Exploring the "Monaverse"
There are more than 7 billion websites registered on internet as of today. Wonder how many virtual worlds will be there on the Metaverse!
Today many virtual worlds are sprouting up. Each of them offers some unique and exciting features. Some are games and virtual social worlds, and some are blockchain-based virtual real estate platforms!
In my previous post, Comparative Analysis on Metaverses, I covered several contemporary platforms: Decentraland, Somnium space, and Crypto voxels. Today, we will explore a different emerging Metaverse- ‘Monaverse.’
fig: Neon city streets (creator: neonglitch86)- a glimpse of A virtual world in Monaverse
WHAT IS MONAVERSE
There are many platforms today offering virtual land. Only time will tell how this virtual real estate ecosystem transforms over the next few years. We don’t know yet what’s the future of the virtual real estate. MONAVERSE is a platform that follows a different model for ownership in the virtual world. Let us see how.
Monaverse is comprised of a network of decentralized social virtual worlds that are called spaces. The creator can create and mint their virtual worlds as NFTs and eventually sell them. The vision is to create a decentralized and connected network of virtual spaces giving full ownership to the creators of each of their masterpieces. Mona has partnered with Protocol Labs to use Filecoin’s decentralized storage network to prevent a single company from controlling the virtual world. Using Mona’s open metaverse platform, you can quickly build your world and connect it to other worlds via ‘portals.’
As of today, Monaverse works only on web browsers. CEO Justin Melillo said it is just a starting. The attention is on web desktops but has plans for AR/VR. Monaverse started as a build-a-thon of virtual worlds, in which they called Artists, Architects, and Designers to create 3D virtual worlds. There was a bounty of $250,000 for the selected top Virtual world NFTs bought by Protocol Labs.
HOW TO CREATE A SPACE
Spaces are designed to be social environments and can be used for whatever you can imagine! Once published, Mona spaces become private metaverse hangouts for you and your friends. You can customize your avatar and chat using voice and text when entering the space. New utilities are added to Spaces constantly.
So let’s discuss how you can create your own space on Monaverse!
One can design with many familiar 3D tools such as Blender, Rhino, or Gravity Sketch and then import it into an easy-to-use Unity template. Once developed, you can test your creation directly in the browser before publishing.
Here is a short overview of the build process:
Setup your metaverse project
Download and install Unity
Open the Mona template in Unity
Create your space
Add in custom assets loaded from 3D tools.
Customize inside Unity using easy-to-follow documentation given on Mona’s website : Mona Documentation
Test your space
Experience your world directly in the browser before minting on the blockchain.
Optimize for best results.
Submit and mint your space to Mona for QA. Once you are passed, you can mint your space!
More info on how to get started in Mona as a creator can be found at Mona Documentation.
At the ArchiDAO study session, we have already explored the platform. To learn more, check out our youtube video below.
PLATFORM ANALYSIS
The platform itself has taken a different approach from other metaverses. It hosts all the virtual worlds on Filecoin’s storage network rather than IPFS. This is a strategic first step made to create decentralized platform, said the CEO, Justin Melillo. Some experts say IPFS is not enough to satisfy the needs for Bandwidth and storage space for NFTs, videos, and Metaverse projects.
This approach is the first step towards being fully decentralized, both on storage and the protocol. In contrast, several contemporary platforms avoid admitting that their NFTs are actually stored on Web2 servers. The concern with this approach is that these links might break one day, and the NFTs image will stop displaying. One significant advantage of Monaverse over other decentralized platforms is that a creator doesn’t need to buy virtual real estate for development. They can get started by themselves. They also have plans to generate creator economy around those virtual worlds crafted by the creators.
More or less Monaverse seems to have a great potential ahead. It is a great platform for Meta-Architects to showcase their work, design in metaverse and sell their own NFT spaces. I personally liked the platform’s approach towards decentralization. It gives the creator full opportunity to create and own their creations.
Monaverse has good stance:
More the no. of creators → more the content → more user-base → More are the chances of long-term success.
This space of Virtual world creation is still emerging and evolving. As the Metaverse gets mainstream, the ecosystem of virtual space design is only set to get stronger.
There seems to be a great possibility of Monaverse getting successful ahead!
Stay tuned and subscribe for more!