The metaverse is the web, but in 3D.
2,793 karma · joined May 4, 2019
Post link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28723689
Game link: https://personal-1094.web.app/scummvm.html
My team is building a sort of “Roblox in WASM/WebGPU” that’s built in UE4 and compiled to the browser, that will allow anyone to easily create virtual words and experiences for HTML5 without needing to know how to code. We’re even working toward live building using editor client side on the web, with hot reloading and a simple “publish” button so you can see in real time as you push changes.
Furthermore, the metaverse will be born from the web, because it “just works”, not to mention accessibility is increased when anyone can join with a simple link.
And for developers? No 30% tax from monopolistic walled gardens, plus only one codebase to worry about.
If anyone is interested in early access to our platform, you can join our Discord here:
This is what our startup has been focused on for Unreal Engine 4 to target WebGL. We've achieved scenes that are sub 10MB that load in up in two seconds in the browser on most devices.
Shameless plug, but our startup is building better support for Unreal developers to target WebGL2, and we're working towards WebGPU support. We're offering an end-to-end ecosystem that includes our SDK for optimizing games/3D apps, which includes compression, an asset streamer tool, and networking libraries for the web. This goes hand in hand with our hosting platform where developers can deploy their projects to without having to go through walled gardens. The best part is no 30% fees!
We're going to have some demos here pretty soon as we approach general availability of the platform. If you or any other devs reading this are interested, you can join our Discord community here:
Our startup Wonder is building a decentralized 3D platform in the browser for Unreal Engine 4 developers who want to ship their immersive applications on the web, be it games, product visualizations, even VR apps. We plan on extending support to Unity and other engines in the near future as well.
The biggest innovation is that we offer the tooling to optimize, package, and distribute rich software online that previously could only run on desktop. Thanks to WebAssembly, WebGPU, WebTransport, and WebXR, even the most demanding applications can run client side in the browser.
Developers are free to host their creations on their own terms, without a middleman saying what they can and can't do.
Here's a link to our Discord if you're interested in hearing more:
Couldn't come at a better time, with App Stores being front and center with their monopolistic practices that force developers to pay a 30% tax. Shameless plug, my startup is actually working on tooling to allow Unreal Engine 4 developers to ship and host their games in HTML5 using WebAssembly, with an asset streaming system and advanced texture compression. Our mission is to free indies from the shackles of walled gardens by giving them the resources they need to deploy on the web, on their own terms. We provide this as a SDK and hosting platform as an all-in-one solution. We're futureproofing it with WebGPU support for Unreal Engine 5, and are even working on WebXR support as part of our roadmap.
If anyone is interested, here's a link to our Discord where you can get request early access to our tooling and platform:
We have Epic to thank for this!
For users, clicking a link is much easier than installing an app.
We’re even working on WebXR support, which will play a key part in enabling the metaverse.