Hi
I want to create a room where up to 8 people can meet in VR (using google cardboard). Each player will have an avatar and then I want to project one person, with a 360 camera into that space. They will interact with everyone in the room through speech and text
I don’t know where to start! I have done some searches on the asset store but not found anything that might make this easy… so perhaps it is bespoke? I have read a few posts on multiplayer and it sounds like Unity may not be the best platform.
(I am not worried about marketing or biz related issues, just technically how I can start breaking this down)
I started using Unity this year and can do all the basics but on a steep learning curve. I like a challenge but is this way beyond my pay grade?
If you are looking for something you can just drag and drop and hit play then yes that’s probably not going to happen. And if you have very little experience with Unity, programing and VR in general, it will take you work on learning some things. Best way I know how to do this actually by actually doing it.
Figure out what the absolute minimum and smallest piece from what you described above, and break it down to smaller pieces (Google card board, basic multiplayer, and projection etc…) Google card board part is probably going to be the easiest, projecting is doable too but you will need to learn how 360 videos would play and stream (this probably will be the most difficult in this scenario) in Unity and the multiplayer part, well if they are just sitting at one spot, and looking at the projection it probably wouldn’t be too hard. But then again “hard” is a relative term and it all depends on your experience level.
I wouldn’t give up so quickly and since you say you like a challenge, at least spend couple of days and try it out. Worse that can happen is you will have learned A LOT.
thanks for this. So, I already have a single player Cardboard app up and running. I have got 360 videos playing and have worked out how to place objects within that film to mix CGI and film.
I think the bit that I find daunting is how to turn this into a multiplayer experience, followed by the creation of avatars for each player. If I can then place those avatars within the streaming video then I have reached the finish line.
What I have in mind is creating something like a scene you get in VRChat. I have assumed that I can’t use the VRChat engine and integrate with my Unity app to create a private area without the need to set up a second account. But probably worth checking this assumption!
Any recommendations on 101 tutorials for going multiplayer and creating avatars would be gratefully received
Sounds like you have already done the hard part (at least for me), which is the 360 video
There is something called Mirror, it is the old Unity multiplayer solution they depreciated, but some people took over and I think now it is opensource.
You can also look into the new Unity multiplayer, not sure what the status is thought, it might still be under development.
The only thing you are syncing across is the player position/rotation, right?
If it’s like an RTS it’s probably pretty difficult to do. But honestly, your scenario sounds pretty basic case of multiplayer. I should mention though, getting a few people to show up in multiplayer will be relatively easy but to use this commercially you might have to do some work. I mean like the lobby, authentication, and other things.
Thank you, that’s really helpful
I’ve gone through pain of deprecated against under developed unity option with xr manager and both are a pain! But will try their new version first
