Oculus Best Practices Guide provides a critical foundation for VR experiences

The best practices guide draft released by Oculus VR provides developers with a basic set of foundations to reference when developing software for its virtual reality headset, offering tips to minimize simulator sickness and information on scaling, audio design and framerates.

The 39-page document centers on methods on how to make VR more comfortable for the user. These include providing a visual representation of the user — anything from a ghost-like representation to a fully fleshed-out body — to help ground them in the virtual space. It also states that limiting the camera's response to head movement can be uncomfortable for the player in VR, so it advises against restricting the camera's range of movement for narrative or technical purposes.

So it doesn't break the immersion, unintentionally revealing technical environment cheats is also frowned upon, as the "virtual world should always be complete and continuous around the user." Developers are also encouraged to use as many dynamic systems as possible, such as physics, lighting, weather and decay.

The guidelines discuss theories and factors for simulator sickness, covering speed of movement and acceleration, degree of control and altitude of the user. Believing that gamepads are preferable over keyboard and mouse input, the company says that it is also currently researching "innovative and intuitive ways of interacting with a wide breadth of VR content."

Oculus covers many more topics relating to VR tech and the user such as tracking, latency and HUD elements. While the guidelines are readily available to users, the company notes that the document is currently in draft form and is pending legal and medical expert review.