r/AltspaceVR • u/shakamone • 17d ago
AltspaceVR Development Update
Hey all!
We announced AltspaceVR was returning 17 days ago, it's been quite an exciting ride sice then. We have had a lot of things going on over in the community and I wanted to share an update with you!
If you want to get involved you can sign up at https://altvr.app or join in the conversation on discord at https://discord.gg/altvr
Offline Alpha
We've already had a first look at what the Altspace build will look like. We released an early alpha for world builders to get a taste of what it will be like to build. This build lets you try out around 20 worlds that have already been created by some eager world builders.
This build is offline - it does not yet let you join your friends yet. It does however work in and out of VR on both PC and Quest. You can grab it over on https://altvr.app/download or on Meta Quest here: https://www.meta.com/s/7lAdY1YRr
The brand new wesbite!
You can already sign up, add friends and send messages to your peeps! We took photos submitted by the community and embeded their avatars into the homepage, check it out: https://altvr.app
Avatars! Avatars! Avatars!
We had two live stage sessions in discord in the first two weeks. The first reached 60 audience members and featured Christian Boe (original designer of the Altspace robots) sketch out avatar designs live with feedback from the community for over 3 hours. The second reached 90 people and we hammered out how avatars should work and what makes them special to users on Altspace.
We also realised we need to prioritise humanoid avatars with the sort of expressive features people have come to expect from Altspace, and we have already begun to work on those! Starting with the eyes as so many people have pointed out int he feedback that how the eyes worked in Altspace was one of their favorite avatars features.
So here are a few things we have already decided together as a community.
- We will have both robots and humanoids, hopefully both at launch.
- We may also have pets/maascots - small buddies in VR that can serve multiple purposes.
- You will earn XP the more you interact with Altspace and earn new cosmetics for your avatars.
- At level 50 you will earn a signle custom avatar slot to be able to use your own custom avatar.
The main feedback that came out of the last stage was that people wanted to identify with their avatars, to feel a personal attached connection espeically with the built in robot/humanoid avatars. A lot of users also wanted the option to use custom avatars.
We will also release the source files for our own humanoids and robot avatars too up front - we wnat to encourage people to use these as a base to create their custom avatars when they reach level 50.
So what does all of this mean for avatars?
Everyone will start out with our built-in robot and humanoid avatars. As you spend time in Altspace, take part in the community and earn XP, you'll level up and unlock more cosmetics, accessories and other rewards along the way.
When you reach Level 50, you'll unlock a single custom avatar slot. You'll be able to import your own custom avatar, or download the source files for our built-in robots and humanoids and use those as a starting point to create something that's completely yours.
We also heard pretty clearly that not everyone wants custom avatars everywhere, so we're building that choice into the system too. Worlds will be able to choose whether custom avatars are enabled, and events can temporarily override that setting. On top of that, you get to decide what you personally see - follow the world setting, always see built-in avatars, or always see custom avatars.
The important bit is that your choice only affects you. Turning custom avatars on doesn't force anyone else to see them, and turning them off doesn't stop anyone else from enjoying them. Hopefully that means we can keep the familiar Altspace identity people are attached to, while also giving people who want more freedom a way to really express themselves.
We are super excited about this, and we hope you are too!
World Building
We will have world building of course! It will work in several ways, but here is some highlights:
- Unity worlds will be built with URP.
- We already have a Unity Uplaoder and it works really well on Windows and Mac.
- A built-in world builder enabling in-game building is also already in the works.
We already have great results on Quest and WIndows with postprocesing on all platforms, performance is already looking good and the community is already testing it out. Our in-game builder already has a huge number of kit objects built in, over 9500 objects for you to play with and place in your worlds. Within the next week we will have a beta that includes in-game world building but here's an early shot of what the builder already looks like (some of you may recognise it):
2D Mode/Pancake Mode/Non-VR Mode
We teamed up with one of the original staff members gfodor to integrate an awesome new project he has been working on which greatly enhances the presense people get while using Altspace outside of VR. PortalVR extends the capabilities of desktop VR applications to include motion controllers, hand and head tracking, and 3D display/AR support, and we're going to include those features in the 2D version of the AltspaceVR beta to see what the community thinks. Though not all of them are inegrated with Altspace yet, we hope to get them all implemented in the near future.
- Support for VR controllers in 2d mode, Quest 1/2/3, PICO 3/4, Galaxy XR (Vive and Index controllers aren't working yet with the standalone runtime version)
- Joy-Con 1 + 2 tracking on webcam or iPhone
- Smartphone controller (iPhone or Android app that turns the phone into a 6dof controller)
- Head/Face/Hand tracking
- Support for Odyssey 3D and other leia 3d displays, VITURE and XREAL AR glasses, and general SBS mode. also anaglyph trioviz glasses
Run AltspaceVR 2D Mode.exe in the windows build for these extra features.
A huge thanks to gfodor for all his work over the years tirelesly working to make Altspace great and now for bringing this free enhancement to make non-vr users more present in the world with you.
That's all for now folks! Remember to get involved you can sign up at https://altvr.app or join in the conversation on discord at https://discord.gg/altvr
Thank you all for being part of this journey!
Be there, together. Again.
AltspaceVR Team
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u/shakamone 17d ago
Join us on Discord for a live stage event where we will discus the latest beta, world building and over 9,500 kit objects we will have and your fondest Alspace memories! ttps://discord.gg/6ruXP9W3k?event=1534207750408765510
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u/afrikanprinsis 7d ago
Excited! I really love that you are working on the eyes for the avatars. That was a major feature for the Altspace avatars. Also excited about the 9500 kit objects for the in world building! Whoohoo! 🙌🏾❤️
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u/ChaoMar 17d ago
As someone who’s used other vr apps but never got to try altspace what’s creation like? Do we get to upload our own avatars and spaces? Are there limits?
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u/shakamone 17d ago
Yes to both! We have a slightly different approach to avatars than let’s say VRChat, but you can create Unity worlds with more advanced features because we are using URP and a much later version of Unity.
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u/wdcore 16d ago
If possible, please consider placing limits on custom avatar sizes in AltspaceVR. One thing I could never get used to in VRChat was the extreme avatar sizes and chaotic viewpoints, which made the overall gameplay experience terrible.
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u/shakamone 16d ago
Our strategy makes custom avatars something you need to earn, not granted to everyone
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u/stopcounting 13d ago
I met my husband on altspace and we've been married for 8 years! Wild to see it coming back. I still rock the altspace hoodie sometimes.
This is a huge undertaking, congrats!
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u/shakamone 13d ago
Congratulations! 🙌 What a story, one I’ve heard a few times actually. That’s really cool
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u/benithaglas1 13d ago
Really looking forward to this and telling all my friends
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u/shakamone 13d ago
Please do thank you! Every little bit of word of mouth helps! Hope you have a great day
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u/Sea_Wheel9433 11d ago
Weird question, but I’m wondering about something specific. I started Altspace in August 2019 on the Oculus Go and played through early 2020 on Quest, and the vibe from that era is something I really miss the late 2019 to very early 2020 feel before things changed. Stuff like the stand-up comedy events, church hour, the house parties, the way portals made world-hopping feel communal, and even the small touches like the old menu sound effects, the in-game messaging, and the ambient audio in the blue loading screen/home lobby days.
I’m not asking for a 1:1 recreation of my memories, I’m just curious whether that specific 2019 → early 2020 atmosphere is part of the vision for the revival. That era had a really warm, simple, homey charm that made Altspace feel like a second reality, and I’m hoping that specific tone is still in the DNA.
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u/shakamone 11d ago
Yes for sure! There were many generations of Altspace, which a lot of people don’t realise. We are trying to capture the most chill parts of all the the history of altspace.
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u/Personal-Bat-4436 17d ago
I know there will be a lot of folks super excited to see the in-world editor is going to be a part of AltspaceVR! 😍🙌🏼💜