Announcing WorkAdventure v1.5

What's new?

The v1.5.0 marks:

• The beginning of our in-game login system. WorkAdventure can now be connected to any OpenID Connect providers,

• a much improved map scripting API that allows anyone to: undefinedundefinedundefined,

• an improved designfor the menu ( provide configurable maps, put doors and bells in maps ),

• a brand new (and editable) contact page, that can be customized per world.

Login / Single sign on

Undoubtedly one of the most awaited features, it is now possible to log in into WorkAdventure.

Until now, it was already possible to log in, but only with "auto-login" links, and this was only supported for the online version, not the self-hosted one.

Starting today, users can login into WorkAdventure. Login is not mandatory and people will still be allowed to move in WorkAdventure anonymously.

                    
                        
In the future, we plan to add more options for map owners regarding who can connect, and whether they need to be logged or not to connect to your room.

                    
                

For users of the online version, the players will be allowed to log in using a mail / password, or using your Google, Linked-in or Github account. They will be able to edit their personal information, and even the color of their business card 📘📙📗.

We also offer special setups to connect your enterprise SSO to WorkAdventure. Don't hesitate to contact us for more details.

For self-hosted users, you can set up WorkAdventure to connect to any OpenID Connect provider.

                    
                        
We are looking for feedback from our self-hosted users regarding this SSO feature and how to improve it.

                    
                

Improved scripting API

What makes WorkAdventure different from other online universes is the fact that maps are very customizable. For developers, you can even add scripts (in Javascript or Typescript) into your map. Scripts can be used to add dynamic actions/objects on a map. For instance, using scripts you can code a door that can be opened or closed.

But not everybody is a developer.

This release comes with our first "library" of features provided by a script.

What does it mean? It means that we wrote a generic script that can be reused on any map and that adds new features.

Our library is called scripting-api-extra and it adds support for:

• doors

• bells

• easy configuration screen for any map

• templating using variables

• ...

Why is it super cool?

• if you are a developer, you can now extend the features of WorkAdventure without having to hackWorkAdventure's code. For instance, you can add new custom properties easily. And you can bundle those in librariesthat can be easily imported by map designers.

• if you are a map designer, you will soon be able to pick from a number of libraries that add cool features toWorkAdventure.

• for us, the core team, it also means that we can keep the WorkAdventure core code smaller and we can iterate fasteron external libraries to add new features like doors and bells.

                    
                        
Our hope is to create a great eco-system where any developer can release a new library improving WorkAdventure. So if you are developing such a library, do not hesitate to ping us by mail, or in the Github issues to share your work!

                    
                

Doors

We are super-happy to add support for doors (and bells) in this release!

                    
                        
The "doors" feature is added by the new scripting-api-extra library.

                    
                

You can easily:

• change the design of the door

• add opening and closing sound

• decide whether the door opens manually, or by pressing the SPACE bar

• decide who can open the door (using tags)

• add a digicode on the door, so that only users with the code can open the door

You can also add a bell that will ring if you want to call someone inside to open the door 😀.

Configurable maps

A long awaited feature too: the ability to customize maps easily.

Map creators can now easily create configuration screens for their map (available from the WorkAdventure menu).

The configuration screen will modify "variables" that will in turn modify the way the map is displayed.

You can use those configuration options to change any property on a map. This means you can:

• Add/remove a layer easily (for instance to toggle your map in "Christmas mode, or to turn one big office into two small offices...")

• Edit exits (whether they are displayed and where they lead to)

• Edit Jitsi configuration

• ...

Improved menu design

The design of the WorkAdventure menu was... well... hum... gray?

Hopefully, we fixed this and the new menu is all shiny and... pixelated, of course 😜

Community contributions

Once more, our community has been doing a huge work contributing new features or bug fixes, especially:

• Improving the audio controls (@lurkars)

• Allowing the configuration of the size taken by a Jitsi or co-website (@tabascoeye)

• Allowing to open websites in a new tab (@tabascoeye)

• and many bug fixes... (@jonnytest1)

Stability

Once more, a huge work has been done to improve the stability and the reliability of WorkAdventure.

We noticed a few issues when playing with the "mute" button in bubbles with more than 2 participants. These have been fixed. We also fixed a problem in Google Chrome where WorkAdventure would disconnect after 5 minutes of being on an inactive tab.

We also worked on small improvements. For instance, if an exit leads to a room that a user does not have access to, the user will be notified he lacks the correct authorization... without leaving the map!

We are always looking to improve WorkAdventure. If you still notice issues, don't hesitate to open a Github issue to let us know your particular case.

What's next?

With this release done, we are now looking at the next releases.

Now that we have a proper login system, you can expect improvements in the chat in the coming months.

For the next release (early October), we are working on:

• providing to all players a list of users connected to their world (and maybe an "add friend" option)

• a Google Calendar integration to be able to schedule directly meetings inside WorkAdventure from a Google event

• a completely revamped administration panel

• a new website, with a brand new logo!

• allowing sending any emoji thanks to a contribution by @lurkars

Also, for the online version, we are in the process of completely removing Google Analytics, to comply more easily with the request of a number of our clients.

Do you have special requests? Special ideas? Do not hesitate to drop a message on our issue tracker, or even contribute a Pull Request!