We are The Neolanders.

And this is our story

There once was a game called Anyland.

At first glance, it didn't look like much. The graphics weren't pretty, even for VR in 2016, and the UI layout was... questionable. But we assure you it was special. If you could get past the rough edges you'd have discovered a creative platform like no other, even to this day. One where every player was truly unique. Their avatars, worlds, and items all had to be built with their own two hands in-game. It was a truly special place that brought out the creative spirit in anyone who gave it an honest chance. But there was a problem: It was small - tiny, even - and falling into disrepair.

We needed a change

A few of us were aware of NeosVR, but none of us really gave it the chance it deserved, nobody until Sloppy McFloppy in late 2020. He came back to us saying, "I've found our successor to Anyland, it has in-game creation, advanced scripting, and an active development team."

"Preposterous," We thought, "Nothing could replace Anyland. This new game has importing and is nowhere near as accessible."

"I know." He said. "But hear me out, we could make this platform our own, no one over there builds the way we do. We can do things differently, we can show them how the Anylanders create."

Rustybot finally caved in and tried it out, and he... didn't care for it. Fast forward to a second try in August of 2021, and after building a basic recreation of his Anyland avatar he immediately felt at home. Every way Anyland limited him was no longer present, it truly felt like he could do anything.

So we gave it a chance...

Dawn of The Neolanders

As more followed we quickly learned the ins and outs of the game by teaching each other along the way. We started a small Discord server that we called "The Neolanders" on a whim as a catchy concatination of "NeosVR" and "Anylanders". A few of us discovered that we had an aptitude for 3D modeling software, and that great things could be done when we stop limiting ourselves to working exclusively within the platform. Others found the scripting system, Logix, to be immediately intuitive and became adept programmers.

Eventually each Neolander found their own creative niche to become skilled in, and the Neos playerbase began to take notice.

"The Anylanders have been ramping up fast!" - Mentalish (before becoming part of the team)

"Their stuff is wild! Whole advanced avatars made entirely in-game." - Dawky

"Like Goku Removing his weighted clothing, here come the Anylanders." - Spex

Alongside those who were seeing something entirely new, there were a few Neos users seeing something familiar. Others who saw the true potential of this game, who saw us doing what they have been trying to tell the rest of the playerbase was possible for years. Those like-minded creators were drawn to us, eventually finding their place in the group.

The fall of Neos

Due to a myriad of problems with the management of NeosVR, it stopped receiving updates. "Will our new home repeat the fate of our old?" We worried. Little did most of us know that Rustybot, one of our own, and for most intents and purposes our leader, had gained enough notoriety within the community to test something the developers were working on in secret. This project was of course Resonite, a reworked and rebranded version of NeosVR that released in October of 2023. This was wonderful news, but there was one issue: our name. What happens to the Neolanders when we have to leave the "Neo" part behind?

The Neolanders are here to stay

We decided no change was needed. We had casually used the label "The Neolanders" for a while but as time went on our group consisted less of migrated Anylanders and more of creators from a variety of sources. "Neolander" wasn't just a combination of the names of software we used, it was an identifier for a growing group of creatives. Moving from Neos to Resonite was the second (or even third!) platform hop for many of us, but what makes it special is that we did it together. The "New-Landers", traveling between VR platforms and bringing our creative force with us.

After the big move we were approached by a member of the Resonite team with an offer to use our diverse and expressive likenesses for promotional material. It's up there right now, on Resonite.com. We soon realized we didn't have anywhere to link to for crediting our involvement, so we bought a domain and made this site!