Mixed-reality app hits 10,000 monthly users
Holiday milestone: my mixed-reality app hit 10,000 monthly active users. Building a WebXR app was fun, but a steep learning curve for me.
#What I learned
- VR/AR is hard: limited processing, and double the rendering.
- Comfort is non-negotiable: any jitter or low frame-rate in immersion would literally nauseate people.
- Meta's WebXR optimization guides are gold: reduced polygons, lights, draw calls, and many, many other tricks were employed.
- Rethinking UX: custom events in Google Analytics to measure and improve user flow within the simulation.
- AI and XR are perfect companions, in many ways.
#Open source is magic
None of it would have been possible without the Meta Quest Browser WebXR team (HT Dave Hill), Three.js (Ricardo Cabello), and JSbeeb (Matt Godbolt).
#What it is
This was a side project from earlier in the year, a free WebXR simulation of an 8-bit computer, with a ton of retro games to play. You can try it on Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, and it's also featured in the Meta Quest Browser.