
Ask HN: VR the next platform? - ZeroFries
The mobile and web app market is heavily saturated at this point. Around 7 years ago, if you had a good idea and the technical chops to implement it, you had a chance at a successful business. These days, most ideas are already done, and the ideas which could still be successful have large barriers to entry (winner-takes-all markets, requires extensive insider-knowledge, or requires extensive personal network).<p>VR (naively) appears to be where web and mobile were 7-10 years ago. Had a few questions for VR developers surrounding this:<p>1) Do you see mobile VR&#x2F;AR taking off?<p>2) Do you think 1-5 man teams can make successful products for VR&#x2F;AR?<p>3) If a current web developer was interested in getting started in VR, what would you recommend they learn and invest in?<p>4) Does my naive assumption have merit?
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billconan
1) Do you see mobile VR/AR taking off?

I guess, but like you said, there will be at least 7 years.

2) Do you think 1-5 man teams can make successful products for VR/AR?

I don't think so. I have a computer graphics background, computer graphics is
pretty labor intensive. You often see startups in the areas of network,
security ... you seldom see big successful startups in the graphics field. you
need to hire lots of artists or have lots of money to outsource the work. or
your idea is really smart like minecraft. Or you don't do graphics intensive
games, like tiltbrush. but still 3d ui is more difficult that 2d ones.

3) If a current web developer was interested in getting started in VR, what
would you recommend they learn and invest in?

I'd say webgl, and unity/unreal game engines. computer graphics in general.
but if you are serious, you should learn c++ and native programing.

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pedalpete
VR/AR is an upcoming platform. Is it the next, or the one after that? Who
knows. But yes, it is coming.

If you start now, I suspect you'll find some early success and interest, but
it is yet to hit the "trough of despair", so you'll have to consider how you
will live through that.

Current VR/AR I suspect can be compared to the state of mobile in the days of
WAP. Not many people use it, but lots of people are talking about it.

Having said that, you don't have to go whole hog just into VR. I personally
believe there are business opportunities in bringing highly dynamic visuals to
business not in the VR space.

I've been considering this a bit lately, and when/if I get the time, I'll be
looking at Unity because though you can make VR (and I think AR) scenes with
Unity, you can also use it for 2d.

~~~
ZeroFries
Can you clarify what type of visuals you're talking about?

