Kippy’s Escape / UX Toolkit plugin
Framestore’s partnership with Microsoft is a great example of the ways in which we’re able to collaborate with clients on both technology deployments as well as beautifully-designed interactive visuals.
Following the announcement that EPIC’s Unreal Engine would support Windows Mixed Reality - including the Microsoft HoloLens 2 - Framestore worked with the two technology brands to build out the UX Toolkit plugin; a suite of features that can be used in application developments to create more interactive experiences.
An ardent user of Unreal, Framestore was well-positioned to help develop the UX Toolkit plugin for the real-time engine which includes actions like pressable buttons, pinch sliders and multiple hand gesture components. Having these UX features at their disposal means Windows Mixed Reality developers using the Unreal Engine can have much more natural user interaction within their HoloLens and other XR-based experiences.
Coinciding with the development and release of the UX Toolkit plugin, Framestore was asked to integrate its features into a Hololens 2 demo game called Kippy’s Escape in which the player must clear a path for the titular robot to get to his spaceship by solving puzzles.
A version of the game was initially developed in-house at Microsoft before Framestore came on board to add the newly-developed Unreal Engine-integrated UX features and turn its creative attention to the game’s character and level design.
The development of Kippy’s Escape also saw the Framestore team - including Taekyu Yang, the project’s Senior Technical Director reunited with Microsoft’s Senior Technical Artist Jack Caron who both started at Framestore together as interns.
This coming together of Framestore, Microsoft and Unreal Engine was a cool project in that it allowed us to stretch both our deeply technical and creative muscles, a delicate balance of skills that Framestore's known for.
The UX Toolkit plugin is available now for developers on GitHub and Kippy’s Escape can now be downloaded onto the HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset.
