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North Star sample overview

Updated: May 10, 2026

Overview

North Star is a nautical VR adventure and production-quality showcase built in Unity 6. With 232 C# scripts and 10 gameplay scenes, it demonstrates advanced techniques including iFFT ocean simulation, physics-based interactions, full body tracking, and comfort optimization.

Key features

FeatureImplementationDescription
Ocean simulation
iFFT (128×128, 16384 waves)
Quadtree LOD with CPU Burst jobs for physics queries
Locomotion
FakeMovement system
Reposition in LateUpdate, restore end of frame
Physics interactions
BaseJointInteractable<T> generic
Extensible joint-based interactables
Body tracking
Movement SDK + custom IK
Full body presence on the ship
Comfort
Horizon lock with 4 presets
Reduces motion sickness during ship movement
Rope simulation
Verlet integration
Burst jobs for performance
Rendering
PSO pre-warming
Custom ScriptableRenderPass for shader warmup

Ocean simulation

  • iFFT with 128×128 grid (16384 waves)
  • Quadtree LOD for efficient rendering at distance
  • CPU Burst jobs for real-time physics queries against the ocean surface

FakeMovement system

// Reposition player in LateUpdate to simulate ship movement
// Restore original position at end of frame to avoid physics conflicts
void LateUpdate() {
    // Reposition player relative to ship
}
void OnEndOfFrame() {
    // Restore for next physics step
}

Physics interactables

The generic BaseJointInteractable<T> provides a foundation for physics-based interactions:
  • CrankInteractable — Rotational crank mechanics
  • LeverInteractable — Linear lever mechanics

Comfort settings

Four horizon lock presets to reduce motion sickness during ship movement:
PresetDescription
Off
No comfort aids
Subtle
Mild horizon stabilization
Moderate
Balanced comfort and immersion
Strong
Maximum stabilization

Technical details

  • 232 C# scripts across 10 gameplay scenes
  • Verlet rope simulation with Burst jobs for performance
  • PSO pre-warming via custom ScriptableRenderPass to eliminate shader compilation stutter
  • 9 external packages

Requirements

  • Quest with hand and body tracking enabled
  • Unity 6 (6000.0.59f2)
  • Meta XR SDK v77

Getting started

git clone https://github.com/oculus-samples/Unity-NorthStar.git
  1. Open the project in Unity 6 (6000.0.59f2)
  2. Install Meta XR SDK v77
  3. Enable hand and body tracking on your Quest device
  4. Build and deploy to Quest
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