Roadmap
Pictoria is in alpha. We are building it to be open, accessible, and sustainable. Our immediate feature priorities focus on enhancing support for events, through which we hope to generate a revenue stream that will allow us to develop the platform for all.
The following roadmap is our current direction. We cannot guarantee specific features or release dates.
If you have an idea you think we should consider, feel free to share your feedback with us.
Features
Listed in order of priority:
| Category | Feature | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skin creation | .pski documentation | Documentation for the .pski (Pictoria skin) file format. | Ongoing |
.pski importing | A way to drag .pski (Pictoria skin) files into Pictoria. This feature already exists for .pstr (Pictoria structure) and .ppty (Pictoria property) files. It allows users to use custom pipelines to create Pictoria content. | Ongoing | |
| Skin creation API | A way for users to programmatically buy skins by submitting .pski files. This will enable embedding custom skin creators in Pictoria with one-click "buy skin" buttons. | Ongoing | |
| Spaces and teleporters 1 | Spaces | A "space" is technically a separate world, but it can be as small as a single room or as large as the main world; hence, we call it a space. | Pending |
| Teleporters | Structures can be marked as teleporters and paired one-to-one. Each teleporter identifies its counterpart, and travel only works when the counterpart identifies it in return. Players arrive at the counterpart structure, which can be elsewhere in the same space or in another space. | Pending | |
| Space links | Creators can optionally specify a URL for direct access to a space, such as https://pictoria.com/s/virtualideasfests2. Signed-out visitors can view the space, while signed-in players can enter at its designated entry teleporter. Arriving through a space link does not activate that teleporter or invoke its programmable eligibility check. By publishing a link, the creator accepts that any player can directly enter the space. | Pending | |
| Social 1 | Activity indicators | Displayed above a player when they are creating, typing, interacting, away, or offline. | Pending |
| Player profiles | Open a player's profile by clicking on them in the world. | Pending | |
| Text status | A short message players can use to share what they are doing. Visible on the player's profile. | Pending | |
| Cloud message history | Access recent conversations across devices. | Pending | |
| OS notifications | Receive OS notifications for @mentions after closing the Pictoria tab. | Pending | |
| Friends list | A standard friends list. | Pending | |
| Direct messages | Standard direct messaging. | Pending | |
| General Creation | Templates | We are accumulating art from events and will release all of it as free template sets. | Pending |
| Tutorial property | This will be the property at the center of the main world. It will feature walk-through tutorials on creating properties, structures, and skins, and will include template download stations. | Pending | |
| Documentation | File types and creation tools. | Pending | |
| Feed | Space-wide announcements | An API to broadcast feed messages to everyone in a space. | Pending |
| Individual announcements | An API to send a feed message to a specific player. How do we prevent abuse? | Pending | |
| Feed muting | Mute and unmute specific senders in the feed. | Pending | |
| Structure creation | Structure animations | Multiple animations per structure with loop, ping-pong, and random playback. | Pending |
| Multi-structure editing | Move, edit, or delete selected structures together. | Pending | |
| Creation undo | Undo recent actions while creating. | Pending | |
| Structure location editing | Snapping and visual feedback for alignment. | Pending | |
| Occluded control silhouettes | Show silhouettes for structure creation controls when they are hidden behind structures or the grid. | Pending | |
| Structure painting | A fast way to place structures in a user-specified set - primarily for ground tiling. | Pending | |
| Structure texture optimizations | Transparently combine non-interactive structures whose cuboids form a cuboid. | Pending | |
| Resizable popups | Let embedded iframes request the size they need. | Pending | |
| Gameplay | Cycle handling | Detect and split structures that create cycles in the isometric draw order. | Pending |
| Property API | Property websocket | A persistent, authenticated connection between a creator's backend and their Pictoria property. This allows for things like changing a structure's appearance when a player moves close to it. | Pending |
| Dynamic structure appearance | Let a creator's backend change how a structure looks. | Pending | |
| Dynamic structure sound | Let a creator's backend change what sound a structure plays. | Pending | |
| Structure triggers | Send interaction events from a player's browser to a creator's backend. | Pending | |
| Spaces and teleporters 2 | Teleporter programmability | Before a player uses a programmable teleporter, Pictoria asks the creator's backend through the containing property's authenticated WebSocket whether the player is allowed to travel through it. The paired destination remains fixed. This enables gated areas and other creator-defined access rules. | Pending |
| Space chat modes | A choice between emote-only and full chat for each space, intended for minor-friendly spaces. | Pending | |
| Space age restrictions | This is for minor-friendly spaces and requires age declaration/verification. | Pending | |
| Moderation | Player warnings | A feed message and warning counter visible to the player. | Pending |
| Player bans | Possibly just teleport banned users to a special world. | Pending | |
| Property removal | Remove rule-breaking properties. | Pending | |
| Structure removal | Remove rule-breaking structures. | Pending | |
| Player reporting | Give players a way to report problems. | Pending | |
| Player muting | Stop receiving communication from a particular player. | Pending | |
| Player hiding | Hide another player's presence and/or creations entirely. | Pending | |
| Items and Inventory | Items | Allow players to create items. Items can be interactive (click to open an iframe). This allows for things like a map of a space. | Pending |
| Inventory | A place for holding items. | Pending | |
| Economy | Investing and likes | Reward creators whose work other players value. | Pending |
| Property tax | An ongoing cost that encourages efficient use of property (e.g., by deterring people from sitting on empty lots). | Pending | |
| Creation tax | Encourages efficient creation of content. | Pending | |
| Economy API | Allow users to programmatically charge other users Pix and trade items. This will allow users to do things like "sell items" and "charge for use of their skin creator." | Pending | |
| Currency exchange | Exchange between real currency and Pix. | Pending | |
| Social 2 | Parties | Spaces must support showing only party members. This allows for intimate experiences; for example, an escape room would not want to show all groups attempting it. | Pending |
| Groups | Form and join persistent player communities. | Pending | |
| Image capture | Take shareable pictures of the world and player creations. | Pending | |
| Video capture | Record shareable videos directly from Pictoria. | Pending | |
| Social sharing | Send captured creations to supported social platforms. | Pending | |
| Property creation | Shared properties | Co-own properties and build them with other players. | Pending |
| Avatar sounds | Avatar sounds | Player-triggered sounds that play around an avatar. | Pending |
| Achievements | Achievements | Challenges and rewards that encourage exploration and creation. Programmable? | Pending |
| Bots | Bot API | Creator-built NPCs, pets, and other automated characters. | Pending |
| Apps | Apps | Persistent iframe overlays with user-defined functionality. | Pending |
Work happening alongside the roadmap
Event preparation, bug fixes, performance improvements, infrastructure, testing, and interface polish continue alongside feature development.
Release journey
- Alpha: The platform is in active development, with incomplete features, limited documentation, and rough edges.
- Beta: The planned feature set is in place, with the focus shifting toward testing, benchmarking, optimization, and polish.
- Full release: A stable and well-documented Pictoria that is useful and fun.