PICOVO

PICOVO is a multiplayer mobile AR game that transforms physical space into a competitive game board. Rather than treating detected surfaces as passive backdrops, PICOVO makes every table, floor, and wall a contested territory that players physically claim, paint, and defend in real time.



The central design innovation is a shared virtual workbench — the only location where players can switch tools. This single spatial constraint forces players to physically leave their claimed surfaces, creating moments of vulnerability that opponents can exploit. In the first playtest session using this mechanic, a player spontaneously shouted "Don't touch my table" — the kind of emergent social moment that no scripted content could produce.



Built in Unity 2022.3 with AR Foundation 5.1, the game supports 2–4 players on iOS and Android with a custom Shadow Plane Protocol that synchronizes AR plane detection across devices, reducing inconsistency errors from 40% to under 3%. The 16-bit pixel art UI in a soft macaron palette keeps the experience visually approachable while maintaining clear information hierarchy.



Across 36 playtesting sessions with 72 participants, physical movement per session increased nearly fivefold compared to non-spatial baselines. Unprompted replay requests rose from 1 in 72 to 31 in 72 — a direct measure of experience quality. The room itself became the design material.