Pikmin Finder | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Nintendo Niantic [lower-alpha 1] |
Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
Series | Pikmin |
Platform(s) | Web Browser |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Augmented reality |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Pikmin Finder is a 2023 augmented reality browser-based mobile game in the Pikmin series, it is the second mobile game in the Pikmin franchise and the seventh installment overall. Developed and published by Nintendo using Niantic's 8th Wall development platform. The game involves using the player's mobile camera to display Pikmin and command them to carry treasure back to the player. The game was distributed in early September to coincide with Nintendo Live.
Pikmin Finder is an augmented reality mobile game, utilising AR gameplay similar to that seen in Pikmin Bloom . The player uses their mobile phone's camera to locate and view Pikmin in the surrounding environment. [2] [3] At first, the player will find Pikmin sprouted in the ground that can be pulled out by swiping up on the phone screen. Once plucked out of the ground, the player can send the Pikmin away to collect and return treasure. The player repeats this until the player collects all the treasure in their catalogue. [4] [5] The phone's camera can be used to take pictures with the Pikmin in the environment. [6]
The game features all the types of Pikmin that can be found in Pikmin 4 , but it depends on time of day and location to determine which types show up. [7] [8] The treasures are also the same as the ones found in that game too, with twenty treasures for the player to collect. [9]
Finder was developed by Nintendo with the assistance of the Niantic subsidiary 8th Wall, using their web-based development platform. [1] [6] The game was originally release to coincide with Nintendo Live in Seattle to promote the recently released Pikmin 4. [4] The game was made available worldwide on all browsers using either the game's link on mobile or a QR code on the desktop version. [3] [8]
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects. The overlaid sensory information can be constructive, or destructive. As such, it is one of the key technologies in the reality-virtuality continuum.
Pikmin is a 2001 real-time strategy puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The game was created and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and is the first entry in the Pikmin series. The game's story focuses on an alien pilot, Captain Olimar, who crash lands on a mysterious planet and must make use of a native species called "Pikmin" to find his ship's missing parts in order to escape within 30 days. Players take control of Olimar and direct the different varieties of Pikmin to explore the game's various levels, overcoming obstacles and hostile creatures, in order to find and recover the missing ship parts.
Pikmin 2 is a 2004 real-time strategy puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube home video game console. It is the direct sequel to the 2001 game Pikmin and the second game in the Pikmin series. In the game, Olimar returns to the Pikmin planet to collect valuable treasure after learning that the company he works for—Hocotate Freight—is on the verge of bankruptcy.
A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone, tablet, PDA to handheld game console, portable media player or graphing calculator, with and without network availability. The earliest known game on a mobile phone was a Tetris variant on the Hagenuk MT-2000 device from 1994.
Pikmin is a real-time strategy and puzzle video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and published by Nintendo. The games focus on directing a horde of plant-like creatures called Pikmin to collect items by destroying obstacles, avoiding hazards, and fighting fauna that are hazardous to both the player character and the Pikmin.
Nintendo European Research & Development (NERD) is a French subsidiary for Nintendo, located in Paris, which develops software technologies and middleware for Nintendo platforms. This includes retro console emulators, patented video codecs, and DRM technology.
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a variety of desktop, mobile, console and virtual reality platforms. It is particularly popular for iOS and Android mobile game development, is considered easy to use for beginner developers, and is popular for indie game development.
Pikmin 3 is a 2013 real-time strategy and puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U video game console. It is the sequel to the GameCube games Pikmin (2001) and Pikmin 2 (2004), and was released in Japan on July 13, 2013, and in all other regions the next month. Shigeru Miyamoto announced Pikmin 3 on July 16, 2008, for the Wii console, later stating at E3 2011 that it had transitioned to the Wii U.
Ingress is an augmented reality (AR) mobile game developed and published by Niantic for Android and iOS devices. The game first released on December 14, 2013, for Android devices and then for iOS devices on July 14, 2014. The game is free-to-play, uses a freemium business model, and supports in-app purchases for additional in-game items. The mobile app has been downloaded more than 20 million times worldwide as of November 2018.
Niantic, Inc. is an American software development company based in San Francisco. Niantic is best known for developing the augmented reality mobile games Ingress and Pokémon Go. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google. The company became an independent entity in October 2015 when Google restructured under Alphabet Inc. Niantic has additional offices in Bellevue, Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, Seattle, Lawrence, Tokyo, London, Hamburg, and Zurich.
Far-Play is a software platform developed at the University of Alberta, for creating location-based, scavenger-hunt style games which use the GPS and web-connectivity features of a player's smartphone. According to the development team, "our long-term objective is to develop a general framework that supports the implementation of AARGs that are fun to play and also educational". It utilizes Layar, an augmented reality smartphone application, QR codes located at particular real-world sites, or a phone's web browser, to facilitate games which require players to be in close physical proximity to predefined "nodes". A node, referred to by the developers as a Virtual Point of Interest (vPOI), is a point in space defined by a set of map coordinates; fAR-Play uses the GPS function of a player's smartphone — or, for indoor games, which are not easily tracked by GPS satellites, specially-created QR codes— to confirm that they are adequately near a given node. Once a player is within a node's proximity, Layar's various augmented reality features can be utilized to display a range of extra content overlaid upon the physical play-space or launch another application for extra functionality.
Hey! Pikmin is an action game in the Pikmin series developed by Arzest and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console. It is a standalone sequel to Pikmin 3 and is the series' first installment on a handheld console. Hey! Pikmin was released worldwide in July 2017, coinciding with the release of the New Nintendo 2DS XL – the fifth and final hardware revision of the 3DS. It received generally mixed reviews from critics.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was an augmented reality (AR) mobile game developed by Niantic and WB Games San Francisco, and published by Niantic, under license from Portkey Games. The game is based on the Harry Potter series and part of the Wizarding World media franchise, created by J. K. Rowling. Wizards Unite begins as the player creates their avatar and starts their journey at the player's real world location. The player character engages with the world by casting spells, discovering artefacts and facing known characters and beasts of the Wizarding World universe.
Nintendo, a Japanese home and handheld video game console manufacturer and game developer, has traditionally focused on games that utilize unique elements of its consoles. However, the growth of the mobile gaming market in the early 2010s led to several successive fiscal quarters where they were running at a loss, partially due to the failure of the Wii U. Nintendo, led by president Satoru Iwata at the time, developed a strategy for entering into the mobile games market with development partner DeNA, as a means of introducing their franchise properties to mobile players with a goal of bringing them to buy Nintendo's consoles later. From 2015 to 2020 Nintendo has internally developed a number of mobile games, while also publishing games with other developers, including games outside of the initial DeNA partnership. Several of them have entered the top-downloaded games list on the iOS App Store and Google Play stores, earning over US$100 million in revenue in total. However, as Nintendo's next console, the Nintendo Switch, proved a financial success for the company, coupled with dwindling numbers on its mobile games during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nintendo quietly backed off its mobile strategy starting in 2020, though continued to back Pokémon Go and future Pokémon games.
Tatsuo Nomura is a Japanese software developer. Born in China with partial Japanese descent, he moved to Japan as a child and studied computer science. He worked in the Google Maps development team before moving to Niantic Labs, where he directed the video game Pokémon Go.
Catan: World Explorers was an augmented reality (AR) mobile game developed by Niantic, based on the board game Settlers of Catan. It was announced in 2019, soft-launched in some countries the following year, and discontinued in November 2021.
Pikmin Bloom is a 2021 augmented reality mobile game in the Pikmin series, developed and published by Niantic. Like Pokémon Go, it rewards players for spending time outside. The player's real-world movements are rewarded with items for Pikmin creatures. Its worldwide rollout began in late October 2021.
Monster Hunter Now is a 2023 augmented reality mobile game in the Monster Hunter series, developed by Niantic and Capcom and published by the former. It was released worldwide on September 14, 2023, and had accumulated 2 million installs.