Can i develop desktop VR games / App with Ocolus Quest with Link?

Do i have to use Rift or Quest is ok for desktop VR development?
What should i pay attention?
How hard it is to publish VR staff on Steam?
What advice would you give to someone starting in Desktop VR development?

 

Hi. FYI my new book "Unity Virtual Reality Projects (Third Edition)" due out in July will be full of advice and small projects

 

Inputs, and Control are the most important thing in VR. This will make or break your game. I can't stress this enough, fluid bug free controls are essential to your success. Also, figure out what platforms you want to support from the beginning.

If I can give one single advice from my experience, it would be to separate out the VR logic and interaction system (VR inputs/controller support/logic around that) from your game and everything else. Ideally you should be able to delete that VR systems folder and still play the game (of course you will have few references but you know what I mean). This was the my biggest mistake I made, but mostly because I simply didn't know a lot of the fundamentals in programing (still learning!!). I had to learn everything from scratch including coding principles so I made a lot of mistakes -Read up on SOLID principles and understand it.

What rapidly change in VR are the hardware, drivers, vendor APIs and unity packages such as XR management. Everything else will more or less stay the same. So when this happens you want to be able update your VR side of things without breaking the game.

This will save you tons of time in the long term management of your project. Keep in mind that VR is rapidly changing and you will have to keep up with hardware/compatibility. Good news is Unity has a lot of tools help keep duties separated within your game too. Definitely look into using XR Management (https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/XRPluginArchitecture.html, https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/configuring-project-for-xr.html) over using a third party plugin.

Also try to use Unity's built in systems before you try to use third party assets. They are great for small, short term projects but anything that is expected to last over a year, unless I fully trust that asset and I know they are on top of their game with Unity updates etc, I'd consider making my own stuff.

Publishing is the easy part, it's not hard or easier than publishing a non vr game on steam, just few extra steps like setting the launch options. Be sure to get a test group and test before you publish the game. And start testing (with others) as soon as possible, from day 1 if you can.

It can feel very frustrating and physically tiring at times but it is also a lot of fun and rewarding.

Excuse any typos or errors in wording, I am writing this in a rush (have to start work) and feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

 

Oh and I missed your first question. Take a look at the two links I posted and it will clarify things.

I personally wouldn't call Quest, desktop VR, it is more like mobile VR, it has a gpu similar to a mobile GPU. Depending on what you what you develop/performance needs you might not even be able to run it in mobile.

Also this video might help.

It talks about XR and Quest.