PICO tutorial from scratch (1) Pico game development project configuration

PICO tutorial from scratch (1) Pico game development project configuration

I. Introduction

1. Outline

After this tutorial you will learn

• Configure the environment needed for Pico game development

2. Become a Pico developer

Only by becoming a Pico developer can you publish games that can run on Pico, so this is the first step for us to start our Pico development career.

1. Register a PICO developer account

You need to register a PICO developer account to manage applications on the PICO developer platform. For mainland China, registration through mobile phone numbers is currently only supported.

1. Go to the PICO Developer Platform.
   

2. Click to join now and jump to the login page.

3. Select the region where your account is located as Mainland China , and check I confirm that I have read and agreed to the PICO Developer Platform Terms of Use.
   Click to register

4. Complete the account registration according to the prompts on the page.
   After successful registration, follow the steps below to create an organization.

2. Create an organization

In the PICO developer platform, an organization refers to the entity that publishes applications in the PICO store. The organization name will be defaulted as the publisher and displayed on the app details page in the PICO store. One developer account can create multiple organizations.

1. Log in to the PICO developer platform using the previously registered developer account .

2. Click Create Organization in the middle of the page .
   The Create New Organization window will pop up.
   

3. In the Create New Organization window, fill in the basic information of the organization according to the page prompts (fields marked with * are required)

4. Click Create.
   After the creation is completed, you will see the following pop-up window:
   
   Note: If you only want to experience the complete application development process, you can skip the relevant steps of qualification certification and directly refer to the "Create Application" section to create your first application. . If you want to experience the complete application distribution process, you need to complete qualification certification. After submitting the certification, you can continue creating your app.

5. Click to fill it out .
   You will enter the organization details editing page and need to continue to complete the qualification certification.
   
   If you are just an individual developer: provide your name, ID, mobile phone number, etc.

6. After entering the information, click Submit Qualifications in the lower right corner of the page .
   After submission, the qualification information will enter the review process and you can continue to create applications. If you exit the developer platform interface, you can log in again, and then click Settings > Organization Details on the left navigation bar to view the review status.
   Once approved, the qualification information cannot be modified . If the review fails, you need to go to the subject qualification certification page and click Modify Certification Information in the upper right corner to modify it. After the modification is completed, it needs to be submitted again, and the qualification information will enter the review process again.

3. Create an application

The "Application" is your final publication in the PICO store and needs to be created in the PICO Developer Platform. Proceed as follows:

1. Select the organization you created.

2. Enter the My Applications page and click Create Application in the middle of the page or Create in the upper right corner of the page .
   

3. In the create new application pop-up window, enter the application name and select the publishing platform:

   • 3 DOF platform
   • 6 DOF platform (recommended)

4. Click Create.
   After the creation is completed, you can return to the My Applications page to view the created application .
   
   
   View the created app and save the APP ID of the app . This will be used in the subsequent Unity configuration environment . This is also one of the reasons why you need to register a PICO account to become a developer.

3. Import PICO’s SDK

1. Turn on the "developer" mode of the PICO device

There is no need to purchase an additional development machine to develop PICO XR applications. You only need to turn on the "developer" mode for the commercially available PICO VR all-in-one machine to convert the device into a development machine.

1. Turn on the PICO VR all-in-one machine.

2. Go to Settings > General > About.

3. Move the cursor to the software version number and click multiple times until Developer Options appears under the left navigation bar.
   

4. Click Developer to enter the developer options interface.

5. Turn on the USB debugging switch in the upper right corner.
   
   Note: This will be used later when packaging and running the developed game. If you skip it, you will not be able to package it and send it to PICO and run it with the PC device.

2. Create a Unity project

Before importing the SDK, you need to create a new project in Unity Hub. Proceed as follows:

1. On the Unity Hub homepage, click Project > New Project.
   You will be taken to the new project page.
   

2. Select Core Templates > 3D.

3. Click Create Project.

• Note: The project name and storage directory cannot contain Chinese characters.
  After the project is initialized, you will enter the Unity editor page.

3. Import PICO Unity Integration SDK

1. Go to the development resources page and download the latest version of the PICO Unity Integration SDK.
2. Unzip the downloaded SDK compressed package.
   You will get a folder containing the package.json file.
3. Return to the Unity editor page.
4. On the upper menu bar, select Windows > Package Manager .
5. In the Package Manager window, click + > Add package from disk .
   
   Select the package.json file and import it.
   After the import is completed, you will see PXR SDK Setting in the menu bar .
   Note: When importing, click the option on the left (similar to agreeing) when encountering any situation.

4. Complete project configuration

1. Enable PICO XR plug-in

Enable the PICO XR plug-in to access the XR capabilities provided by the SDK within the application. The steps are as follows:
From the upper menu bar, select Edit > Project Settings .
In the Project Settings window, click the XR Plug-in Management > Android Settings icon. and check PICO

2. Set the package name and version number

The package name is one of the important identifiers used to identify Android applications, and the format is com.companyName.productName. When exporting an APK file, the Unity editor will automatically fill in the company name and product name in the AndroidManifest file based on your settings. Version numbers are used to show users the specific version of an application. Before each application is released, please ensure that the new version number is higher than the current version number. Follow the steps below to modify the application package name and version number:

1. In the Project Settings window, click Player in the left navigation bar .
2. In the Player panel, set the Company Name, Product Name and Version .
3. Set the icon (the icon needs to be uploaded to the Unity project).
   
   You can default all the icons at the beginning of the test.

3. Complete other settings

Other settings mainly affect the basic compilation method of the application and the supported system version. To successfully develop a PICO XR application and pass the PICO store review, you need to complete the following settings:

• Minimum API Level : Set the minimum Android SDK version required for the application to run. The minimum Android SDK version supported by the PICO plug-in is 10.0 (that is, API level 29). If it is lower than this version, an error will be reported when building the application.
• Target API Level : Set the target Android SDK version used to compile the application. The selected version must be equal to or higher than the minimum Android SDK version, otherwise an error will be reported.
• Scripting Backend : Set the compilation method of C# code in the project.
• Target Architectures : Set the application's running environment (i.e. CPU).
  Proceed as follows:

1. Click the Android icon on the Player panel .
   

2. Expand the Other Settings tab.

3. In the Identification settings area, complete the following operations:
   
   a. Set Minimum API Level to Android 10.0 (API Level 29) .
   b. Set Target API Level to Automatic (highest installed) . This setting is generally the default.
   The system will automatically use the highest version of the Android SDK downloaded locally to compile the application.

4. In the Configuration settings area below , complete the following operations:
   

a. Set Scripting Backend to IL2CPP .
Compared with Mono, IL2CPP can better support cross-platform application development. The IL2CPP backend can convert MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) code (such as C# code in a script) into C++ code, and then generate a native binary file (such as .exe, .apk or .xap) that is compatible with the selected development platform through the C++ code ).
b. Set Target Architectures to ARM64 and uncheck ARMv7 .
ARM64 allows applications to run in a 64-bit environment for better application performance. In addition, 64-bit applications have a higher addressing space (more than 4GB) and support dynamic memory allocation.

4. Add application ID

**Application ID (APP ID)** is the unique identifier of the application.
View application ID

1. Go to the PICO Developer Platform .
2. On the My Apps page, click the card for the previously created app.
3. In the left navigation bar, click API .
   The API page displays the APP ID field.
   

Fill in the application ID

1. Return to the Unity editor and click PXR_SDK > Platform Settings in the upper menu bar .
   You will see the PICO Platform Settings window.
2. Fill in the APP ID and close the window.
   

5. End

At this point, the pre-project configuration process for Pico game development has been officially completed. Next, we will start the formal game development and package it to run on Pico.
This tutorial is organized and written by: Shenzhen University of Technology – Yuanverse Developers Association. Association email: [email protected]
Reference documents:
PICO official website Quick start Demo