13 posts tagged “second life”
Yeeeeeaaaaahhhhh..... er..... Thats right, Daemonum did a runner in the middle of the night and I was left stranded with my trusty, trendy glasses and a bottle of whiskey. Honestly, the whiskey and the fact that I hated the look of the place, had absolutely nothing to do with it. Or it could of been the huge prim limit Linden Labs implemented in one of their many, many server updates recently, that Jaquina Pera pointed out I might add. So yup! When that came into effect, the sims were in lock down because I'd gone over the normal dosage.
Promised a few people that I'd finally post about this, but yes, I've moved (again, for the 5th time) to a cool new location finally of my own and for various reasons, this is a special sim and I'll tell you why.
Before I do though, I wanted to clarify some of the things/names here, being Sector 52 is the second installment with in the Cyver Universe, although I'm not relating this as such, but it does take place before Sector 13, The City of Abaddon was built.
Sector 52 is basically going along the idea of a central hub, powering surrounding sectors as the main energy source to most of the world, or what's left of it. Going from there, the story tells of the government known as the Covenant of State and then proceeds into a whole mess of crap that I cant be arsed going into lol.
Okay, the reason for moving is for one reason, that I really wanted to expand and with Merricks Landing 2, I could never of done what I intended to do here, which is, build a community. Depending on how this goes, I really would love lub, luv to maintain a small, cool designed mini grid, but again, I'll have to see how it all unfolds.
Anyways, heres the special parts:
This is an OpenSpace Sim.
Yup, thats right. OpenSpaces, if you've been out of the loop are a new region type, unfortunately only open to people who already maintain a regular type sim. Although, you can easily buy your own through various companies in SL that are resident run. The sims themselves are four to a server and only allow 3750 prims per OpenSpace, which, at first glance, is a little daunting. But the cheapnessnessness of these sims will bring in people wanting to create their own small little patch, they can call their own and still brag about how big they are... The sim I mean.
This I really saw as an opportunity to try and create something that looked far from 3750 prims and make a sim like any other... but with a bit of D&D flair :) .
Reflecting on your Path.
I've tried a newish thing. I love the reflections in the water, and reflections is something I've done for a long time in SL, with various things, from my wife's apartment to the Funda Company's half sim ski lodge. So with the reflective feature, I decided to take advantage of it and make all the roads/alleys appear as if they were flooded or heavy rained upon. I do intend to add rain particles, but it depends on how it all runs together.
Less is More.
Tons of the great new Huge Prims that I've acquired from a keen programmer type, hes actually made a great tool namely Salt, that is a huge prim server filled with 15,000 variations that you can request through the Salt HUD. Fantastic little device, holds more than enough sizes to suit any need, be it for tubes, cylinders, cubs and sculpties, you're sure to find what you need for prim conservation.
This helped a lot with the sim design, I really could not of created this without the aid of these prims and as you'll see when you walk around Daemonum, you can see street lights, columns, structures, arches, gargoyles all made from sculpt prims for even more details without the cost of primmy builds.
The art of Texturing.
I'm a bit fan of reusing textures and what I like to call OMNI texturing, as its not quite texture zoning in SL, as to a pain in the arse if you can be bothered lol. But, I like to create 'Strip Textures' too, which help out considerably with the recycling of the same texture, but making it look completely different.
Strip Texturing is what it sounds like, you create a 1024x1024 (If need be) and create different seamless strips from end to end. You can fit a variety of strips on the one texture, depending on how thin/thick they are, some of my main ones hold several. Then, all you do form here is apply them in various ways. They work well on sculpties, also tubes/torus shapes and long column styled cubes and cylinders. Best way is to play!
The Sky is Falling!
Woot, I can finally make use of Windlight and custom water ideas, which am loving with Hi-Def. Completely irrelevant, but I'm happy as punch.
Flux-Capacitating.
Be sure to check out Flux whilst you're wandering, Acid Zenith has come a long way in such a short time on the sculptie scene. He's been creating some amazing designs with the use of specular material shading in Maya. Considering about a month and a half ago he was asking me to create shapes, I'm now asking him lol. He seriously has come with leaps and bounds and for that I commend him, he really does deserve recognition for what he has done.
Expanding your Expansion.
Hopefully, when everything has been finished and sorted, I'll be expanding the sim into a further 4 sims, creating residential and also commercial areas for people to rent and vend through unique buildings, rather that the normal malls you see spotted around SL, I want this to feel more of a metropolis, with a great community for people to come and live, play and have activities in a lush environment, without the eyesores of pink buildings with rotating advertisements.
Anyways, check out Sector 52 - The City of Daemonum @ The Underground Sim, and to wet your appetite, heres some more piccies.
Been a long time since I've done much at all in SL, actually, thats a lie, I've been doing a few things, just never finished them... and those who know me, will know thats not an uncommon thing.
But anyways, I grew a little bored of Abaddon, so I decided to spice things up a little.
About 4 months ago, I did have an idea to create an oil rig with a city on, and design it all in Black and White, creating an arty kind of sim, but after much deliberation, I decided against it, as it was too specialized and I really did not want to single out the genres I like working on.
So! I liked the rig idea, I liked the idea of creating things that can incorporate different ideas/themes, and came up with the SUPER DELUXE SUPER SUPER SIZED SCI FI RIG and named it The Guardians Eye - Sector 98 (I think its 98...) The Sky Rig.
Its still very much under construction, but has already got some nice effects, courtesy of Glow. Unfortunatly, I cant get Windlight to work on my Mac, so I can't show any pictures of how it looks in the midst of beautiful skies. But, never the less, glow makes up for it, and makes up for it on a huge scale. I reallt cant get enough of it, as it produces not only glowy effects, but also depth and shadow, which I love... alot.
As you'll see in some of the pictures, mainly the Cyro Chambers, putting a Glow on the inside, leaving the rest normal, can produce some nice glass effects, blurring out some of the inner prims.
Most of the effects used here are very animated, and should be seen in SL to get the proper effect. But, beside that, the pictures capture some of the detail used.
The rig will be used as part of the new Combat System myself and two other companies are working on right now, named FORGE and will follow the story of the Cyver Series after the demise of Abaddon (Chapter 12). Currently there will be no Cyvers in the story as for those who read some of the release notes know, they got wiped out. But the story will contain elements from the Cyvers and a new branding will emerge.
Big plans follow hopefully, as there are reason as to why the sky rig had to be built, leaving the ground level free, hopefully, I can extend the legs to the bottom.
Anyways, take a lookie at the piccies and see what you think, the second picture shows you the scale of the rig, as I've put a red circle around me and a friend, standing on one of the levels...
I'll be taking some time away from my drawing board within Second Life these forthcoming weeks, this is because of three reasons...
- I'm getting a little bored (lol)
- I need to eat more than once a day
- and for this next up and coming project
Most that know me in SL and RL, understand that I try and keep busy and creative, otherwise my head explodes and I end up wallowing in 'OMG, I'm so bored' mode.
So, in this, I'm going to be developing a 2D platform shoot 'um up game, much reminiscent of games like Metal Slug for the Neo Geo (ooo, my fav platform game!) and Cybernator for the SNES (Badass robot shootum!).
For the most part, I envisage the game as a high detailed platformer similar to Metal Slug, as I'm a big, huge, enormous, gigaomous fan of SNK's AES system. So, I really want to try and keep the quality of design, illustration and animation to a high, hopefully bringing some more interest to OS X game fans and the vintage support of 2D game players.
As of right now, I'm concentrating on characters for the main story and a simple overveiw of the outline of whats happening, but so far, the main character will be a girl that goes by the name of Zero, fighting against countless odds to fullfill something or other... Basically, who cares lol... people will just want to shoot things and enjoy the game, and with all my projects, I entend to do just that!
I'll keep you all posted on the things to come and update this entry as the game developes!
[ 3rd July 07 Update: Okay, I'm changing some things around and playing with some
ideas - First off, the game will now be based on Second Life. I'm going
to be contacting a few content designers in-world to see if they would
like to be involved. Involved not meaning that they have to work their
ass off, but to see if they, a) want to advertise anything, and b) I'll
be picking some companys to base the levels on, eg, level one could be
based on D&D Creative Labs. So hopefully, as the game design comes
more to light, things like end of level bosses will be a product/object of a
designer.
Secondly, the main character is still a girl called Zero, shes looking hot lol. A combination of Anime, urban wear, futuristic and neko, shes looking to be a great candidate for the final design. I really want to try and keep her in that Japanese Silly range, as this will play a part in the gameplay. ]
[ 6rd July 07 Update: Development has begun, incorporating Bare Rose clothing with Zero's look and also animation for her too. I'm concentrating on getting the different positions done for her movement first, once thats done, I can create the first test level, designing how the game will work around the size comparison and then implementing weapon functions. Phew lol hopefully this will go smoothly... I'm also continuing in-world, contacting designers involvement.
I'll be posting images soon, to show how its looking and give a glimpse of the characters anime style transfer ]
[ 21st July 07 Update: Had to do a few things in world, which shouldn't take more than a few days to a week. Then I can get back to illustrating the first test level. Once thats done, I can put it up for download so people can see how it plays so far :) ]
______________________________________________________________________________
I've only approached a few friends of mine up to now, I'll be asking around later on when theres something to show.
Designers List:
Level 1 - Linden Labs / The Lindens / Orientation Island
Level 2 - D&D Creative Labs / Detect Surface / City of Abaddon
Level 3 - Sixth / Hydrogen Excelsior / update
Level 4 - Nanogunk / Robin Lobo / The Nanogunk Islands
Level 5 - N/A / Slade Onizuka / (** A none SL sim - This is part of the main story **)
Level 6 - Luskwood Furs / Arito Cotton / Luskwood
Level 7 - C-Tech / Compulsion Overdrive / Overdrive Island
Level 8 - Position to be filled
Level 9 - The Final Battle
Bonus Levels:
Inbetween 2/3 - Position to be filled
Inbetween 4/5 - Position to be filled
Inbetween 7/8 - Position to be filled
Additional Components:
Weapons - PAC Pro Attachments / Orochimaru Kuramoto
Weapons - D&D Creative Labs / Detect Surface
Clothing - Bare Rose / June Dion
Vehicles - Collective
Abaddon was pleased to be visited by The Premier Second Life Reporter and ex-Linden, Mr Hamlet Au. Through all his travels around the SL globe, he happened to find himself standing at the end of the world, Abaddon.
I was more than happy to chat with him about the creation and inspiration about the City, conversing about why it was built and also my journey through this world. Also about the Cyver series and the future of this foreboding concrete jungle.
You can read the interview at:
Cyvers are now become wide spread through SL, dedicated to bringing the highest quality of designs for competitive prices (As much as that sounds like a TV advert, its true... TRUE I tells ya! lol).
The continuing interest of people modding their Cyvers, Adding to them, mixing them up and so on, other interest from people consist of wanting to know the story line (Which I'll be posting later in March, once I get it all set in stone), others wanting to create a comic of them. Which then got me thinking... I'm going to put some effort in and pull an 'Apple Inc' (Jump everyone) and create an anime based on the Cyvers, combining one of my all time favorite manga artists, the magnificent , Falcoon, who was lucky enough to work on SNK Playmore products for the Neo Geo AES (My all time favorite Console).
As the Neo Geo AES is a hobby of mine, to collect and also create conversions, designing custom inserts too, I am a huge follower of the SNK cult. The design and illustration themselves appealing to me more, than the actual gameplay. This is where I found the young artist known as Falcoon, his style of illustration and oil painting is unspeakable. The exaggerations of the figures, down to the unique style of clothing he designs, are, to say the least.. amazing and acute.
Although I have been a manga artist since I had a Neo Geo the first time round, which was back in 1991, inspired by Guyver (lol as people know about me), Fist of the North Star, Akira, Patlabor, Ninja Scroll right up to modern day with Stand Alone Complex and Samurai Shamploo. Out of all styles of anime, my favorite being Falcoon.
So with that, I'm thinking of combining his style with a few others to satisfy the look and feel of the Cyver Series.
As of yet, I've only got the line work down, as I've got some out standing work to finish off. But, after this, I can lay down more of the characters, build on it and then start working on the layout of what its going to look like when animated.
The animation will, at present time, be only the intro of what the anime series would look like. Lasting around 1 to 2 minutes long. This is because I dont want it to look like a crappy attempt of an animation... rather, that I want to spend time making the entire intro look like a piece of art, as anime is intended to be.
So here for your perusal are some of the first characters, unfortunately, none of the Cyvers have been converted to anime illustration yet, but this should wet your palettes until the arrival update.
Baring in mind that the Cyvers were created solely in Second Life, there was no mock designs of them to begin with, I just built them off the top of my head. So its only fitting that, because they were born and raised in Second Life, I introduce some of my closest friends into the Anime, to produce more characters for the story line...
After everything is complete and the animation is underway, I'll be composing a theme song to go with the intro. I know it seems like I know an awful lot about Design, Illustration, Texturing, 3D Modeling within SL, Writing, Producing, Music Production and so on lolol (I hate blowing my own trumpet lol not that I was then lol), but, the way I see it is... why leave and rely on others to do things when you have motivation to learn and create yourself. Don't get me wrong though, I love working within a team, but somethings are just 'better' if you do it to your satisfaction.
Combining the two most powerful handguns on the planet, all under one roof.
Still under the development stage as like the pistol below, I really don't want to have to settle for run-of-the-mill scripting. The look and feel to the gun will be lost if shabby coding is involved, so I'm going to have to stand back for a while as to not destroy the slick, dark revolver.
Again, as you can see from the right, texture mapping in a more complex way has been deployed on the Black Mamba, using two maps to give it, its high definition and quality. Making the textures from scratch and adding the rough look to the metal, making the sci-fi themed gun more realistic than the
Military Pistol.
On the design side, more than likely people will be interested in this new genre of pistol, most the weaponry in Second Life is based or a replica of the real thing, with that market nearing saturation, I'm hoping to unlock a new area of projectile weapons that will appease both the real world enthusiast and also the sci-fi fans with this piece.
I hope people do enjoy it as much as I've had fun building it when it is finally released, in the mean time I'll be searching for certain someone to create the coding thats needed to bring the Black Mamba alive and hopefully a few more of the pistols/automatic/heavy weapons I'll be doing in the near future.
So, with that, Texture Mapping comes into play...
Like I explained below, texture mapping is the art of illustrating the entire object on a single texture file. Meaning, all sides of the object, little bits that need to go on and in this case, handles, clips and so on. Once done, you apply it to every prim, change the offsets to match the illustration up (Which can take some time) and then make sure everything is aligned.
So to the left is an example of the Military .40 Pistol thats featured in the below post. The only visible difference is that I slightly altered the tonal value of the end product, making it slightly darker.
Sometimes its a good idea to have a texture map lighter than it actually is, then you can apply different values to suit your needs.
Most of Second Life residents take simple textures and apply them to prims without really looking too much deeper into the whole texture aspect of design. In which designing in itself would become a new part of the world of creation, bringing more visually stunning pieces of content.
Texture mapping is used all around the world in computer games companies and any 3D artist will use this technique when creating models in Maya for example.
A texture map is basically a single texture with many designs on it, making up the whole object with minimal loading time. So, within the world of Second Life, this becomes an important factor when it comes to server side memory and speed. As mentioned below in the Abaddon review, texture maps are used all over the sim to create the utmost detail that transfers to computers at a blink of an eye.
Here is an example of texture mapping with a handgun I will be releasing shortly...
As you'll see, the gun appears to be realistic in a sense of that the textures look like they have been put on separately, but in a matter of fact, this is done with the use of one texture and then using offsets to create the entire look.
Creating content this way might take a little longer, and does ask for a perfectionist eye, pays off in the end as the gun loads straight away, looks realistic and stylish and is server friendly.
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