Jibe 1.5 and Unity 4

Over the past months we've been busy working on several development projects for clients, and in each project we have had the chance to expand on our Jibe platform. The upcoming release of Jibe 1.5 will incorporate many of the features we have developed, and we will be ensuring that the release will be 100% compatible with the newly released Unity 4 editor.

Planned features for Jibe 1.5 include:

• Room variable support
• Photon 3 & Photon Cloud support
• Improved avatar pipeline to enable wider range of custom avatars
• Reduced requirement for naming conventions for avatar outfits when customizing appearance options
• Animations can have any name, and are mapped to known animation states via a simple script set up in the Inspector (makes it much easier to grab animations from places like the Mixamo store to add simple gestures to your avatars)
• Appearance maps can support model, hair and outfit choices out of the box, the goal is to move towards a more extensible system
• Storage and retrieval of avatar dressing choices for Jibe Mars customers for future implementation of immediate login of pre-dressed avatars.
• Simplified networking scripts for position updates of objects
• Recategorized Jibe scripts in Unity hierarchy for clearer organization
• Increased flexibility on login process
• Change from three scripts (ChooseAvatar, DressingRoom, SingleSceneConfiguration) for choosing avatars and logging in, to one single simplified script (JibeLogin)
• Combine Loader and Dressing room concepts into a Login scene where you can choose all outfit choices on login. 
• Or you can change which scene is the first in the build order and log in directly to the main scene where the activity will take place
• Dedicated dressing room can be reached from any other scene in the build and should return you to the last known location
• Extra sample scripts for more common functionality (such as taking screenshots from inworld)
• Spatial audio support for Vivox voice on web player builds
• Chat history plus ability to chat from the webpage (removing the need to have the chat textbox on screen all the time while inworld)
• Single player mode for offline testing - extremely useful for debugging while not connected, or for doing a demo from behind a tight firewall
• Improved event tracking scripts for capturing additional information about user interactions
• Improved tracking of Account UUID (Unique Identifier for a logged in user) for use within websites where tracking by known ID is important. This feature enables both understanding of the current ID of the player from the multiplayer server perspective and from a user-maintained system.
• 100% C# codebase with final scripts converted from Javascript.
• Updated Jibe manual with full information on each of the new features in the platform!

We've also updated our Jibe Web Suite for our hosted and behind firewall server customers to include a rich administration site and support for groups and role based permissions to give you more control over access to your Jibe worlds. We're rolling this out to all our existing clients (it is compatible with 1.4.2 as well as 1.5) - let us know if you would like to apply for a priority upgrade by dropping us a note to our ticket system at http://metaverseheroes.com

Jibe 1.5 will be coming out as soon as we finish our QA testing. In the meantime, customers who are eager to try out Unity 4 should do so with caution until we can isolate any potential issues with the new editor and have approved the use and support of the new editor, and any issues that the pioneers of you may find please contribute your findings to our Jibe-Unity Google Group! If there are any significant issues with Jibe 1.4.2 and Unity 4 we will provide updated project kits to customers as soon as we can.

Speaking at "Train for Success" Panel on the Future of Virtual Worlds - Nov 8 @ noon Eastern

The Gronstedt Group hosts a weekly "Train for Success" speaking series, and this week I'll be participating in a panel discussion on the State and Future of Virtual Worlds.

The panel will be held in Second Life and starts on Thursday November 8 at noon Eastern.  You can also watch and ask questions via the live stream on the web.  

For more details, please see Facebook.  Here's a summary:

"The landscape of virtual worlds is changing. Social and game mechanics make virtual worlds more engaging. Browser-based virtual worlds make them more accessible to a wider audience. The panel will discuss the state and future of virtual worlds. Join this conversation about the emerging platforms and applications of virtual worlds in learning and business." 

Hope to see you there, and special thanks to Anders Gronstedt for inviting me to participate.

-John "Pathfinder" Lester
Chief Learning Officer, ReactionGrid

Online Presentation at Agile Worlds 2012

I'll be giving a presentation today (Wednesday October 3rd) at 8pm Eastern as part of the Agile Worlds 2012 Online Conference.

My topic will be "Integrated Reality and Next Generation Virtual Worlds." Here's detailed info on my session.

Please feel free to visit my Agile Worlds Jibe space at 8pm if you'd like to attend.  Hope to see you there!


UPDATE 10/4/21: Here's a video recording of the event.

My slides are also online.

-John "Pathfinder" Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid, Inc

Building Immersion through Simple Design: Visit a Meteor Shower in Jibe

Anyone can create an exciting immersive experience in a multiuser 3d virtual world platform like Jibe.

It doesn't have to be complicated.

And it doesn't require loads of money and development time.

The trick is to follow a few simple design rules.

Learn more about the Jibe platform on ReactionGrid's new website

After much work by the entire team, ReactionGrid's new website is now live!

Visit the new site to learn more about how people and organizations are using the Jibe platform to create interactive multiuser 3D experiences that capture the imagination.

And if you have any feedback about the new design and layout, please leave us a comment.

-The ReactionGrid Team

Video of panel on "Virtual Worlds Revisited" at the 2012 Chicago eLearning and Technology Showcase

I recently participated in a wonderful “Virtual Worlds Revisited” panel discussion as part of the Chicago eLearning and Technology Showcase.  The panel was organized and moderated by Mike Kemmler, and participants included virtual world innovators Anders Gronstedt , Mark Jankowski and Karl Kapp.

The panel was held in Second Life, but the focus of our discussion was firmly on the future of new virtual world platforms and new modalities for immersive learning. We were projected into the physical world meeting room in Chicago where about 30 people attended in person. Here’s a summary:

Still deeply entrenched in Gartner’s Trough of Disillusionment, is it time to revisit virtual worlds?  Mike Kemmler hosts a virtual panel discussion via Second Life with a distinguished group of virtual world innovators, presenters, consultants, and authors, including Anders Gronstedt, Mark Jankowski, Karl Kapp, and John “Pathfinder” Lester. Panelists address the current state of learning in virtual worlds, explain platforms they see organizations using for immersive learning, and discuss current challenges and future possibilities of using virtual worlds for learning.

Thanks again, Mike, for this great opportunity.  It was an honor to be on a panel with such a stellar group of pioneers in virtual worlds and immersive learning.

NOTE: The audio from Second Life is bit choppy for the first 30 seconds, but then clears up perfectly for the rest of the video.

-John "Pathfinder" Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid Inc.

Speaking at the Academic Librarians 2012 Conference - Syracuse University, June 12-13

I've been invited to attend and speak at the Academic Librarians 2012 Conference at Syracuse University from June 12-13.  This conference will be a great opportunity to connect with folks interested in building the future of immersive learning and information literacy.  Here's a description from the conference website:

Value. Learning. Technology. Librarianship.  As with all libraries and organizations, we must constantly demonstrate our value to our stakeholders amidst the changes brought on us at an increasing rate by the technology that we and our students use.  Technology shapes our interactions with others, our learning techniques and styles, and our pedagogy; it can affect the way our value is perceived. This year’s conference explores value, community, collaboration, social awareness, and applications that enhance learning. How do we demonstrate the value of the academic library in this changing information environment? How do we reach and teach our students? How is information literacy being transformed? Is it possible to game to learn or learn to game? What is the new librarianship?

The topic of my presentation will be "Intersections of the Future: Gaming Technology, Virtual Worlds and the Web."  Here's a summary of what I'll be talking about:

John will share his experiences using gaming technology and virtual world platforms to augment education. He will discuss future trends in specific gaming technologies such as Unity3d as well as ReactionGrid's Jibe platform, a multiuser virtual world system that works on the web and with mobile devices. John will also explain common pitfalls when exploring virtual world technologies and highlight the unique affordances of virtual worlds when they are interwoven with existing social media and web-based educational content. 

Thanks again to Mary-Carol Lindbloom, Executive Director of the South Central Regional Library Council, for kindly inviting me to participate.  I'll be at all of the conference sessions, so please drop me a tweet if you're also attending and would like to connect.

See you in Syracuse!

-John "Pathfinder" Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid, Inc.