MiniDevs launch AR/VR platform Mixiply

Mixiply is now available in beta, and last week the MiniDevs held an event at school to celebrate what we’ve achieved together.

“This has been one of the most extraordinary projects I've had the privilege to work on during my teaching career.” Marianne Malmstrom, Digital Design Teacher, Newlands Intermediate School

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The origins of the MiniDevs

The collaboration began when Theta’s emerging technologies architect Jim Taylor teamed up with teacher Marianne Malmstrom, and their team won the Future Realities hackathon at Techweek 2017.

We were keen to keep working together, to see where the collaboration might take us, and Marianne recruited a group of seven students to accompany us on the journey. The MiniDevs were born.

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Two years of MiniDevs

Over the last two years, we’ve developed a pick-a-path game together, explored all sorts of cool technology, presented our work at PROJECTR, at Techweek 2018, and at Education in Games Australia.

We’ve introduced the MiniDevs to Microsoft, run a hackathon and shared the magic of Mixiply, the AR/VR platform we developed, at the NZ Games Festival.

In 2018 our work was featured in the Education Gazette.

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The MiniDevs today

The MiniDevs are now working with Mixiply in a design/development studio model, called Epsilon, and last week hosted an event for invited guests, to showcase Mixiply and what we have achieved together.

Event organiser, Newlands College student and MiniDev Heena Sharma outlines the goals of the collaboration and how Mixiply fits in:

Our aim is to prove that harnessing the creativity of kids is the key to preparing for the real world. Kids have the ability to achieve great things when given the freedom to explore. We believe Mixiply is a tool that can help that happen in school. Users can express their creativity by designing and developing their own content for virtual and augmented reality.

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What is Mixiply?

Mixiply is a platform for creating and sharing AR/VR games and apps.

It’s a product of Theta’s Innovation Lab, developed in close collaboration with the MiniDevs of Newlands Intermediate School.

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What can you do with Mixiply?

Make your own awesome mixed reality games and experiences and share them with others.

It's also a great place to learn about creating for mixed reality.

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What does it work on?

AR-capable mobile devices (iPhone, Android), Windows Mixed Reality platform and HoloLens.

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Who’s it for?

Intermediate and high school students.