For the second year we participated in theNFT Fest in Lugano and it has all been very different for us and it is peculiar 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 to exhibit.
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: Sopra la Realtà.
To achieve this milestone at the time we brought 26 AR experiences various in collaboration with several 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. indossando un attimo il headset attiro l'attenzione
2. immediately someone comes to try it and usually goes crazy with amazement gesturing and exclaiming (hand tracking magic)
3. takes a photo and posts it on social media
4. dobbiamo strappargli il headset dalla testa
As a funnel for an event, I would say we can't complain. Moreover, we notice that if the event lasts more days, a word-of-mouth effect is immediately created, so on the following days, people arrive sent by those who experienced it on the previous days.
But concretely, what have we brought to the festival this year?
We have "refreshed" the experiences on Over of the previous year, integrating them with some experiences developed in-house during the year to strengthen the ecosystem. In particular, we have created an AR experience in which it is possible to customize a Beach chair 500 of Garage Italia through an interactive 3D model of it!
Ma soprattutto sul headset abbiamo fatto provare 3 esperienze nostre: il nostro "laboratorio" in cui testiamo tutte le nuove funzionalità, un cagnolino digitale con cui poter giocare grazie ad una pallina e infine un'isola che rappresentava il nostro mondo al festival. C'erano quindi tutti i loghi dei nostri partner, un trenino con cui giocare, l'occhio 3D del festival, il Mostro di Lugano di Giavarini, ma soprattutto c'era la possibilità di customizzarsi un piccolo appezzamento di terra con la propria casetta e lasciare un commento!
Here, going from having to chase people to not having the time to talk to everyone or let everyone try, makes us hope we are on the right track.
Naturally all certified with POAP NFT!
Next step: multiplayer with co-location!!