Supersaurs 2 – the ultimate augmented reality book experience
For author, artist and all-round creative innovator Jay Jay Burridge, bringing his Supersaurs series of children’s books to life is more than just a combination of words and illustrations – his vision is to create fully immersive augmented reality books that provide unique and engaging reading experiences for young readers.
To help him realise his vision, Burridge has partnered up with our award-winning augmented reality team to bring his latest book Supersaurs 2: The Stegosorcerer to life in a unique twist to other AR experiences triggered from books.
With the new Supersaurs 2 app, readers can immerse themselves in the world of Supersaurs – an alternate world where dinosaurs didn’t die out but evolved and live amongst and around us, and where we have ‘saurs’ as pets.
Bringing Supersaurs 2 to life through an immersive augmented reality book experience
Using the latest augmented reality techniques, readers can track a known object in the physical world (in this case, the cover of Supersaurs 2) alongside the ability to explore a 3D world in an immersive way usually only associated with VR experiences. As well as searching for hidden treasure whilst steering clear of charging Stegosaurus, readers can enter a selfie-mode to capture the saurs in their own back garden!
AR technology is finally at a point where we can create amazing experiences directly on the printed page and in the wider world, and Supersaurs is a fantastic example of just that – an amazing story, an amazing brand and an amazing technical innovation brought to life by our award-winning team. The experience enables users to actually walk around in a virtual Supersaurs 3D world with a herd of 15 meter long stegosaurs coming at you at 40 mph!
Matthew Key, Managing Director at Engine Creative
Augmented reality books and the future of publishing
When an author creates brand new characters that exist in new worlds that come straight from their imagination, it is only natural that they want to bring them to life for their readers. However, with books aimed at 8-12 year olds (part of the digital-first Gen Z group emerging as the newest target audience for marketers and expected to account for about 40% of all consumers by 2020), innovators and authors like Jay Jay Burridge are moving beyond the printed page and using technology such as AR to augment their stories in new ways.
Our experience of bringing publications to life using augmented reality stretches back to 2011 when we created the world’s first augmented reality magazine for BBC’s TopGear Magazine. Since then we have helped Tesco to augment its consumer publications, implemented a mobile strategy for heat magazine with AR at its heart, and used the magic of AR to bring colouring books to life for BiC.
So, whilst augmented reality books and publishing experiences aren’t new, the release of Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore has provided authors and AR agencies such as ourselves with new opportunities to interact with readers in more immersive ways than ever before.
To experience the Supersaurs 2 augmented reality app yourself, download it for free from the App Store or Google Play. Supersaurs 2: The Stegosorcerer is now available on Amazon and through other book retailers.
