The Mini-Map LIES

September 7, 2009

Lies

As you know, I’ve been frustrated many a time by trying to find clusters of bots cleverly hidden under the ground, and yet invisible. Or so the mini-map would have you believe. But a little bird told me that no, the little “above you / below you” dots are not accurate for things at very high altitudes… 4082 meters, for example.

So I picked an obvious cluster of green dots, transported there, and confirmed that I couldn’t see anything underground. Then I turned on my avi sensor, and flew up, and up, and up until I hit an invisible wall. It was easy enough to get around, it didn’t cover the whole region (so why did they bother?). A little further up, there it was… a box full of amorphous cloud bots.

So now you know. Happy hunting!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledonie%20Island/161/15/4096

3 Comments | funny, wow | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

Shadows and light

January 5, 2009

My friend Pati recommended that I take a trip to the island of Cu Mara, and since she is a woman with fine taste (i.e., she considers me a friend) I set off to check it out. We’ll take a look at that another day, but what blew me away were the islands next door, to which Pati had yet to venture: Templum ex Obscurum and Crucible.

These have to be two of the most hauntingly beautiful and atmospheric places I’ve seen in Second Life. As near as I can tell there is no purpose for them other than looking amazing, which in this case is purpose enough.

Templum es Obscurum is pretty evenly divided between a massive temple (seemingly carved from the living rock) and the roiling waters that separate the temple from Crucible to the north. The water seems to glow in the moonlight…

…which in turn seems to have taken over the trees. There are places to sit that are at once dark yet full of light.

Crucible is more straightforward, but no less fascinating. You wander a dark and wild landscape upon the site of an ancient castle, which would appear to be completely abandoned were it not for some mysterious lights along the path.

You can almost sense the age of the stones around you, and the countless years that have left them in ruins. Its enough to make you want to engage in a little exploratory roleplay, as a hobbit or ranger discovering a long forgotten kingdom.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Templum%20ex%20Obscurum/117/185/22

1 Comment | builds, wow | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

December 3, 2008

edelweiss1

Edelweiss makes some of the nicest quality maid / governess / Japanese schoolgirl uniforms I’ve come across in Second Life. Not that I’m in the market for those things, you know, but I’ve seen that stuff in my travels. Really.

What makes Edelweiss really interesting, though, is that it takes up a veeeeeeery small portion of Mont Saint Michel island, the rest of which is devoted to a magnificent Swiss city on a hilltop.

edelweiss2

The interesting thing is that this is a Japanese creation. Okay, that’s not so interesting, but it is kind of odd to see what appears to be a Japanese ode to The Sound of Music. Then again, there are probably Swiss fans of Akira, so I suppose this serves to keep the universe in balance somehow.

edelweiss3

You can fly around, but you’ll be most rewarded by walking around and getting lost. And get lost you will, just like in any old European city. The build is sometimes not very detailed (many of the houses are boxes with no windows or entrance), but turn a corner and you find yourself in a graveyard or a garden.

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The cathedral at the top of the hill is definitely worth looking at. Inside it you’ll find on of the oddest things I’ve ever seen..

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It’s a little skull in a golden case. I’m guessing this is supposed to be a kind of holy relic. Maybe it’s the skull of Saint Ruprecht the Very Tiny.

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You have to fly up to the tower, but it’s worth it for the view.

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And waaaaay up top you can get a look at the sculpture on the spire. That’s quite a bit of detail for something you can barely see from the ground. It’s a nice touch.

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Oh, near the rez point there’s a Japanese version of one of those photo booth thingies. It’s a nice change of pace from the usual one you see around.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mont%20Saint%20Michel/104/29/21

3 Comments | builds, international, retail, wow | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

Very amused

November 5, 2008

kawasanland1

Ora Pera dropped me a notecard with a landmark for the Kawasan Land amusement park. Now, let me warn you that this is not a pretty place. The build is, shall we say, downright functional. But what it lacks in aesthetics it more than makes up for in the ride experience. Check out this roller coaster ride:

That’s as close to a real-life roller coaster ride as I’ve ever seen in Second Life. Okay, so the car you ride in is a single plain rectangular prim. Who cares? You can’t see the car in mouselook, anyway.

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Because this is a Japanese area, you often have to puzzle out how to do things, but it isn’t that difficult. For example, pressing a colored button on a box in the ground transported me to the top of this inner tube ride in the sky.

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This train circles the parcel. At first it looks like a pretty boring ride — until the track runs out and you end up taking an extended journey through the sky.

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The balloon ride is slow, but you’ll get the lay of the land. Maybe these rides are Havok 4 physics experiments (which would explain why how they look doesn’t seem to matter much). The simplicity cuts down on lag, anyway. These rides are smooth! 

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Here’s another kind of roller coaster. It’s much faster than the other one, but much shorter, too.

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Yes, you can go bowling, too. I haven’t quite mastered how to aim, yet.

There are more rides, all interesting. Just click stuff and you’ll figure them out.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/kawasan%20Land/164/201/21

2 Comments | builds, games, wow | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

Where no alien phallus has gone before

October 15, 2008

I finally got a chance to visit the (in)famous Doomed Ship and I was very impressed. Environmentally, it rivals the visual sophistication of many 3D shooters. All of this was done with the same tools that you and I have access to — prims, scripts, and textures. The only missing ingredient is talent, which these folks have in spades.

Now, the Doomed Ship is intended for a kind of Sci-Fi sexual roleplay, though you’d be hard pressed to find a sex bed or room full of poseballs. Visitors can thoroughly enjoy their explorations without doing anything unseemly (for the most part).

Because this is a roleplay area it’s expected that you’ll do your best to blend in. There are inexpensive environment suits for sale at the entrance as well as freebie avatars if you don’t have anything sufficiently dark and futuristic in your inventory. The clothes from the freebie avatars work fine if you don’t want to change your entine look. As for myself, I donned my uniform from The Black Knight space station.

Read the rules and stay in character as best you can so as not to ruin someone elses fun with your blundering about.

The ship encourages exploration. The route you travel is usually pretty linear, though sometimes the way forward is not always obvious. The ship is bigger than you think, and each deck has a different look and lighting effect.

Be warned that if you are very curious about clicking things, you will encounter some of the sexual animations, which almost entirely involve being violated by an alien monster. Some of these come straight from Sensual Stoneworks, so you know what to expect, but it doesn’t make them any less fun. The narration of these encounters assumes that you’re a female. If you’re a guy, that moves them from Slightly Disturbing to Pretty Damned Disturbing. “Ha! I don’t have one of those orifices! Gotcha! Oh… Oh shi–!”

Lot of rooms seem to serve no other purpose than to look cool, though from a roleplay point of view you can find something to do with them. “Captain, if we keep this speed we’ll blow up any minute now!”

If I had a “violated by spider” fantasy, it’s been completely satisfied now. Really.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Desperation%20Andromeda/70/10/1002

4 Comments | builds, funny, scary, wow | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

Movement in metal

September 22, 2008

AM Pro Rides has been around a while, but I thought I’d tell you about it in case you haven’t seen the cars there. I’ve always had an interest in old cars (in a weird marketing and styling kind of way) and when I first saw the cars they sell there I was wowed. For many months it’s been in the back of my head as “That place with the incredible cars that I forgot to landmark.”

Finally, through some persistent Google searching (good luck with SL search) I found AM Pro Rides again, now in their own region. The cars look just as good as I remember. What makes them really stunning is this — they were all done in the days before sculpties. Yet through finely joined pieces, expert texturing, and attention to detail, they still look closer to a real life car than anything else in Second Life.

I don’t make it my business to promote people’s products in this blog. I’m certainly not urging you to buy anything (for they are expensive). But take some time to go to the region, set the environment to Sunrise, and watch the sun gleam on the bumpers.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/AM%20PRO/149/134/45

1 Comment | commercial, retail, wow | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

That’s sick

September 4, 2008

My friend Hyacinth dropped a landmark for the Sick region on me, so naturally I had to take a look. And look I did, and I couldn’t stop. It’s a visual cornucopia of futuristic darkness and light. It’s a post-apocalyptic techno fantasy. It’s… just great to look at and wander through.

There isn’t a whole lot to do besides look around, but sometimes that’s enough. My sense is that the two Sick islands will eventaully be home to a lot of shops, but right now they’re pretty randomly scattered. It’s almost a surprise when you find one.

Oh, there are some pose balls here and there. I stopped in a sushi joint but I think the fish had been out too long.

The islands are no-fly zones, which I normally hate, but in this case it rather forces you to check out all the nooks and crannies. It’s actually quite the maze of twisty little passages (and giant region-spanning bridges).

Radioactive Palmolive? You’re soaking in it!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/sick/221/122/28

7 Comments | builds, wow | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

The rock gods make good

August 12, 2008

Journey has a Second Life island. It’s not just a fan region, they actually commissioned the thing… and it’s good. But don’t think that it’s just a marketing piece. It was obviously built by people who have a love for the band and put their heart and soul into making the island what it is.

The main thing you’ll notice about the island is that all around the edges are displays highlighting each Journey album. Each display is inspired by the album cover and includes a tableau inspired by it. The display inspired by their Escapealbum is particularly impressive, as the scarab spaceship causes exploding planetary egg debris to fly at you as it escapes (naturally) it’s planetary egg prison. I’m sure that made sense in the 80′s.

The displays remind me what an art form album covers used to be, back when they had something the size of an LP cover as a canvas. Silly me, my Journey LPs sent to the landfill along with the rest of my collection when I switched to CDs. Anyway, set your music controls to Play while inside a tableau building and you’ll be treated to a narrative about the album and some song samples. Like I said, they put a lot of love into this.

Whenever I’ve visited the island there always seem to be a few friendly regulars there, playing games or chatting. As you’re exploring, play around with the duck launchers on top of the JRNY radio building. They don’t have much to do with Journey, but they’re fun. I lobbed a duck into the stadium where people were playing games and was complimented on my shot, so they don’t seem to mind.

The island is covered in content, so I can’t list everything here. Well, I could, but this would be a very long post. Among the highlights: There’s a field with signs about each band member who has come and gone (and come again). There have been more than you’d think! In the stadium there’s a fine streaming video of a recent Journey concert, featuring their new lead singer (who I have to say sounds excellent, and they found through YouTube of all places).

There are lots of freebies available in various spots on the island, including song lyrics, band pictures, and some pretty decent freebie start kits (for those who need them). They also sell nice quality Journey-logo clothes, which (like everything you find at a concert) are somewhat overpriced. The rest of the freebies make up for it, as much of it isn’t the usual stuff.

So, if you’re a big Journey fan, you probably just found your new home in Second Life. If you just like Journey or remember them fondly, this is a great way to catch up with them.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Journey%20Rock%20Band/129/199/41

5 Comments | music, wow | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

Robots! Robots! Robots!

August 10, 2008

If ever there were a museum in Second Life that feels and works like a real life museum, the Museum of Robots is it. I found it accidentally when I landed on the results of their 2008 robot building competition. There are dozens of beautifully detailed contest entries (both classic and original) spread across two regions. Every entry stand includes information about the creator and their inspiration.

Some of them are tremendously clever. Check out this little guy. At first he doesn’t seem like much a robot, but when you zoom in…

…you can see his inner workings, which consists of smaller robots running, among other things, what appears to be a wood stove.

If that weren’t enough, there’s museum itself. It’s packed with informational displays and movie clips (stand on the green circles). In many cases the robot is represented by a picture than a model, but the information cards and movies compensate for that lack.

On one level there is a section devoted to toy robots, which is much more interesting than I would have expected. But then, I never grew up.

The museum also has robot-themed art exhibitions that run for months at a time. The current one is Eric Joyners, “Robots and Donuts.” It’s hard to explain, but very entertaining. Every picture is accompanied by an informational note card, and some include sound clips of the artist explaining his work.

As I mentioned at the outset, the thing that impresses me most about the Museum of Robots is that it really feels like a real life museum. Between the richness of the information provided, the media content, organization, and presentation, it makes you see how a real life museum of the same sort could be viable. I’d pay for a ticket.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kubrick/98/161/27

1 Comment | art, tourism, wow | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

The beautiful and the profane

August 6, 2008

For your consideration, here is a lovely little planetarium I found in Dotonbori. The Japanese hostess-bots will tell you about it and the software the building is meant to promote (in Japanese, naturally). No matter. The gist of what they’re saying is that when you enter the planetarium you can click on the ceiling to turn on or off constellation lines and pictures.

My pictures really don’t do this justice. The sky rotates at pleasantly slow rate, and the stars shimmer and flicker in a way that is just gorgeous. Every once in a while a shooting star streaks across the sky. Personally, I like the picture view. Japanese constellations vary slightly from the ones we know in the west, but i’m told the Zodiac is the same.

Conveniently, there are seats for two. Guys, you know what to do.

Meanwhile, right next door, you’ll find this sign promoting the Loveho resort. I thought perhaps that Loveho was some sort of Japanese word or place-name, but no. I clicked the sign and the club is exactly what the name implies. A place for Don Ho fans.

Okay, it’s not. It’s a place where you can pick up an escort (or “ho,” if you prefer). No points for subtlety here, my Japanese friends.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dotonbori/61/68/27

1 Comment | international, wow | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Garth Goode

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