In September 19, 2019 – Magic Leap has announced that as of today, third-party developers can now publish ‘Concepts’ on Magic Leap World. The company states that Concepts started out as a way to share small internal ideas and interactions that weren’t fully-fledged applications. As the Magic Leap ecosystem has grown, the company has seen numerous developers sharing projects with one another that push spatial computing forward in innovative ways, and until today, these experiences were only available as privately shared apps.
Concepts are free apps with limited functionality meant to garner feedback, experimentation, and support from the broader Magic Leap community. Developers will be able to link their Twitter profile and their project’s GitHub URL for their concept. Magic Leap hopes that some of these experiments evolve into fully-featured apps.
Now that third-party developers are publishing, users will be able to see new ways to use gestures, interaction-heavy concepts, and short, easily digestible experiences. Concepts will generally have a faster approval time through the company’s app approval process and developers won’t be required to register as a Merchant (although developers publishing concepts still need to sign the Magic Leap publisher agreement). Magic Leap clarified however that Concepts aren’t meant as watered down experiences or to just simplify the publishing process, but rather serve as a place where the right support and exposure can help small ideas grow.
The company stated: “Sketching, experimenting, and concepting are the building blocks on which great works are built,” and that, “From the back of the proverbial napkin spring all of the greatest feats of creativity.” Therefore, “Opening up Concepts to any creator is about sharing the napkin,” according to Magic Leap.
While preparing to launch Concepts, Magic Leap worked with some indie developers and partners to release new concepts today. In the Concepts section of Magic Leap World, users will now see the following:
“Spheres” by Toryn Farr, showcases different gestures to manipulate small spheres.
“Compete” by Trevor Rose, a 16yr old developer, brings two classic games, bowling and darts, into a user’s living room.
Visionaries 777’s “Concept Car” is thinking about the future of mobility. The Concept introduces a full-electric autonomous concept vehicle where users can toggle futuristic conceptual features on the vehicle. The concept vehicle can even be scaled to fit a user’s space.
Finally, The Dow Jones Innovation Lab has shown off its “Wall Street Journal Stock Data Concept” at places like Davos, and wanted a chance to bring it to the wider world on Magic Leap World Concepts.
Roger Kenny, Innovation Tech Lead at the Dow Jones Innovation Lab, said: “We want to release our concept to the world so that other creators can see how they too might push the bounds of what’s possible with spatial computing today in similar ways”.
Magic Leap’s goal with concepts is to provide a space for experimentation that tests the limits of what its platform can do, without expectations of a larger-scale, production-ready goalpost. Some concepts may forever stay concepts, others may develop into full apps, borne out of smaller ideas.
Developers working on creations for Magic Leap who want to share their work can learn more about publishing concepts in the Creator Portal.
Image and video credit: Magic Leap
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.