Niantic Labs Shows Upcoming ‘Pokemon GO’ Sunset Visual’s Animated Preview at GDC 2017

Niantic Labs showed at the Game Developers Conference 2017 a confirmed animation from an upcoming version of “Pokemon GO.” Dennis Hwang, director of interaction and visual design at Niantic Labs, previewed the animation when he gave the talk “Pokemon GO & Designing Interactive Games for the Real World” on Wednesday. Among the features of the new animation that stood out are wind animations and leaf animations.

Limited Time Leads To Sunset Scrapping

Hwang reveals that the small team which designed the visuals for the new version of “Pokemon GO” scrapped the sunset for the initial release because of limited time. For them, having only a Day and Night cycle made more sense, Pokemon Go Hub reports. But with Niantic Labs doubling the size of its team and having gained more experience with the mobile platform, they look forward to further expand the game’s visuals, according to GeekR8.

Uploader reports that the “Pokemon GO” map used to look differently. The Pokemon and the player popped off the surface on a mostly white view of the world in the game’s first version. The team added vegetation to make the world feel greener. But when the team noticed it was too green, the included simple shapes.

Map Based On Real World Happenings

Hwang shares that since Niantic Labs wanted the map to change based on real world happenings, they tested settings for overcast days and sunsets. The team plans to add more weather interactions to “Pokemon GO.” To make the game more immersive for players outside of Japan, Niantic Labs veered away from anime aesthetic. The team made the avatars to look older instead of young children who are often the star in Japanese anime. By giving virtual representation to older players, Niantic Labs hoped older players could identify more with the game.

Niantic Labs also applied on “Pokemon GO” their experience in developing “Ingress,” the company’s first location-based game, by keeping most of the buttons on the bottom half of the screen, away from corners where it is harder to reach, allowing gamers to push the buttons with their thumb while holding their phone with one hand.