Pictured: FOXIS Island by Nobby
Sansar will open in creator beta this summer, at which time you'll be able to share your creations with whomever you like, and anyone will be able to browse the Atlas for public experiences listed there. So now's a great time to start getting ready for opening....
In preparation for the opening, creators can expect a transition away from the existing Slack chat platform into a different communication platform. Discord is among the platforms under review, but nothing official has been determined yet.
Improvements continue to be made in the community forums on Sansar.com, including a new Documentation forum. There are already 64 unique articles in the API Documentation section that can be referenced for help across a variety of topics. Is there documentation you'd like to see added, or perhaps some more details you think would be beneficial to existing articles? If so, let us know here! Also, don’t forget that you can alert our team about bugs at any time using the Bug Reports forum.
During the meeting, Jenn also thanked the creator community for the many entries in the recent Sansar Creator Build Challenge. All entries are under review and a winner will be announced soon.
CONTENT DISCOVERY
Creators also discussed the various methods in which the general public will discover and be exposed to their content on Sansar. For example, creators can expect a sort function to be added inside the Atlas within the Sansar client and on the website in the future. There were some requests for new Atlas features that might also help with discovery, including searchable categories, a “welcome hub” with teleports to multiple experiences, a search function in the Atlas on the client and a numeric indicator that might show the active population of an experience overlaid on each Atlas thumbnail.
One creator suggested that the Sansar Atlas include an editorially-curated selection of high-quality experiences at the top, followed by personalized locations and search filters that allow users to sort by keyword, friends, most recent, etc. There was mixed reaction on the idea of allowing for paid placements near or at the top of the Atlas.
Another community member suggested that there be contests, events and/or features in Sansar that encourage exploration. For example, a scavenger hunt might reward people with a free item or badge as they discover hidden items across multiple experiences. A user profile might contain a ranking badge that boasts the number of experiences visited.
Pictured: Picnic at Mr. Darcy’s by Solas
COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
Each weekly Sansar community meeting provides a unique opportunity for creators to provide direct and immediate feedback to the Sansar development team. During this week’s meeting, there were both suggestions and feedback offered, including:
- Sandboxes - Another community member asked if Sansar will have community sandboxes that allow multiple people to simultaneously create and collaborate in a shared creation space in Sansar. In the future, the Sansar team aims to give users the ability to work/collaborate together on projects, and the suggestion for shared sandboxes has been passed on to the development team for consideration.
- Speaker Identification - Some in the community have asked for greater visual identifiers to show who is speaking using voice chat in Sansar. A recurring feature request was made for an indicator that would better identify speakers, as well as a list of who is in your immediate proximity.
- Community Contributions - A Sansar creator who self-identifies as a “retired developer” asked if there are more ways for the community to contribute to the development of Sansar beyond 3D content creation. For example, coding, scripting, UI testing, etc. In the short term, the creator community is asked to share their contributions in the forums but other opportunities may eventually be available.
- Plugins - A few users asked if we will have specific plugins that will make it easier for creators to import or set up their content in Sansar. One example offered was a Maya plugin that would automate the material setup and export into Sansar. Nothing is currently available, but the Sansar team will look at what plugin options might be most viable.
- Faster Development - One creator is eager to see a faster Sansar release cycle, so that creators can start to experiment with features teased in earlier meetings, such as the materials editor and experience permissions. These and other discussed new features continue to be under development by the Sansar team, and will be available soon.
SEEKING CREATOR TESTIMONIALS
Are you a creator who wants to share your positive Sansar experiences with the world? Community member and documentarian Draxtor Despres is seeking participants for several two-minute videos about Sansar creators that will be unveiled in the coming months. These videos will be similar in tone and structure to the recent creator preview video that features Loz Hyde. Interested parties should contact Drax on the Slack #testimonials channel and/or via email at draxtor@icloud.com.
NEXT WEEK’S MEETING TOPIC: AVATAR CUSTOMIZATION
For next week’s meetings on June 23, we’ll be joined by Sansar user experience designers Samantha and Sean. Both will be available to discuss the future of avatar customization in Sansar.
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