Oculus unveiled the newest Rift prototype and announced an app store for the device at the first ever Oculus Connect developer conference, which took place in Hollywood over the weekend.

The new prototype headset is codenamed Crescent Bay, and it features 360 degree tracking, improved performance, and optional integrated audio.

It has higher resolution and a better refresh rate than the second Developer Kit headset (DK2) which was released in July, and it’s much lighter, too.

According to Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, the improvements Crescent Bay makes over previous prototype Crystal Cove (unveiled in January) are as big as the leap that was made from the first developer kit to the second.

Crescent Bay won’t be released to developers or consumers – like the Crystal Cove, it is simply a demo model to showcase what Oculus’s technology is currently capable of.

Oculus also announced Oculus Platform, the store which developers will use to distribute apps for VR devices. The app will launch in summer for the Samsung Gear VR headset, and will come to PC and smartphone later on.

The company also made the firmware and schematics for the first Oculus development kit available to everyone for free via GitHub, so anyone clever enough will be able to build one for themselves.

In addition, Oculus announced that it has licensed technology from RealSpace 3-D for improved 3D audio on Oculus headsets.

“Audio is essential for delivering immersive virtual reality,” reads a post on the Oculus Blog. “Along with the integrated audio in Crescent Bay, we’re working to build the hardware and software that developers need to create high-fidelity VR audio experiences for the Rift.”

Finally, it was announced that Oculus Rift will be an official platform for Unity 5, and that the device will be supported in both free and pro versions of the software.

“Unity has one of the most active developer communities building for the Rift, and today we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with Unity to make Oculus an official platform and build target,” said Oculus.

“This means that Unity will now fully support Oculus and the Rift with a dedicated add-on that includes stereo imaging optimisations, 3D audio support, and other features specifically for virtual reality.”

“Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) continues to be one of the best engines for virtual reality development,” the company added.

“Epic has dedicated huge resources to optimizing UE4 for the Rift and making it incredibly easy to build awe-inspiring VR experiences.”

Oculus Rift inventor Palmer Luckey was on hand at Oculus Connect, and had some advice for those developing for his headset.

“One piece of advice that never gets old is to be aware of the quality of your experience for people who are not necessarily VR lovers or VR developers,” Luckey told Gamasutra.

“So you have to be careful to not fall into that trap of believing in the overwhelming positivity of people who already believe in what you're doing and have gotten used to all of the problems.”

He cited tricky user interfaces, the need for plugins on some demos, and the difficulty of getting some drivers working as things that needed improvement across most of the headset’s current applications.

“That's not the kind of polish that'll go over in the real world,” he said.

“They'll just say, ‘This is shit,’ and they'll want a refund."

Almost 1000 developers from around the world attended Oculus Connect.