Play to Pay — play changes how people buy.
A location-based, multiplayer AR game for retail stores: shoppers physically roam the space collecting virtual coins, compete on a live scoreboard, and redeem their winnings against real purchases.
The thesis question: can play move people through a store the way promotions are supposed to? Coins are placed deliberately next to promotional banners — players notice the promotion because the game put a reason to look there. Curiosity does the marketing.
The build: Unity with Vuforia Area Targets (a 3D scan of the store anchors virtual coins to precise physical locations) and Photon networking for real-time multiplayer — shared coin state, live player counts, a scoreboard that doubles as an invitation for bystanders to join.
Published as an academic paper through OCAD University's open research repository.
Unity
C#Vuforia Area TargetsPhoton PUN