Because you don't need expensive headsets for AR to work. People can use their phones to view the augmented content, and to play augmented reality games within a haunt. The content is also less expensive to produce. Augmented reality is NOT a total reality replacement like VR. Instead, it uses your phone's camera to show you your actual environment (such as the inside of your haunt, or whatever is currently in front of your phone), and then it overlays graphics on top of the real world. So you could put a dragon (for example) in the hall in front of you. It would not be there in the real world, of course, but if you held your phone up to look at your hall through it, you would see the dragon. Also you can interact with the augmented reality content using your phone. You could tap on your screen, and make the dragon explode. This technology uses phones most of our haunt audience already have, and it's not that expensive to produce (not much more expensive than an average iOS mobile game).
Now imagine being able to put animated zombies within your actual haunt, that your customers could shoot with their phones, and the zombies' heads would explode (all with no actual actor, or costume, or blood SFX mess to clean up and reset)! Imagine putting virtual hidden treasure in your haunt for costumers to find and collect. Imagine having some kind of virtual mystery game, where your customers collect virtual clues to solve it. Imagine a competitive augmented reality game played within your haunt, that has a leader board with high scores, and customers who pay to go through multiple times to attempt to beat their friends' scores. The possibilities are vast, and the technology exists NOW. No special headset or equipment needed, just a phone. As the name implies, it does not replace your current haunt, it augments it!
I will predict here and now that the first company to successfully integrate augmented reality into their haunt (especially an augmented reality game played within the haunt) is going to be hailed as the future of the industry, and is going to get unprecedented press coverage and popularity. I also predict that the first company to specialize in creating this type of content for the haunt industry will also see great success.
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