SNAP is launching a new lens studio tool that AR creators and developers can use to build Bitmoji games, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The company is also releasing new assets for the gaming as well as a Bitmoji suite.
With Lens Studio 5.10, the new gaming assets offer developers a new way to build dynamic gaming lenses, the company said. It has a turn-based system to enable interactive gameplay and the ability to respond to challenges in the same game.
There are also new customizable character controllers that support a variety of gameplay styles, including third person, first person, side scroller, and top-down perspectives. The leaderboard is updated with new templates for the Start and End screens, standardized hybrid views of friends and global scores, and new friend-related metrics like “Friends Played”.
Bitmoji Suite offers new tools for personalizing and animating Bitmoji. Users can now design custom costumes for Bitmoji, generate stylized props, and animate them using Snap’s library.
The company is also launching a new collection of single-player and turn-based Bitmoji game lenses that allow users to play and challenge friends. New lenses include the Bitmoji Bistro, Bitmoji Buckets and Beatmoji Blast.
Users can already play a number of game lenses built by AR developers, but this is the first time Snap has introduced a collection of Bitmoji game lenses designed to challenge their friends.
“Lens Studio is excited to create more tools to strengthen the vibrant community of over 375,000 AR creators, developers and teams and to seamlessly build and publish lenses,” he said in an email to TechCrunch.
Snapchat also said developers can sign up for the opportunity to win cash awards to use Bitmoji suites and gaming assets in the Bitmojiverse Challenge.