How to Work with an Haptics Developer

TL;DR / Intro (10 mins)


  • What is a Haptics Developer?

    • Someone who can connect a digital/virtual experience with the physical world and provide physical experiences to the user. Haptics is all about feeling and creating a more immersive environment.

  • Common Tasks:

    • Understanding how humans perceive haptics, sense of touch
    • Providing touch sensations
    • Hardware oriented tasks like working with microcontrollers, wires, batteries, etc.
    • Creating a bridge between the virtual and the physical world which requires software as well as hardware programming.

  • Misconceptions:

    • Not responsible for designing virtual experiences.

  • Industry Roles:

    • Haptics developer
    • User experience developer
    • Hardware programmer

Required resources and tools (5 mins)


  • Software Packages:

    • Depends on project requirements.
    • Flexibility encouraged, but some projects may need specific tools.

  • Licensing/Cost:

    • Software licenses (programming IDE, game engine, etc).
    • Hardware parts for haptics devices.

  • Hardware/Computing Power:

    • Varied, including soldering equipment, microcontrollers, etc.

Deliverables and time estimation (15 mins)


  • Organizational Tools:

    • Jira / Scrum, asset spreadsheets, etc.
    • A haptics developer can work with the tool that the team as a whole is working with.

  • Time Estimation:

    • Varies but generally at least 2 days for tasks.
    • Project scope determines duration.

  • Pivoting:

    • Depends on project stage, can range from minor changes to complete overhauls.

Giving Instructions and Feedback (15 mins)


  • Instructions Needed:

    • User journey, scene flow, hardware capabilities, budget.

  • Feedback:

    • Detailed meetings initially, text-based feedback for progress, drawings for communication, in-person meetings for prototyping.

  • High-Quality Work Traits:

    • Detailed user journey, quick prototyping, quick adjustments based on feedback.

  • Sloppy Work Traits:

    • Frequent hardware failures, poor integration with user journey, haptic delays.

Best Practices for Collaboration (15 mins)


  • Problem-Solving:

    • Hardware failures, missing deadlines, programming errors.

  • Vocabulary for Project Managers:

    • Understanding of haptics terminology and project specifics.

Additional Resources


  • Share links to basic tutorials, primers, etc.