Blog -> CyberFinch Designs

notes on my learning processes

March 24, 2024

Porting VR Apps: Android vs Desktop

There is a long list of steps involved with developing any VR app, but this list will look very different depending on which platform you are developing for.

https://developer.android.com/games/engines/unity/build-in-unity

There are three main things you have to bear in mind when working with Android apps: hardware-software compatibility concerns, processing power and optimization concerns, and testing process procedures.

To begin with, Android devices and desktop devices have different sets of hardware, so for Android, you have to make sure that your app is set up to work with the screen resolutions and control systems (touchscreen, gyroscopes/motion controllers) that your Android device has.

Second, Android and Desktop apps have very different levels of processing power – Android devices typically have limited power, so you have to make sure that the code, CPU/GPU utilization, textures, shaders, and other assets are optimized.

Finally, the testing process for Android is more involved for Android than it is for desktop, so you have to test these apps across a lot more devices before officially releasing the app.

If you research, and plan for the hardware, performance optimization, and testing of your game, your VR app will be more likely to stick the landing when it is deployed.

(As a side note, some more advanced Unity projects require moving the files into Android Studio to facilitate easier performance optimization and customization, but generally, this is a bit too complicated for beginners.

Resources:

https://blog.unity.com/engine-platform/cross-platform-mixed-reality-development-on-meta-quest-3

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/VROverview.html

https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/unity/unity-tutorial-hello-vr/

https://medium.com/@pablo_gm/run-a-unity-vr-project-on-your-meta-quest-device-ea13e82bc4bd

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/android-BuildProcess.html

https://docs.unity.cn/2019.1/Documentation/Manual/VROverview.html

https://docs.unity3d.com/2022.2/Documentation/Manual/VROverview.html

https://docs.unity3d.com/2021.3/Documentation/Manual/android-BuildProcess.html

https://docs.unity3d.com/2021.3/Documentation/Manual/android-export-process.html

https://docs.unity3d.com/2021.2/Documentation/Manual/android-BuildProcess.html

https://blog.unity.com/topic/xr