Hey Product Hunt! This is Ziah Fogel, Director of Production on Peridot at Niantic! I am very excited to introduce you to Peridot 🤩 — Niantic's newest contribution to augmented reality, bringing whimsically lovable, 100% genetically unique pets (called Peridots - or Dots for short) to your world. You may be familiar with Niantic as the makers of Pokémon GO — which we launched on Product Hunt back in 2016! 🥳 Well we're back — with a wholly new concept and completely unique experience. 🥚 What is Peridot? Peridot is a heartwarming & groundbreaking tamagotchi-style game set in the real world, enriched by groundbreaking application of augmented reality and AI. 🌈 Designing infinite magical creatures We built a generative system called the "Perigenetics System." Players (or “Keepers”) care for one-of-a-kind Dots — nurturing them to adulthood while exploring the real world together. Each Dot is truly special because of how it is generated. Similar to real animals, each Dot has a set of unique “genes'' which determines its appearance — and the game’s generation algorithms use these genes to construct an infinite number of permutations. The math behind the Perigenetics System becomes pretty staggering — delivering a scale and diversity of gameplay that we think is unique to this universe. To dive in, check out this post. 🤖 Technology behind Peridot Developed entirely within Niantic, Peridot is powered by Niantic’s Lightship ARDK. Thanks to years of computer vision and AI research, Dots interact with real-world surroundings in remarkably realistic ways — and get smarter in how they behave over time. Real-time environment mapping means that the creature knows how to navigate through the world properly, so you can play fetch — and the ball will bounce off the wall while your Dot avoids obstacles as it goes to retrieve it. Dots will hide behind and walk around objects rather than through them thanks to obstacle occlusion. For the first time, we’re using a novel AI technique called semantic segmentation to enable these creatures to understand the real world and act intelligently: Peridots forage in the dirt for a prickly beet snack, dive into water and retrieve kelp, or rustle through foliage to bring back a blue tomato. Dots also understand trees, sand, concrete, grass, people, pets, as well as other objects — enabling fun new immersive gameplay experiences. Linger long enough and your Dot might stop to smell the roses 🌹, or if your Dot notices a TV 📺, it may even poke you to turn it off and go play outside! 🎁 To celebrate our launch...! Until May 22, when you download Peridot, you'll get a celebratory “Launch Party Hat”. Get in early to meet your Dot and customize them before anyone else! :) We also put together a collection of virtual backgrounds to decorate your Zoom or Google Meet calls. You can download them here. We can't wait to see what you think of our game, and we'd love your feedback to help us make Peridot even better. What activities would you like to enjoy with your Dots? What do you think about this new tech? Tell us everything! 🙂 And thanks so much to @chrismessina for hunting us! ✨ Let’s explore the whimsical world of Peridot together! ✨ Follow Peridot on your favorite: TikTok Twitter Instagram Facebook Youtube

I loved my Tamagotchi. Yes, I am that old. This looks like a revival, I am really looking forward to showing this to my kids! A question: do you have any educational bits in the game?

THEY ARE SO CUUUUUTE 🥰 I absolutely love the concept of Peridot and the adorable Dots you've created. The use of AR and AI to bring these magical pets to life in the real world is just amazing! Can these Dots learn new tricks or behaviors over time based on our interactions with them? Can't wait to try it!!

I love Tamagotchis! I'm also excited about the prospect of AR games that work well, so this seems GREAT! Downloaded right away. The AR is a bit glitchy. Like, the Peridot “sits” in the air, or it thinks it’s behind something when it’s right in front of me. The ball in fetch goes through walls… And so on. But I like the spirit! You know, I was crazy excited about Pokemon Go when it first launched—it even got me to go outside! But then Niantic banned rooted devices and I could no longer use it :) Even though you didn’t need root access to cheat, all rooted phones were banned to keep the game “fair” :) I’m still very sour about that, so we’ll see if this is worth it.

Wow such a great work. I loved Pokémon game and fond of the other things like that. Super excited to give it a try. Is it available worldwide or in just specific regions?

I actually tried this out since I'm thinking of building an AR product for my senior project, and it's not bad. Kudos to whichever PM decided to make them all genetically unique and even more kudos to the devs who implemented it. My dot has little devil horns 😈

The concept is excellent, and everyone responsible for putting together your first video did a fantastic job! Huge congrats on the launch 👏👏👏

Cool cute experience ✨. Can't wait to see the massive magical land become the new trend and take over the world again soon 🥳. However, yet to now the app hasn't supported any of my Android devices 🥲.

It's concerning to see Niantic continuing to release new games and features that collect vast amounts of user data, especially location information and individual data tied to the device and personal activity. While they have addressed minor privacy concerns in the past, it's crucial for users to remain vigilant and question how their data is being used, stored, and potentially shared with third parties. As consumers, it's essential to demand transparency and hold companies accountable for their data practices to ensure user privacy is protected.

Congrats on shipping, Peridot AR Tamagotchi team! Love to see more original, new projects from Niantic that nudge people to go out for their daily walk and spend more time in their local communities.

🌟 Wow, Niantic, you've done it again! Your new AR animal feeding game is absolutely incredible! I'm thrilled to see how you continue to push the boundaries of augmented reality gaming. The concept of nurturing and feeding virtual animals in a mobile game is both innovative and heartwarming. It's like having a virtual pet that comes to life right in front of you!

Oh man, This feels like such an awesome reboot in a good way. I remember the OG Tamagotchis from the 90s and how totally addictive they were! An AI game version seems very fitting for 2023 :)

Congrats on the launch! Don't see AI used here very often

There needs to be more cute things like this on PH 🥹 Congrats on the launch!

It's a great game. My only gripe is you can't turn off the AR like Pokemon Go and because of this it drains the battery.

They look so cuuute! And they bring back some Pokemon Go memories, but without the competitions aspect, haha Maybe one day the Dots can fight against Pokemons in the Niantic championship, that'd be awesome 😎 Overall, this augmented reality game looks clean and amazing! Congrats on the launch 🚀

I'm shocked that this game requires constant nest purchases, especially when I know that once only one purchase was required.

Already loving Peridot. I've been making AR, VR and Mixed Reality experiences for a vast array of large companies (including the likes of Nike, Microsoft, Sony) over the last 10 years+ I know how much goes into creating a product people enjoy using... Very well done to all the Niantc teams involved in this one... great work. Cant wait to see how my little Dot matures ;)

Peridot sounds like an incredibly fun and innovative game from Niantic! The idea of augmenting reality with adoptable magical pets and allowing players to hatch unique creatures by finding and matching with other players' pets is truly fascinating. I can imagine how exciting it must be to explore this whimsical world and collect these adorable creatures. It's great to see game developers like Niantic pushing the boundaries of what's possible in gaming and creating new and unique experiences for players to enjoy. I can't wait to see what Peridot has in store!

When AR wife? :)