Developers looking to work with newly announced Google VR Daydream (at Google I/O 2016) will have to wait for the next-gen of smartphones to come out with the hardware to support the virtual reality platform, but meanwhile can catch up with the expectations of the specifications and look at supporting APIs and SDKs.

Today Google announced it’s next-gen mobile virtual reality (VR) platform: Daydream VR. The concept encompasses both hardware and software and will work on Android N—and it is slated for release Fall 2016. By pushing the hardware and software stack of Android devices, alongside a number of phone manufacturers, Google expects next-gen phones to be prepared with low-latency and high resolution to work with the Daydream VR viewer (which is a headset similar to the Samsung Gear VR) and its accompanying handheld controller.

Google VR APIs that support Daydream

To take a look at what developer will be working with in order to provide apps and software for Daydream, developers can visit the Google VR hub. Currently two SDKs support Daydream: the Unity SDK and the Android SDK.

The Google VR SDK for Unity provides access to the API that plugs in with the Unity game engine, which is already an extremely powerful 3D graphics engine with strong mobile support. With Google VR’s SDK developers will be able to prefab a new VR Unity project from scratch, adapt existing Unity 3D apps to VR and make an app that can easily swap between in and out of VR mode. The SDK also provides access to head tracking, stereo rendering, special audio rendering, distortion correction and more. The SDK also has many additional features specific to the Unity engine such as simulating head movement with mouse, controlling approximate field-of-view, dynamic stereo-vision support to reduce eye vision and more.

To get started: developers can download the Google VR SDK for Unity and explore the Unity API reference. First timers might also want to look at the Get Started Guide for Unity on Android.

The Google VR SDK for Android provides access to Android N native-level OS API for VR–expected to be built into Android N phones to provide Daydream-ready capability. Using the Google VR NDK for Android Developers will use a C/C++ API to write native code. And, developers familiar with OpenGL can quickly start making VR applications using the Google VR SDK. The development kit simplifies common tasks such as lens distortion correction, spatial audio, head tracking, 3D calibration, etc.

To get started developers can download the Google VR SDK for Android and explore the Android API reference. First timers might also want to look at the Get Started guides for the Android SDK and NDK.

Google on the ball with mobile VR for next-gen phones

As mentioned above, Daydream won’t be available for consumers until next-gen phones start rolling out and Android N (OS and hardware) arrives with them. This means that while developers are champing at the bit for a head start they won’t be seeing the fruits of their labor until hardware and software support starts appearing in the market.

See above about getting started with the Google VR SDKs (for Unity and Android). As for platform and OS, Android N also has a developer preview.

Since last year, experts believe that the VR industry will be initially dominated by mobile VR–and with the presence of Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard currently and the expectation of Daydream this seems likely to hold true. Research firm Strategy Analytics has stated that it expects the market to hit $865 million this year and that 87 percent of that market share will be lead by mobile VR devices.

Featured image credit: Daydream VR demo via Google, Inc.