Awesome Metaverse

List of awesome projects and information resources about the Metaverse. Since there are many competing ideas about what the Metaverse is, feel free to leave feedback in the form of pull requests, issues, and comments. You can also reach us through discord.

---

Table of Contents

• WebXR
• Social VR
  • Open-Source Frameworks
  • Open-Source Tools
  • Commercial Frameworks & Tools
  • 2D Platforms
• Avatar Providers
• Protocols & Standards
• Books
  • Science Fiction
  • Non-fiction
• Media
• Articles & Blogs
• Crypto
• White Papers
• Links

---

WebXR

• WebXR Explainer - What is WebXR and what are the use-cases?
• Awesome WebVR - Curated list of awesome WebVR packages and resources
• Exokit - WebXR meta-browsers, engines, avatar systems, and more
  • Exokit overview - Unofficial overview of the Exokit toolkit
  • Exokit Web - The web metaverse engine
  • Exokit Web 2 - Make the API simpler and easier to understand
• Webaverse - 100% open source web based metaverse / game engine
• Awesome WebXR - Compilation of links for WebXR demos, frameworks, editors and more
  • Awesome WebXR 2
• Zesty Market - A marketplace for rentable NFT banner spaces in XR
• Web3XR - Site explaining the intersection of Web3 and WebXR technologies, WIP
• Glitch WebXR tutorials - Editable templates and guides for making your own WebXR sites

Social VR

Open Source Frameworks

• JanusWeb - Web framework for building interconnected virtual reality experiences
  • Janus Guide - Learn to build open source self-hosted virtual worlds connected by portals
• a-frame - JS framework for building 3D/AR/VR experiences
  • Exokit Avatar Component - Importing full IK avatars into aframe webxr apps
  • Integrating Augmented Reality Objects into the Real World with Light and Shadows - Guide by Ada Rose Cannon
• Hubs - Multi-user virtual spaces in WebXR, made by Mozilla (Sunset May 31, 2024, code donated to Hubs Foundation)
  • Hubs Creator Labs - Inspiration, creativity and knowledge that transcends Hubs
• Hubs Foundation Created as a non-profit to provide Hubs for self-hosting
• High Fidelity - Open source VR software platform (Deprecated)
• Vircadia - Community maintained fork of High Fidelity
• Tivoli Cloud - Open source fork of High Fidelity
• Overte - community maintained open source fork of High Fidelity with VR support
• Decentraland - A blockchain-based virtual world (not VR yet)
• Webaverse - 100% open source web based metaverse / game engine
• Ethereal Engine - Open source framework for building scalable realtime social apps
• Third Room - Open, decentralised, immersive worlds built on Matrix protocol
• Croquet - A new web-based operating system that runs on any device
• Three Object Viewer (3OV) - Open Source WordPress plugin with WebXR and AI integrations
• Unavi - Open source web-based metaverse platform that supoprts VRM + glTF

Open Source Tools

• Blender - #1 open tool for 3D creation, modeling, and much more
  • Hubs Blender Exporter
  • Webaverse Blender Exporter
  • Godot Blender Exporter
  • Babylonjs Blender Exporter
  • Sketchfab plugin
  • Polyhaven
• Spoke - Easily create custom 3D environments
• Open Brush - Derivative made from the open source code of Tilt Brush
• Three.js editor - Web editor for three.js
• Babylonjs editor - Web editor for babylon.js

Commercial Frameworks & Tools

• Cryptovoxels - Virtual world owned by its users
• Somnium Space - Persistent blockchain based virtual world
• NeosVR - Engine designed to accelerate the development of social VR applications
• VRChat - Biggest social VR platform with UGC of worlds and avatars
  • Awesome VRChat - One-stop shop for people interested in developing content for VRchat
• Roblox - Massive online multiplayer UGC gaming platform
• Omniverse - Real-time simulation and collaboration platform for 3D production pipelines
• dot big bang - Web-based multiplayer UGC gaming platform with built-in tools and Typescript scripting
• Helios - Unreal Engine based UGC worlds, avatars and gaming platform
• Horizon Worlds - Meta (previously Facebook) announcement video of The Metaverse
• FrameVR - No-code creation of browser based virtual worlds
• oncyber - Easy platform to display NFTs in a virtual world, built on threejs
• Monaverse - Mint and display 3D spaces in Unity webgl powered 3D worlds, VR support soon
• RP1 - An upcoming platform "that can synchronously connect hundreds of millions of users to one another in a real-time, persistent virtual world, without the need for sharding."
• AltspaceVR - AltspaceVR is a leading platform for live events, artists, brands and businesses
• Hyperfy - webxr enabled platform that lets you own and build anything you can imagine

2D Platforms

• Worldwide Web3 - Free to play interoperable MMORPG metaverse project on Ethereum, closed source
• Gather Town - Virtual office and event space, closed source
• Atlantis World - Web3 social metaverse platform, closed source
• Work Adventure - collaborative virtual office web app presented as a 16-bit RPG video game, open source

Avatar Providers

• Ready Player Me - Cross-game Avatar Platform for the Metaverse
• VRoid Hub - Platform for uploading humanoid VRM avatars
• Cryptoavatars - Unique VRM avatars on the Ethereum blockchain
• Mixamo - Easy tool to rig and animate characters, by Adobe
• Booth.pm - Indie marketplace that contains many 3D avatar / world assets

Protocols and Standards

• Dat - a peer-to-peer protocol
• IPFS - a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol
• glTF - Runtime 3D asset delivery
• VRM - File format for 3D humanoid avatars
• Ethereum - Decentralized world computer
• WebXR - Accessing VR/AR hardware on the web
• Open Metaverse Interoperability group (OMI) - Working group for open protocols / standards
• Metaverse Standards Forum - a new venue for cooperation between standards organizations and companies to foster the development of interoperability standards for an open and inclusive metaverse

Books

Sci-Fi

• Neuromancer - (80s) Defined the Cyberpunk genre and the term Cyberspace
• Snow Crash - (90s) Coined the term Metaverse as a successor to the Internet, author Neal Stephenson recently cofounded Lamina1.
• Ready Player One - (2011) Hit book that later became a Spielberg movie
  • Ready Player Two - (2020) Sequel to Ready Player One
• Rainbows End - (2006) Increasingly digital/virtual world with ubiquitous computing
• Idoru - Virtual celebrities and decentralized virtual worlds, Book #2 in Bridge Trilogy

Non-fiction

• The Spatial Web - How web 3.0 will connect humans, machines and AI to transform the world
• The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything - Upcoming book by Matthew Ball

Media

• The Matrix
• The Thirteenth Floor
• Existenz
• Free Guy
• Tron
• Wreck it Ralph 2
• Ready Player One
• Black Mirror (USS Callister & San Junipero in particular)
• Upload

Articles and Blogs

• The Metaverse Primer - 9 Part series from Matthew Ball
• Matthew Ball – The Future of Media: Movies, the Metaverse, and More - Investor field guide to the Metaverse
• The Metaverse by Matthew Ball - What It Is, Where to Find it, Who Will Build It, and Fortnite
• A Primer on the Metaverse - Venturebeat article on the next iteration of the Internet
• Parts List for the Metaverse - List by Philip Rosedale
• The Metaverse Explained - Loup Ventures take on the Metaverse in 4 parts
• Metaversing - Exploring issues related to the Metaverse and design choices and challenges
• Makers Guide to the Metaverse - 2015 article on 5 principles to build into the Metaverse
• Metaverse Lab - Experiments with VR/AR, Neural Networks, and 3D Internet
• PUDDLES to OASIS - Wired article on connecting disparate virtual worlds
• A Multiverse, not the metaverse - 5 Part series on Multiversing by Techcrunch
• The library inside Minecraft and our future in the Metaverse - The Uncensored Library
• Roblox believes user-generated content will bring us the Metaverse - Roblox wants players to build the metaverse
• Balaji Srinivasan on Building a “Pseudonymous Economy” - Pseudonymity is already the norm in virtual worlds
• WHAT IS THE METAVERSE, AND DO I HAVE TO CARE? - Verge article that's one part definition, one part aspiration, one part hype
• The Economy of the Metaverse - Interview with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney
• Mark Zuckerberg Metaverse Interview - Zuck on Facebook becoming 'a Metaverse Company'
• The Metaverse is Everything - Article by Doug Thompson on why we're talking about the Metaverse now
• Building the Metaverse with janusVR - From 2015 but still relevant for building 3D internet experiences
• The Seven Rules of the Metaverse - A framework for the coming immersive reality by auradeluxe
• Building the Open Metaverse Podcast - Hosted by Patrick Cozzi (Cesium) and Marc Petit (Epic Games)
• IPSME - Dr. Kim Nevelsteen - Idempotent Publish/Subscribe Messaging Environment (IPSME) can be used for both client-side and server-side interoperability, or between blockchains; systems can be integrated without being taken down and re-engineered; avoids the need for standardization and supports legacy systems; and, reduces the complexity of integrating systems
• How the Open Metaverse Will Transform Our Online Identities - Interview with maintainer of this awesome list by Richard MacManus

Crypto

• Into the Void: Where Crypto Meets The Metaverse - Piers Kicks article on blockchain based underpinnings for an open Metaverse
• The Open Metaverse OS - Exploration & framework for how web3 innovations converge with The Metaverse
• Larping Ethereum - Look into NFT Value from Interoperable Utility
• Interoperability in the Blockchain Gaming World - Ideas about connecting blockchain based virtual worlds
• The Virtual Economy - Stunning wbesite presentation about the intersection of crypto and virtual worlds
• Zima Red - NFTs, Virtual Worlds, Blockchain Games
• NFT Canon - Go-to resource curated by a16z about NFTs
• The Great Online Game - Blog post about the multiplayer meta game of the Internet
• A Primer on VR & the Blockchain - 20 Big Ideas about the Decentralized Metaverse by Kent Bye
• CC0 Compendium - curated selection of resources about CC0 NFT projects
• 7 Essential Ingredients of a Metaverse - Article by a16z on what distinguishes virtual worlds from an open metaverse
• Metaversal | Bankless - a top newsletter about crypto and metaverse by William M. Peaster

White Papers

• Somnium Space Economy
• The Sandbox Game Whitepaper
• Decentraland Whitepaper
• Webaverse Whitepaper

Links

• M3-org Research - Community for builders and makers of the open metaverse
• urn-namespaces - A common identifier for assets across the metaverse
• Anarchy Arcade - Advanced 3D desktop and shortcut launcher built on Source engine
  • MetaShortcutFormat - Spec to dynamically generate rich presence representations for generic shortcuts
• Emergent web metaverse - Looking at the web's past to catalyze conditions for the future Metaverse
• Hubs Master Plan - Hubs / Spoke plans for the emerging web Metaverse
• Metaverse Standards Overview (2014) - From the IEEE Virtual World Standard Working Group
• Tim Sweeney at SIGGRAPH 2019 - Foundational Principles & Technologies for the Metaverse
• Solipsis - Toward a Peer-to-Peer Shared Virtual Reality
  • Solipsis Presentation - Slideshow version
• 3D Virtual Worlds and the Metaverse - Current Status and Future Possibilities
• Metaverse Reading List - Topics for informed metaverse discussion by TrevorFSmith
• Raph Koster's Website - Industry veteran that has been working on virtual worlds and interop for decades
• M3 dev logs - Metaverse interoperability projects and experiments from M3 / jin by dankvr
• AngellXR - A Metaverse Incubation Community championing interoperability and collaboration.
• XRShowcase - A fun collection of web-based XR experiences.
• The Design of Virtual and Augmented Reality - Writeups by Alexandria Heston