Where should I start?

I'd probably start by downloading Unity Free and messing around. Unity does support Oculus, but it may be easier to start developing on a monitor until you get the hang of it. Unreal Engine 4 is also good (not free, but affordable at $19/month). Both are good choices.

Unity may be slightly easier to pickup if you have any coding experience before (it can use a form of Javascript). Unity has a few of books you can buy, and the community is fairly active.

Unreal has a visual scripting system called Blueprint. It allows you to build basic things without programming. Well, it's still programming, just not with code. They are like lego blocks you wire together or whatever. While there aren't many books on Unreal 4 yet, there are a ton of official video tutorials and the documentation is good.

Thanks Cyber. I went and downloaded Unity and started watching tutorials on how to get started with it. However I'd like to clarify something. If I designed a prototype that worked on a standard monitor, would I be able to modify said prototype to implement Rift functionality? Or would I have to start over and code the project to work specifically with the Rift?

I do not know about Unity, but with Unreal Engine you do not have to start over at all. You build your project and it has integration with the Oculus Rift so "it just works". That said, having a DK2 is important because there are lots of things that look different on a flat 2D screen. Also, when you see the lower resolution inside the DK2 compared with a 1080p monitor, you might want to rethink some design elements. I would assume that Unity works the same way, but a Unity user would probably be better able to share any nuances or considerations.

If you are dabbling with multiple game engines to decide on which you like more, check out these video tutorials from Epic (the makers of Unreal Engine).
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZlv_N0_O1gaCL2XjKluO7N2Pmmw9pvhE

I would start by watching the videos in the "Introduction to the UE4 Editor" series.

Also, this video by eVRydayVR is probably the best demonstration to help you create your "Hello World for the DK2 in Unreal Engine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmBBBd20f4



As for costs, you only need to pay the $19 once for Unreal Engine. Then you can cancel and you only have to pay as you sell your games. I decided to continue paying the fee each month because I like the VR features that are added on a regular basis. For instance, artyom17 from Oculus created this beautiful feature where you can click "VR Preview" and you are instantly demoing your game in the DK2. Time savers like this are HUGE. As I am fine tuning my character blueprint and camera logic, I probably click that button a couple times a minute. Also, I find that VR Preview feature useful when working on materials that look one way on a monitor but completely different in the DK2.

"andrewtek" wrote:
I do not know about Unity, but with Unreal Engine you do not have to start over at all. You build your project and it has integration with the Oculus Rift so "it just works". That said, having a DK2 is important because there are lots of things that look different on a flat 2D screen. Also, when you see the lower resolution inside the DK2 compared with a 1080p monitor, you might want to rethink some design elements. I would assume that Unity works the same way, but a Unity user would probably be better able to share any nuances or considerations.

If you are dabbling with multiple game engines to decide on which you like more, check out these video tutorials from Epic (the makers of Unreal Engine).
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZlv_N0_O1gaCL2XjKluO7N2Pmmw9pvhE

I would start by watching the videos in the "Introduction to the UE4 Editor" series.

Also, this video by eVRydayVR is probably the best demonstration to help you create your "Hello World for the DK2 in Unreal Engine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmBBBd20f4



As for costs, you only need to pay the $19 once for Unreal Engine. Then you can cancel and you only have to pay as you sell your games. I decided to continue paying the fee each month because I like the VR features that are added on a regular basis. For instance, artyom17 from Oculus created this beautiful feature where you can click "VR Preview" and you are instantly demoing your game in the DK2. Time savers like this are HUGE. As I am fine tuning my character blueprint and camera logic, I probably click that button a couple times a minute. Also, I find that VR Preview feature useful when working on materials that look one way on a monitor but completely different in the DK2.

That is very interesting, Andrew. I'll be sure to check out UE4 as well. Although I have no plans of actually selling a game any time soon. For now I'm just learning. I have several game blueprints that I designed growing up so I'll go through those and see where I end up. However that DK2 test feature does look very nice. Can any veteran Unity users confirm a Unity alternative to that feature?

"negiman4" wrote:


That is very interesting, Andrew. I'll be sure to check out UE4 as well. Although I have no plans of actually selling a game any time soon. For now I'm just learning. I have several game blueprints that I designed growing up so I'll go through those and see where I end up. However that DK2 test feature does look very nice. Can any veteran Unity users confirm a Unity alternative to that feature?

For Unity, there is a play button you can hit while you're still working on the project and you'll be able to preview what it looks like on your monitor. To see it directly in the DK2, you'll need to set up your DK2 as your main monitor. The steps on how to do this are all laid out by eagleeyez in the very first post on this thread. 8-)

Introduction to the UE4 Editor" series is the best place to start

Hey Negiman4. If you are interested, I have recently created a short 5 hour course on how to make an Oculus Rift game using the latest unity 5. It goes from installing all the required software (Runtime 0.7 and Unity 5.2) so it's very recent. You can pick it up on the course website Udemy, I put a serious amount of time into creating this course so I do have a price on it.

But if you follow this link it should give you a discount. Also, there are a few preview lessons so do check them out if you're interested :) https://www.udemy.com/oculus-rift-game-development/?couponCode=virtualreality

Happy developing!!

Scott.