Profiling and Memory in Unity and Unreal | Start Mentor Workshop
This video provides an in-depth guide to profiling in Unity and Unreal Engine, led by Start Mentor Sidney. The session covers the philosophy of performance, practical tool demonstrations, and strategies for maintaining optimization throughout the development lifecycle. Key Topics Covered Performance as a Feature: Why you should profile early, often, and directly on-device to avoid last-minute optimization hurdles. Unity Profiler Deep Dive: Understanding the Timeline and Hierarchy views to diagnose CPU usage and identify bottlenecks. Memory Management: Using the Unity Memory Profiler to track allocated memory, identify leaks, and manage resource pressures like render textures. Unreal Engine Insights: Navigating the “Epic way” of profiling, including how to handle Unreal's multi-threaded architecture and graphics settings for mobile VR. Automated Testing: An introduction to automated performance testing frameworks to streamline your optimization workflow. This session was recorded in May 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 00:05 – Introduction and Speaker Background 00:43 – The Importance of Profiling: Performance as a Feature 01:12 – Pro-tip: Profile Early, Often, and on Device 05:09 – Unity Profiler: Timeline and Hierarchy Views 09:01 – Diagnosing CPU Issues and Editor Noise 10:08 – Unity Memory Profiler: Snapshots and Leaks 14:18 – Unreal Engine Optimization Philosophy 17:12 – Unreal Insights: Tracing and Thread Analysis 18:53 – Automated Performance Testing Frameworks 📚 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub 🔗 CONNECT WITH US Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon. 💡 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.
Building Your Custom VR Game Analytics Pipeline
This video provides an analytics primer for VR studios, explaining how to use tailored metrics to improve game performance and player experiences. It covers case studies, onboarding strategies, and the technical pipeline for data collection and visualization. This session was recorded in April 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 00:05 - Introduction and Speaker Backgrounds 01:01 - The Importance of Game-Specific Analytics 01:52 - User Grouping and Behavioral Analysis 02:35 - Case Study: New Player Experience in Extraction Games 05:51 - Analyzing Win Rates and Retention Funnels 07:24 - Data-Driven Game Adjustments and Results 10:21 - Optimizing the Onboarding Experience 10:56 - Case Study: Granular Tracking in VAIL VR 14:19 - Feature Onboarding and the Gunsmith Feature 18:07 - How to Get Started: Three Key Steps 20:09 - Enumerating Data Points and Telemetry 21:42 - Categories of Game Events to Track 22:50 - Aggregating and Visualizing Granular Data 23:51 - The Data Pipeline: Generation, Storage, and Transformation 24:22 - Technology Stack Options for Analytics 26:03 - Data Processing and Warehouse Schema 27:23 - Analysis Tools: Dashboards, AI, and SQL 28:26 - Trade-offs: Cost vs. Customization 30:55 - Final Recommendations: Starting Your Analytics Journey 🎮 FEATURED IN THIS SESSION ➡️ VAIL VR ➡️ Contractors Showdown: ExfilZone: ➡️ Telemetry template 📚 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub 🔗 CONNECT WITH US Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon. 💡 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.
Start App Showcase: First Time User Experience & Onboarding
In this workshop, mentors from the Meta Horizon Start program discuss the critical importance of onboarding in VR games. They showcase four titles from the Start community—Cubism, Laser Dance, Loop One: Done, and RC Pilot Trainer—to illustrate how developers can effectively teach mechanics while keeping players engaged from the very first minute. Key Takeaways The “First Five Minutes” Rule: Most players are lost within the first five to ten minutes; developers must make their games both easily understandable and fun immediately. Time to Interaction & Reward: A successful onboarding experience focuses on minimizing the time it takes for a player to perform their first interaction and receive their first reward. Simplicity and Progression: Starting with trivial, guided tasks reduces cognitive load and builds player confidence before introducing complex mechanics. MR-Specific Challenges: Onboarding in mixed reality must account for the player’s physical environment; successful games integrate room setup directly into the experience rather than relying on system-level menus. Instructional Modality: Providing instructions through multiple channels—such as text, narration, and visual cues—improves accessibility and ensures players with different learning styles can follow along. This session was recorded in April 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 00:05 - Workshop Introduction and Agenda 01:01 - The Importance of Onboarding in VR/MR 03:01 - Case Study: Cubism & Laser Dance Fastest path to the core game loop Using initial inputs for room centering and setup Level progression: from trivial to guided 15:39 - Case Study: Loop One: Done Native MR room calibration to reduce friction Combining written and narrated instructions Rewarding players with audio and visual feedback 23:27 - Case Study: RC Pilot Trainer Immediate immersion with minimal UI Retention-driving features vs. complex controls 28:08 - Q&A: Skipping Tutorials and Returning Players 32:54 - Closing Remarks 🎮 FEATURED IN THIS SESSION ➡️ Cubism ➡️ Laser Dance ➡️ Loop One: Done ➡️ RC Pilot Trainer 📚 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub 🔗 CONNECT WITH US Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon. 💡 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.
Accelerating VR Development with Agentic Workflows
This video explores how to accelerate Meta Quest development by integrating Unity AI and Meta’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) extensions. dilmerv details how these agentic tools help developers stay in focus by reducing context switching between Unity, IDEs, and documentation. Viewers will see practical demonstrations of rapid prototyping, from setting up VR scenes with natural language prompts to refining complex game mechanics and debugging performance issues. This session was recorded in April 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 00:00 – Introduction to Unity AI and Meta MCP extensions. 01:02 – Introduction to Agentic Workflows in VR development. 04:26 – Overview of the HCOS Developer MCP and agentic tools repository. 08:14 – Exploring Unity's AI offering: Unity Assistant and AI Gateway. 11:13 – Integrating performance profiling and editor tooling. 14:27 – Deep dive into Meta’s extensions for the Unity MCP. 16:09 – Project requirements and setup for VR agentic workflows. 20:23 – Case Study: Iterative prototyping of a Quest pool mechanic game. 25:57 – Adding game polish: Glowing shaders and minimalistic UI. 29:52 – Utilizing the Immersive Debugger with AI voice features. 31:53 – Accessing Horizon OS documentation via semantic search. 33:14 – Live Demo: Activating the Meta XR Simulator and playing a Unity scene. 41:38 – Live Demo: Building and modifying game objects in the Unity Assistant. 48:34 – Live Demo: Integrating Claude with Meta MCP extensions for scene setup. 52:25 – Q&A: Expert advice on prompting strategies and best practices. 🎮 FEATURED IN THIS SESSION ➡️ Unity AI Assistant (Beta) ➡️ Meta MCP Extensions ➡️ Meta Agentic Tools ➡️ Meta Quest hzdb CLI 📚 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub 🔗 CONNECT WITH US Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon. 💡 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.
Intro to Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer | Horizon Start Mentor Workshop
In this video, Start Mentor Sidney provides a comprehensive introduction to the Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer, a diagnostic tool designed to help developers identify and address performance bottlenecks in VR, AR, and MR applications. The talk covers everything from initial setup and system requirements to advanced analysis modes like “What If” testing, offering practical advice on how to integrate these tools into regular development workflows. This session was recorded in March 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 0:00 - Introduction 1:18 - Installation and System Requirements 2:00 - Core Features: Bottleneck Analysis 2:52 - Advanced Testing: What If Analysis 4:29 - Optimization Principles and Diagnostic Work 5:33 - Workflow Integration: Level Development 6:43 - Workflow Integration: Feature Development 7:49 - Workflow Integration: Main Project Integration 🎮 FEATURED IN THIS SESSION ➡️ Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Meta Horizon Developer Forum: https://communityforums.atmeta.com/category/horizon-developer-forum ➡️ 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
Design with a Retention-First Mindset | Growth Series, Part 4
In this final session of the growth series, Meta Horizon Start Mentor Tevfik discusses how to transition from simply gaining views and installs to building a lasting player base through a retention-first design mindset. The presentation highlights the unique nature of VR as a social space where players return not just for gameplay, but for belonging and self-expression. This session was recorded in March 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction to growth series part 4: Retention-first design 00:43 - Defining the problem: Why growth without retention is just “churn.” 02:44 - VR as a “place”: Understanding why players return to socialize and show off 03:28 - The Retention Triangle: Direction, Identity, and Return 03:48 - Part 1: Direction—Implementing social daily challenges 04:30 - Part 2: Identity—The power of avatars, cosmetics, and visibility 05:41 - Case study: The success of the indie social VR game Blob Town 06:26 - Part 3: Return—Creating habits through weekly resets and update rewards 07:13 - The importance of “Social Moments” and the 3-second reaction rule 08:36 - Practical systems: Using "Drop Codes" to drive returns and community growth 10:55 - The Full Loop: Social moments as the engine for the player journey 12:34 - Action Items: Homework for implementing retention systems in 7 days 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Meta Horizon Developer Forum: https://communityforums.atmeta.com/category/horizon-developer-forum ➡️ 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
Turn Social Views Into a Lasting Community | Growth Series, Part 3
Are you struggling to turn viral VR views into an active, lasting community? In this session of the Meta Horizon Start program’s Growth Series, Meta Horizon Start Mentor and experienced VR developer Tevfik dives deep into the shift from simple visibility to true player retention in social VR games. Learn why most VR games fail not because they are bad, but because they disappear after the first impression. Tevfik shares a comprehensive five-step system to build a dedicated player base, covering everything from creating roles and moderator grinding to leveraging live streams, content creator programs, and consistent community events. Discover how to transform your VR game from just an experience into a thriving social system. This session was recorded in March 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction and Background in Social VR 01:02 - The Retention Problem in VR Development 01:44 - Shifting Focus to Human Progression and Community 02:27 - Step 1: Creating Identity and “Original Gangster” (OG) Roles 03:55 - Utilizing Early Access and Founders Bundles 04:32 - Step 2: Progression through Moderator Grinding 06:27 - Step 3: Establishing Presence via Live Streaming 07:36 - Step 4: Implementing a Content Creator Program 09:11 - Step 5: Hosting Consistent Community Events 10:01 - Case Study: Breaking CCU Records with a DJ Event 11:07 - Summary: Building Your VR Game as a Social System 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Meta Horizon Developer Forum: https://communityforums.atmeta.com/category/horizon-developer-forum ➡️ 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
Live Events: Why, When, & How (Start Workshop)
Hosted by Gabe Heiland • March 2026 • Meta Horizon Start Overview In-game live events are a focused set of activities and rewards intended to drive engagement—specifically targeting acquisition, retention, or monetization. While many developers think of massive holiday updates when they hear “live event,” there are actually several low-cost, high-impact ways to run events. In this session, Meta Growth Consultant Gabe Heiland breaks down the six core event types, the best practices for designing them, and how to measure their success. Watch this part: 00:00 The 6 Event Types (Minor and Major) Minor Events (Low implementation cost, habit-forming) Server Booster Event: Data-driven tuning levers like “Double XP Weekend” or boosted crafting rarities. These are very lightweight to set up and are a great first event for a game. They should be rotated weekly at most so players don't become accustomed to the boost. Daily Goal Event: Layering a server-wide goal on top of your existing daily quest system to focus players on a specific mode or activity for a small reward. Leaderboard Event: Injecting competition into your game over a short period. Once the infrastructure is built, these can be reused weekly to drive engagement and monetization, even in single-player games. Major Events (High effort, high return on investment) Community Event: Collective objectives that require social cohesion (e.g., the entire player base must complete 10,000 matches to unlock a reward). These are viewed as very fair but usually require an out-of-game communication channel like Discord. Progression Event: Players fill a progress bar with active play and are rewarded at specific milestones. These ask a lot of players, so they require a cooldown period between runs. Seasonal Event: Massive, highly themed events aligned with real-world holidays. These drive the highest impact but are expensive to produce and carry the risk of only happening once a year. Watch this part: 02:15 Best Practices for Live Events Scheduling and Cadence In VR, a two-week cadence targeting weekend play sessions (aiming for about 4 hours of play per week) has proven highly effective. You want to build predictability to establish trust (players know an event will happen) while using the specific content of the event to provide surprise and delight. A good update rubric to aim for is: Daily: Progress to be made Weekly: Something new to see Monthly: Something new to do Quarterly: Something that changes how they engage Define KPI Goals First Before designing an event, decide if you are targeting acquisition (requires strong theming and key art for social media), retention (requires frequent, focused play sessions), or monetization (often features a competitive element where few players get all rewards). Set clear goals, like “100% of spenders and 20% of non-spenders should finish the event,” to guide your tuning. Lower the Barrier to Entry Players should be able to enter the event immediately after onboarding. The event should be front-and-center upon login, and the first reward moment should happen within minutes of playing. Always end events with a clear wrap-up, paying out any unused event currency. Expand the Player’s Comfort Zone Use events to incentivize trying new characters, modes, or underutilized content. However, avoid “anti-social mandates”—don’t force players to use a character that only one person per match can select, as it prevents friends from playing together. Watch for Exhaustion Player exhaustion happens when high-engagement events run too frequently without breaks. Team exhaustion happens when developers are constantly building bespoke content. To combat both, rotate your event types (alternating high and low effort) and templatize your events so they require minimal changes between reruns. Monetization Should Be an Accelerator, Not a Paywall Paradoxically, ensuring that non-spenders can earn all event rewards through heavy engagement actually improves monetization. When an event feels fair and skill-based, players are more willing to spend money to accelerate their progress. Avoid over-rewarding standard game currencies, and consider offering items that complete a set over multiple events. Watch this part: 08:50 Measuring Success To know if your event worked, you need to track specific KPIs. If you don't have your own in-game telemetry, you can use the pre- and post-event data available in the developer portal. Key benchmarks to watch for: Monthly Active Users (MAU): Strong live events can drive 3× or more MAU compared to surrounding months. Session Duration and Logins per Day: Both should increase during an active event. Day 7/Week 1 Retention: Should spike from your baseline during the event and settle back to normal afterward. Daily Revenue: Can see anywhere from a 1.5× bump for a minor weekend leaderboard up to a 600× increase for a massive holiday event. Content Consumption: The percentage of players who reach the end of the event and claim all rewards. This is your primary guide for tuning future events. Watch this part: 18:50
Overdraw Best Practices
Overdraw is a silent performance killer in VR development. In this workshop, Meta Horizon Start Mentor Sidney breaks down what overdraw is, why it drains GPU resources, and how to fix it in Unity. Learn why relying on Unity’s default settings (like a 1KM draw distance) or the SRP batcher isn’t enough to prevent overdraw. Sidney walks through practical, simple solutions including smart level design, utilizing occlusion culling (especially for indoor scenes), and leveraging the Unity Frame Debugger to catch pixel fill issues early in the greybox phase. The session also covers the specific challenges of overdraw in procedurally generated levels. This session was recorded in March 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 00:00 - Welcome & Introduction to Overdraw 00:15 - Speaker Intro: Sidney (Angelsin) 01:14 - Defining Overdraw and the Rendering Pipeline 02:08 - The Performance Impact of Overdraw 02:50 - Unity's Role and Limitations in Handling Overdraw 03:19 - Risks of Mesh Combining and Dynamic Objects 04:03 - Demonstrating Overdraw with Scene and Debug Tools 06:15 - Reducing Overdraw: Adjusting Draw Distance 07:55 - Reducing Overdraw: Occlusion Culling 08:21 - Overdraw Challenges in Procedural Generation 09:10 - Using the Frame Debugger for Optimization 10:10 - Conclusion and Summary of Best Practices 🎮 FEATURED IN THIS SESSION ➡️ Unity Frame Debugger: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/FrameDebugger.html ➡️ Unity Occlusion Culling: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/OcclusionCulling.html 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Meta Horizon Developer Forum: https://communityforums.atmeta.com/category/horizon-developer-forum ➡️ 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
The Data-Driven Advantage: A Practical Guide to Optimizing VR Games with Analytics
Discover how a strategic approach to analytics can move beyond “macro KPIs” and unlock actionable, game-specific insights that improve retention and overall product health. In this Meta Horizon Start session, Chong Ahn (Head of Games Growth & Monetization, Meta Reality Labs) explains how to: Build metrics that map directly to your game design (not just DAU/retention averages) Use player segmentation to understand different cohorts (new vs. veteran, spender vs. free, etc.) Identify “why” behind player outcomes by asking the right questions (success/failure rate, matchmaking balance, map routing, causes of death, and more) Turn findings into concrete gameplay adjustments that measurably shift outcomes The session includes a case study from the VR extraction shooter Contractors, showing how focusing on early-match success (and diagnosing bot difficulty + map routing issues) can significantly improve new player outcomes and long-term retention. This session was recorded in March 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 👋 INTRODUCTION 00:00 - Introduction: Leveraging VR Games with Analytics 00:13 - The Importance of a Robust Analytics Pipeline 01:00 - Moving Beyond Standard KPIs to Tailored Metrics 01:43 - Foundations for Understanding Player Segments 02:44 - Case Study: New Player Segments in Extraction Games 04:25 - Aligning Data with Game Design and Business Health 06:00 - Case Study: Analyzing Retention in Contractors 08:03 - Identifying Issues in the New Player Funnel 09:22 - Investigating Player Causes 10:18 - Impact of Optimizing Bot Lethality and Map Routing 11:51 - Combining Adjustments for Significant Extraction Rate Increases 13:06 - Net Impact Summary: Increased Matches, Minutes, and Retention 14:02 - Building a Robust Data Pipeline Infrastructure 15:47 - Cost vs. Customization in Analytics Services 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Meta Horizon Developer Forum: https://communityforums.atmeta.com/category/horizon-developer-forum ➡️ 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
