Project Roadmap

Project Mission & Summary

Infinite Metaverse Alliance® (IMA) and its strategic partner Thales Nederland BV share a common mission to focus on inclusive "design thinking" to advance virtual worlds, virtual reality, and synthetic environments. The SceneGate Viewer project is one of several integrated projects supporting this mission. The following summarizes the general viewer project requirements:

• Client viewer application project must be open source and distributable.
• Client viewer application reliably works with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• Client viewer application must allow user access to active versions or derivatives of OpenSimulator regions including VAR types. (Specifically 0.8.x, 0.9.x, Halcyon, and WhiteCoresim server versions).
• Client viewer application must be adaptable for improvements in accessibility, usability, onboarding, performance, and security with a modern codebase.
• Client viewer application user interface should be customizable by users, allow custom adaptations for organizations, and be as standards compliant as possible.

To meet these requirements, after a full year of user testing and codebase comparisons in 2018, the modern Alchemy Viewer codebase was selected and forked as the SceneGate Viewer. Areas of focus and development include: accessibility, usability, onboarding, performance, standards, and security.

Timeline and Forecast

Milestone: August 2018

Project Start

Tasks

• Community and Developer Survey/Feedback Review
• Codebase/Feature Analysis and Selection
• Preliminary Phased Development Planning
• Community Project Artwork
• Initial Repository Establishment
• Branding Decisions and Changes

Usability Improvements
Initial Default Configuration Changes

Milestone: January 2019

Closed Alpha Windows Build and Testing

Tasks

Issues for Closed Beta Test Version - completed

Accessibility Improvements
1. Voice communication changes
2. New User Interface skinning

Onboarding Improvements
1. New simplified and extended modes
2. Separate UI defaults per mode

Performance Improvements
1. Graphics handling
2. Dynamic texture loading

Usability Improvements
1. New grid manager error checking
2. Preferences default changes

Milestone: May 2019

Closed Beta Windows Build and Testing

Tasks

Issues for Open Beta Test Version - completed.

Accessibility Improvements
1. New sound option updates to listen from all positions
2. New user Interface skinning

Accessibility and Usability Improvements
1. Camera changes
2. Settings updates

Onboarding Improvements
1. Simplified mode as default

Onboarding and Usability Improvements
1. Toolbars changes (associated with usability engineering review)
2. Fix Toolbar save changes
3. Help menu add for simplified mode
4. Label changes for move panel

Usability Improvements
1. Grid list changes
2. Slider and panel updates
3. Changed AltaVista label to Web
4. About floater updates

Usability, Branding, and Accessibility Improvements
1. Fix Windows task manager showing alchemy
2. Starlight CUI Decoupling

Milestone: November 2019

Open Beta Windows, Linux, and Mac Build and Testing

Tasks

Issues for 1.0 Release Version - completed

Onboarding Improvements
1. Expand simplified mode to include ability to open contents
2. Change Metaverse Depot splash page in all default grid lists to remove confusion

Usability and Branding Improvements
1. New installer images
2. Update strings for downloads and release notes

Milestone: January 2020

Initial Release 1.0

Tasks for Next Release

Rolling bug fixes

Issues for next Beta Test Version

Accessibility, Usability, Onboarding, Performance, Standards, and Security Improvements
1. Spinoff Project DreamGate Done
2. Continue third party library updates In Work
3. Continue Build Instruction updates In Work
4. Fix need login help link In Work
5. Add toggle option to update Unknown User TBD
6. Add Dyslexia fonts TBD
7. Support for secure login TBD
8. Add "Save As" Backup/Collada TBD

Onboarding Improvements
1. Continue nearby chat and conversation default changes (left collapse) In Work
2. Move avatar appearance button to lower button group for simplified mode In Work
3. Add support for Animated Mesh TBD
4. Add support for Bakes on Mesh feature TBD
5. Add support for Environment changes TBD
6. Add Estate/Avatar management changes TBD
7. Create a notecards panel for simplified mode TBD
8. Add ground sit button for toolbar and add to simplified mode TBD

Usability Improvements
1. Update CEF code to support live streaming In Work
2. Add new features: Area Search, 360 snapshot, and Discord (Status) TBD
3. Create/add Advanced Mode TBD
4. Disable analyze for mesh uploads/support code fix to analyze properly for OpenSimulator TBD
5. Fix/add/remove social media integration TBD
6. Add/update toolbar buttons TBD

Usability and Branding Improvements
1. Route any hard-coded SL menu items for reporting to the grid the user is reporting from (grid info) In Work
2. Continue rebranding and SL decoupling In Work
3. Address reporting and help menu issues In Work
4. Add any necessary API integrations TBD

Milestone: July 2023 (2021-2022 targets missed due to pandemic impacts on team availability)

Scheduled Beta Test Version
New Linux version pending.
New Windows version pending.
New Mac version pending.

Future Tasks

Rolling bug fixes TBD

Accessibility, Usability, and Performance Improvements
1. Add RLV features TBD
2. Investigate adding Keyword search TBD
3. Investigate adding UI layout choices TBD
4. Investigate adding option for white text on dark background for text entry TBD
5. Investigate adding Starlight CUI language and feature updates TBD
6. Investigate adding support for Hop addresses TBD
7. Investigate removal of NPC's from people radar and maps TBD
8. Investigate adding separate music and media icons TBD

Onboarding Improvements
1. Add Moderator support TBD
2. Add Avatar/Marketplace support TBD
3. Integrate EchoVoice TBD
4. Add VR headset support TBD
5. Add full audio/video Linux support TBD
6. Investigate support for Experiences TBD

Security and Standards Improvements
1. Make code changes as necessary to support server side changes TBD
2. Support system avatar skeleton and UV map changes TBD
3. Add private and conference features via EchoVoice TBD
4. Add support to import x3d formats TBD
5. Add support to import gltf formats TBD
6. Add support for export of gltf formats TBD
7. Add support for PBR materials TBD
8. Add support for Blender TBD
9. Add support for avatar animation via real-time motion capture TBD
10. Add support for webcam/video TBD
11. Add support for external scripting tools TBD
12. Investigate standards compliant modern UI re-design TBD

Future Roadmap Considerations: Trusted Grid support, Hypergrid issues, Security issues, Economy issues, Intellectual Property concerns, Mobile device support, and the ongoing Future Viewer Project.

How to Get Involved

The SceneGate Viewer project is open source with community participation welcome. To get involved, participants can provide testing, help maintain the wiki, write tutorials, report issues, request enhancements or new features, and get involved in code contributions. All of these pages are accessible via the wiki home page.

Infinite Metaverse Alliance® is a registered U.S. Trademark.