Take for example Supernatural, it’s the champ of XR fitness. It boasts popular music that updates daily, beautiful scenery, excellent coaches that keep you engaged, and a community of kind, thoughtful players that encourage each other on Facebook. Apple will undoubtedly get a port of Supernatural at some point to its device, or at least a clone of it will be released that follows its lead.
Developer thoughts on the future of workout apps - Apple Vision Pro vs Meta Quest
July 18, 2023
At over 25 million headsets sold, the Meta Quest lineup of mixed reality headsets are the most popular XR devices on the planet with a starting price of $300. Next year, Apple will try to take a bite of the pie with its ultra high-end $3500 Apple Vision Pro. But even with drastically better hardware, there are certain types of software that will naturally be better on the Meta Quest platform due to Apple’s present choice to go with hand and eye tracking only.
Apple’s choice of hand tracking only limits the types of workouts that can be done in a way that can seem baffling to a consumer considering the price difference between it and Meta’s offerings. However, with careful consideration, there are plenty of gameplay opportunities that await developers on this new hardware.
Starting with boxing will likely be the best choice. Hand tracking is a natural fit as your hands will stay within your cone of vision, and it’s always fun to punch targets and bob and weave around obstacles to some great musical jams.
What will be much harder to achieve is the “Flow” type of workout, where the player smacks targets using bats, originally popularized by Beat Saber and perfected by Supernatural. This is due to the arm extensions required to maintain good form and avoid strain and injury, which naturally puts your hands in positions that take it outside of the cone of vision most cameras can track without controllers. If you decide to keep your player’s arm movements limited, you’ll be much more likely to have repetitive strain injuries from the short drumming motions.
Crunches, leg lifts, running in place, and jumping jacks are all quite doable with just the tracking of your body from the Apple headset, so either focusing on these or adding them to a primarily boxing app would be a relatively safe path forward.
Image Credit: @JohnnySays
Utilizing a smartwatch could also provide some nice force feedback when correctly performing an action. But since you can’t guarantee someone has a smartwatch synced, you can’t safely design around it, it could make for a nice bonus along with the heart rate and other health data tracking to coincide with your workouts.
To wrap things up, the Apple Vision Pro is a cool device, and like early smartphone and Nintendo Wii developers found out, you usually can’t make straight ports of your applications without rethinking how major systems work on the new hardware to take into account its strengths and limitations. Happy dev’ing everyone!
Member Contributor:
Derrick Barra
Friend of OMG Labs and one of the original founders, Derrick Barra is a senior engineer and production lead that white-label develops game engine software for local companies as Gambit Games.
Interested in creating an immersive Connected Fitness app?
Reach out to OMG Labs to engineer your experience across one of many platforms! We have the members to craft a solution from start to finish. Whether its on iOS, Android, Meta Quest, Apple Vision Pro or proprietary platforms similar to Peleton, Tonal or more.
We're fans of this use case and are likely to be the most in shape developer's you'll meet.
Game developers utilize sound and music to create a cohesive game environment.
Imagine loading up your favorite puzzle game only to find that every level has been replaced by emergency surgeries. To someone inexperienced, this might seem like a nightmare, but to a med student, this could be their new reality. Using video games in the medical field may seem unlikely at first but it’s getting more common each day. Learn how video games are being used to develop healthcare for both the patients and the doctors.
Back in the olden days (AKA the 1980’s) people looked to the 2020s and imagined a future of flying cars, and they weren’t too far off with their postulations! In this article we’ll break down just how far we’ve come with smart car technology, and the future of tech in the industry!
That’s right, AI isn’t just for help with your homework or answering your most profound questions about the universe, it can make art too! And although the creation of AI generated art comes with a degree of controversy, the result is undeniable.
The Rise of AI & The Decent of Madness ....nah, madness remains.
Mission: Fill Bellies, Fill Hearts, while we try to Fill Bank Accounts!
3 Months, 4 industries, 5+ Events, unlimited energy required.
A Spook-tacular Debut: The Inaugural All Hallows Jam in Downtown Orlando
Have you ever wanted to not only watch a ballet but be completely immersed in one? Or learn from the greatest ballet masters in the world from the comfort of your own home? These seemingly impossible notions are very much possible with AR and VR technology!
According to the U.S. News & World Report, more than 600,000 US soldiers have died since WWI, and more than 400,000 have died since WWII. Improved training would serve as one of the key controllable factors that can reduce casualties. “By providing soldiers with a more immersive and realistic training environment and allowing them to practice complex tasks before they're deployed on actual missions, these technologies could save lives and make us safer.” - Tom Constable Former British Army officer turned technology entrepreneur & guest contributor on BBC Click on matters related to innovation within the defense industry.