Why VR development does not suit you

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How does virtual reality work.

Hello, everyone! My name is Grigory Uncle-ichenko, and I’m in charge of AR/VR. (There’s a bang on the floor). I’ve been in AR/VR for more than four years, although I’m not just doing them, I’m doing all kinds of custom projects all the time. I worked in the studios, I was a freelancer for a long time, and I even had my own studio for a year. Today I want to tell from different points of view and nuances "why you should not go to VR" as a developer. If you’re interested in what you’re going to encounter in virtual reality, welcome to the quat!

VR for enthusiasts

In general if you are a technology enthusiast, you like VR or you dream that someday we will all sit in our helmets at home and become more beautiful, stronger, smarter, then this article is not for you. Because I’m going to talk about purely domestic issues, nuances, constraints that the enthusiast won’t have a role to play. However, VR development differs mainly from the same web, backend, desktop or mobile development.

Very expensive equipment

There’s a little backstory here. First of all, in the studios it doesn’t play such a role for the developer, because the equipment is given, and when I worked in the companies, I didn’t have to think about it. Second, you have to split the desktop VR and mobile VR a little bit. In mobile VR - it’s just expensive, in desktop VR - it’s unrealistically expensive.

When I started freelancing I had a nice MSI laptop for 40k rubles and Gearvr with the last samsung flagship. Thus, the total cost of the set was about 130k rubles. In general, in my opinion, the minimum (not the most comfortable) set for the Unity freelancer is a laptop from 40-50k rubles. You can already develop custom projects with him. For mobile VR, at the current moment of time you need to buy another Oculus Quest - which costs about 60k rubles (i.e., more than your laptop). It’s already 100k rubles, which isn’t that cheap. Especially not for Moscow.

Virtual reality applications

But take the worst case. Desktop VR. What do we need? Computer, monitor (at least one), keyboard, mouse, HTC Vive (at least one). And there is this minimal set of well about 200-250k rubles. Since the minimum video card for development is 1060 in this case. That’s a lot of money. At least now it’s good that Unity has abstraction over different controllers, in ancient times, you had to write buttons for everyone, and it’s very uncomfortable when you have a wai but no oculus. No sweating it out.

For mobile AR you need minimal - good phone. The best price-quality ratio in my experience so far is Redmi Note 7. It can be found for 10-11k rubles, so it’s not all bad. It has problems, and it’s not exactly an iPhone. But it’s perfect for testing (now it’s a basic test device on an android). There is one truth that this is only appropriate for studying AR or developing only under an android, which is rare (although in b2b problems is) On ionos is correspondingly Iphone 8 - 25k. Plus to make macbook comfortable, but at first you can use Unity Cloud Build. + The developer’s account is 150 dollars a year (about 10-11k at the current rate). What is the total of 90-100k. Why do we need an iPhone? Even in Arfoundation, the same API works differently on Android and IOS. Especially for markers

Learn ar/vr development.

I mean, I’ve had a huge amount of equipment in my year. I’ve got a few helmets, I’ve got sticky ears, I’ve got a bunch of phones and stuff.

I mean, it’s a composite.
The minimum set for commercial Unity development is 40k-50k rubles (then you can go ahead and buy yourself SSD and other charms of life for comfortable development) It is better not to buy a macbook at the start if you have decided to work with 3d. Because there’s a problem with making light. And unlike 50K macbook, there are laptops with normal video cards on the windshield where it doesn’t become pain.

• Minimum set for mobile VR - 100k-110k rubles
• The minimum set for VR is 200-250k rubles.
• Minimum set for mobile AR - 90k-100k rubles

And yes, without equipment, you can’t. Even if you have a lot of work experience, you can "face to face" only part of the task. If we touch any games, they have to be tested in a helmet. In mobile and web development, the truth is also not always so smooth, because different phones are needed. But it depends on the task, and at least that means you already have a project. Although someone in the comments can share what in your opinion is the minimum set for such things as frontend, backend, etc. Personally in my opinion for the backend is one of the simplest minimum sets, because on SSH we go to the virtual, even from the teapot. And then it’s the comfort of working, so that the locally virtuoso, the enviroment, and actually buy the macbook.

Testing

Perhaps my greatest pain. I, as an experienced developer, first of all, make a system to abstract inputt and do 90% of the work in the engine. I mean, a shooter? So 3d controller - shoot. Text inputt? Also carry on screen. Complex algorithm or visualization? A test script that runs different versions of the input data.

And working in a studio or company, you have a work area where you can test everything. In general, compared to any other development, I’m still frustrated with tasks that can only be performed outside of Unity and different Ides when it is necessary to take the device in hand. In mobile gameplay, it would be nice to play what you do. Especially if you don’t understand UX, but it’s less critical in many cases. Let’s say in turn-based games or puzzles. And the main question is whether you answer for UX. If not, and you do not have a scrum team - this is not necessary, although it is useful. Most bugs (not all) are caught within the framework.

Any AR/VR mechanics is tested only in hardware. One of the most convenient AR/VR interfaces in the world is to treat every element as a physical object. So you have to look at how your powers, your physical mechanics, etc. In addition to the gaydline on this topic, you have to look at what the fonts of reading say. Because of the resolution problems - the graphics don’t work. Plus, the user doesn’t get seasick in your content. The zero-gravity mechanics alone for one project (the user moved from the walls) I calibrated for two weeks at speeds and their attenuation so that the game did not turn into a blevatron.

And it’s really only in a helmet. There are still a number of nuances in AR related to marker testing, tracking, and others, which also makes testing more difficult than in many other forms of development. For enthusiasts, of course, this probably won’t even be a problem, but this brings up the following problem.

Forget about travel if you’re working on VR

It’s a little ironic to say this now, but it wasn’t always, and I’m sure the world will be back to normal. Traveling to develop VR projects is a 25-litre backpack that will have: a gaming laptop, Vive, tripod, and you will look rather suspicious at airports. And hotel rooms or booking are very specific. Because ideally, there would be at least three-by-three meters of free space to put the tripod in. Or most likely you will travel on 360 panoramas in VR with beautiful savannah and other views.

History of virtual reality.

In the case of freelance travel, it’s hard, but some people I know can do it. It’s certainly not like the pictures on the Internet, because you don’t work on the beach with Mai-tai and the cartoons, but in the room, under the conditioner, praying that the Internet will pull and everything will work out. But you can spend the evening as you want, or you can spend the time when the work ends, because in Asia, it’s not that expensive, and you can’t work 24/7.

Also, VR projects are quite large. My average project weighs 2-3GB over 3 years. On the Internet in hotels and on the Internet outside of the Russian Federation, it is difficult to transfer such files.

With mobile virtual reality it’s a little bit easier. The quest is not that big, and the test places are smaller.

VR development is difficult

In my opinion, it should not be frightening, but it is worth mentioning nevertheless. A good and interesting VR is a pancake. Because of the unrealistic degree of freedom, and the way you get a good dive, there’s tons of math and physics. Many standard tricks, even from 3d development, are not applicable. The way a user interacts with the world needs to think deeply - because the arbitrary movement of hands in 3D is difficult.

Let’s say in terms of the same tennis-type games. Under a desktop is basically a button-pressed signal. In VR, you have to calculate which acceleration and direction of speed to give the ball at the moment of collision, so that the user believes where the ball went and can play comfortably (and these are not always simple formulas).

That’s why there are more requirements for optimization, for knowledge of mathematics, physics, shaders and so on than there are for conventional development. It’s something I like, but it could be a problem for someone.

If it doesn’t scare you

In general, VR/AR development has one great advantage. It is interesting with its ignorance and there is infinite scope for experimentation. Many times, something beautiful happens by chance. Because you don’t think, "Why, was that possible?"

But after three years of working with these technologies, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is more for technology enthusiasts. Thank you for your attention, and I hope this information will be useful to someone. Plus, maybe someone has something to add to it.