Check out Meta's most recent Quest tech demos

Check out these showcase applications from Meta that demonstrate new technologies and APIs for the Meta Quest ecosystem.

The following apps are partly new, partly a few months old, and you can download and try them for free.

Project Flowerbed

Project Flowerbed is a WebXR project, i.e. an application that does not require an app installation and can be launched directly in the Meta Quest browser with a single click.

You are in an idyllic park and take on the role of a gardener. You can plant flowers and trees. If you water them, they will grow as high as buildings.

The area, which can be explored via teleportation or smooth locomotion, is quite large and nice to look at. You can even take photos with a virtual camera. This is pretty impressive, considering that the entire application runs in the browser.

With Project Flowerbed, Meta wants to show the potential of WebXR applications. On the Oculus developer blog, Meta describes best practices and lessons learned from the project. The source code is available on Github.

How can I try Project Flowerbed?

Launch the Meta Quest browser and visit the Project Flowerbed website. From there, you can launch the VR app in the browser. Alternatively, you can search for Project Flowerbed on the web.

Whisperer

This enchanting VR experience demonstrates the possibilities of Meta's Voice SDK for voice-enabled interactions.

The VR app tells a little story: You are a good house spirit and interact with objects, a bird named Harold, and the house's resident Bea, using only voice commands. Your task is to gain the lady's trust and help her with her gardening.

Few VR applications use voice-controlled interactions. That's why it's worth downloading Whisperer. The source code is available on Github.

How can I try Whisperer?

You can download Whisperer from the App Lab.

Slimeball!

Slimeball is a two-player local multiplayer mixed reality game. It was developed by Skillman & Hackett, the creators of Tilt Brush.

Slimeball was created for Meta Quest Pro and makes innovative use of its face and eye tracking, but can also be played with Meta Quest 2 and supports single-player.

The following video shows the rather unusual gameplay, where the goal is to feed the enemy slime monster called Squelch as fast as possible. Only your hands and your facial expressions are used, the touch controllers are left out. You can find a more detailed description of the game in Jan's short review of Slimeball.

How can I try out Slimeball!

You can download Whisperer from the App Lab.

Aura

With Aura, Meta primarily demonstrates its eye and face tracking tech, which is only supported by Meta Quest Pro. Therefore, this app is not very interesting for owners of a Meta Quest 2.

The alien character Aura appears in front of you and mimics your eye movements and facial expressions in real time.

With this app and the source code on Github, developers can experiment with eye and face tracking and see how it looks when applied to a virtual character.

How can I try out Aura?

You can download Aura from the App Lab.

First Hand

This tutorial and tech demo shows the state of the art of Meta's hand tracking.

The app was originally released in the summer of 2022. It has recently been updated with an all-new level that demonstrates hands-based locomotion. Here you'll learn how to teleport from point to point and snap turn in both directions without the touch controllers, using only simple gestures.

This works surprisingly well after a short period of getting used to it and is suitable for story-driven VR adventures or puzzle games that are not too hectic.

Meta shows you how: In this little adventure, you must help a robot find items, solve simple puzzles, and outsmart a security system. The new level not only shows how you can move around in VR with your hands alone. It is also quite entertaining and definitely worth checking out.

How can I try First Hand?

You can download First Hand from the App Lab.

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