Facebook has announced the launch of a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child AR Experience on Portal.
Building on the popularity of the 2016 stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Facebook is launching a new Portal-exclusive AR experience that transforms up to four video-call participants into characters from the play.
Related | This Is The Coolest Harry Potter Memo Pad
Portal-to-Portal video callers will appear as characters from the play and will be able to “hang out” in Hogwarts Great Hall, the Ministry of Magic, or the Edge of the Forbidden Forest. In addition, Portal’s Photo Booth app will allow them to capture themed videos that can then be shared with others as well.
The new AR experience comes with 12 exclusive AR masks of the most popular characters from the play – also available for fans on Instagram and Facebook to use via each app’s camera.
The experience comes alive by tapping on “Curtain Call” in the effects tray on Portal, and users can then visit one of the three locations mentioned above. When the lights come up, each person on the call will be dressed up as one of the characters from the play, and randomly assigned a unique spell. To cast their spell, players simply tap the screen or nod their heads.
To power this, as well as all the other AR masks and experiences, Facebook uses its own Spark AR. In a note for developers, Spark AR’s latest version allows creators to build real-time social video calling experiences via its Multipeer API which includes shared environments or contexts, synchronized effects, and even lightweight AR games.
In other related news, Facebook is also adding new multiple-choice stories to the Story Time library to let the reader and their audience make choices together, and explore how those choices impact the course of the story. Story Time is a cool feature that allows Portal users to narrate children’s stories over video calls while and change their appearance with AR, depending on the story character.
There are two new additions to Story Time: Build a Story, a classic adventure that lets you choose a hero, setting, conflict, and resolution, and Extra-Ordinary Cafe, which lets you create your own multi-course meal by choosing the cuisine and each course.
These new additions join fairy-tale classics like Goldie and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and Three Little Pigs, as well as Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, and others, in the Story Time library.
You might also like
More from Facebook
Meta Is Killing Its Messenger For Apple Watch App
Meta announced it will remove the Messenger for Apple Watch app on May 31 “After May 31st, Messenger won’t be available …
Facebook Probably Owes You Money
Meta has agreed to pay out $725 million to Facebook users to settle a class action lawsuit concerning user privacy. If …
Meta Verified Service Goes Live In The US
Want to get the coveted blue verification checkmark on Facebook and Instagram? If you're in the US, now you can. …
Facebook And Instagram Start Selling Blue Checks With Meta Verified
Meta Verified will give you a blue check badge on both Facebook and Instagram, along with other benefits for $12 …
Meta Brings Back #BuyBlack Friday For A Third Year
Meta is bringing back #BuyBlack Friday for a third consecutive year in North America. Meta emphasized the importance of the Holiday …
Facebook Is Giving You More Controls Over What You See On Your Feed
Facebook is introducing new "show more" and "show less" controls to let you adjust what you want to see on …
Meta Introduces Facebook Reels API, Offering An Option To ‘Share To Reels’
Meta has introduced the Facebook Reels API, a solution allowing developers to build a 'share to reels' option into their …
Facebook Gets Into Delivery With DoorDash Partnership
DoorDash is partnering with Meta to pilot Facebook Marketplace deliveries across multiple cities in the U.S. Drivers will only transport items …
Meta Rolls Out Horizon Worlds In France And Spain
Meta Horizon Worlds, the VR community and game, is now available in France and Spain.
