We are very excited to announce that after 14 months, FriendsHangout.com is finally moving into Public Beta on June 1st.
I thought I would give you guys a little heads up that the site is updated now, so perhaps you can help us check things out now and make sure we did not miss anything obvious
FriendsHangout is a 3D Virtual World site based on Unity 3D where users can explore, chat, play games and more.
You can visit the site at
http://www.FriendsHangout.com?FHID=SFS
or go directly to the game here
http://www.friendshangout.com/3dchat.php?FHID=SFS#play
So far we have the following scenes ready to play with dozens more on the way.
1. Island Paradise
Visit our beautiful island paradise. Explore this amazing scene by following nature trails through out the mountains. Ride a jet ski, jump ramps, race with other users. Can you keep up with the dolphins? Have a drink at the tiki bar. Listen to island music and dance the night away. You'll NEVER want to leave!
2. Space Station
You KNOW we HAD to have a Shoot'em up in Space
Visit our SpaceStation and check out all the levels, see if you can find the Alien creatures hiding in this scene. Journey outside and try your skillz at 'Asteroid Hunting' or just marvel at the very cool music and scenery!
3. Future City
What will life be like in the Future? We have tried to take a 'Hollywood View' of what may be in store for us. Yep in our future, everyone can fly their own Hovercraft, travel out to the WasteLands, and have a Party where ever you go! Be sure not to run into the Blimp or Flying Bus and stay away from the downed telephones lines in the Wastelands.
4. Pirate Cove
Argghh Matey! Join us for a treasure hunt in this amazing scene. Find what's in store inside our Caves, Shoot a Canon on our Pirate Ship and be sure to say hello to our Parrot! Not sure what to do? 'Jump off a Cliff' and begin your tour the right way with our cool HangGliders.
5. Aztec Ruins
Feel the beat of the drums! Explore the Aztec Ruins, Climb the mountains to our beautiful waterfall. Run to the top of the temples to get a view like you have never seen before. Switch modes and take your Dune Buggy for a spin in the desert area. Also check out the crashed airplane and helicopter near the beach.
6. Snow Globe
Get your coat on, cause it's gonna be chilly! Enter our Snow Globe scene and venture though the buildings inside the globe. Enjoy sitting by a warm fire. Race a friend on the Luge Track and earn tokens along the way. This scene is loosely based on a design by the good folks at unwrong.com, thanks for the Inspiration guys!
7. Poster Gallery
We have created an Amazing 3D gallery that you can walk through, view posters in various categories and even visit links where you can purchase these posters at huge savings. Members of FriendsHangout can even create their own 3D gallery of photos they upload to their account!
We have many new scenes coming like, the Western Town, Haunted Mansion, The Aquarium, The Magic Hideout and more.
What do we have planned for the future?
Well we have many more scenes on the way, but we are also working on an API that will allow other Unity developers to use our system to create their own virtual worlds.
You will simply load your assets into our template and we will handle the rest, avatar, interface, networking, etc. 2D & 3D Graphic artist will also be able to link into our system and help create items that other users can use in their own scenes.
These will be available in our virtual store where developers can sell their items to others. You can start out with something simple like a room, but build up as much as you want, buy a block, a city, country, or even your own world that you can then resale land to other members. Large companies can even create an entire Galaxy and resale any or all parts they wish.
We want to set this so developers can make real money in our virtual worlds and will even be able to share in ad revenues.
To find out more be sure to sign up for our developer newsletter here.
http://www.friendshangout.com/developer.php
Please check out all our scenes and give us feed back as we go so we can make this the best it can be.
Special thanks to the guys at SFS and especially Thomas Lund, for helping us with the Unity API, all is working great!
Enjoy,
Jeff White
Visual Inspirations Inc.
www.FriendsHangout.com
