Book Image

Virtual Reality Blueprints

By : Charles Palmer, John Williamson
Book Image

Virtual Reality Blueprints

By: Charles Palmer, John Williamson

Overview of this book

Are you new to virtual reality? Do you want to create exciting interactive VR applications? There's no need to be daunted by the thought of creating interactive VR applications, it's much easier than you think with this hands-on, project-based guide that will take you through VR development essentials for desktop and mobile-based games and applications. Explore the three top platforms—Cardboard VR, Gear VR, and OculusVR —to design immersive experiences from scratch. You’ll start by understanding the science-fiction roots of virtual reality and then build your first VR experience using Cardboard VR. You'll then delve into user interactions in virtual space for the Google Cardboard then move on to creating a virtual gallery with Gear VR. Then you will learn all about virtual movements, state machines, and spawning while you shoot zombies in the Oculus Rift headset. Next, you'll construct a Carnival Midway, complete with two common games to entertain players. Along the way, you will explore the best practices for VR development, review game design tips, discuss methods for combating motion sickness and identify alternate uses for VR applications
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Process overview – Part 1

Because of the size and scope of the tasks associated with this project, we will break down the content into two parts. Part 1, listed as follows, addresses the early stages of development. These include setting up the software environment, constructing the gameplay environment, and implementing the macro-navigational system:

  • Preparing Unity for VR development on the Rift
  • Loading the Oculus Virtual Reality Plugin (OVRP)
  • Building the game environment
  • Combating motion sickness
  • Implementing movement

Preparing Unity for VR development on the Rift

We will be using the free Unity Personal License for Unity 2017.3 which, along with Unity 5.x, offers built-in support for the Rift. You are free to...