Spatial Rifts, co-op shooter game on Apple Vision Pro

Spatial Rifts is a mixed reality shooter available on Apple Vision Pro with support for PlayStation VR2 Sense controller and Nearby sharing with visionOS 26. It invites players to team up in the same physical space and fight waves of monsters emerging from portals. I managed the 3D production, integration and technical art for the game. This two-person project was developed over the summer following WWDC25 and is among the first games supporting PS VR2 controllers on visionOS. The project faced significant challenges, including developing a game outside of conventional game development platforms within a strict two-month deadline. As a two-person team, our goal was to be the first to launch a game utilizing the latest Apple features for the newest version of Apple Vision Pro, such as Nearby Sharing and PSVR2 controller support.

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Development Environment
Vision OS Native
Reality Composer Pro
Blender PBR Real-time Rendering
Key Responsibilities
  • I handled the full integration pipeline for all 3D assets to make them VR ready for Reality Composer Pro (Apple’s 3D development platform)
Asset Production and Integration
  • With a tight deadline of 1-2 months, I focused on preparing the VR-ready 3D assets for the game. This involved sourcing or designing the assets, optimizing them, and integrating them into USDA scenes along with the required material design. For more details, refer to the Pipeline Improvement section in the Technical Skills page. In the first version of the game, I incorporated various visual effects to enhance the gameplay experience. While the techniques are similar to those for other game development approaches (such as custom shaders, particle systems, and mesh animations) AR/VR games face unique challenges. Rendering opacity levels and managing particles can lead to performance issues, making it difficult to achieve a balanced quality-to-performance ratio. These environments differ from those described in the Football App project as the ones in Spatial Rift exist within a real-time game scene. They require careful design to balance detail and performance, especially since some game sessions allow users to open up to four portals simultaneously.
    • Asset Production Pipeline Portal asset with visual effects A view of the environments where the portals open
      • US Open 3D Viewer - Mobile/Web/AR screenshot 1
      • Some assets were fully developed using an accelerated AI-driven pipeline, taking them from concept to integration with a straightforward process:
      • For performant AR/VR games, achieving realistic visual effects is often impractical due to resource constraints. However, low-resolution/simpler effects can also fall short, especially considering the real-world scale of assets from the user's perspective.
      • All elements utilize the PBR rendering pipeline, except for the background, which is unlit to reduce costs without affecting user experience.
    • 1. Generate high-quality art using GPT or Midjourney, editing as needed through prompts or manual design.
      2. Convert the image to a 3D model using Image to Mesh AI.
      3. Refine the mesh in your DCC to optimize it and correct texture maps.
      4. Use an AI Auto Rigger to obtain animations from Mixamo.
      5. Integrate into RCP.
      • I had to abandon several effects that relied on opacity masks in custom shaders because their rendering varied based on the user's viewpoint. Therefore, it's crucial to understand where the user's focus will be when designing these effects.
      • It's crucial to optimize geometry and textures during asset creation and to avoid procedural materials in RCP due to their high cost. Instantiating materials from a shared shader in RCP was beneficial for optimizing memory usage, as all environments are built similarly.
      • Assets in the scene were created using a straightforward AI workflow and then adapted for integration into RCP, as detailed in the asset section of this page.
    • Reality Composer Pro Integration Explosion and laser beam particle effects Final portal scenes in Reality Composer Pro
      • US Open 3D Viewer - Mobile/Web/AR screenshot 1
      US Open 3D Viewer - Mobile/Web/AR screenshot 2
      • Integrating into RCP requires an understanding of the software to create a functional asset. In addition to the .usdc or .usdz format typically needed, ensure all animations are prepared on a single timeline prior to setup in RCP. The built in shader graph is very convenient but may appear basic compared to more advanced node graphs like those in Unity.
      • These effects utilize a blend of custom shaders and particle systems.
      • From a design perspective, it was essential to recognize that these scenes need only be visible from a 180° viewpoint due to the portal effect.
      • The portal presented a technical challenge, as the mesh and its textures needed to be scalable at runtime to fit any door the player might wish to cover. To address this, each frame component features a tiling material that corresponds to the actual size of the object. This material supports custom PBR textures and includes animated glowing cracks in the stone. The exposed variables enable developers to customize the appearance of the entire portal, including the fire wall effect at its center.
      • It was also important to consider that users can open large portals, even though interiors typically have narrow doors. Thus, the wide curved background was designed to ensure no empty areas are visible from the user's perspective.
    TA
    xl-tech.art

    3D/AR/VR Technical Artist

    Paris, FRANCE
    contact@xl-tech.art
    LinkedIn
    TA
    Xavier Laborie - Technical Artist
    Project Gallery
    Key Responsibilities
    • I handled the full integration pipeline for all 3D assets to make them VR ready for Reality Composer Pro (Apple’s 3D development platform)
    Development Environment
    Vision OS Native
    Reality Composer Pro
    Blender PBR Real-time Rendering
    Asset Production and Integration
  • With a tight deadline of 1-2 months, I focused on preparing the VR-ready 3D assets for the game. This involved sourcing or designing the assets, optimizing them, and integrating them into USDA scenes along with the required material design. For more details, refer to the Pipeline Improvement section in the Technical Skills page. In the first version of the game, I incorporated various visual effects to enhance the gameplay experience. While the techniques are similar to those for other game development approaches (such as custom shaders, particle systems, and mesh animations) AR/VR games face unique challenges. Rendering opacity levels and managing particles can lead to performance issues, making it difficult to achieve a balanced quality-to-performance ratio. These environments differ from those described in the Football App project as the ones in Spatial Rift exist within a real-time game scene. They require careful design to balance detail and performance, especially since some game sessions allow users to open up to four portals simultaneously.
    • Asset Production Pipeline Portal asset with visual effects A view of the environments where the portals open
      • US Open 3D Viewer - Mobile/Web/AR screenshot 1
      • Some assets were fully developed using an accelerated AI-driven pipeline, taking them from concept to integration with a straightforward process:
      • For performant AR/VR games, achieving realistic visual effects is often impractical due to resource constraints. However, low-resolution/simpler effects can also fall short, especially considering the real-world scale of assets from the user's perspective.
      • All elements utilize the PBR rendering pipeline, except for the background, which is unlit to reduce costs without affecting user experience.
    • 1. Generate high-quality art using GPT or Midjourney, editing as needed through prompts or manual design.
      2. Convert the image to a 3D model using Image to Mesh AI.
      3. Refine the mesh in your DCC to optimize it and correct texture maps.
      4. Use an AI Auto Rigger to obtain animations from Mixamo.
      5. Integrate into RCP.
      • I had to abandon several effects that relied on opacity masks in custom shaders because their rendering varied based on the user's viewpoint. Therefore, it's crucial to understand where the user's focus will be when designing these effects.
      • It's crucial to optimize geometry and textures during asset creation and to avoid procedural materials in RCP due to their high cost. Instantiating materials from a shared shader in RCP was beneficial for optimizing memory usage, as all environments are built similarly.
      • Assets in the scene were created using a straightforward AI workflow and then adapted for integration into RCP, as detailed in the asset section of this page.
    • Reality Composer Pro Integration Explosion and laser beam particle effects Final portal scenes in Reality Composer Pro
      • US Open 3D Viewer - Mobile/Web/AR screenshot 1
      US Open 3D Viewer - Mobile/Web/AR screenshot 2
      • Integrating into RCP requires an understanding of the software to create a functional asset. In addition to the .usdc or .usdz format typically needed, ensure all animations are prepared on a single timeline prior to setup in RCP. The built in shader graph is very convenient but may appear basic compared to more advanced node graphs like those in Unity.
      • These effects utilize a blend of custom shaders and particle systems.
      • From a design perspective, it was essential to recognize that these scenes need only be visible from a 180° viewpoint due to the portal effect.
      • The portal presented a technical challenge, as the mesh and its textures needed to be scalable at runtime to fit any door the player might wish to cover. To address this, each frame component features a tiling material that corresponds to the actual size of the object. This material supports custom PBR textures and includes animated glowing cracks in the stone. The exposed variables enable developers to customize the appearance of the entire portal, including the fire wall effect at its center.
      • It was also important to consider that users can open large portals, even though interiors typically have narrow doors. Thus, the wide curved background was designed to ensure no empty areas are visible from the user's perspective.
    TA
    Xavier Laborie

    3D/AR/VR Technical Artist

    Paris, FRANCE
    contact@xl-tech.art
    LinkedIn

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