Authoring tools for virtual reality experiences: a systematic review

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is used in different application fields like health, tourism, or training. Most VR applications for these fields have been built from the ground up without any authoring tool to help the process. This systematic review surveys the existing literature on authoring tools for immersive content and critically analyzes its features and how they are evaluated. It proposes a research agenda with key contribution opportunities for the field. An analysis of the 29 studies that met the eligibility criteria revealed that four records did not present any evaluation regarding the authoring tools' evaluation, and only five records used specialized users to evaluate their authoring tools; all the others used non-specialized users. The most evaluated metrics were usability, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The data collected to evaluate the metrics consisted mainly of Likert scales and reported mean opinion score (MOS). However, few records used well-established questionnaires to evaluate those metrics like System Usability Scale, Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire, After-Scenario Questionnaire and Igroup Presence Questionnaire. Additionally, five of the analyzed records included stimuli other than audiovisual. More research is recommended about the usage of ontologies in authoring tools to comprehend the full potential of its usage since none of them had ontologies.