My Role in Wraith Matrix’s Development
Overview
Wraith Matrix is an online multi-user VR surgical training platform designed for the Meta Quest line of headsets. Initially developed as a single-user spine surgery training app for the Meta Rift, I was brought onto the project to port the application to the Quest. Given the device's limited processing power, I executed extensive optimizations to maintain a stable frame rate while preserving the high visual fidelity necessary for surgical accuracy.
Transition to Multi-User Functionality
Upon completing the single-player version, my team and I began prototyping the multi-user platform. We continued leveraging Unity and tackled critical networking challenges, including multi-user room setup, networking topology, and real-time collaboration within surgical procedures. Working closely with executive leadership, I assessed previous obstacles in multi-user implementation and spearheaded the development of an MVP, enabling stakeholders to join an online session in-headset, interact with networked objects, and communicate via voice chat. By utilizing Photon’s PUN and Voice networking package, we accelerated development cycles and ensured a seamless multi-user experience.
Leadership and Team Expansion
As development progressed, I was promoted to Team Lead for my contributions in driving the platform’s evolution. I played a key role in scaling the team by hiring and onboarding developers, planning and managing sprints, defining development tasks, and optimizing workflows. I provided hands-on technical guidance while maintaining alignment with business objectives, ensuring that our technical execution directly supported the company’s strategic goals.
Solving Complex Technical Challenges
One of the most critical challenges was ensuring state consistency across all users, particularly when participants joined an ongoing session. This required tracking patient conditions, surgical steps, and tool states in real time. Initially, the single-player version used Bolt (later Unity Visual Scripting), but we transitioned to a more scalable, maintainable approach utilizing Unity’s Scriptable Objects. This shift improved reliability and allowed medical directors and developers to build and iterate on procedures more efficiently. By replacing fragile visual scripting with structured, data-driven logic, we significantly enhanced system stability and performance.
Future-Proofing the Platform
With Photon PUN’s deprecation, I led the transition to Photon Fusion, ensuring long-term scalability and enhanced networking capabilities. This migration involved refactoring core networking components while maintaining feature parity, safeguarding the platform’s future viability. Additionally, I drove the integration of hand-tracking support to improve accessibility, reducing the learning curve for users unfamiliar with VR controllers.
Impact and Legacy
The Wraith Matrix platform successfully enabled the development of multiple medical procedures, including minimally invasive spine surgery, a complex burn treatment procedure, and a liver biopsy training module for Harvard Medical School. Its ability to support such diverse and complex procedures underscores the flexibility and robustness of the system we built. Through my leadership in optimization, networking, and technical direction, Wraith Matrix evolved into a scalable, high-performance multi-user surgical training platform that continues to push the boundaries of VR medical simulation after being the runner up in the XR Awards Finalist platform for VR Healthcare in 2022.