Need advice on architecture for dual device installations

Unity Services
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My background
Experienced in 2d, 3d and VR experiences … no multiplayer experience, want to focus on the best approach rather than spend more time than necessary researching what’s out there.

User experience
A co-op experience at physical locations
1 user in VR (the player) - character control / interact with environment
1 user on desktop / tablet (the guide) - configure experience / 2nd character, auto following the player / interact with environment (but different elements to the player)
The experience would benefit from working in remote locations with no / limited connectivity (could be 3G hotspot)

Architecture
2 questions:

  1. can this be done with one app which detects what device, and hence what ‘mode’ to playback? Or are we better off building 2 apps, with projects sharing environment prefab / assets?

  2. Is Relay (or other) a solution where I don’t need a net connection at all, or at least very limited requirement maybe just for pairing etc.

Any advice on the best architecture for this experience would be greatly appreciated!

2

Hello! I will answer your questions below:

1. can this be done with one app which detects what device, and hence what 'mode' to playback? Or are we better off building 2 apps, with projects sharing environment prefab / assets?

For Relay specifically, we’d recommend creating one unity project and detecting the platform type and making adjustments accordingly. This will ensure your data is all in one spot in the Unity Dashboard and will ensure your VR users will be able to connect with your Windows users. I cannot speak on behalf of other multiplayer solutions and what the best solution would be for those, but for Relay I’d recommend keeping it all in one project.

2. Is Relay (or other) a solution where I don't need a net connection at all, or at least very limited requirement maybe just for pairing etc.

Unfortunately no, you need a connection to the internet in order for Relay to work.

Please let me know if you have any additional follow up questions! Thanks for your time!