Startup offers ‘magic window’ into tourism sites with VR app
Omar L. Gallaga
Some startups want to make a yacht-load of money. Others want to be a technology gamechanger.
At VR/AR startup FarBridge Inc., in Austin, Texas, one of the main goals has been a little more modest, says CEO Patrick Curry.
“The litmus test for our projects has been if the mayor showed up, we’d want to be able to put him in VR and get him to experience it and say, ‘Wow, I get it!’ That was our guiding light,” Curry said.
As impressive as it might be to wow the Austin Mayor, FarBridge has been keeping busy since it was founded early last year. Curry, a co-organizer of the VR Austin trade group and a veteran of game-related companies including Disney Interactive Studios and Unity Technologies, still loves games. But his new company, FarBridge, is using virtual reality and augmented reality to educate and to give a “magic window” on historical sites and tourism destinations.
“Tourism is a good application for virtual reality because it’s good at taking you places. It’s fascinating and gives you a sense of wonder. And we can incorporate interviews with site experts on why these sites are important and what we can learn from them,” Curry said.
■ What they do: FarBridge partnered with CyArk, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit that specializes in digitizing locations and creating 3-D scans for preservationists and historians. With that data, FarBridge is creating VR and AR applications, both for devices such as Oculus headsets (“MasterWorks”) or for smartphones (“My Virtual Armenia,” for the Smithsonian’s 2018 Folklife Festival). It is also keeping a foot in gaming with a separate part of the company, the FarCade. A multiplayer VR game it created, “Jar Wars” was shown off earlier this month. Curry said the company has found ways to create on-the-go multiplayer VR experiences for events such as gaming conventions and meetups.
■ Who they are: Curry has worked in the gaming industry for years in both electronic and tabletop games. He was lead designer of the beloved and underappreciated game “Stubbs the Zombie” for Wideload Games.
■ Investment: Funding so far is from friends and family with some projects grants from groups including the Smithsonian, SXSW and Accenture.
■ Biggest challenge: Hardware. Projects built for dedicated VR hardware might have an audience of a few million, while projects built for smartphones have billions of potential users. FarBridge is working on projects for several kinds of platforms, Curry said, as with “My Virtual Armenia,” which works with or without headgear. New devices such as Oculus Go, on which “MasterWorks” is a launch title, are also making it easier for people to find and download VR apps and require a lot less setup, he said.
The company is working to get its free projects into schools, museums and other educational avenues.