Worlds to Explore: Immersive Web Experiences

As many of us are spending more time at home and looking at the same screen before, during and after work, a change of scenery is often welcome. Lucky for us, the Glitch community has been producing incredibly compelling immersive web experiences that take us to other worlds, tell stories, and inspire and teach us to create our own.

Here are some of the virtual spaces I’ve found myself getting lost in over the past couple of weeks. Happy exploring!

**Groad Tour, a **glimpse of Portland then and now

Creator Nathan Backous takes us all on a virtual tour of all-ages venues around Portland, Oregon where the band JonnyX and the Groadies played at and have since closed. "Some of the venues captured in this project are separated over 20 years from their previous purpose. Some of the buildings remain relatively unchanged, some are drastically different, some are entirely gone,” writes Backous. Each “stop” contains flyers, signs, and photos from the band giving viewers a true trip down memory lane.

**The Homer Metaverse, for Simpsons fans everywhere

Something that creator Fabio Cortés and I have in common is that our first exposure to VR was an episode of The Simpsons from 1995 where Homer finds himself in a mysterious 3D world behind a book shelf. This Glitch app is a playful throwback to the series.

Jurassic Warp, a multi-media exhibit (Note: it auto-plays sound on page load)

This is an incredible A-frame art piece created by artists KT Duffy and María Luisa Sanín Peña. It’s just one of many examples of artists converting their work in response to recent gallery closings. According to New City Art, Duffy’s original exhibition was planned for Ground Level Platform in Chicago, but then the project was moved online to Glitch!

These are just a handful of projects to check out; you can find them and more in our Immersive Web Experiences collection. If you’re interested creating your own immersive web experiences, there are a lot of great resources to get you started. Here are just a few:

• Check out our WebVR starter kit, which includes short videos and app examples that introduce you to WebVR and guides you through creating your own virtual solar system in A-frame.
• For a guided introduction to A-frame, check out their free interactive course, A-Frame School, and you can remix any of their starter apps here on Glitch.
• I’m a big fan of the Immersive Web Weekly newsletter, published by the W3C’s Immersive Web working group. Subscribers get a weekly email curated with news, events, art and projects related to the immersive web, and it’s a great way to learn more and be inspired by this community! We can’t wait to see what you create, and we can’t wait to help you show your projects off! If you have Glitch projects you’d like us to feature, tweet them to us @glitch or email [email protected]! ✨

*The project featured in this post's header image is ~earthy-course by @adarosecanon.