The Unity engine has been practically synonymous with mobile gaming for quite some time now, and it seems that the people behind the ubiquitous game engine want to set the standard and become a mainstay of the new age of VR gaming that we’re easing our way toward, too. Their Unite conferences, held all over the world, aren’t just about developer advocacy; much like Google I/O, these conferences are also opportunities for Unity to announce their own latest and greatest tools and tech. The conference in Los Angeles for this year, starting on Tuesday and going through Thursday, is no different. Within the first day’s keynote, they have unveiled a few new tricks to help developers create VR content more easily, as well as native support for Google’s new Daydream ecosystem.
For starters, announcements included news that native support for Google Daydream will begin with Unity version 5.6. The feature is currently in a technical preview status, but once it lands, anybody who can use Unity to develop normal 3D content will be able to create content for Daydream, and of course, VR content in general. Unity was touted as a partner for Daydream from the beginning, but the platform finally rolling out native support will make it easier for Daydream to grow as an ecosystem. This goes hand in hand with news that the Daydream Home market will support deep linking for preview content, and that a VR-compatible Play Store is in the works.
To make developing VR content even easier, Daydream is announcing an upcoming official release for their EditorVR tool. The special tool is tailor-made for VR content, and also happens to be open-source, with fully open APIs. This means that any developer can add to the project or fork it, creating specialized builds for certain types of VR content or adding in features as needed to the base build. To cap off the announcements from Unity, a new talent marketplace called Unity Connect was revealed. Currently in open beta, the market is geared toward not only Unity experts, but game developers, AR and VR developers, and other related fields. Users can set up a profile with their portfolio free of charge.
