Challenges that Every Aspiring VR App Developers Should Know

Posted by Vivek shah on May 29th, 2018

Virtual Reality has come of age, and aspiring developers are already after creating unique VR experiences. Yes, with so many VR gears in the market and the technology becoming sharper with every passing day, VR apps will continue to thrive. But, VR is still not for the vast majority of digital content consumers for various reasons. It is still not as mainstream and commonplace as GPS. An aspiring VR game developer or a developer aspiring to create something new with VR must know these unique challenges that VR apps face worldwide.

Some of the key challenges that every aspiring VR developer should face include the following:

Motion sickness

Though still, scientists didn't come with any specific findings of the outcome of VR on our brain and nervous system, the people playing VR game for hours most of the time complain about motion sickness. Most VR headset reviews also mention this. The question is how the VR apps of future can address this issue.

Many experts blame the difference between the real-life visuals and imagery of VR as the principal cause of this. Well, the improvement of VR headsets and apps will eventually make visuals almost real-life infused and that can help to solve this problem. A break of 30 minutes or so as Oculus suggests can be effective but it can spoil the total immersive effect as well.

Immersive experience with a wide field of view

Limited field of view is the biggest challenge to the immersive experience with most VR and AR apps and games. Google Cardboard offers 60 degrees diagonal field of view which is one of the best in the market. Well, if you think that this discourse concerning the field of view is entirely hardware based, you are wrong. Most of the latest VR apps are quite apt to take advantage of the full field of view of the respective headset to deliver immersive visuals.

There are three aspects to the problem about wider field of view. While the wider field of view often ends up making the device bulkier, most manufacturers try to strike a balance by opting for small Optics while not trying to sacrificing the immersion with a lesser field of view. While this contradiction works at the device level, app developers, on the other hand, can add a twist to an immersive experience with more true-to-life graphics and gripping flow of app screens.

Building VR apps for the mass market in future

VR is still not mainstream simply because VR headsets are costly. It is a promising market with the likes of Google and Facebook jumping the bandwagon with a lot of money. There has been a huge upsurge in the VR market with new devices trying to take over the price gap. So, sooner or later VR is going to be accessible to most users. The melting zone of standalone VR apps and mobile apps is also in the making.

With the mass adoption of VR being a very probable thing in the near future, developers need to gear up with their gritty craft to deliver unique VR based apps for several niches. In future, the biggest beneficiaries of VR based apps will be enterprises that need to connect several work processes and professionals. For collaborative tasks like prototyping and virtual designs, a new breed of collaborative VR apps is very likely to come.

Going beyond games

As most VR game development project requires a hefty investment, without a standout output, such investment looks a little out of place. There are even many addicted gamers who do not find any justification for buying an expensive VR headset. VR has been until now mostly related to games, and that is one reason it couldn't be a mass product. As the times are changing and VR headsets are getting cheaper more than ever before, we can expect app developers to come up with unique VR apps for diverse real life and relevant niches. A compelling must-have VR experience for some popular app niches can change the way we perceive VR as gaming technology.

One of the most tempting niches where VR experience can be effective is the movies. Moreover, VR specific movies will be much easier and challenging than the VR games. This can also solve a big problem for the majority of people who hate to move their limbs for VR actions. Unlike VR games, VR movies will only require passive watching. Such VR experience can help VR to enjoy a mass appeal beyond gaming.

We are also enthusiastic to see the interactiveness and immersion of game-like environment to make their way in enterprise apps. With the business collaboration getting the direct benefits of immersive game-like interactions, we can expect a whole new range of apps to appear. When the VR experience engages more people, the VR ecosystem of apps and devices will automatically thrive and prosper.

What was just a promise in the horizon until a few years ago, has now become a massive digital reality to penetrate into many spheres of life and digital interactions. For aspiring VR developers, this is a tremendous opportunity to dominate the app world with their unique creations.