VR‐Rides: An object‐oriented application framework for immersive virtual reality exergames

• Published in: Software, practice & experience Vol. 50; no. 7; pp. 1305 - 1324
• Main Authors: Wang, Yifan, Ijaz, Kiran, Yuan, Dong, Calvo, Rafael A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-07-2020; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: code reuse; Computer & video games; exergame; Immersive virtual reality; Maintainability; object‐oriented application framework; Physical exercise; reusable component; Software engineering; Unity; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 0038-0644; 1097-024X
• DOI: 10.1002/spe.2814

SUMMARY
Exercise can improve health and well‐being. With this in mind, immersive virtual reality (VR) games are being developed to promote physical activity, and are generally evaluated through user studies. However, building such applications is time consuming and expensive. This paper introduces VR‐Rides, an object‐oriented application framework focused on the development of experiment‐oriented VR exergames. Following the modular programming pattern, this framework facilitates the integration of different hardware (such as VR devices, sensors, and physical activity devices) within immersive VR experiences that overlay game narratives on Google Street View panoramas. Combining software engineering and interaction patterns, modules of VR‐Rides can be easily added and managed in the Unity game engine. We evaluate the code efficiency and development effort across our VR exergames developed using VR‐Rides. The reliability, maintainability, and usability of our framework are also demonstrated via code metrics analysis and user studies. The results show that investing in a systematic approach to reusing code and design can be a worthwhile effort for researchers beyond software engineering.