By Avatar JayR Cela
Last night I did a post on my first adventure into the new Linden Realms gaming environment. As I said yesterday, I believe the potential for a huge success here is tremendous, providing that it is handled correctly by the Lab.
Case in point is the catastrophic disaster and major flop that was the Viewer2 User Interface, and the enormous amount of time that the Lab took twiddling its thumb's, absolutely and downright refusing to budge, or even admit that the UI was a complete failure. It took Kirsten, and later the FireStorm Viewer teams to first start addressing the issues that the majority of long time users were complaining about, to eliminate that horrible Side Bar design. Thank the heavens that bastard idea has finally been put to out to pasture, May It R.I.P.
The new UI for V3.2.x is a vast improvement, but do we really need descriptive words next to the icon's ? I say no ! Most people today are used to an Icons only approach when using their Smart Phone's UI. Hover tips are the most logical solution to this problem, and that is exactly what FireStorm and NiranV have done with there TPV offerings. The rest of the Third Party Viewer Developers hopefully will soon follow suite as well.
So back to what I feel LL needs to do, in order for Linden Realms and SecondLife to flourish, and do it soon. We need to have these tools Rodvick has promised for LR developers, put into the proper hands of qualified individuals and or proven current in world Game Sim development teams, with the possibility of outside TPGD's afterwards to expand on the original concept. Next a much larger grid, similar to the adult themed Zinda Adult continent. Allow the Dev's to let there imaginations loose. After an approval of course by a dedicated separate internal gaming department within LL.
We will need more diverse quests, obstacles, foes, monsters, and most defiantly a continuation of the rewards based concept, hunting for crystals just ain't gonna get it. Kill a monster an earn some redeemable L$ points is a perfect solution to prevent boredom. And most importantly, completely seamless inter sim border crossings. This last obstacle, has long been a major pain in the ass, it needs to be solved, and needs to be solved now ! Once and for all ! The Lab needs to get off of their collective butt's and fix this problem. If that means cleaning house in the server team department, then so be it. It's a matter of load balancing the antiquated multiple server architecture. Or perhaps moving the entire operation into the Cloud, Amazons EC2 or something similar would seem to be a logical choice. We need better scale-ability, 40 or so avatars on a sim without introducing massive amounts of lag is just not going to cut the mustard. Next thing up is fire everyone on or in the advertising department. That is if there even is an advertising department.
All of these issues in my opinion are not options, they need to be put on the fast track ! I'm gonna say this right now, if Linden Lab does not wake up, and wake up real soon, they will be left in the dust by Open Sim and its off shoot's by the year 2015.
We also need Inter-Op between multiple grids. Hyper Grid as it is currently being implemented in Open Simulator still needs a lot of work, but hell ! Linden Lab together with IBM invented the dam concept, and proved that it worked ! So what's the problem ? The problem is DRM and putting a uniform set of standards in place that will properly protect Intellectual Property Rights.
Hey LL you are still the leader of the pact, but how much longer do you think you can hang on to the crown with out showing some gut's and leadership again ?
In closing, my opinion is that, the Third Party Developers are the only thing that is going to save second life from a painfully slow and agonizing death.
JayR Cela
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
SecondLife : Linden Realms Is Really Fun
By Avatar JayR Cela
Although I took a very brief look at the new Linden Realms in world LL developed gaming platform a month or so ago. Today was my first venture into this very fun place. I really believe that the Lab has the potential for a huge hits on their hands. That is if they play their cards right and don't blow it.
According to recent post's from Rodvick Linden, some new tools should be made available to Third Party Game Developers some time during the First Quarter of this year, designed specifically for this new platform. If you have not tried LR yet and find yourself being bored while in SL, I would highly recommend that you give this baby a test spin.
You can plan on spending about 2 hours just getting used to it, and actually having some fum while your at it too. Highly Recommended ! Here are some screen shots.
I have got to say, in all honesty, this is probably the best idea that LL has had in years for resident retention. Now all they need to do is promote it properly, once they get the TPGD's the proper tools this could really take off. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7, and although you will not get rich, you can actually earn L$ while playing.
During the next few weeks I fully intend to delve deeper into the strategy, game play, and perhaps some tutorials as well.
Yay for Linden Lab ! They are finally doing something right, for a change.
JayR Cela :_)
P.S. I will defiantly be back with more on this.
Although I took a very brief look at the new Linden Realms in world LL developed gaming platform a month or so ago. Today was my first venture into this very fun place. I really believe that the Lab has the potential for a huge hits on their hands. That is if they play their cards right and don't blow it.
According to recent post's from Rodvick Linden, some new tools should be made available to Third Party Game Developers some time during the First Quarter of this year, designed specifically for this new platform. If you have not tried LR yet and find yourself being bored while in SL, I would highly recommend that you give this baby a test spin.
You can plan on spending about 2 hours just getting used to it, and actually having some fum while your at it too. Highly Recommended ! Here are some screen shots.
I have got to say, in all honesty, this is probably the best idea that LL has had in years for resident retention. Now all they need to do is promote it properly, once they get the TPGD's the proper tools this could really take off. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7, and although you will not get rich, you can actually earn L$ while playing.
During the next few weeks I fully intend to delve deeper into the strategy, game play, and perhaps some tutorials as well.
Yay for Linden Lab ! They are finally doing something right, for a change.
JayR Cela :_)
P.S. I will defiantly be back with more on this.
From the Y.A.V department ...MilkShake Viewer for SecondLife
Mister Acacia is online
I had some downtime over the last couple weeks (I hope you all did, too) and saw one of the Phoenix team mention the Milkshake viewer. I gave it a go, and I must say it's going to give Firestorm a run for its money. Many of the features I want in a viewer are in Milkshake, although is still has the awful drab V2 skin colors. But it has some preferences, of all things, to tweak the UI colors. And as soon as someone creates another skin, it has the prefs tab to support multiple skins.
So here's what it has that I like:
http://milkshakeviewer.codeplex.com/
Mister Acacia is offline
I had some downtime over the last couple weeks (I hope you all did, too) and saw one of the Phoenix team mention the Milkshake viewer. I gave it a go, and I must say it's going to give Firestorm a run for its money. Many of the features I want in a viewer are in Milkshake, although is still has the awful drab V2 skin colors. But it has some preferences, of all things, to tweak the UI colors. And as soon as someone creates another skin, it has the prefs tab to support multiple skins.
So here's what it has that I like:
- Asset Blacklist
- Autocorrect
- nearby chat dockable to Conversations
- Some UI colors are adjustable
- User-selectable position for notices (top or bottom) and chicklets (top or bottom)
- FUI (don't get me wrong, I like the FS UI, too)
- Color picker for tags
- Lots of extra prefs in a seemingly logical layout
- Media Filter
- Multiple skins
- Contact Sets
- Separate music and media controls
- Login manager
- Grid manager
- Multiple autoresponses (the next Firestorm will have that)
- Needs some work on the menu bar
- No option for V1/V2 chat headers (V1 only)
http://milkshakeviewer.codeplex.com/
Mister Acacia is offline
OpenSim : Your Own Hosted Grid Free for 1 Year
By Avatar JayR Cela
Yes you heard this correctly ! An Open Sim Grid Hosting company "Nova". Is currently offering 1 year of free grid use in the Open Sim Meta Verse. Nova Corporation will do all of the hard work, and save you the pain in the ass of trying to set up your own personal Open Sim based region. They are using the Aurora Simulator, and Amazon's EC2 Cloud as the backbones.
I first read about this offer on the HyperGrid Business blog.
http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2012/01/nova-offers-full-year-of-free-regions/
I know last year in July, I tried for several weeks, to no avail in setting up my own personal region on OSGrid. I finally just gave up in total frustration. I will definitely be looking into to this.
JayR Cela :_)
Yes you heard this correctly ! An Open Sim Grid Hosting company "Nova". Is currently offering 1 year of free grid use in the Open Sim Meta Verse. Nova Corporation will do all of the hard work, and save you the pain in the ass of trying to set up your own personal Open Sim based region. They are using the Aurora Simulator, and Amazon's EC2 Cloud as the backbones.
I first read about this offer on the HyperGrid Business blog.
http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2012/01/nova-offers-full-year-of-free-regions/
I know last year in July, I tried for several weeks, to no avail in setting up my own personal region on OSGrid. I finally just gave up in total frustration. I will definitely be looking into to this.
JayR Cela :_)
SecondLife : A Closer Look At Exodus Beta6 : Combat RP Viewer
By Avatar JayR Cela
I have to admit, that I am totally hooked on FireStorm and Phoenix as my SL Viewers of choice, and I have stated in the past that I have no interest in Combat RP. However the Exodus viewer is defiantly worth the time to download and install. As the V3.2.x series of various viewers are concerned, this one ranks right up there near the top when it comes to flexibility and customization. I'm just going to provide some screen shots today.
Will I use it ? Probably not, I just don't have a need for all the features and screen clutter. Besides FireStorm in my opinion is much better suited for my needs, and if I want all the fancy photography extra's, Niran's Viewer, at this point in time would easily be my first choice.
On the other hand, if you are a Combat Role Player, then there currently is nothing available that even comes close to the dizzying array of features available with this viewer.
JayR Cela :_)
I have to admit, that I am totally hooked on FireStorm and Phoenix as my SL Viewers of choice, and I have stated in the past that I have no interest in Combat RP. However the Exodus viewer is defiantly worth the time to download and install. As the V3.2.x series of various viewers are concerned, this one ranks right up there near the top when it comes to flexibility and customization. I'm just going to provide some screen shots today.
Will I use it ? Probably not, I just don't have a need for all the features and screen clutter. Besides FireStorm in my opinion is much better suited for my needs, and if I want all the fancy photography extra's, Niran's Viewer, at this point in time would easily be my first choice.
On the other hand, if you are a Combat Role Player, then there currently is nothing available that even comes close to the dizzying array of features available with this viewer.
JayR Cela :_)
Virtual World Machinima Audio Editing Tool : Reaper Digital Audio Workstation
By Avatar JayR Cela
So perhaps you have downloaded AvidEMux 2.5 as your Machinima video editing tool and are looking for an inexpensive alternative to Pro Tools for your audio editing tasks. Well you can look no further than, Reaper Digital Audio Workstation software from Cockos Incorporated. If you are familiar with Pro Tools from AVID Software then you will feel right at home with Reaper.
All of the features you would expect from a professional DAW are there, plus many extra's that normally you would have to pay for, continuously being nickle and dime'd to death in the process. The community of dedicated user's is vast, lot's of help forums, and a ton of free MIDI, VST, VSTi, DX, DXi, AU and JS plugin's are available as well.
I have used this software several times in various Audio edit sessions, and I can vouch for it's stability and professional quality end results. No it is not Freeware, it is what I refer to as Nagware. In other words, you have an unlimited evaluation time period.
If your on a tight budget or not, this is defiantly worth looking into, available for both Mac and Windows 32 or 64 Bit, and can be downloaded here.
http://www.reaper.fm/index.php
JayR Cela :_)
So perhaps you have downloaded AvidEMux 2.5 as your Machinima video editing tool and are looking for an inexpensive alternative to Pro Tools for your audio editing tasks. Well you can look no further than, Reaper Digital Audio Workstation software from Cockos Incorporated. If you are familiar with Pro Tools from AVID Software then you will feel right at home with Reaper.
All of the features you would expect from a professional DAW are there, plus many extra's that normally you would have to pay for, continuously being nickle and dime'd to death in the process. The community of dedicated user's is vast, lot's of help forums, and a ton of free MIDI, VST, VSTi, DX, DXi, AU and JS plugin's are available as well.
I have used this software several times in various Audio edit sessions, and I can vouch for it's stability and professional quality end results. No it is not Freeware, it is what I refer to as Nagware. In other words, you have an unlimited evaluation time period.
If your on a tight budget or not, this is defiantly worth looking into, available for both Mac and Windows 32 or 64 Bit, and can be downloaded here.
http://www.reaper.fm/index.php
JayR Cela :_)
Virtual World Machinima : New Video Editing Freeware Tool From AVID
By Avatar JayR Cela
So you are just starting to cut your teeth on the wild world of Virtual World Machinima Creation. Well some of the tools necessary for the video editing portion of your project can be quite costly. But as of yesterday the same people that have made the Final Cut Pro video and Pro Tools audio editor's the De-Facto standards in the motion picture industry have released a basic subset version of Final Cut ( standard ) as Freeware.
AvidEMux 2.5 http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/
JayR Cela :_)
So you are just starting to cut your teeth on the wild world of Virtual World Machinima Creation. Well some of the tools necessary for the video editing portion of your project can be quite costly. But as of yesterday the same people that have made the Final Cut Pro video and Pro Tools audio editor's the De-Facto standards in the motion picture industry have released a basic subset version of Final Cut ( standard ) as Freeware.
AvidEMux 2.5 http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/
JayR Cela :_)
SecondLife : Exodus Viewer Beta6 12.01.02B Released
By Avatar JayR Cela
Ok all you combat RP folks out there, may have been waiting a long time for this release of the increasingly popular Exodus Viewer for SL. This beta is fresh off the Developers Shelves, and includes a number of additional features geared towards Photography and Machinima.
If you would like the full lowdown on all of the new goodies of this latest Beta, you can hop on over to the website located here.
http://exodusviewer.com/archives/2012/01/entry_29.html
JayR Cela :_)
Ok all you combat RP folks out there, may have been waiting a long time for this release of the increasingly popular Exodus Viewer for SL. This beta is fresh off the Developers Shelves, and includes a number of additional features geared towards Photography and Machinima.
If you would like the full lowdown on all of the new goodies of this latest Beta, you can hop on over to the website located here.
http://exodusviewer.com/archives/2012/01/entry_29.html
JayR Cela :_)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
SecondLife : Understanding The Parametric Mesh Deformer : A YouTube Video
By Avatar JayR Cela
In order to get a better understanding of what the Parametric Mesh Deformer actually is, I am recommending this YouTube video by the former Qarl Linden ( currently known as QarlFizz )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoOywmSKG2k
JayR Cela :_)
In order to get a better understanding of what the Parametric Mesh Deformer actually is, I am recommending this YouTube video by the former Qarl Linden ( currently known as QarlFizz )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoOywmSKG2k
JayR Cela :_)
SecondLife : Nirans Viewer 1.03 : With Mesh Deformer Alpha
By Avatar JayR Cela
After just one day of The Niran Viewer 1.02 debut, version 1.03 has been released. So what's the big news ? The news is that V1.03 also includes The Mesh Deformer Project enhancement. Mesh Deformer is intended to solve problems with clothing that has been created with the new Mesh feature built into V3 based releases, and allows clothing designed this way to form fit to your body structure, as opposed to you having to adjust your body shape to fit the clothing.
I believe that 2012 will be a very exciting year in the SL Fashion World. You can read more and get the download from Niran's Blog.
http://niranv-sl.blogspot.com/2012/01/mesh-deformer-alpha-103.html
JayR Cela :_)
After just one day of The Niran Viewer 1.02 debut, version 1.03 has been released. So what's the big news ? The news is that V1.03 also includes The Mesh Deformer Project enhancement. Mesh Deformer is intended to solve problems with clothing that has been created with the new Mesh feature built into V3 based releases, and allows clothing designed this way to form fit to your body structure, as opposed to you having to adjust your body shape to fit the clothing.
I believe that 2012 will be a very exciting year in the SL Fashion World. You can read more and get the download from Niran's Blog.
http://niranv-sl.blogspot.com/2012/01/mesh-deformer-alpha-103.html
JayR Cela :_)
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