I’ve just started a new Google Group for folks interested in creating virtual worlds on the web using Jibe and Unity3d.   You can join it here.

Unity3d is a very popular professional game development platform for creating 3d environments.  Jibe is a platform that we’ve developed at ReactionGrid to allow anyone to deploy multiuser virtual worlds on the web that are built with Unity3d.

Unity3d and Jibe have some really cool affordances for developing immersive and interactive projects, particularly for educators.  The worlds are accessible from a web browser, voice and text chat are both available, all content is based on industry-standard mesh models, and you can write scripts in C# and JavaScript.  There are also ways to integrate a Jibe world with web-based CMS /LMS systems, and future versions of Jibe will also support deployment on things like iPads and other mobile platforms.

I’m not a professional 3d content creator, and I can barely script my way out of a paper bag.  But I’ve managed to create my own Jibe world online.  Learning Jibe and Unity3d is not insanely hard.  Anyone can do it, really.

Which is precisely why I’ve started the Jibe and Unity3d Google Group.  I’ll be posting my own experiences to the group and sharing resources that I’ve found very useful.  Bring your questions and creative ideas.  Let’s build a supportive and helpful community together!

And if you’d like to listen to a presentation I recently gave at VWBPE on the educational affordances of web-based virtual worlds, Jibe and Unity3d, please take a look at this video:

Welcome to Jibe!

We’ve been working very hard at ReactionGrid on our virtual world platform called Jibe.

Jibe is a great way to give people access to virtual worlds through a web browser, and future versions will support mobile devices and even game consoles.  You use the Unity3D editor to create environments in Jibe, and I’ve been having a lot of fun learning how to use it as well as finding cool places to get reusable 3D mesh content.

I now have my own Jibe-based virtual world online and accessible by anyone who wants to visit.  So I’m officially expanding my weekly Office Hours to include a couple new meetings each week that I’ll be hosting in my Jibe world.  See my Office Hours webpage for all the updated details.

You can visit my Jibe world even if I’m not around.  Just open it in your web browser and have fun exploring.  I’m still building it out, so please mind the mess.  I plan to add some fun games and hidden secrets in the future.  Hope to see you there!

Sitting at my workbench in Jibe. And yes, having a fire that close to my spaceship is probably a bad idea.