  Virtual reality (VR) has re-emerged as a low-cost, highly accessible consumer
product, and training on simulators is rapidly becoming standard in many
industrial sectors. However, the available systems are either focusing on
gaming context, featuring limited capabilities or they support only content
creation of virtual environments without any rapid prototyping and
modification. In this project, we propose a code-free, visual scripting
platform to replicate gamified training scenarios through rapid prototyping and
VR software design patterns. We implemented and compared two authoring tools:
a) visual scripting and b) VR editor for the rapid reconstruction of VR
training scenarios. Our visual scripting module is capable to generate training
applications utilizing a node-based scripting system whereas the VR editor
gives user/developer the ability to customize and populate new VR training
scenarios directly from the virtual environment. We also introduce action
prototypes, a new software design pattern suitable to replicate behavioral
tasks for VR experiences. In addition, we present the training scenegraph
architecture as the main model to represent training scenarios on a modular,
dynamic and highly adaptive acyclic graph based on a structured educational
curriculum. Finally, a user-based evaluation of the proposed solution indicated
that users - regardless of their programming expertise - can effectively use
the tools to create and modify training scenarios in VR.
