New World Notes

SL-Based Interactive Sci-Fi Webcomic Splintered Rock Needs Your Support

 
Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

A couple months ago I wrote about Splintered Rock, an interactive webcomic influenced by Dune and shot in Second Life using a cluster of truly magnificent and gritty sci-fi sims. What makes it so innovative is that the story develops based on several different kinds of interaction that readers can have with creator Darren Green, including polls and the use of tokens to bolster the stats (and therefore survival chances) of their favorite characters.

It's a neat concept and it's pretty well executed, but it's not all smooth sailing either. Projects like this don't create themselves, and Chapter 1 proved to be a pretty time-consuming endeavour. That's why Splintered Rock needs your help...

Barnesworth Anubis' Prefab Store Will Put a Very Chic Roof Over Your Head (NWN Readers' Choice, Top SL Brand)

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

• Brand name: [ba] barnesworth anubis
• [SL Marketplace]
• [SLURL]
• Blog
• Estimated average item price: L$500
• Brand owner: Barnesworth Anubis

Barnesworth Anubis is yet another institution of the content creation community in Second Life, and one more brand I'm entirely unsurprised to have on this list. Barnesworth has been designing shops and homes in Second Life with international flavour and modern flair since the stone ages of Second Life, and although he'd been quiet for awhile his participation in the monthly event Collabor88 has brought him back to the forefront of the prefab-making community.

Barnesworth doesn't favour any particular kind of architecture too much, offering everything from enchanting haciendas to window-covered modernist homes, as well as a selection of apartment-style skyboxes like the one shown above. On top of all that he also designs furniture for these unique and eye-catching builds. Barnesworth's texturing style may be an acquired taste for some. He sticks to fairly soft and smooth textures with simple shading, a technique with looks ideal in Second Life but which may ruffle the feathers of home buyers seeking gritty photorealism in their builds. All in all, Barnesworth Anubis has always been a wonderful brand and a wonderful designer to have in the SL community.

SL Art Installation by claudia222 Jewell Gets Nearly 20K Unique Visitors -- But Goes Away Next Week!

"Spirit", claudia222 Jewell's surreal and acclaimed installation in the Art Screamer sim has been visited by nearly 20,000 people during its 7 month run, Chestnut Rau (who helps run the sim) reports, which gives us a pretty good data point for the amount of people who'll explore a work of 3D art in Second Life. (Being featured in the Destination Guide, as "Spirit" has been, probably helps there.) However, it's going away at the end of this month: 'With hearts that are a bit heavy we will be closing Spirit by claudia222 Jewell at the end of August to make room for the next artist." So better visit before it's too late: [Click here to teleport to Art Screamers in SL]

A Klein Bottle Comes to Second Life (Again)!

A Klein Bottle is a mathematically brain-melting object with no in or out and no front or back, and thanks to Wizard Gynoid, one of them was made to float in Second Life. Watch this machinima to see what I mean:

Love the music by modern master Moby and metaverse artist Miso Susanowa, and it's a credit to both I can't tell when the Moby music ends and the Miso music begins. (Or vice versa.) Via Second Life's Subreddit.

This isn't the first Klein bottle to rise from SL, as I suggested: At least one more was created in 2008 by AM Radio and Miki Gymnast.

Via Ms. Gynoid in Comments: Click here for a direct teleport SLurl to the Klein bottle.

Have You Seen SL's Pink Floyd-Streaming Secret Spheres?

Chestnut Rau explores Secret Spheres, a very cool-looking SL experience which she says "consists of a labyrinth of small scenes built inside a series of spheres, all of which are named for the music of Pink Floyd." Fittingly, music from the epic British band streams through each sphere. In previous generations, Pink Floyd fans would have to make do with playing Dark Side of the Moon in a darkened bedroom while utterly baked, or watching The Wizard of Oz with the sound down. Now you can get your Floyd on in 3D: Direct teleport to the Secret Spheres here.

Photo credit: Carrie Lexington, who has some more great pics here.

15 SL Places to Explore Outer Space in Virtual Space

Daniel Voyager has 15 places in Second Life which realistically simulate outer space, from Spaceport Alpha created by a group of real life rocket scientists, to NASA's official SL site, to a site that simulates a space shuttle launch (which alas is maybe the last place to see the shuttle launch in any variation.)

SL Relay for Life's Steampunk City That Helped Fight Cancer

Prim Perfect has a great pictorial of beautiful sims built for this month's SL Relay for Life fundraiser, which ended with over $373,000 in donations that'll go to the American Cancer Society. Among them is this city above, built by the New Babbage steampunk community in SL, which included an interactive story which "tells the tale of a young scientist who beigns to research Cancer when his fiancée is diagnosed with breast cancer." Surely one of the more creative ways to help fight cancer. See much more here.

Ten SL7B Sites You Don't Want to Miss (Says Scarp)

There's so many sites at SL7B, what are the ones you definitely don't want to miss before it all ends on July 3? Scarp Godenot, a metaverse sculptor and immersive space artist (and RL photographer) has compiled such an impressive, annotated list of exhibits, I wanted to share it here.  (Click clinks to directly teleport):

Buena Pera - "Scripted color changing things are great for sl pics when zoomed up inside! Beautiful piece."

Bodied Words by Pallina60 Loon - "Love this one. Sit on the flying pen and do the other things and you will love this one too."

The Sound Garden by Madcow Cosmos et al. - "Not impressive at first glance until you realize every single prim on the site activates a soundstream. Click and get some awesome conbinations."

Colors From The Void by Solkide Auer and Shellina Winkler - "Make sure you sit in this thing. Mouselook takes over for a psychedelic experience."

Capricious by windyy Lane - "Get a free umbrella and sit on this thing! ha ha sit on the upper part too. Great for pics! Bring friends and sit on the same object for acrobatic stacking." (Pictured above)

Pol Jarvinen's SL7B - "Another 'walls of scripted color and motion build' best viewed from inside or with mouselook."

Interaction by Kerupa Flow - "The longer you stay and check out the three floors of stuff here the more you will find. Pose on the poseballs and shoot pics."

Temporary Stairway by Bryn Oh - "Start walking and the stairway appears before you as you go up!"

Exquisite Corpse Tower by Merlina Mayo and Shanti - "Best experienced by flying up into and around it."

SL7B Time Capsule - "Put your best built thing into the time capsule for future historians of virtual creation!"

And as it happens, Scarp has an installation of his own at SL7B: PhotoSculpturalist Mini World - "Walk through the animal tunnel and turn left through the music tunnel. Walking triggers sounds. Check out the changing floor art and get a freebie sculpture." And if you enjoy that, visit Scarp's own sim, called Pennyroyal, where you'll find more creations, including the beginnings of his Alien Jungle Forest: Click here to teleport.

Omega Point, the Blog: Fantastic Second Life Fashion in an Otherworldly City

Second Life's Omega Point has an official blog, and as you'd expect from the fantastic Giger-esque Second Life city created by Sweetlemon Jewell (who I briefly interviewed here), it's a cascade of posts showcasing amazing fashion taken around Omega's cool-scary-cyberpunk locations. (Think Vogue magazine meets Alien, and don't you think they should?)

Art Deco City Coming to Second Life (Sooner or Later)

What you're looking at here is a glimpse of Seraph City, a new Second Life region with an Art Deco/Futurist style that was popular in the 20s and 30s, currently under development by a number of steampunk veterans. Contemporary visual reference for the kids: Basically, it will pretty much look like the city from BioShock, if it wasn't underwater populated with crazed little girls. So, you know, total potential for awesomeness. Follow the progress of the city's construction at the building groups' Ning site. Hat tip: Emily Orr