What kinds of non-game apps are published on PlayCanvas?

Updated

PlayCanvas Explore is not only a game gallery. Alongside games, the published list includes product configurators, WebXR/VR demos, 3D scan and Gaussian Splat experiments, and official tutorials and sample projects. You can find these by scanning the Explore listing for titles that describe a tool, demo, or tutorial rather than a game.

Product configurators and interactive product viewers

Several entries are commercial-style 3D configurators where a user adjusts a product in the browser:

  • Box Configurator (bssystems) — a packaging/box configuration demo.
  • HiCan | Configure your HiCan (therope) — a configurable furniture product.
  • Binding (bachelorprint) — a print/product binding configurator.
  • Call of Duty Gunsmith (playcanvas) — an interactive weapon customization viewer.

These show the pattern: a 3D model plus UI controls for colors, parts, or options. If you are evaluating PlayCanvas for e-commerce or product visualization, these are the closest published references.

WebXR, VR, and immersive demos

  • WebXR VR Lab (playcanvas) — a WebXR experiment/demo environment.
  • Volumetric Video Microsoft MRCS (playcanvas) — volumetric video playback in a 3D scene.
  • Orange Room (playcanvas) — a room-scale 3D environment demo.

These are useful if you want to see how PlayCanvas handles immersive or XR-oriented content in the browser.

3D scan and Gaussian Splat experiments

A cluster of entries focuses on captured/real-world 3D rendering:

  • Gaussian Splats FPS (yakov-main)
  • 3D Gaussian Splat Statues (playcanvas)
  • GaussianSplatDemo (slimbuck)
  • Sponza Lightmap Demo (playcanvas) — a classic lighting/lightmap test scene.

These are technical showcases rather than products: they demonstrate rendering techniques and performance on real captured scenes.

Tutorials and sample projects

PlayCanvas also publishes its own learning content directly in Explore:

  • Tutorials (playcanvas)
  • Tutorial: FPS Movement (playcanvas)
  • Using the Tween Library (playcanvas)
  • Sample Game: Keepy Up and Keepy Up (playcanvas)

These are the best starting points if you want to inspect a working project structure, scripting patterns, or animation/tweening before building your own app.

How to tell an app from a game in the listing

The Explore page shows a title, a creator name, and a view count (for example, "Buzzy Bee — will — 30M"). There is no separate category filter visible in the listing itself, so the practical method is:

  1. Read the title — words like Configurator, Demo, Tutorial, Lab, or Sample usually signal a non-game app.
  2. Check the creator — entries credited to playcanvas are often official demos or tutorials.
  3. Open the entry to confirm what it does before treating it as a reference.

If your goal is to find a template for a product page, start with the configurators; for learning the engine, start with the official tutorials and samples.