May Developer Recap

May was packed with several big blog highlights, including the release of v40 and the availability of the full set of Presence Platform capabilities that we revealed at Connect last fall. We also took a look at how Application SpaceWarp improves performace and how to optimize a PC VR demo for Meta Quest 2, followed by tips and tools to improve your development workflow and a look at the development process of recent Oculus Launch Pad program graduates. In case you missed one of the highlights, take a look back at our developer blog posts from May.

Showdown on Quest Part 1: How App SpaceWarp Improves Performance
Showdown is a PC VR demo built by Epic with UE4. First shown at Oculus Connect 2014, Showdown presents an action cinematic in bullet-time slow motion and was originally released for the Oculus Rift. In this article—the first of two—we will examine how Application SpaceWarp (AppSW) improved the performance of Showdown and demonstrate how you can profile the impact of AppSW and other render settings yourself.

Showdown on Quest Part 2: How We Optimized the PC VR demo for Meta Quest 2
In this article, we reviewed how we converted Showdown to Quest 2, our conversion process, how to identify performance bottlenecks, and describe specific optimizations to address CPU and GPU heavy apps. This post is intended as a reference for developers porting their own project to Quest.

Oculus Launch Pad Grads Megan Scott and Gerardo Hernandez Share the Development Process Behind ‘Hey Pops!’
Each year, Oculus Launch Pad supports promising VR content creators from diverse backgrounds as they iterate on their unique ideas and bring them to market. In this edition in our Oculus Launch Pad Q&A series, 2020 grant recipients Megan Scott and Gerardo Hernandez spoke with us about their involvement with Launch Pad and how it helped shape their career and the development of Hey Pops!, a cooperative narrative VR experience where players step into the small town of Bluewoods, past and present, as siblings who work together to find the truth about their famous grandfather’s disappearance.

Stay Informed of App Enforcements with the Compliance Dashboard Beta
We launched the Beta for a new Compliance Dashboard that will help you manage and track compliance on items such as Data Use Checkups, Data Protection Assessment, or privacy policy reviews. Staying compliant ensures we’re working together to maintain a safe and thriving ecosystem for all VR users.

Oculus Developer Hub (ODH) 2.5
Oculus Developer Hub (ODH) helps you improve development iteration time, measure app performance, and stay informed on Oculus developer news. Our latest update includes new capabilities and improvements to several existing features that will improve your daily development workflow.

Increasing Security for Apps on the Meta Quest Platform
Starting June 23, 2022, Meta will require developers submitting binaries for distribution on the Meta Quest platform to fix any critical security vulnerabilities that our automated scanning systems detect at the submission stage. This is to further our commitment for a secure and trustworthy ecosystem. This blog provides details on how you can successfully publish your binaries to Meta Quest Platform.

Building Your Multiplayer VR Experience: Platform SDK and Unity SharedSpaces Sample
Multiplayer experiences have become an increasingly important part of the VR ecosystem. Multiplayer features make it easy for people to find, invite and play together in various games and apps. In this four-part “Building Your Multiplayer VR Experience” blog and video series, we’ll discuss the Platform SDK multiplayer features in Quest by exploring our open-sourced SharedSpaces sample made in Unity, and show you how to use the sample to build your own multiplayer app.

Building Mixed Reality Experiences with Presence Platform
With the release of the v40 SDK, the full set of Presence Platform capabilities that we revealed at Connect last fall are now available. We’ll also be taking mixed reality experiences to the next level with color passthrough technology on Project Cambria, our next-generation VR headset.

Be sure to keep an eye out for upcoming blog posts expanding on a number of these updates and join the conversation on Twitter⁠ and Facebook⁠.