AR RISING
The Wild World of Nickelodeon, in AR
Do Not Touch (by Nickelodeon)
Funny AR Games
The name of the app is Do Not Touch. But as any Nickelodeon fan, young or old, knows—you’re really going to want to mash this button.
Do Not Touch brings the characters, ideas, and sensibility of Nickelodeon to life in augmented reality (AR). There are hundreds of different things to see: SpongeBob and his buddy Patrick catching jellyfish. A mini-fridge full of dancing meat, fruit, and condiments. And, of course, a screaming banana.
After you launch the app, use your iPhone or iPad’s screen to look around your environment and virtually place that forbidden button on any flat surface—like a table, bed, or floor. Then give the button an onscreen tap.
With each tap, a new experience pops up for you to interact with: Steer SpongeBob as he drives a convertible, whack monsters leaping at you with a mallet, or deflate balloon animals with a poke.
Since this is AR, you’ll get a more detailed view of the mini-games that unfold as you move your device closer to the virtual objects appearing onscreen.
And some experiences really require you to move, like painting with colorful brushstrokes that float in the air as you wave your device or watering a patch of grass and seeing Venus flytraps sprout and sing.
“We really want you to feel like anything could live behind that button,” says Tim Shea Adams, whose team creates the stuff. “From a creative standpoint, AR lets us bring ideas that are really wild and out-there and experimental, while hopefully tapping into the playfulness, humor, and imagination that kids already have.”
If Nickelodeon has proven anything over the years, it’s that kids love slime— fittingly, after each AR animation finishes, a familiar green liquid floats out of a hole where you placed the Do Not Touch button and fills the app’s energy meter.
Earn more energy to unlock new AR animations and skins for the button. (Eventually you can turn it from green to a wild leopard print.) Keep checking back: Every couple of weeks the app adds new games and skins.