Google's Daydream platform is ready for developers to start building VR experiences. Today the company announced that their VR SDK 1.0 – formerly Cardboard SDK – has moved out of beta and is available on the Daydream developer site.
The updated SDK simplifies common VR development tasks for building "immersive, interactive mobile VR applications." It supports integrated asynchronous reprojection, high fidelity spatialized audio, and interactions using the handheld Daydream controller.
Developers can use existing game engines and tools thanks to a partnership with Unity and Unreal, taking full advantage of Unity and UE4's optimizations in VR rendering, head tracking, deep linking, controller support and more. Google is also opening up the Daydream Access Program (DAP) for anyone who wants to push their VR apps to Google Play.
Google revealed the Daydream platform at its developer platform earlier this year for high quality, mobile virtual reality. While the first Daydream-ready phones and headset are yet to arrive, the timing for the release of the SDK is no coincidence, given the company is gearing up to debut its Pixel and Pixel XL phones on October 4th.
Google also mentioned Daydream-ready headsets in their SDK announcement, so we'll take that as a hint that we may see more than Pixel smartphones at the upcoming event.