Well, it has been a while since our last blog entry. Our bad. We’ve had our heads down busily putting together our biggest release since our private beta launch back at the beginning of the year. There is so much in this upcoming release, it is difficult to know where to start, but here goes…

Your Small World

You will be able to embed the full 3D SmallWorlds client, or a compact “Zero-D” version into your blog, social network page, community website etc. We will provide a number of themes, along with other security features that will enable you to build your own little corner of SmallWorlds especially for your friends and community.

Games Galore

We have created a new games arcade widget that essentially works like a casual game portal. It will allow players to search our casual games library and play games of their choosing. These games are uploaded to our games library by both ourselves, and by third party developers.

We will also be releasing our Games API on our new developer minisite. This API will enable third party games to be integrated into our Highscore and Tournament systems. We are also planning to do a number of promotions to stimulate our game development community (to be announced in a future post).

User Generated Experiences

As part of our “power to the people” design mantra here at SmallWorlds HQ, we are introducing the first of a series of features that will enable our players to create their own entertaining experiences. We have opened up our mission building system to our players, and have added several new features to make missions more diverse, challenging and fun.

Expect whodunnits, tomb-raider-esque adventures, puzzles, mazes, manhunts and more. We can’t wait to see what shenanigans our players get up to with these new and exciting features.

Potions, Spells, Food, Weapons and Wearable Items

Over the coming months we will be releasing a huge range of purchasable items that players can wear or use on themselves and each other. Things like capes, helmets, jetpacks, rayguns, spells, potions, fireworks and food – to name a few. Let the fun begin!

For more detailed and up-to-date information on the new features in our upcoming release, check out this forum post.

The next release of SmallWorlds is due out later this month. Watch this space!

SmallWorlds is escaping beyond the walls of our studio today to enter a much larger world. We have had a very talented team of artists and developers working on the virtual world for up to 12 months now, and today marks the start of our private beta testing phase for SmallWorlds. We’re inviting an initial group of people in to help us test SmallWorlds before we officially launch around March.

SmallWorlds is a new generation of virtual world that runs inside your web browser, without the need to download or install any other software. SmallWorlds combines media, web content, and casual games into a highly accessible & compelling 3D world that integrates seamlessly with the rest of the web, bringing Virtual Worlds into the mainstream.

If you are one of those helping us to test the product - welcome, and thank you. We will be working hard to ensure your experience in SmallWorlds is a great one. Our artists and developers are already at work on building even more compelling content, and over the next few months we have lots of exciting new features planned.

If you haven’t been invited yet, and you’re interested in joining the beta then go to the Home page and click on the “Register for beta” button. We’ll send you out an invite as soon as we’re ready to open the beta up to more testers.

Welcome to a new kind of world.

We’ve been in so-called “stealth” mode for the last 12 months developing a product for what we think is one of the most exciting spaces on the internet - virtual worlds. The product is called SmallWorlds and quite simply it’s a virtual world that runs inside a web browser, without the need to download or install any other software. SmallWorlds enables users to build their own room, house, or even their own world, and to fill it with a wide variety of items and activities for them and their friends to enjoy together. With online friends and acquaintances, users can share experiences like playing games, watching YouTube videos, listening to their favourite band, browsing through photo galleries, and a whole lot more.

Today’s New Zealand Herald newspaper republished an article originally written for the inaugural issue of print magazine Startup in December, making this our first online press mention of SmallWorlds. You can read our brief mention here. Our private beta starts next week so hoping for lots more press to come - watch this space.