The March 10 community office hours saw many new participants who asked questions to quickly get up-to-speed and learn more about what to expect in the future from Sansar. VP of Product Bjorn Laurin, Lead Community Manager Jennifer, Senior Producer & Audio Artist Torley were among the Sansar team members fielding questions from the community.
Both Ebbe and Bjorn revealed some details about upcoming releases, which we expect will include the following new features:
- Custom media surfaces - Create your own custom TV, with this feature that will allow you to add video to an object's surface. Although for this first version, Ebbe clarified that media playback won’t be truly synchronized for everyone unless you stream a live feed.
- Support for basic material editing - The first version of being able to change advanced properties, for richer object looks and textures. Creators can expect additional advanced editing features in future releases.
- Support for grouping objects together - Creators will be able to group together objects to create more elaborate experiences. For example, Ebbe shared that in an internal test, we grouped physical lights together to illuminate a dark space with a twirling “disco ball”-like effect.
- More clothing options - About 5-6 more clothing options are coming soon to the avatar selector carousel, according to Bjorn. Expect about 60-70 different outfit selections in the next 2-3 months.
The Sansar team also shared some thoughts about the future development roadmap, which includes plans for support of enhanced scripting, animations, global illumination, full body inverse kinematics (IK) for avatar limbs, a heightmap terrain system, and other advanced features.
Among the other discussion highlights:
- Frequency of Updates - A new creator asked how frequently to expect updates with new features in Sansar. Bjorn indicated that Sansar will have larger updates with new features on a monthly basis, with the occasional bug fix made available more frequently, as needed.
- Monetization - There was a brief continuation of discussion from last week’s meeting about monetization in Sansar. Ebbe reiterated that the cost of developing an experience will be lower than in Second Life, but that there are still lots of internal discussions about eventual revenue and consumer pricing models, including the possibility of Sansar getting a small percentage on each revenue transaction. However, no specifics are ready to be announced yet.
- Access Permissions - Creators will soon have control over access permissions to their experiences. This means that creators can hold private events and limit who can access their experiences, if they don't want them open to the general public.
- Skill Gaming - In response to a question about the availability of casinos in Sansar, Bjorn mentioned that legal skill gaming may eventually be possible, but support for it is not on the immediate road map.
- Creator Tours - During many community meetings, Sansar Creator Preview participants get the opportunity to experience personal tours of some of the most promising early Sansar creations. Participants of this week’s meeting were introduced to some team members from Unit9, the creators of the impressive Monkey Temple in Sansar, seen above. Participants also toured the work-in-progress Loft House by 7Plus, shown below.
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