3D games
What a 3D project on umicat is today — what works, what doesn't yet, and how it differs from 2D.
umicat can build 3D games as well as 2D ones. A 3D project runs on three.js for rendering and Rapier for physics, and it gets the same platform underneath it as a 2D game: the same accounts, the same cloud saves, the same multiplayer, the same publishing.
What differs is the authoring surface, and it is younger.
3D is marked Experimental in the product, and that label is honest. The visual editor for 3D does much less than the 2D one, there are fewer art tools, and the agent does more of the world-building in chat. If you want the full toolchain today, build in 2D.
Choosing 3D
You choose when you create the project — the create dialog's dimension row, on the same step as orientation. 2D is preselected; picking 3D shows you the caveats before you commit.
You cannot convert a project afterwards. The runtime is recorded when the project is created, and it decides which template it forks, which engine the agent writes against, and which skills the agent carries. A 3D game is a different program, not a setting.
What you get
| Works in 3D | |
|---|---|
| Chat with the agent, live preview, change history | yes |
| Cloud saves and shared game data | yes |
| Online multiplayer rooms | yes |
| Living NPCs and AI opponents | yes |
| Voice input | yes |
| Scripted dialogue | yes |
| Languages | yes |
| Publishing, early access, forking | yes |
| Local development | yes |
| Physics, character movement, animation | yes |
| Touch controls on phones, keyboard and mouse on desktop | yes |
| Visual scene editing | partly — see Editing a 3D scene |
| 3D models in the Asset Store | yes |
| Editing a model you already have | yes — the Model Editor |
| Generating a model from a text prompt | no |
| Tilemaps, sprite HUD editor, 2D art tools | not applicable |
The shape of the work
In 2D you place a lot of things yourself. In 3D, more of the world arrives by describing it:
Make a walled courtyard with a fountain in the middle, four benches around
it, and a gate on the south side.The agent writes the scene as data, places the props, lights it, and sets up the camera. Then you look at it, pick things, and nudge them — which is the half the editing page covers.
Every 3D project also ships with a starter kit of real models — trees, rocks, crates, chests, doors, platforms, signs — so a first blockout does not have to be made of grey boxes.
Where the art comes from
Three sources, in order of how often you'll use them:
- The Asset Store — filter by 3D. Character packs, props, environments, free.
- Upload your own —
.glbor.gltf, in the Assets Manager. You get an orbitable preview. - Edit an existing model — recolor it, resize a part, add attachment points, apply the platform's standard animations. See the Model Editor.
There is no text-to-model generator. If you need a model that doesn't exist anywhere, make it in a 3D tool and upload it.