Cloud Party Update: Marketplace Transactions, Avatar & Camera Tools, Other Features Coming Soon

Cloud Party, the new web-based virtual world we've blogged a lot about, has seen a drop off in users in recent weeks (as I noted here), but company CEO Sam Thompson tells me his main priority at the moment is not growth, but new features they plan to release soon, especially those for the user-to-user marketplace, and enhancements for the avatar:

"Yes, usage has dropped down after an initial surge in the first week that we were discovered," Thompson acknowledges. "This is completely expected: we're in early beta and we don't have a marketplace or even the ability to transfer items between users right now, so there is zero economy. During the first two weeks you couldn't even rent private space. We've also been focused on finishing the marketplace and improving avatars and tools for customizing them, and so actively growing our user base is just not yet a priority." Still, he adds, "we do have a small but steadily growing community of early adopters giving us feedback and helping us shape the tech and the world, which is exactly what we need right now."

The major features coming soon? Thompson ticks them off for me below:

• "A marketplace and other ways of handling transactions between users or scripts.
• "New versions of the avatars along with released rigs and geometry that are finalized for content creators.
• "Avatar body-scaling sliders and more initial choices for new users.
• "Beyond that there is ongoing work on the build tools, camera controls, movement and different forms of transportation, animations, and graphical improvements."

So those are things to look for. And as Thompson says, there is a small but dedicated community creating cool Cloud Party content now -- like Club Henmations (pictured above) spinoff of the SL brand of the same name, which comes with custom dance moves (like the LMFAO-style shuffle) for your avatar. Click here to check them out.

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Comments

[JoJa Dhara]

Yes indeed it is quiet from time to time but a hard core is developing and sharing experiences, having faith in the concept...great choice to start slow in the beta and suprise us from time to time...like one day suddenly was scateboarding :-)

[Ezra]

Patch notes page: https://its.cloudpartytime.com/patchnotes.html

Is a good place to keep up with the almost daily progress they make.

[shockwave yareach]

Once it is open and has the things we are used to in SL (and a few features we've begged for in SL since 2003), THEN you will see a mad dash in again. The prices are such anyone can afford to own the land and so far, nobody in cloud party has written Talibanesque rules to virtually live by.