Decentraland Community Summit 2024 - Presentations

The three presentations highlighted in this article were the primary focus on the first day of Decentraland's Community Summit 2024. These sessions, live-streamed for the virtual audience who couldn't attend in person, covered Decentraland's history, its DAO, the unveiling of DCL 2.0, and the future roadmap, after the release of Decentraland's upcoming client.
== Unveiling DCL 2.0 ==
Introduction by Nicolas Rajcovich, first part of the presentation by Explorer Lead Product Manager: Álvaro Luque, second part of the presentation was led by Explorer Lead Engineering Manager: Aga Besz.
* We
** About us, our profile, our digital identity and who we want to become in the digital world
* Explore
** Interactions, actions, the gameplay, how do you interact with a computer, touch and feel the environment
* The World
** User-generated content, scenes, Wearables, also the environment that surrounds us, the skybox, the engine
* Together
** The social network, the relation that we make, how we meet new people and make friends
=== We - Digital Identity and Authentication ===
* Authentication - 00:07:26
** Wallet usage via Metamask, Discord, any social account
* Avatar Shader - 00:08:20
** PBR ready
*** Metallics
*** Roughness
*** Normal Maps
* Backpack - 00:09:50
** Detailed information
** Filter
* Avatar Wishlist Unlocked - 00:10:56
** Spring bones for simulation
** Facial animations
** Wearable animations
** Custom walking styles
** Color masks per Wearable
** Slot system rework
** Facial customization
** Body types and shapes
=== Explore - Interactions And Gameplay ===
* Interactions - 00:13:31
* Cursor Lock - 00:14:27
* Camera Modes - 00:14:52
** First person camera
** New third person camera
** Drone view
* Interactions Roadmap - 00:16:54
** Rebinding your keys
** International keyboards
** Accessibility features
** Gamepad support (partially available)
** Better In-World camera
* Gameplay - 00:17:44
** Jogging
** Running, different FOV
** Jumping
*** Tap spacebar
*** Hold spacebar
*** Coyote Time
**** Allow jumping after leaving the platform
**** Less demanding on reaction time
**** Hardcore Level Design
* Awareness - 00:20:34
** Moving Camera -> Avatar Moves Head
** Uneven Ground Behavior
* SDK Integration - 00:21:49
** All values are parameterized
** Jumping height, distance, running speed,..
** Avatar is affected by gravity
** Allow creators to enable/disable locomotions
** Tweak parameters and create gameplay dynamics
* Future Locomotion - 00:23:47
** Sit down, climb stairs
** Double jump, fly, swim, crouch,..
** Grab and drop things
** Surface modificators (ice, mud, water)
** NFT locomotion styles
=== The World - UGC & Environment ===
* Loading Screens - 00:25:04
** Redesigning to be interactive
** Localized tips in multiple languages
** SDK ready: content creators can create their own tips with images, text, background color
* Level Of Detail - 00:25:53
** Rendering scenes on far distance
** See everything what your sight reaches
** Create your own LODs
*** Create low poly versions of your scenes
*** LOD support for individual assets
* Landscape - 00:28:35
** Original aesthetics, red grass,..
** Flowers, trees, grass,.. moves with the wind
** Surfaces are affected by light
** Environment sounds (birds, ocean waves,..)
** Procedurally generated
* Roads - 00:31:43
** No longer scenes
** Part of the environment
** Collection of new assets
** Outlook for fun mechanics
* Skybox - 00:32:24
** Lunar phases
** 2 suns
** Control the skybox in the HUD
* Environment Next? - 00:33:48
** You control the sky via HUD
** Game mechanics on environment
** Day & night cycle awareness (crickets sing at night, streets light up)
** Custom Skybox Cubemap
** Seasons and weather
=== Together - Social & Multiplayer ===
* Chat Design - 00:35:16
** Easy to follow conversations
** Immersive, connected to the world
** Connected to emotions and emphasis
** Needs to be fun
** Custom colors
** Bubbles
** Emojis
* Chat Future - 00:36:31
** Reactions and replies
** Emotions
** Emojimotes
** Real-time translation
** Feature parity (mentions, links, private conversations)
* Multiplayer Design - 00:37:42
** Built on top of Livekit
** Want accurate nearly real time
** Faster and performant message parsing
** Squeeze more information for the future
** Improved interpolation/extrapolation
*What's Next? - 00:39:32
**Prepare for the private and public alpha
**Feature parity (In-World camera, passport, voice chat, etc.)
**New gameplay oriented features
**Continue evolving our digital identity
**New engine capabilities (dynamic lights, particles, physics)
=== Performance & Tech Improvements ===
* Current state - 00:42:47
** World feels rather empty
** Green Wall Blockers
** Flying avatars
* Technical concepts - 00:43:55
** What is FPS?
** Performance
** Developer Experience
*** Tech stack
*** Debugging
*** Multiplatform
=== Desktop Client 2.0 ===
* Goals - 00:48:38
** High performance
** Smooth streaming
** See more around you
* High Performance - 00:50:25
** Multi-threading
** Frame Budgeting
** Scene Prioritization
** Parallelization
* Streaming - 00:53:03
** Improved memory management
** Memory budgets
** Minimized allocations
** Pooling
* See more around you - 00:56:11
** LODs
** Automated LODs generation pipeline
** Improved avatars rendering and shading
* Networking - 00:57:58
** Native Unity LiveKit support
** Movement interpolation and extrapolation
* Developer Experience - 00:59:23
** New architecture
** Native Unity
** Robust error reporting
* New vs. Old Client Comparison - 01:00:37
** More rendering, scenes, LODs, landscapes, meshes
** Up to 79% faster performance
** 100% decrease in memory allocation per frame
** 93% decrease in hiccups
** 250 Avatars with stable performance
== Launch DCL 2.0 ==
* Private Alpha, likely July 2024
* Public Launch anticipated for Q4 2024
== The Road Ahead ==
Executive Director of the Decentraland Foundation, Yemel Jardi, was presenting this section. Showing prototypes and demos that potentially make sense for the future of Decentraland.
* Locomotion Animations - 00:02:58
** Direction Changing
** Double/Triple Jump
** Crouching
** Climbing Ledges
** Swimming
** Flying
** Dashing
** Having Fun
** Gliding
* Passport - 00:06:31
** Achievements for spending time on the platform
** Badges & Accomplishments
* Quests - 00:08:25
** Ideas of quests and missions to potentially drive traffic to Decentraland
** Finding and opening a chest
** Picking up a package, to be delivered somewhere else
** Plant a tree
** Some type of public service, eg. fixing a fountain in the road
* Local Development - 00:12:33
** Modify the Editor to launch on your own testing environment on own devices and develop locally
* Bug Fixing - 00:13:21
* Distribution - 00:13:56
** Launcher, for launching and downloading the new client
** Publishing the client on the website
** On Steam & Epic store for user on-boarding, "Going where the users are"
* Map Improvements - 00:15:30
** Similarities to Google Maps
** Rating scenes
** Different views of the map, not just static top view
* Camera - 00:16:41
** Submit photo to map
** Games or Quests around taking pictures
* Limited Teleportation - 00:17:52
** Remove it completely?
** One teleport/day?
** Other teleportation methods (Buses, Portals,..)?
* Squatting LAND - 00:19:23
** Mechanism for second layer ownership
** Reclaiming piece of LAND
** Disallowing a squatting system, if you re an inactive user
** Solve the problem what happens with lost LAND
== Foundation Q&A ==
A total of 46 questions were submitted via Slido, 19 remained unanswered. Additional questions from the crowd were answered as well. When clicking on the time stamp next to each question, you will be redirected to the answer within the YouTube video.
# 00:22:32 - Will wearable texture resolution be increased with the upgrade to PBR materials?
# 00:23:02 - I know you can't give an exact date, but can you give us somewhat of an expectation of when we could see this client live? 1 year? 5 years?
# 00:23:25 - With the new client stability this will likely open the door for bigger brand participation. Is there a plan for this outreach? Partner with creators?
# 00:25:25 - Why do it as closed beta when Decentraland is supposed to be open?
# 00:28:18 - How much of the new updates are going to available for alteration through the SDK?
# 00:30:26 - Is it a wise decisition to launch the new explorer without coordinating with dg who as of today is providing most of the daily active users?
# 00:31:15 - With the new updates to wearables, will the tri counts be adjusted/increased for the new client?
# 00:31:36 - How will foundation choose where these interactive quests take the player? Some fear that they will be shuffled to exclusive studio partnerships.
# 00:32:29 - Amazing update. Great work! Is it possible to externally load glb/gltf from within a scene with the sdk?
# 00:34:50 - How do you see Decentraland DAO in 2025 ?
# 00:38:33 - Great presentation! When pets? and When portals to other metaverse? Thank you!
# 00:39:46 - When transportation?
# 00:40:02 - What is the approach of decentraland to become profitable on the mid and long term?
# 00:43:24 - For someone who doesn't have any coding experience, I have been building with SDK 6 and now we have the 7 Builder, we have In-World Builder, we have the SDK deployment, which is the one we should be focusing on as a builder that doesn't really like to code?
# 00:44:27 - How will you guys be notifying Wearable buyers of this opt-out VRM export, before they purchase the Wearable?
# 00:45:12 - Will we have access to the dev cam that you snuck into that preview? 😛
# 00:45:59 - There is any strategy to bring more users to the platform? Marketing plan, advertising…?
# 00:47:47 - How do you plan to do the quest in a decentralized way and without fully relying on Foundation servers?
# 00:49:35 - Will we ever be able to paste a YouTube link to make streaming easier in Decentraland?
# 00:51:34 - Is the new client going to be open to collaboration and dev guideline to modify locally?
# 00:53:23 - Is there will be a beach with a shore in DCL 2.0?
# 00:53:40 - Are we going to be able to boot players, ban them from a scene?
# 00:55:08 - Does the chat supports full utf8 now? Like mandarin or cyrrilic alphabet?
# 00:55:40 - how can we assure brands that if they invest heavily on dcl, their experience will work and not that the next year there will be a new sdk8?
# 00:57:02 - When will we start seeing more tools to enable virtual privacy and discourage cyberstalking or bullying, such as being able to block/mute people in world?
# 00:57:54 - Will the scenes be able to utilize the new shaders created for grass, trees etc.?
# 00:58:08 - Wen will decentraland have games built in to the UI? So we can play in genesis and globally?
# 01:00:06 - Can we give delegate more VP from the treasury to all these beautiful builders?
# 01:00:22 - Great work, is there a minimum requirement for the PC to run the new client with that high performance and render quality ?
# 01:01:05 - Is this the world that you imagined 8-9 years ago?
# 01:02:12 - Do you commit to document all those new features?