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Deborah Guzman - Developer Strategy

deb_nebula
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Hi everyone!

This is Deb with the Developer Strategy team at Oculus. It's been 3 years for me here with the company, starting out on the Customer Service / Fulfillment side and the past year with the Content team.

I actually first heard about Oculus playing an MMO 6 years ago. Excited about VR and looking forward to your questions!


29 REPLIES 29

deb_nebula
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Hi Deb, from your gamer’s and oculus business woman stand point, what type of video games do you think are having or will soon have a big impact in consumers that use a 3DOF HMD 


Hi weightlessdev,



Thanks for tuning in! I would say that games across both 3DOF and 6DOF that can immerse players and give them a real sense of presence go a long way in creating delight and positive experiences. You have an opportunity to create and deliver experiences that players will find themselves telling and sharing with friends and family.



My suggestion is to take into account what you want to deliver to players in terms of mechanics that plays to giving them a sense of presence. Being able to embody a character and be part of a different world is the magic that VR gives us. A level of immersion that is quite different from what you could get on a 2D screen.



Find what it is about what you are creating that is unique and different from anything else and capitalize on it. There are titles out there that worked a long time on making their throw feel good because it was the core of their experience. Others had to figure out the best way to translate a spell cast from a button press on a keyboard to a magical interaction with Touch in VR. I look forward to seeing what you create! 

deb_nebula
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Does Oculus have a youtube style app that allows sharing of vr180 videos on Go and Rift?


Hey Stevehinan,



Thanks for your question! There are a variety of media apps that both Oculus and developers have launched. We have received developer interest in being able to do several options, ranging from 180 to 360.



Like all things VR, we think there's a ton of experimentation to do. We're excited about titles and experiences out today that give players a big sense of immersion and presence.



Further options are something we're thinking on, so please stay tuned to our channels for updates and new features. 

JaswinderBrar
Honored Guest
Please See & Discuss:
@Microsoft, @Apple, @Google: "Earth Web Map: Geocached Cubic Grid Matrix: Real-Estate for AR/MR:" By: Jaswinder Brar.

"Earth Web Map: Geocached Cubic Grid Matrix: Real-Estate for AR/MR:"

-Where should I seek Development?
-Is this something Oculus Developers would be interested in?


deb_nebula
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Hi Deb, I joined Oculus Start on 2 May and was wondering whether there's any news on when I can expect the development out? (I'm in the UK)



Hi DebbieMoody,



Thanks for submitting to the program! Checking with the team, great news is that there are batches being actively processed for the region.



As next step you can reach out to oculusstart@oculus.com to get an update on your submission.

deb_nebula
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jons190 said:

Hi.  Any good tips or checklists  or advise on what brings the most impact on app store sales?    Anything we should do before, during and after launch that helps drive sales?       Cheers!   


Hey jons190,



Thank you for tuning in. I have a few thoughts here!



Being able to get the submission in 2-4 weeks out from when you want to launch, even a bit earlier out will allow us and our team to give you feedback around some of the items that are instrumental for launch.



Some of the feedback we can give is around assets, store description and pricing to name a few. It will also allow us to line up opportunities for featuring you on the Store. Let me break these down quick:



Assets - Cover / Key Art are your opportunity to show players what is special and unique about your title. The more clearly your cover art conveys what your title is in a small window of time, the higher the chances that the player will feel compelled to click into your title and check out that great trailer and stills.



The trailer should show as much gameplay as possible, really give players the best sense of everything they can look forward to being able to do in the world you have created. We have seen popular titles range from 60 to 90 seconds in length.



Store Description - Being concise helps! Being able to bullet point the main key features you are delivering in your world will give players a quick sense of what they can look forward to in your title.



Being able to quantify to the player things such as:

  • Hours of gameplay
  • Amount of environments they'll get to explore
  • Social features they can look forward to
  • Amount of mechanics they'll be able to learn

These will all be able to give the player the best preview of what they can look forward to.



Pricing - People want to feel like they got their money's worth. When you decide what your price will be, think on how much you would be willing to invest in it.



A good reference point is to head into the Store and look at pricing for titles that could be seen by players in a similar vein. This could help you get a sense of where your title would land in regards to the rest of the Store.


deb_nebula
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Hello.

I have followed Oculus since the DK1 and been toying around/developing with oculus and the Vive to this day (having both the Dk1 and dk2, oculus+touch and vive).   I can do 3d development from creating 3d models to using ue4 and unity, even developing (hardware and software) VR glove prototypes with 9DOF IMUs and flex sensors.  I would love a career in VR but unsure the best approach to take and any advice would be amazing!!!  I currently make intelligent 3D models and program the software behind intelligent modelling of gas and oil plants for asset relocation and running, and feel I have so much I can can contribute but not sure where to turn next?  I am located in the UK but feel the UK is struggling to focus on the future in the current climate.  I am a family man working a full time jobs and pulling in extra jobs where I can but I need to make a difference when there is so much to gain!  

Sorry for ranting but if anyone can point me in the right direction to make a change in the uk, let me know!  

I have lost count of the times people have now wanted to peruse VR/AR with no end product and people throw money at it!  I want to create some with an actual end product

Many thanks to listening to my rant!

Dominic


Hey Dominic,



Thank you for writing in! I love your excitement about VR and its future.



My suggestion on next step to take to get closer to creating compelling VR experiences is our Oculus Start Program.



Oculus Start is a program created for VR application developers who are just getting started which provides qualifying developers with access, support and savings so you can focus on getting started!



The great news is that this is a great time to get started. We've had developers ship great content that held full time jobs and were very passionate about what they wanted to make, so even though it may have taken took them a little longer, they were able to launch and learn from their first VR experience. This is experience that they can take into their next VR title. I'm looking forward to seeing your application at oculusstart@oculus.com!


DebbieMoody
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Hi Deb, I joined Oculus Start on 2 May and was wondering whether there's any news on when I can expect the development out? (I'm in the UK)



Hi DebbieMoody,



Thanks for submitting to the program! Checking with the team, great news is that there are batches being actively processed for the region.



As next step you can reach out to oculusstart@oculus.com to get an update on your submission.


Thanks so much for your reply! I phrased my question clumsily - ive already been accepted on 2 May and am just waiting for my dev kit now 🙂 good to hear shipments are already going out to the UK, so hopefully not too much longer!

deb_nebula
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Thank you for the AMA Deborah!  🙂

What are common mistakes developers make in the Oculus ecosystem? What should they do instead?

What does the content team on the Oculus end entail? Is this managing external devs or working with outside parties?

What's are some of your favorite VR apps or games?

Thanks!


Hey Cubicle,



Thanks to you for tuning in!



Let me speak to some of the practices that we've seen help maximize success:

  • Ship simultaneously - Generally speaking, you get one launch to maximize impact with press coverage and awareness. Shipping at the same time on multiple platforms is a great way to maximize your revenue.
  • Submit your app early - You should 'submit to Store' as early as 2-4 weeks out from your target launch date. Super important note 'We will not automatically ship it!' What will happen is it will kick off the review process, where we will do a series of checks including price, assets and VRC's. This also helps unlock opportunities for us to give you feedback on pricing and asset opportunities as well as give you time to address any VRC's. The main goal is to get your title lined up and ready to go so you can ship across platforms same day.

My favorite VR apps or games? That one is hard! I get to play games from all shapes and sizes, so it's hard to pick a single one.



However, fun fact, grew up playing a ton of JRPG's and MMO's the last 15 years, with some FPS the last 3. 

deb_nebula
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dckrantz said:

Hi Deborah! We are in the final days of a Kickstarter for Chiaro and the Elixir of Life, an adventure game inspired by Zelda and the films of Studio Ghibli. Oculus supported us in the early days of prototyping with a DK2 and after a lot of hard work we're closing in on a final release near the end of this summer.

Phil Greenspan sparked a discussion among some dev peers and I recently when he talked me out of releasing a public demo for Chiaro, suggesting that data points to demos reducing sales. But since VR games are so hard to communicate what they're about to players without actually trying it, I'm still not totally convinced. For example, Moss released a free demo on PS VR and this seemed to help sales a lot, to the point where now Moss is available on the Oculus Store. In what instances have you seen free public demos help sales and why? Assume that the demo is terrific (because I think it goes without saying that releasing a mediocre demo is going to hurt you badly).

Phil also made a point to suggest targeted advertising can help sell PC VR games. If you had to give 5 key tips to running an ad campaign for a VR game you're about to launch, what would they be? The more specific you can be the better as I think tons of people reading here would be extremely appreciative.

Lastly but not least, I also know that mixed reality video content can be extremely effective as a means of showcasing what your experience feels like. What do you think the most important aspects of an effective, high quality piece of mixed reality video content are?

Thank you so much, appreciate your time. 😄 



Hi dckrantz,



Thanks for the questions. There are a few in there, but let me address some of these as best as I can!



I think that Mixed Reality is a great way to convey to people that may or may not have tried VR before what it is they can look forward to.



Regarding raising visibility on your new title, there are 5 options and here are three awesome links that our team released:



Before launch → How to kickstart your app marketing



After release → How to make the most of analytics to help you understand app performance



Keep an eye on the Going Social blog series, here's the first post on how to share on social for mobile apps.



We are committed to your success as content creators. You will help us define the future of VR! Follow @oculus_dev to be the first hear about the awesome new features as we roll these out! 

deb_nebula
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Thanks everyone for tuning in! These were awesome questions, looking forward to more in the future! Enjoy your gaming this weekend 🙂