For the second year we participated in theNFT Fest in Lugano And it has all been very different for us, and it is interesting how this festival is marking the stages of Metagate's maturation.
2022
Among the first objectives of Metagate at its inception was to participate in the first NFT Fest in Lugano as a significant event to aim for exhibition.
2023
The months have passed and indeed after almost a year since the beginning of our adventure we participated in the festival as the only company to bring augmented reality experiences and as a partner of the only AR metaverse on web3: Over the Reality.
To achieve this goal at the time we brought 26 AR experiences different in collaboration with various artists and influencers. We were quite nervous.. and I believe the organizers were not particularly convinced either, and for this, we are still grateful for the trust that was given to us.
In reality, everything went well and we even managed to create several contacts and test the experiences with really many people thanks to the smartphone, but with no small effort in explaining a product where the UX was challenging.
2024
Less than 12 months pass and in June 2024 we are back at the NFT Fest in Lugano, but this time we have much more experience of what works and what doesn't, and above all we finally have the right device.
I don't think we were really aware of how much we were playing with our hands tied behind our backs using only the smartphone. With the new Meta Quest 3 (which we prefer for various reasons over the Apple Vision PRO - Read here), we easily become the main attraction at an event.
The sequence is usually:
1. wearing the headset for a moment, I attract attention
2. immediately someone comes to try it and usually goes crazy with amazement gesticulating and exclaiming (magic hand tracking)
3. takes a photo and posts it on social media
4. we need to rip the visor off his head
As a funnel for an event, I would say we can't complain. Furthermore, we notice that if the event lasts more than one day, a word-of-mouth effect is immediately created, so on the following days, people arrive sent by those who experienced it on previous days.
But concretely, what did we bring to the festival this year?
We have "refreshed" the experiences on Over of the previous year integrating them with some experiences developed that we have created ourselves during the year to consolidate the ecosystem. In particular, we have realized an AR experience in which it is possible to customize one Beach chair 500 of Garage Italia through an interactive 3D model of it!
But above all, on the headset we had our 3 experiences for people to try: our "laboratory" where we test all the new features, a digital puppy to play with thanks to a ball, and finally an island that represented our world at the festival. There were all the logos of our partners, a little train to play with, the 3D eye of the festival, the Monster of Lugano by Giavarini, but most importantly, there was the possibility to customize a small plot of land with your own little house and leave a comment!
Here, going from having to chase people to not having the time to talk to everyone or let everyone try, makes us hope that we are on the right track.
Naturally all certified with POAP NFT!
Next step: multiplayer with co-location!!