Introducing Just Leap In 2
Today we’re opening up Just Leap In to a public beta group. After an engaging private beta, and thousands of stunning, media-rich 3D worlds on the web (thanks to an amazing beta group: You. Guys. Rock), we figure it’s time to kick the tires a little harder.
... and hey, to show the world how much liveliness there is in 2009’s Fellowship of Virtual Worlds. Our industry’s Boromir may have fallen, but even the smallest person, we hear, can change the course of the future.
Just Leap In?
Just Leap In (JLI for short) aims to broaden the appeal of web-based 3D for a mainstream audience, especially – early on – the kind of audience that uses a lot of social media tools: Facebook, Flickr, Friendfeed, YouTube, you name it.
Goals
We’re focused on delivering
- • a simple, great experience of Web-based 3D media sharing
(photos, videos, music) - • useful social interactions (comments, chat, networking)
- • ease-of-use (everything is drag-and-drop)
- • a jaw-drapping 3D environment for web browsers on Mac & PC platforms.
We’re not (just) another virtual chatroom. Uniquely, we offer an RSSable newsfeed that syndicates 3D events ‘off-world’. While we’re delivering full game-state networking, we’re also after an asynchronous browsing experience, in order to make a 3D world function like a YouTube embed—or like any personal/corporate blog or webpage.
Mainly, though, we seek to ‘grow the pie’ for true 3D worlds on the Web, and appeal beyond an already-experienced 3D audience.
Mission
The first day I leap into 3D to find a friend or watch a film, and I forget it’s a “virtual world,” on that day the virtual worlds industry has grown up.
In that spirit, we’re aiming to make 3D part of the lifestream of the social web.
Who’s using this thing?
Most our private beta users are around the peak social media demographic (18-34), haven’t spent much time in a virtual world before, but are avid users of tools like Flickr and YouTube who are totally interested in swapping to a 3D environment. If you listen to those kinds of users, they want to do stuff like browse for friends and share photos and videos online. Other virtual worlds don’t actually make that stuff easy to do. So we’ve grown organically to make those key activities as simple as possible.
How do I get started?
It’s a free public beta—hop in over at JustLeapIn.com, create a 3D space, share it anywhere on the web, and let us know what you think.
Happy New Year to all!
JLI Update: Commentable spaces, new 3D stuff, and other novelties (0.7.8) 2
Today we're rolling out an update to JLI. (Hooray!) In addition to the last release's "freeform" texturing feature, the new version introduces lots of bells and whistles, including commentable spaces and fresh content. Read on for the details.
First, here's a new YouTube video showcasing the latest content and features. Check it out, share it around, sign up to try JLI if you haven't already, and invite others to come and comment on your 3D space! Thanks for testing.
This release (0.7.8) adds:
Comments on spaces. (For now, you have to be logged in to read and write comments. We'll soon be adding RSS, social syndication, and optional notifications).
New space templates, props, and objects for you to personalize, including a Beach Resort, Labyrinth, and Roadside Motel.
Enhanced Explore presentation and interface.
JLI 0.7.8: Release Notes
COMMENTS. You can now add comments to every space in JLI, including your own. In any 3D space, click on the Comments button at the upper right of the screen. To test this properly, we need lots of comments on lots of spaces, so go wild - and invite some other folks to join JLI and check out your world. Keep an eye out for comments on your space. Soon, we'll be adding RSS and other social syndication/notification functionality so that you can choose to be notified (or not) if someone comments on any of your spaces, or your friends' spaces. NEW SPACE TEMPLATES. We've added a new Beach Resort, Labyrinth, and Roadside Motel. Inside JLI, you can check these spaces out by clicking the Explore button then "Sample Templates", or you can create a new personal space based on any of these new templates and add your own multimedia and customizations. To create a new space, click NEW inside "Your Space." (You'll have to replace your old space and republish - sorry! This will be rectified in the coming weeks when we add the Multiple Spaces feature. But if you don't want to delete your old space just yet, see Create Extra Accounts below). NEW PROPS. We've added another animation (sample character) - a martial artist - and lots of new objects in several categories. Controllable avatars are still en route, naturally. USER SETTINGS. You can (finally) change your password and screen name. Click the Settings button at the upper right of the site. There have also been facelifts and visual improvements throughout: the Explore interface looks much prettier now, in preparation for more significant enhancements coming soon, and is a little more usable. For those of you who are still encountering hardware compatibility issues, we're anticipating fixes for you to try out in the next release. Thanks for your patience. If you can't see some of the new changes or they aren't working for you, try clearing your browser cache, and let us know on the Forum!
