There are tons of ways to create virtual and augmented reality (VR / AR) content, with engines like Unity, Amazon Sumerian, or Unreal among the most popular. But if you want to avoid organized app stores and use WebXR, then Wonderland Engine answers this exact scenario. Today, the platform is abandoning its subscription model, switching to a royalty-based licensing model so creators can download it for free.
Wonderland Engine is completely focused on web-based VR and AR applications, making it easy for creators to publish online without needing to support a particular headset. When the platform launched in 2020, it offered a 30-day trial, after which it charged users a monthly fee. This system has now been changed after customer feedback.
In one blog post“Wrote Jonathan Hale, CEO of Wonderland Engine:” The feedback we got is that 30 days is not enough to learn a new development platform, let alone prove its value. And that the cost of learning the engine as well as the cost of licensing after those 30 days was too high for many. With the free model, Wonderland Engine will now be more accessible to those who want to dive into WebXR. Once they launch a product, a 10% revenue royalty will be charged, just like other video game development engines.
The platform is based on the Wonderland editor, a WebAssembly-based runtime that runs in a browser. You can import GLTF, FBX and other files into scenes, add text, animations and JavaScript components, while providing
Wonderland Engine is still in its infancy, with v0.8.0. released last month adding new features such as physics based on Nvidia PhysX 4.1 and experimental support for WebAssembly SIMD. If you are already a subscriber, you will receive a refund for the unfinished months. The team notes that if the royalty model does not meet your particular needs, custom terms can be negotiated.
As Wonderland Engine continues to roll out more updates, VRFocus Will allow you to know.
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