The first ever augmented reality powered novel
Highlights
- 144 page print book linked to a mobile AR app
- Creator/ Author, Japhet Asher, designer Russell Porter, app developed by Scary Beasties, published by Carlton Books
- Over 300,000 copies sold in 14 countries and 9 languages
- Winner of the Futurebook Book of the Year and a Bologna Ragazzi Award
The Ghostkeeper’s Journal & Field Guide: An Augmented Reality Adventure
Welcome to SPRUNG, the Society for the Pursuit of the Reputedly Undead, Namely Ghosts!
The Ghostkeeper’s Journal is a completely new book and app experience which takes you into a magical world of ghosts and spirits. Powerful new Augmented Reality effects lead you through a gripping story that lets you become the hero. Follow the story through the Journal, then view the pages through the Ghost-o-Matic app to see pictures move, reveal hidden messages, and trap dangerous phantoms.
Take a look inside…
Agamemnon White – SPRUNG Ghostkeeper, child prodigy and tuna sandwich obsessive – has gone missing. All that remains of him is his Journal. As the head of Ghostkeeping for the Western region, Ag was collecting the most powerful ecto-energy types known to man in this very book. Your task? Read Ag’s Journal and use the app to retrace his footsteps and help rescue him.
You’ll join a team of unconventional ecto-sensitive SPRUNG Operatives including paranormal gadget inventor Lily Zhang, secretive psychic librarian Nettie Dahl, and the enigmatic and powerful Darko Mantich. Not to mention Jeremiah Goodrough, SPRUNG’s legendary and magnificently bearded founder. Together, you just might piece together the mystery.
But beware… the moment you open this book, you will release the ghosts Ag trapped inside. It’s up to you to recapture them and solve the mystery of his disappearance… without disappearing yourself!
Impact
Our goal was to tell a story that had emotional and visceral impact by delivering a book that genuinely feels haunted, with a narrative path that pushes you from page to digital elements and back. You find additional pages of the journal in the digital layer to complete the story, and must ultimately return the ghosts you discover in AR to the pages of the book to uncover the final resolution.
I’m proud that the book has brought some screen-loving kids back to books. I’m also really pleased to have received letters from parents of autistic children who noticed that the main character Ag has traits similar to kids with that condition, and that the puzzles he must solve benefit from skills that such children often share.
You can buy the book here.
Polarity Reversal 