When I last spoke to Myra Loveless several months ago, she told me she was working on an SL recreation of Tron, Disney's classic game geek movie; in the interim, however, she's re-tooled, turning her project into a first-person shooter with RPG elements, in a colorful world evoking old school vector graphics which only hint at its Tron-ish origins. (Though you may still spot roving bots which eerily resemble the film's Recognizer.)
"Trying to keep from stepping on Disney's toes," Myra explains. (Nearby, her friend Ikari Gullwing, a guy in red battle armor and imposing hand cannon, puts it less tactfully: "It's to keep the mouse-eared gestapo off our backs.")
Starting this week, Analog Mind (located in the sim Noosphere Prime) is in public Beta. To join, just click this direct SLURL teleport, and pick up a game system, which comes with a heads-up display (see screenshot) with energy level and hitpoint readings, and a starter weapon, a blue pistol which emits an intentionally pathetic "pew pew!" blast signature.
"We have an AI that can actually dodge incoming fire and respond by aiming where you'll be," Myra adds, "So it hits moving avatars." This I serious doubt, so she and Ikari walk me down to the Noosphere's basement level, where we encounter a flying ball of green energy, which emits squalling noises and horrific firepower, swerving in mid-air as you try to shoot it. In short order, I'm dead on the ground.
Not only is Myra's AI a formidable opponent, it's a smart one, running on a system similar to one guards had, in the classic Thief series.
The AI, says Myra, "[H]as three levels of awareness: Idle, where it'll only attack avatars that get close enough. Then it has a far more alert 'target sighted' level where it attacks anyone in the general vicinity. And the third level of awareness happens when it loses sight of you. Its visual range is reduced, making it easier to escape. At which point, it starts complaining that it can't find you." (Thanks to audio recordings from Ikari, the complaints are verbal.) "If it doesn't spot you or another avatar for a while, it gives up and goes back to idle." With that level of sophistication, we're sure to see Second Life evolve as a game development platform.
Update, 5:40PM: Per Myra, amended and clarified game name-- it's Analog Mind is the game, located in the sim Noosphere Prime.
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