How to Build Player Retention Systems for Social VR games | Fast Essentials
Players who finish your tutorial still need a reason to come back, and Start Mentor Tevfik has a framework for exactly that. In this session he breaks down the Retention Triangle: how quests guide players through your game, how badges build visible identity, and how free Meta Platform SDK leaderboards keep your world feeling alive. 💡 By watching this video, you will learn: How to design quests that double as guided tutorials How cosmetic badges and “OG” status markers give players a visible identity How to implement a working leaderboard using the free Meta Platform SDK How daily resets and short-term challenges support long-term retention This session was recorded live in January 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 👋 INTRODUCTION 🕒 00:00: Welcome and intro to the Retention Triangle 📐 DESIGNING QUESTS FOR RETENTION 🕒 02:21: Structuring Quests and the Challenge System Architecture 🏅 IDENTITY SYSTEMS 🕒 05:13: Badges and Leaderboards 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog: https://developers.meta.com/resources/blog/ ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/unity/ts-mqdh/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH US ➡️ Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/newsletter 💡 LEARN ABOUT THE META HORIZON START PROGRAM The Meta Horizon Start program provides intermediate and advanced developers with the resources, hands-on support, and expert guidance needed to accelerate their app development. Join a thriving community to get the tools and go-to-market guidance you need to successfully deploy and grow your app on Meta Horizon OS. Apply to Start today: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/discover/programs/start
Build a VR Economy with Leaderboards & In-Game Currency | Fast Essentials
If VR leaderboards give your players a reason to compete, then it’s a robust in-game economy that compels them to stay. In this Start Mentor workshop, Tevfik gives you the full rundown on both systems using a live Unity project. On one side you get Meta Platform SDK leaderboards; on the other, a PlayFab backend that manages virtual currency and in-app purchases across devices. 💡 By watching this video, you will learn: The Meta Platform SDK includes a free leaderboard system that links directly to player profiles and tracks metrics like session joins or high scores. Microsoft PlayFab serves as a cloud backend for managing virtual currency and player inventory across devices. Entitlement checks verify app ownership and protect player data so that progress follows them to any headset. Meta's in-app purchase flow handles the real-money transaction while your backend manages the actual currency grant. This session was recorded live in January 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 👋 INTRODUCTION 🕒 00:00: Introduction to Social Systems in Baby VR 📊 LEADERBOARD SETUP 🕒 01:51: Visualizing Leaderboards and Currency in Unity 🕒 03:55: Setting Up Leaderboards in the Meta Dashboard 🕒 06:12: Coding the Leaderboard Logic 💰 ECONOMY AND PERSISTENCE 🕒 08:10: Managing Game Economy with PlayFab 🕒 09:58: Entitlements and Cross-Device Persistence 🕒 12:08: Implementing In-App Purchases 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog: https://developers.meta.com/resources/blog/ ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/unity/ts-mqdh/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH US ➡️ Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/newsletter 💡 LEARN ABOUT THE META HORIZON START PROGRAM The Meta Horizon Start program provides intermediate and advanced developers with the resources, hands-on support, and expert guidance needed to accelerate their app development. Join a thriving community to get the tools and go-to-market guidance you need to successfully deploy and grow your app on Meta Horizon OS. Apply to Start today: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/discover/programs/start
Why Tech Trees Drive Retention in Social VR | Fast Essentials
Players don't remember reaching Level 5. They remember earning their first moderator badge or unlocking the jump ability through a tech tree. Start Mentor Tevfik breaks down why visual ranking systems drive retention in social VR by transforming progression into social capital. Discover how to build branching upgrade paths, replace generic levels with earned status symbols, and create leadership roles that make players feel chosen. This session was recorded live in January 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 👋 INTRODUCTION 🕒 00:00 – Social Capital & The Tech Tree System 📈 SOCIAL VR PROGRESSION 🕒 02:51 – The Shift to Social VR & Progression 📊 BADGES OVER LEVELS 🕒 04:48 – Status Symbols vs. Numerical Levels 💡 COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP ROLES 🕒 07:24 – Community Roles & Future Mechanics 🎮 FEATURED IN THIS SESSION ➡️ RC Brains: https://www.meta.com/experiences/rc-brains-social-vr-racing-game/23951323707874281/ 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog: https://developers.meta.com/resources/blog/ ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/unity/ts-mqdh/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH US ➡️ Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/newsletter 💡 LEARN ABOUT THE META HORIZON START PROGRAM The Meta Horizon Start program provides intermediate and advanced developers with hands-on support and expert guidance to accelerate app development. Join a thriving community to access the tools and go-to-market resources you need to successfully deploy and grow your app on Meta Horizon OS. Apply to Start today: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/discover/programs/start
I Almost Overdesigned My VR Game to Death
There’s a phase in game development that nobody really warns you about. It’s not the “I can’t code this” phase. It’s not the “I ran out of money” phase. It’s not even the “no one is playing my game” phase. It’s when your own ideas start overwhelming the game. That’s where I found myself recently. I have a Social VR game currently live on the Meta Horizon Store. And this is my story about how design — not bugs — became my biggest struggle. The Dangerous Kind of Productivity After publishing my game (3 months ago), the early months were manageable. There were bugs to fix. Core features to improve. Community expectations were still forming. But as time passed, growth slowed. And I felt stuck. Not because I had no ideas. Because I had too many good ones. New abilities Leveling systems Advanced control modes More immersive camera options Dynamic AI creatures Lore layers Progression trees World events Each one is exciting. Each one is defensible. Each one “adding depth.” And each one is making the game heavier. From the outside, it looked like progress. From the inside, it felt like friction. VR Makes It Worse In VR, every feature multiplies complexity. A new ability isn’t just a new mechanic —it affects comfort, cognitive load, UI clarity, and social balance. A new camera mode isn’t just visual —it changes perception and can introduce motion discomfort. A new progression system isn’t just numbers —it affects motivation, fairness, and retention. Everything touches everything. And when you stack systems without tightening the core, the experience starts to blur. The Subtle Identity Drift The scariest question I had to ask myself was: What is this game actually about? Is it skill-based? Is it social? Is it progression-driven? Is it a sandbox? Is it competitive? Is it experimental? When you add features faster than you refine your foundation, your game slowly loses its center. Not dramatically. Just enough that every new decision becomes harder. That uncertainty is exhausting. The Ambition Trap Overdesign often comes from passion. You care. You want your game to stand out. You want depth. Growth. Surprise. So you build. And build. And build. Until one day you realize you’ve created something impressive… but unclear. Complexity Feels Like Depth — But It Isn’t This was the lesson I had to learn: Depth comes from mastery of a strong core. Complexity comes from stacking. They are not the same thing. A single mechanic refined to excellence will carry a game further than five half-polished systems competing for attention. Especially in VR, where clarity of experience is everything. The Turning Point My shift wasn’t about cutting ideas. It was about asking a harder question before adding anything new: Does this strengthen the core loop? Not: “Is this cool?” Not: “Will players like this feature?” Not: “Will this make the game deeper?” But: Does this make the core experience clearer and stronger? If the answer wasn’t obvious, it didn’t belong — at least not yet. The Real Struggle Isn’t Technical Most developers think the hard part is engineering. In my experience, the real struggle is restraint. It’s saying no to good ideas. It’s choosing focus over ambition. It’s realizing that sometimes your game doesn’t need more mechanics. It needs a sharper identity. The Second Mistake: Retention Here’s something even harder to admit. After refocusing the core, I made another mistake. I didn’t give players a strong enough reason to come back. Clarity alone is not enough. Players need: progression competition meaningful goals something to improve at A strong core gets them in. Retention systems keep them returning. Balancing simplicity and long-term motivation is the real design challenge. If You’re Feeling Overwhelmed If your project feels heavier every week… If every feature you add creates two new design problems… If you keep “improving” the game but feel further from clarity… You’re not alone. You’re not bad at design. You might just be overdesigning. And that’s usually a sign you care. What I’m Learning Simplicity is not a lack of ambition. It’s disciplined ambition. I almost overdesigned my game to death. Now I’m learning that the strongest games aren’t built by stacking ideas. They’re built by protecting the core — and then carefully layering systems that support it. That lesson might be the most valuable part of this entire journey. If you’re building something in VR right now: What are you struggling with the most? Clarity? Retention? Scope? Motivation? Let’s talk.
Accessibility Feature Request: Conversation Focus Mode for Ray-Ban Meta Display Glasses
Hi everyone! I’m a Ray-Ban Meta display glasses user who is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids daily. I’d love to see a conversation focus mode added that prioritizes voices directly in front of the wearer and reduces background noise. In busy environments, this would make a big difference for hearing-aid users and others who rely on clearer speech in real time. If this type of accessibility feature is ever developed, I would absolutely love the ability to have it added to my glasses and would be happy to provide feedback or participate in any beta or user-testing opportunities. I’ve also submitted this through support channels, but wanted to share here in case the team is gathering feedback.Mixed Reality with Unity and Meta SDK Test
Hi, I have been developing in Meta Horizon since 2020 and have learned UnityXR/MR. I will graduate with a masters degree in Art and Technology in May 2026. For my final project I will be working on a Mixed Reality interaction for dyslexic learners with hand tracking. I will be applying for the smart glasses grant for accessibility. I've been in education for the past 19 years, teaching students with dyslexia for the past ten years. This video shows my first test. Link and image below. Mixed Reality Test, Quest 3: Mixed Reality Test, Unity and Meta SDK by Tina Wheeler
Viewing Quest Achievements
We're coming up on a year and we still don't have an official way to view and sort the Quest Achievements that we put forth effort unlocking in our massive VR libraries. Developers continue to include them in games as they know it yields extended play sessions and even users revisiting their games to experience every ounce of the hard work they put into their projects. Currently we can only view them in a recently unlocked list in the Meta Horizon Mobile App, and external websites created by Quest users (which are the most useful way at the moment). People didn't even realize Achievements existed because it was hidden in the Scoreboards App, and users hoped for integration into the Profile itself, similar to Steam, Xbox, and PS. Instead, we were left with a misunderstanding of how important Achievements are to the Quest ecosystem. At the very least, could we please get a way to filter by game/in-progress/completed in the Horizon Mobile App? We would love to see them in-headset eventually, but even a small step forward would revitalize our play sessions. 🙏New patented solution how to control full-body avatar movements by Meta Quest 3
Our PAO-XR startup helps to settle associations between the end-user body gestures language and switching different types of full-body avatar movements animations. All associations are stored in the end-user's personal DB on his mobile or desktop device. So entire on-line interaction between the end-user and his avatar demands only a MOCAP device like Meta Quest 3 ( in spite of absence low-body MOCAP) and a standard mobile device. To implement the pilot project, we are seeking partners with developers of their own virtual simulations, focusing on full-bodied avatars controlled by end users (players) using the Meta Quest 3 suite, including mobile apps. For these interested developers, we are willing to invest in the implementation of our technology in their applications. For more details, please see our promo demo on our PAO-XR.COM website.
Issue with Meta Interaction SDK v74 on Oculus-5.5-v74 Unreal Engine Fork
Issue Description I downloaded the Meta Interaction SDK (version 74) and integrated it into the Unreal Engine fork oculus-5.5-v74 from GitHub. The integration works correctly inside the Editor, and VR Preview runs without any issues. However, when I package the project for Quest and install the APK on the headset, the application: launches, shows a black screen for less than a second, then immediately crashes/auto-closes. When I disable the Meta Interaction SDK plugin and rebuild the project, the packaged application works normally on the device. This confirms that the crash is directly caused by the Interaction SDK during runtime on the Quest. What I Have Already Verified The plugin is properly added under /Plugins/runtime/OculusInteraction. Engine fork version matches the Meta SDK version (both v74). No conflicts in Editor logs. No errors during packaging. The crash happens only on device startup, not in VR Preview. Expected Behavior The packaged app should run the same way it does inside VR Preview. The Interaction SDK should not crash the application on Quest when the correct version is used. Request Could you please advise on: Whether Meta Interaction SDK v74 is fully compatible with the fork oculus-5.5-v74-openxr-asw-ffr. Any additional setup required to ensure correct initialization on Quest (permissions, XR loader, manifest changes, MetaXR modules, etc.). Whether this is a known issue for v74 of the SDK. If this fork requires a specific Interaction SDK variant different from the public one.
