A new Mixed Reality experience is giving you the chance to raise your own adorable family of porgs, the small bird creatures from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The software, Project Porg, has launched exclusively for Magic Leap headset and looks to bring a companion style experience to Star Wars VR/MR library.
Project Porg is the latest creation from Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB, a division of the company which focuses solely on immersive experiences using different headsets and reality-altering technology. Its previous works have helped Star Wars fans experience the more action-driven moments from the franchise, including the iconic battle of Hoth and a lightsaber equipped tour of Tatooine. This new project, however, came about when the team decided they wanted to give fans the experience of having a Star Wars pet, a companion that wasn’t just another droid.
Enter the disarmingly sweet porgs, who were first introduced to audiences on the mythical Jedi planet of Anch-To in the latest saga film. Now, Project Porg gives you one of your own to care for and eventually breed more of. Like the other ILMxLAB experiences this one also comes with a lore appropriate narrative which sees you the recipient of a package from Chewbacca who has sent you the young porg along with instructions on how to care for it. A hologram of the droid C3-PO, voiced by Anthony Daniels of the films, will guide you through the dos and don’ts of porg raising.
The actual gameplay of the experience looks somewhere between Nintendogs and Tamagotchi as you’ll need to play with, feed, and generally take care of the small creatures. You’ll be able to play a variety of games with the porgs, such as fetch using a Chewbacca doll and a laser pointer which the porg will gleefully chase. The porgs featured in the game were modeled with help from the The Last Jedi visual effects team who first brought the creatures to screens in 2017.
Vicki Dobbs Beck, the executive in charge of ILMxLAB, said she hopes that the Project Porg experience will be an uplifting, aspirational experiment which sparks the imagination of users. Ideally, Beck would like for these experiences to be taken out into the real world with users to places like the upcoming Star Wars theme park Galaxy’s Edge.
Project Porg is available now for the Magic Leap headset, you can check it out here.
