What is the metaverse – and how to create it

The Metaverse is a space that unites our familiar world with the virtual world. That is, a world where everything is possible, it’s a world beyond possible. The idea of it first appeared in a science fiction novel by Neil Stevenson back in the early 1990s. The writer described the interweaving of the real and virtual worlds, coined the term ‘avatar’ and called metaverse the next stage in the Internet and digital worlds development. Skeptics say that a full-fledged metaverse is still far away, although it’s gradually penetrating into our everyday life. Virtual worlds production make video games where VR helmets immerse us into the virtual reality. A well-known game Pokemon Go is an addition to our ordinary reality. Another kind of mixed reality is various training simulators. Metaverses have already become real and popular. Millions of people from all over the world not only play Fortnite, but also attend concerts inside it, where the events are presented by real celebrities from the real world. Microsoft offers possibilities not just to have fun in, but to work inside the metaverse: its Azure is a mixed reality to perform work tasks. Apple and Facebook, video games creators and TV channel heads work on the digital worlds production. Generally speaking, the metaverse creation depends simply on the power of your imagination. A good example would be the Martian landscape track, which is a part of metaverse development by ITSALIVE studio, a company which works in virtual worlds development. It’s a question whether we will ever be able to visit the real Mars. But you can go to a digital Mars right now. Let's see how the virtual worlds creation takes place. For example, we want to develop a small piece of the Mars-verse, a five-kilometer path where visitors can walk (or rather drive and fly by).

1. First we collect references and draw sketches. This part requires visual experience and creativity of designers and artists. 2. After that goes modeling. We create the architectural visualization of our world, and transfer it from 2D to 3D. 3. Next step is textures. They are actually easy to get, since they’re free. There are open sources where texture maps are gathered. 4. As an example, when we wanted to create a five-kilometer track, we used a blockchain, which is a continuous chain of blocks containing the information we need. 5. The metaverse production is complete - there were only four steps required to achieve it.

Every large company’s goal is to create its own metauniverse that will captivate the entire Earth. And there are plenty of tools available on the Internet to help you engage digital worlds creation: starting from simple virtual spaces by Mozilla Hubs, virtual rooms by JanusXR, and metaverse frameworks by XR Engine. Interested in virtual worlds production? Welcome! As this article shows, it's not that difficult. But, instead, you can dive into one of these worlds right now, for example, go to Mars. Can anyone resist such an opportunity?