Sinespace

Last updated

Sinespace is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online Unity 3D-based platform created and published by Sine Wave Entertainment. It enables users to create and sell 3D content and interact with others as 3D avatars. [1] It was beta launched in November 2016 [2] and teamed up with Unity to make its SDK available in the Unity Asset Store in March 2019. [3] It supports Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, but is also accessible through PC, Mac, Linux, and Chrome web browsers.

Contents

Sinespace
Developer(s) Sine Wave Entertainment
Initial releaseNovember 2016
Written inUnity 3D
Engine
  • Unity
OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Platform Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, WebGL, iOS, Android, Oculus, Vive, Windows Mixed Reality
Type Virtual Reality

Usage

Sinespace's usage is similar to that of multiplayer virtual worlds. [4] Players can create and customize their own 3D worlds and 3D content such as vehicles, mini-games, avatar clothing and gestures, and sell them for real world money. Players can also customize the shape and appearance of their avatar and buy avatars from third-party developers such as Daz 3D. [5] [6] Content is created through a Unity 3D-compatible SDK, and in-game through building tools. [7]

Enterprise

Sinespace also has private, white-labeled grids for enterprise use. Customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, Pearson Education, Virgin Group, the Smithsonian, the University of Edinburgh, Michigan State University, and other organizations. [8]

Events

Sinespace has hosted several in-world talk shows featuring live audiences of avatars with notable people in the arts and technology, who also appear in avatar form, including video game designer Warren Spector, [9] VR pioneer Jaron Lanier, [10] MMO pioneer Richard Bartle, [11] and Hugh Welchman, [12] producer of the Oscar-nominated animated feature Loving Vincent .

Developer

Sinespace's lead developer is Adam Frisby, [13] who was also a key developer of the open source virtual world OpenSimulator. [14] Frisby additionally created a company that earned seven figures in real money by selling content in Second Life. [15] Sinespace is published by Sine Wave Entertainment, a company based in London. [16] The chairman is Peter Norris, [17] who is also Chairman of Virgin Group.

Related Research Articles

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaron Lanier</span> American computer scientist, musician, and author

Jaron Zepel Lanier is an American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music. Considered a founder of the field of virtual reality, Lanier and Thomas G. Zimmerman left Atari in 1985 to found VPL Research, Inc., the first company to sell VR goggles and wired gloves. In the late 1990s, Lanier worked on applications for Internet2, and in the 2000s, he was a visiting scholar at Silicon Graphics and various universities. In 2006 he began to work at Microsoft, and from 2009 has worked at Microsoft Research as an Interdisciplinary Scientist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avatar (computing)</span> Graphical representation of a user or a users alter ego or character

In computing, an avatar is a graphical representation of a user, the user's character, or persona. Avatars can be two-dimensional icons in Internet forums and other online communities, where they are also known as profile pictures, userpics, or formerly picons. Alternatively, an avatar can take the form of a three-dimensional model, as used in online worlds and video games, or an imaginary character with no graphical appearance, as in text-based games or worlds such as MUDs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daz 3D</span> 3D software company

Daz Productions, Inc. is a 3D-content and software company, specializing in providing rigged 3D human models, associated accessory content, and software.

<i>Blue Mars</i> (video game) 2009 video game

Blue Mars, a 3D massively multiplayer virtual world platform developed by Hawaii-based Avatar Reality, allows 3rd parties to create virtual worlds, MMOG games, simulations, shops, businesses, entertainment venues, clothing, custom avatars, furniture, virtual homes, and other items. It consists of four main parts: the client software, the Sandbox Editor SDK suite, the website, and the host servers. It is often compared to Second Life, since both are virtual social worlds allowing user-created content. According to Jim Sink, CEO of Avatar Reality, "Blue Mars was inspired by a vision of the future when the power to terraform whole worlds is within our grasp. The name Blue Mars represents possibility and hope."

Avatar Reality is a Honolulu-based game studio founded by Henk B. Rogers and Kazuyuki Hashimoto in December 2006. They develop an advanced virtual realm platform aimed at bringing together individuals worldwide on a grandiose level. Rogers with Alexy Pajitnov is known for creating Tetris and introducing it to the world and especially to US markets, and Kazuyuki is best known for developing the game Final Fantasy VII and the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Avatar Reality is one of FiReStarter companies at the 2009 Future In Review Conference. Minoru Arakawa, former CEO of Nintendo of America, is an advisor to the company. The company is led by CEO Jim Sink.

OZ Virtual was a 3D world viewer created by OZ Interactive that enabled real-time collaboration communications in shared spaces on the Internet with a strong focus on creative content production.

VenueGen was a browser-based web conferencing service created and marketed by The Venue Network. It was a 3D virtual meeting software that enables users to interact with each other using avatars. Users could host and attend meetings, conferences, and training with other colleagues and upload rich media into virtual meeting rooms for real-time collaboration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oculus Rift</span> Virtual reality headsets by Oculus VR

Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality industry. It was the first virtual reality headset to provide a realistic experience at an accessible price, utilizing novel technology to increase quality and reduce cost by orders of magnitude compared to earlier systems. The first headset in the line was the Oculus Rift DK1, released on March 28, 2013. The last was the Oculus Rift S, discontinued in April 2021.

High Fidelity is an American company headquartered in San Francisco, which formerly focused on social virtual reality. As of 2020, they appear to have pivoted to 3D audio software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Cardboard</span> Discontinued virtual reality platform

Google Cardboard is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google. Named for its fold-out cardboard viewer into which a smartphone is inserted, the platform was intended as a low-cost system to encourage interest and development in VR applications. Users can either build their own viewer from simple, low-cost components using specifications published by Google, or purchase a pre-manufactured one. To use the platform, users run Cardboard-compatible mobile apps on their phone, place it into the back of the viewer, and view content through the lenses.

VPL Research was one of the first companies that developed and sold virtual reality products. It was founded by computer scientist Jaron Lanier in 1984. "VPL" stood for "Virtual Programming Languages". In 1990, VPL Research filed for bankruptcy and in 1998 all of its patents were bought by Sun Microsystems.

OpenVR is a software development kit (SDK) and application programming interface (API) developed by Valve for supporting the SteamVR and other virtual reality headset devices. The SteamVR platform uses it as the default application programming interface and runtime. It serves as the interface between the virtual reality hardware and software and is implemented by SteamVR.

Tilt Brush is a room-scale 3D-painting virtual-reality application available from Google, originally developed by Skillman & Hackett.

OpenXR is an open-source, royalty-free standard for access to virtual reality and augmented reality platforms and devices. It is developed by a working group managed by the Khronos Group consortium. OpenXR was announced by the Khronos Group on February 27, 2017, during GDC 2017. A provisional version of the standard was released on March 18, 2019, to enable developers and implementers to provide feedback on it. On July 29, 2019, OpenXR 1.0 was released to the public by Khronos Group at SIGGRAPH 2019 and on April 15, 2024, OpenXR 1.1 was released by Khronos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtual reality game</span> Video game played in virtual reality

A virtual reality game or VR game is a video game played on virtual reality (VR) hardware. Most VR games are based on player immersion, typically through a head-mounted display unit or headset with stereoscopic displays and one or more controllers.

<i>VRChat</i> Virtual reality social platform

VRChat is an online virtual world platform created by Graham Gaylor and Jesse Joudrey and operated by VRChat, Inc. The platform allows users to interact with others with user-created 3D avatars and worlds. VRChat is designed primarily for use with virtual reality headsets, being available for Microsoft Windows PCs and as a native app for Android-based headsets such as the Meta Quest, Pico 4, and HTC Vive XR Elite. It is also usable without VR in a "desktop" mode designed for either a mouse and keyboard or gamepad, and in an Android app for touchscreen devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oculus Go</span> Untethered virtual reality headset by Oculus VR

The Oculus Go is a discontinued, standalone virtual reality headset developed by Meta Reality Labs in partnership with Qualcomm and Xiaomi. It is in the first generation of Facebook Technologies' virtual reality headsets, and the company's first device in the category of standalone VR headsets, which was a new category at the time of the Go's release. The Oculus Go was unveiled on October 11, 2017 during the Oculus Connect developer conference, and released on May 1, 2018. Xiaomi launched their own version of the headset in China as the Mi VR Standalone on May 31, 2018.

<i>NeosVR</i> Virtual reality application

NeosVR is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online, virtual reality application created by Frooxius and operated by Solirax. It was released for free on Microsoft Windows via Steam on May 4, 2018, with support for several VR headsets.

References

  1. "How Sinespace May Have Already Beaten Linden Lab To The Second Life Of VR - UploadVR". UploadVR. 2018-06-26. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  2. "New browser-based world Space offers free regions –". www.hypergridbusiness.com. 12 November 2016. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  3. "Sinespace teams up with Unity to sell do-it-yourself virtual world SDK –". www.venturebeat.com. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  4. "How Sinespace May Have Already Beaten Linden Lab To The Second Life Of VR - UploadVR". UploadVR. 2018-06-26. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  5. "Sinespace pursues the 'Second Life of virtual reality'". VentureBeat. 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  6. "Daz 3D Joins Sinespace To Bring Hyper-Realistic Avatars to the Virtual World/MMO Platform". Forbes. 2019-12-20. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  7. "Sinespace's New Archimatix Support Enables Real-Time 3D VR Modeling". UploadVR. 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  8. "Cancel All Your Plans Because You Have A Second Life To Live In VR". Fast Company. 2018-03-07. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  9. "Sinespace and Escapist Host an Hour With Warren Spector". EscapistMagazine. 2018-11-07. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  10. "Jaron Lanier Explains What Could Make VR 'A Device Of Nightmares'". UploadVR. 2018-06-08. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  11. "New World Notes: Watch: Designing Virtual Worlds Author Richard Bartle Discusses Designing Virtual Worlds from Within a Virtual World". nwn.blogs.com. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  12. "Hugh Welchman discusses his new film: Loving Vincent | Sinespace Blog". blog.sine.space. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  13. "Management". SINE WAVE ENTERTAINMENT. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  14. Au, Wagner James (2008-04-08). "Here Comes the Open Source Metaverse". gigaom.com. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  15. "Sinespace pursues the 'Second Life of virtual reality'". VentureBeat. 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  16. "Home". SINE WAVE ENTERTAINMENT. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  17. "Management". SINE WAVE ENTERTAINMENT. Retrieved 2018-10-24.