Neo community developer Robert Oschler has won second place in the SocialFi category of the Metaverse Alliance hackathon. Oschler’s project, Neo3D Live, is a 3D metaverse world that allows users to interact with one another’s avatars and participate in events like real-time auctions.

Oschler developed Neo3D Live so that anyone in any part of the world can access the 3D world, regardless of their ability to purchase powerful equipment. Neo3D Live was designed for most of the world’s internet users – those without VR headsets or high-end equipment. He said:

Let Metaverse residents form meaningful connections in a virtual world that will run on common hardware, including the millions of smartphones that may be the only link to the Metaverse a citizen in an economically disadvantaged region has. This is a link that has the true power to uplift the millions, if not billions of hard-working, intelligent, decent human beings who have the misfortune of being born in a region that is not economically gifted like other parts of the world.

The platform leverages the ThreeJS graphics library, a graphics engine that is widely accessible. Neo3D Live runs on almost any browser and device, so there is no need for high-powered computer setups.

The platform’s beta version allows users to congregate in a digital 3D environment. Real-time video conferencing is embedded into the moveable characters, so participants can see those they’re communicating with via live video feed. Oschler said, “By combining true video conferencing where participants can see each other’s faces as they talk to one another and move about a fun virtual world, people can once again feel the natural human joy of forming groups based on both social and spatial relationships like they would at a party or a shopping mall.”

Oschler also incorporated other elements to make the space feel more natural and interactive. In Neo3D Live, intelligent objects are embedded in the virtual world, responding to an avatar’s presence. For example, walking up to a wall with an embedded YouTube video will trigger the video to begin playing. And to create a more real-life experience, a user can hear the sounds of their movements and that of others around them.

NFT Showcase

The first demo of Neo3D Live included the NFT Showcase, a custom room where an individual can purchase an NFT on auction. A demonstration of the live auction can be found below:

The NFT designer can determine who can participate in the Showcase by whitelisting public wallet addresses on Neo N3.

The Neo3D Live smart contract supports derivative commissions, so collectors can earn profits when they sell an artist’s NFTs if the artist grants them that right. Further, Oschler intends the NFTs bought and sold through Neo3D Live to be viewable and transferable via third-party marketplaces (i.e., Sky Hut, GhostMarket).

Looking forward, he aims to develop and release a drag-and-drop toolkit (that doesn’t require coding ability), so anyone can build a virtual world.

About Robert Oschler

Robert Oschler is a natural language processing developer based in Idaho, USA. In Sep. 2021, Neo News Today distributed its first grant to Oschler, who was introduced to the Neo ecosystem during the Neo Frontier Launchpad event.

When Oschler initially won the NNT grant, he planned to migrate a dApp from Ethereum to Neo, while documenting his journey through the process. He hosted live streaming sessions for developers to come together, ask questions, and share  progress on the dApp migration. However, turnout for these live events wasn’t as high as Oschler had initially anticipated. He has shifted focus to something that might have more demand for developer attention. Moving forward, Oschler will release developer-oriented courses surrounding the Neo3D Live platform.

About the Metaverse Alliance and hackathon

In Dec. 2021, Neo and the Metaverse Alliance announced a partnership, with Neo supporting the hackathon as a sponsor by contributing to the grant pool. The Metaverse Alliance is an industry consortium aiming to further the development and growth of the metaverse and blockchain space. In addition to Neo, members include KuCoin, DoraHacks, OKEx, and many more.

The Metathon was a virtual hackathon comprised of six tracts and offered rewards and grants from two funding pools. The first prize pool offered rewards for the top three teams in each of the event’s six categories. The total prize pool was $300,000, divided equally between six categories:

  • Metaverse infrastructure
  • GameFi
  • DAO stack
  • SocialFi
  • Financial NFT
  • Miscellaneous

The Metaverse Alliance attracted over 100 contestants, with nearly 280 developers from 13 different countries.

For future developer videos, visit the Neo Developer Talks YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBZ4JOq1RKHMRjrpK5YCt6g

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