A Versatile Tool for Haptic Feedback Design Towards Enhancing User Experience in Virtual Reality Applications
Source abstract
Abstract
The past 15 years of extensive experience teaching VR system development has taught us that haptic feedback must be more sophisticatedly integrated into VR systems, alongside the already realistic high-fidelity visual and audio feedback. The third generation of students is enhancing VR interactive experiences by incorporating haptic feedback through traditional, proven, commercially available gamepad controllers. Insights and discoveries gained through this process contributed to the development of versatile Unity custom editor tool, which is the focus of this article. The developed tool supports a wide range of use cases, enabling the visual, parametric, and descriptive creation of reusable haptic effects. To enhance productivity in commercial development, it supports the creation of haptic and haptic/audio stimulus libraries, which can be further expanded and combined based on object-oriented principles. Additionally, the tool allows for the definition of specific areas within the virtual space where these stimuli can be experienced, depending on the virtual object the avatar holds and the activities they perform. This intuitive platform allows the design of reusable haptic effects through graphical editor, audio conversion, programmatic scripting, and AI-powered guidance. The sophistication and usability of the tool have been demonstrated through several student VR projects across various application areas.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts · Teleoperation and Haptic Systems · Tactile and Sensory Interactions
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
References (58)
Show source-provided references
1. Gao, Y., and Spence, C. (2025). Enhancing Presence, Immersion, and Interaction in Multisensory Experiences Through Touch and Haptic Feedback. Virtual Worlds, 4.10.3390/virtualworlds4010003 ↗
2. Van Damme, S., Legrand, N., Heyse, J., De Backere, F., De Turck, F., and Vega, M.T. (2022). Effects of Haptic Feedback on User Perception and Performance in Interactive Projected Augmented Reality, Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Interactive eXtended Reality, Lisboa, Portugal, 14 October 2022, ACM.10.1145/3552483.3556456 ↗
3. Kreimeier, J., Hammer, S., Friedmann, D., Karg, P., Bühner, C., Bankel, L., and Götzelmann, T. (2019). Evaluation of Different Types of Haptic Feedback Influencing the Task-Based Presence and Performance in Virtual Reality, Proceedings of the 12th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, New York, NY, USA, 5 June 2019, Association for Computing Machinery.10.1145/3316782.3321536 ↗
4. Immersion and Haptic Feedback Impacts on Dental Anesthesia Technical Skills Virtual Reality Training10.1002/jdd.12503 ↗
5. Haptic Feedback Helps Me? A VR-SAR Remote Collaborative System with Tangible Interaction10.1080/10447318.2020.1732140 ↗
6. Haptics: The Present and Future of Artificial Touch Sensation10.1146/annurev-control-060117-105043 ↗
7. (2023). A Touch of Virtual Reality. Nat. Mach. Intell., 5, 557.10.1038/s42256-023-00686-6 ↗
8. Skin Electronics: Next-Generation Device Platform for Virtual and Augmented Reality10.1002/adfm.202009602 ↗
9. Pezent, E., O’Malley, M.K., Israr, A., Samad, M., Robinson, S., Agarwal, P., Benko, H., and Colonnese, N. (2020, January 25–30). Explorations of Wrist Haptic Feedback for AR/VR Interactions with Tasbi. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, HI, USA.10.1145/3334480.3383151 ↗
10. Tanaçar, N., Mughrabi, M., Batmaz, A., Leonardis, D., and Sarac, M. (2023, January 10–13). The Impact of Haptic Feedback During Sudden, Rapid Virtual Interactions. Proceedings of the IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), Delft, The Netherlands.10.1109/WHC56415.2023.10224429 ↗
11. Effects of Vibrotactile Feedback in Commercial Virtual Reality Systems10.1007/978-3-030-06134-0_25 ↗
12. Supporting Presence in Collaborative Environments by Haptic Force Feedback10.1145/365058.365086 ↗
13. Frontiers. Studying the Role of Haptic Feedback on Virtual Embodiment in a Drawing Task10.3389/frvir.2020.573167 ↗
14. Haptics in Social Interaction with Agents and Avatars in Virtual Reality: A Systematic Review10.1007/s10055-024-01060-6 ↗
15. Fully Digital Audio Haptic Maps for Individuals with Blindness10.3390/disabilities4010005 ↗
16. Making Digital Maps Accessible Using Vibrations10.1007/978-3-642-14097-6_18 ↗
17. Nordvall, M. (2013, January 26–29). The Sightlence Game: Designing a Haptic Computer Game Interface. Proceedings of the DiGRA ’13—2013 DiGRA International Conference: DeFragging Game Studies, Atlanta, GA, USA.
18. Gutschmidt, R., Schiewe, M., Zinke, F., and Jürgensen, H. (2010, January 23–25). Haptic Emulation of Games: Haptic Sudoku for the Blind. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, Samos, Greece.10.1145/1839294.1839297 ↗
19. Sulaiman, H.A., Othman, M.A., Othman, M.F.I., Rahim, Y.A., and Pee, N.C. (2016). Game Development for the Visually Impaired, Springer International Publishing.
20. Trifănică, V., Moldoveanu, A., Butean, A., and Butean, D. (2015, January 24–25). Gamepad Vibration Methods to Help Blind People Perceive Colors. Proceedings of the 12th Romanian Human-Computer Interaction Conference (RoCHI 2015), Bucharest, Romania.
21. Seifi, H., Fazlollahi, F., Oppermann, M., Sastrillo, J.A., Ip, J., Agrawal, A., Park, G., Kuchenbecker, K.J., and MacLean, K.E. (2019, January 4–9). Haptipedia: Accelerating Haptic Device Discovery to Support Interaction & Engineering Design. Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Glasgow, UK.10.1145/3290605.3300788 ↗
22. Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Reality: Challenges and Research Directions10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3103598 ↗
23. Haptics Rendering: Introductory Concepts10.1109/MCG.2004.1274058 ↗
24. A Comparison of the Effects of Haptic and Visual Feedback on Presence in Virtual Reality10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102717 ↗
25. Cardoso, J.C.S. (2016, January 2). Comparison of Gesture, Gamepad, and Gaze-Based Locomotion for VR Worlds. Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 22nd ACM Conference on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, Munich, Germany.10.1145/2993369.2996327 ↗
26. A Comparative Study of Virtual Reality Methods of Interaction and Locomotion Based on Presence, Cybersickness, and Usability10.1109/TETC.2019.2915287 ↗
27. Comparing Hand Gestures and a Gamepad Interface for Locomotion in Virtual Environments10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102868 ↗
28. 3D Travel Comparison Study between Multi-Touch and GamePad10.1080/10447318.2020.1780016 ↗
29. The Golden (Hands) Rule: Exploring User Experiences with Gamepad and Natural-User Interfaces in Popular Video Games10.1386/jgvw.9.1.71_1 ↗
30. Ali, M., and Cardona-Rivera, R.E. (2020, January 12). Comparing Gamepad and Naturally-Mapped Controller Effects on Perceived Virtual Reality Experiences. Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception, Virtual Event.10.1145/3385955.3407923 ↗
31. Konishi, Y. (2023, September 22). Sony Group Portal—R&D—Stories—Haptics. Available online: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/technology/stories/Haptics/.
32. Kuchera, B. (2025, March 15). How the Nintendo Switch’s HD Rumble Makes Tumbleseed Feel Real. Polygon, Available online: https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/1/15499328/tumbleseed-hd-rumble-nintendo-switch.
33. Tarigan, J.T., Sikoko, A.S., and Selvida, D. (2024, January 21–22). Developing an Efficient Vibrotactile Stimuli in Computer Game. Proceedings of the 2024 8th International Conference on Electrical, Telecommunication and Computer Engineering (ELTICOM), Medan, Indonesia.10.1109/ELTICOM64085.2024.10864392 ↗
34. Designing Game Feel: A Survey10.1109/TG.2021.3072241 ↗
35. Bursać, V., Ivetić, D., and Kupusinac, A. (2024, January 8). Program Model for a Visual Editor of Gamepad Haptic Effects. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Applied Internet and Information Technologies (AIIT 2024), Zrenjanin, Serbia.
36. VIREO: Web-Based Graphical Authoring of Vibrotactile Feedback for Interactions with Mobile and Wearable Devices10.1080/10447318.2022.2109584 ↗
37. Nordvall, M., Arvola, M., Boström, E., Danielsson, H., and Overkamp, T. (2016, January 20–23). VibEd: A Prototyping Tool for Haptic Game Interfaces. Proceedings of the iConference 2016 Proceedings, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
38. Merdenyan, B., and Petrie, H. (2015). User Reviews of Gamepad Controllers: A Source of User Requirements and User Experience. Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, Association for Computing Machinery.10.1145/2793107.2810332 ↗
39. (2025, March 03). Valve Corporation Steam News—An Update on Steam Input and Controller Support–Steam News. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/4142827237888316811.
40. (2025, March 03). Straits Research Wireless Gamepad Market Size, Share & Trends, Growth Demand Report, 2031. Available online: https://straitsresearch.com/report/wireless-gamepad-market.
41. (2024, June 27). Unity Technologies Input System|Input System|1.8.2. Available online: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.inputsystem@1.8/manual/index.html.
42. Cruz-Hernandez, J.M., and Ullrich, C.J. (2019). Sound to Haptic Effect Conversion System Using Mapping. (10,339,772 B2), U.S. Patent.
43. Brown, M., Kehoe, A., Kirakowski, J., and Pitt, I. (2010). Beyond the Gamepad: HCI and Game Controller Design and Evaluation. Evaluating User Experience in Games, Springer.10.1007/978-1-84882-963-3_12 ↗
44. Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome May Be Associated with Prolonged Use of Vibrating Computer Games10.1136/bmj.324.7332.301a ↗
45. Using Informal Conversations in Qualitative Research10.1177/16094069221085056 ↗
46. Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire10.1162/105474698565686 ↗
47. Exposure to Hand-Arm Vibrations in the Workplace and the Occurrence of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome, Dupuytren’s Contracture, and Hypothenar Hammer Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis10.1080/15459624.2023.2197634 ↗
48. Hornsey, R.L., and Hibbard, P.B. (2024). Current Perceptions of Virtual Reality Technology. Appl. Sci., 14.10.3390/app14104222 ↗
49. Haptic Experience Design: What Hapticians Do and Where They Need Help10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.04.004 ↗
50. (2024, June 27). Unity Technologies Interface IDualMotorRumble Input System 1.8.2. Available online: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.inputsystem@1.8/api/UnityEngine.InputSystem.Haptics.IDualMotorRumble.html.
51. Godot Community, Linietsky, J., and Manzur, A. (2025, April 15). Controllers, Gamepads, and Joysticks. Available online: https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/inputs/controllers_gamepads_joysticks.html#vibration.
52. (2025, April 15). Unreal Engine Force Feedback in Unreal Engine Unreal Engine 5.5 Documentation Epic Developer Community. Available online: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/force-feedback-in-unreal-engine.
53. (2025, April 15). Meta Haptics Overview Meta Developers. Available online: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/resources/haptics-overview/.
54. (2025, April 15). Interhaptics Haptic Composer—Interhaptics. Available online: https://doc.wyvrn.com/docs/interhaptics-sdk/haptic-composer/.
55. Anderson, L.W., and Krathwohl, D.R. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Longman.
56. Fink, L.D. (2003). Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses, Wiley.
57. Piaget, J. (1976). To Understand Is to Invent: The Future of Education, Penguin Books.
58. Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, Prentice-Hall.