Here's What Improbable's Co-Founder Said About The Otherside's Open Object Standards:

The Co-Founder of Improbable, the video game company that’s working with Yuga Labs to make the Otherisde a reality, recently wrote a twitter thread that went into detail on the metaverse’s Open Object Standards and why the Otherside needs them.

After the First Trip to the Otherside metaverse last week, Yuga Labs released a nine-part Litepaper that gave Voyagers a glimpse at what’s to come.

One of the main points of the Litepaper was a section on ODK or “Otherside Development Kit.”

“(ODK) refers to a suite of “Creation Tools” built with Improbable that will allow users to create interoperable content for Otherside,” the Litepaper explained.

Voaygers (Otherdeed holders) and developers will both be using the ODK to build the Otherside together. Therefore, Yuga Labs and Improbable released a set of Open Object Standards that act as the rules of the metaverse.

“We want things made with our Creation Tools to be interoperable,” Yuga Labs wrote in the Litepaper. They can be used anywhere within Otherside - or any other metaverse that conforms to these standards.”

In the Litepaper, Yuga Labs and Improbable laid out four Open Object Standards:

1. Metadata Ontology - We will allow objects to be tagged using descriptors from the Otherside Metadata Ontology, enabling common gameplay behavior.

2. 2D Images - We support common image formats, starting with PNG, JPG - with more being added as Voyagers request them.

3. 3D Objects - We support 3D models through the popular glTF format (which includes meshes, materials, cameras, textures, animations, and everything you need to make a complete model). These objects can respond to in-engine lighting and physics.

4. Universal Scripting System - We will support scripts to be attached to objects and worlds to define and extend their behavior.

With these standards, anything that Voyagers or developers build in the Otherisde will be “fully supported” in not only the Otherside, but also any other metaverse that conforms to these same Open Object Standards.

After the release of the Litepaper, Improbable Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Rob Whitehead, took to Twitter and explained the importance of these standards. Whitehead also went into detail on what he and the Improbable team are currently working on.

“What is a "Metadata Ontology" and why do we need one,” Whitehead tweeted on earlier this week. “When you load 3D models, or 2D images into a virtual world, the world knows how to render them, but doesn't know what they are. It has no idea the 3D model you made of a sword is actually something you can hold in your hand. Imagine defining a metaverse equivalent of HTML - elements in HTML aren't just about what things look like, they define what they are and how they should behave - a <button> should be pressed, a <video> can be played and stopped. So what sort of elements would you see in a "Metaversal HTML"? There will probably be equivalent elements for a 3D environment - a <button> could be something physically in space, and a <video> could be on a jumbo screen. But we'll also need elements to define in an interoperable way new things like equippable items (tools, weapons, accessories), clothing, characters, placeable objects, consumable items, etc. If this is the HTML of the Metaverse, what is the JavaScript of the Metaverse? This is where the "Universal Scripting System" comes in, where you can add your own rules and behaviors to things in an interoperable way. We're still investigating exactly what is the best environment for this system - unsurprisingly JavaScript is a big contender. However the earliest forms of adding custom behavior will be "If this then that" style rules rather than full-blown coding.”

The Bored Ape Gazette will continue to cover the Otherside and will continue to break down the metaverse’s Litepaper and give you updates as they become available.