FashionAR
Image: FortuneFish

After a prolonged hiatus from social media, Rare co-founder Tim Stamper has tweeted about his new company's latest project – and those of you expecting a new 3D platformer are going to be disappointed.

Stamper's tweet shows off Fashion AR, a smartphone app for iOS that combines fashion, photography and gaming via the wonders of Augmented Reality. It's not a million miles away from Nintendo's Style Savvy / New Style Boutique series, but with an AR twist.

Here's some PR:

Fashion AR brings fashion styling to life in a way you’ve never seen before. Dress and style your model, pose her in the real world, take photos and share your favourites to win prizes.

Everyone’s going to be talking about Fashion AR, so strike a pose and catwalk your style. Taking fashion into places it’s never been before, Fashion AR is all set to take global smartphone gaming by storm.

- A diverse collection of charismatic character models
- Hundreds of dynamic 3D outfits and accessories for countless clothing combinations
- Augmented Reality technology for real world fashion photoshoots
- Daily fashion challenges, weekly competitions and global fashion events
- Chat, share and compare fashion photos with friends

Fashion AR is developed by FortuneFish, the Nottingham-based studio established in 2013 by Tim and Chris Stamper and run by Tim's son, Joe. Tim and Chris, of course, are famous for founding Rare in the '80s, the company which would go on to develop the likes of GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie for the N64. Nintendo bought a 49% stake in the firm in the early '90s, only to sell it when Microsoft purchased the entire studio in 2002 for $375 million – something which puzzles Tim Stamper to this very day. Rare's current projects include Sea of Thieves and Everwild.

FortuneFish previously released a demo version of Donkey Kong Country-style music platformer Kroko Bongo: Tap to the Beat! in 2017, but the title sadly never got a full release. The studio's focus since then has been Fashion AR, but its website has artwork that suggests it has other gaming projects in development.

[source twitter.com]