Originally running under the project codename "Worlds Collide", the virtual world platform of VastPark has just progressed into the Beta stage and is accepting applications for anyone who would like to try it out. The platform is built with simplicity in mind, allowing the average user to log in and create a world in minutes.
It's free to use and purchasing a "Pro Creator account" allowing 1Gb of storage and bandwidth will be US$19 for 2 years. One can still publish using a free "Basic Creator account" allowing you to try it out, and they were giving away three year Pro accounts if you were among the first 250 people to publish content.
Once you've created your world, you can open portals to worlds other users have created. Content creation tools include basic 3D building functions and texture mappers, as well as scripting tools. There's also a built-in syndication system where content developpers can allow some things to be used in other people's worlds and easily update that content system-wide from one place.
Im confused. If this is beta, and you need to apply, what was I playing around in a few weeks back?
I keep trying to hook up with craig from VP for a podcast, but we keep missing eachother ;(
The environment reminds me a lot of Kaneva. I'll be this is a .NET thing as well..
Overwhelmed with a plethora of choice !
How many virtual worlds are tehre going to be ?! I'm getting completely overwhelmed and kind of agree with that guy from Amazon the the recent metaversed podcast - it feels like im spreading myself too thinly if I attempt to deal with them all - or more that one !
Also - SL has such a great expanding community - surely thats the whole point - to tie into that..
I know this is off topic but I love that Vastpark logo...
Maybe they should be more specific... is this just a build-your-room-and-portalify-it-to-sound-megacool virtual world... or is this a visionary-revolutionary-Duran-Duran-is-coming-here-too kind of world?
Maybe we should have 4-5 rating fields...
Number of simultaneous users
User-created content?
Rooms or Monolith World?
Runs on which platforms? (hey this is important for a Mac dude!)
Current userbase (registered or logged in)
Then some ratings which are more subjective:
usability
speed
processing power needed
functionalities
openness (meaning can you just do what is cool according to the maker or also do whatever you want to!)
I agree that some degree of classification may be required. The trouble is some are just not like for like.
A metaverse toolkit or middleware will differ greatly from a running environment so there is a split there.
Openness needs to be around underlying open API's and interoperability potential aswell as regulatory openness.
Some degree of description of where the UGC is. Is it the entire platform top to bottom, or as a user of the system you can create things in it. Which is a massive sliding scale or complexity too.
Hello all, Im the Lead Dev at VastPark...Ill try to answer some of the above questions, but will keep it brief as Nick will hopefully be grilling me over skype sometime soon ;)
VastPark is not a virtual world! Rather, its a Virtual Content Platform. This means that users of the platform can create a virtual world (a Park in VastPark speak) of whatever scale they like, from a small room environment to a giant ocean with islands. Each of these virtual worlds can then be linked to each other to create a larger virtual world - we have in place a fairly solid content distribution system to facilitate the operation of the platform that is both device and platform agnostic.
The UGC facet of the system is pretty much top-to-bottom. Users can create content (3D/sound/shader/script/texture) and publish it into the system for other users to use or just for themselves, according to the permissions they select when publishing. Other users may then be able to remix that content, ie: mix a script with different 3D or sounds. The virtual worlds themselves are all fully user-generated, although we will likely package some templates with our world building tool (the VastPark Creator).
The VastPark client apps are all written in .NET 3.0, so that means Windows XP SP2 and above are required. We do have plans to make the system accessible on most platforms (hopefully all!).