During my period at La Frontera VR (rebranded to Extendra) I have participated in the development of several VR applications using Unreal Engine and C++. They have been developed in small teams of programmers and artists using agile methodologies, in periods of about two months. These VR applications are mainly of three types: meetings, training or product showcase. Below, I am going to talk a little more about the ones I can share with you.
As we were few programmers in each project I worked mainly as a generalist programmer, participating in gameplay, game logic, multiplayer or UI features. I have worked with a plugin structure so that the developed features could be easily carried between projects.
VR meeting applications were used to conduct conferences or meetings of other companies using VR to gain a better understanding of the topic being discussed. The programming of the multiplayer was crucial, as a crash of the app or a user disconnection had to be avoided as much as possible.
Training applications allow the user to be trained in tasks that may be too expensive in reality or that cannot be practised as often, such as medical operations or risk prevention. The most expensive part of programming was the gameplay, as the behaviour of tools had to be simulated exactly as in reality.
Showcasing product applications shone especially when the product was too big or not even manufactured, such as when displaying aeroplanes, cars, or large electrical appliances. Programming was fairly simple because only a few small features needed to be implemented to take advantage of VR.
