Builder's Buddy ....

This strange title is inspired by my recent foray into the LSL Portal in a bid to work out how to build/write the custom rezzing system we needed for the colour change furniture layouts in the newly Theme Change equipped Love's Trinity event area.

I had expected this particular task to be full of pitfalls and problems which would take some serious thinking time to work out. As it turns out it took just 5 minutes of searching to find 'Builder's Buddy' in the LSL Examples Library. Builder's Buddy is a fully fledged scripting solution for managing rezzable builds; aimed primarily at the ever tricky problem of moving large unlinkable builds into place it turns out to be exactly what I needed.

Builder's Buddy offers two scripts, one is the main rezzing/derezzing and package creation script and the other it's companion item script which manages positioning. I very quickly had a prototype system working which allows a control panel to store large quantities of packaged rezzable layouts and a simple but effective graphical selection system allowing the user to decide which package they want to rezz out.

I was truly astonished to find such a polished and rock solid script solution such as this freely available for use/adaptation. A little further thinking made me realise that many of the existing commercially available systems in Second Life where clearly modelled EXTREMELY closely on these scripts; some of the commercial products are particularly expensive as well! Undoubtedly there are many value added things in the commercial packages but to be truthful with such a large chunk of the rezz/derezz problem solved the rest of the bells, whistles and flutes are easy to write in. In less than 6 hours the access control list I needed to implement was working fine and the control of options on transfer was already handled by the original script so with maybe another 2 - 3 hours of fiddling with notecards and some info passing to managed theme package the whole thing will be completed and at ZERO cost!

It really does seem that with some persistence and experience it is possible to have an awful lot of things and systems in Second Life without it having to cost Lindens ... you just have to be prepared to do some research and apply some serious thinking and common sense!!

I can highly recommend to anyone looking to spend lots of money on either things or systems in Second Life to at least explore how difficult it really would be to create the solution yourself ... you may be surprised!!!

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Product update ...

The main parts of the theme switching system are now in place for Love's Trinity. Babette has finalised another of the requested theme's (a forest glade with artfully constructed ruins and plenty of atmosphere). The multi-choice floor system is in place and ready to expand with themes and general requirements and the remote colour change tables and chairs for the more formal settings are complete along with most of the bugs worked out of the colour and access control panel for the colour change system.

The remaining hurdle which I anticipate will be overcome by the end of this week is a custom rezzing control for the various alternate furniture layouts, most specifically tied in with the colour change tables and chairs. These products allow any of the authorised staff members to rapidly switch amongst the available themes; a typical time to replace one theme with another is less than 90 seconds perhaps stretching to 120 seconds if the colour changer needs to be set up and the tables and chairs deployed.

All together we have bought to production a flexible theme delivery package which is open ended in it's scope and simple to use providing a confidence building experience for the staff and a polished performance for guests.

None of this has come without stress on our part ... the development of the system and the processes that surround it has been quite testing. I think it is however true that both Babette and I have learned a great deal about some of the limits that surround the ownership/security model that Second Life implements and on a personal note the challenges in delivering working scripts for the systems has been immense, but satisfying.

I think it only fair to pay tribute to the LSL Portal Wiki and all of it's editors and contributors. Without the LSL Portal nothing which has been achieved on the scripting side would have been possible. The examples are very good and altogether the portal provides an excellent and flexible programmers resource. I would also like to pay tribute to Babette's persistence with the themed builds. Some of these builds (in particular the latest 'Forest Glade') have proved extremely tricky to bring to fruition with a combination of challenges which include large quantities of alpha textures and the very high standards which she sets for herself in terms of finish and detail.

With at least another month perhaps 6 weeks of high summer to go I am confident that we will have a few more themes ready for the autumn/winter season and it is highly likely that we will be releasing a commercial version of the theme control system in it's entirety. I suspect it would be much too ambitious to take on the likes of 'HoloDeck' systems as there are some very accomplished and well accepted systems in that category ... however none of them are cheap! I believe our complimentary themed products will be appealing to people who are prepared to work with the system and who are happy to accept lower cost of ownership as a trade off against slightly more complex user interaction.

I am certainly looking forward to the challenge of commercialising our theme management products but I am equally certain there will be significant challenges along the way!!

A W E S O M E!!

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The long lazy summer is here ...

... and just like last year everywhere has started to go very quiet! I am hearing reports from friends about clubs shutting down, I have seen notices from people who are actually selling their sims due to lack of business. One of the less dramatic but nonetheless still important trends that is occurring is that businesses are making large cuts in prices on everything from home rentals to combat weapons.

In a lot of ways this is interesting for those residents who are principally consumers stretching their Lindens out nicely. For those of us providing the goods and services it is of course rather lean times. I am yet to be convinced that more than a handful of people make any serious money running businesses in Second Life and from that point of view I always counsel new people looking to 'Make a successful business!!' that they need to be realistic about their economic expectations. On a personal level both Babette and I are content that what we do is satisfying in itself and any income is a pleasant thing ... but not to be either expected or relied on.

There are other ways to view the business model in Second Life and I suspect it may help some who are new to Second Life to appreciate that the economics are rather less like a bustling modern metropolis and much more like an ancient southern European holiday resort that is essentially a ghost town out of season. In this case summer is out of season in Second Life; people seem to spend the long summer evenings catching the breeze outside with friends and a long cold alcoholic beverage rather than sweltering in front of a PC!!

Babette and I view the summer as a quiet opportunity to catch up with some of the development ideas that we have gathered over the busier, cooler quarters of the year. This is our chance to build the things that we simply haven't the time for when we are in full swing and personally it is a time to either rewrite scripts that need bug fixes or as now develop a brand new Remote Colour control system for the furniture we are using with some of our 'Rez on Demand' entertainment and wedding themes.

Scripting in Second Life is much the same as any software development environment where you are writing control and interactive systems which are heavily reliant on environmental factors ... in other words it is frustrating and time consuming!! The issues are even sometimes not about what should be happening but about the fact that Linden Labs have yet again 'Tweaked!!!' something without proper testing.

With all of the frustrations though I have to say I find the scripting projects I take on in Second Life to be most rewarding ... they are usually a complex octopus of a problem that takes a considerable amount of determination, perspiration, inspiration and of course a fair helping of 'Cussing!!' to make it work.

Over all I think the summer in Second Life is a fine time but I do empathise with the business owners who sit staring at their empty shops and apartments wondering who is going to pay the next months tier to Linden Labs!! In short beware the business model in Second Life it is not entirely what it appears to be from the beginnings in mid winter when Second Life is crammed with people avoiding the cold dark nights by sitting in front of a PC in a nice cosy room!!

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Despite Linden Labs...

... And their appalling handling of Second Life as a paid for service; the weekend was not a total loss.

Babette and I have completed the start-up phase of the new Theme Switchable format of our beloved Love's Trinity. It was the first project which we completed back in the Ikyoto days which was driven by design and passion rather than practicality ... 'Form over Function' ... We transplanted it with great care and pride to it's new home on OneFinalDarkness and we have carefully protected it ever since.

It was a chance comment by Shelly that triggered us into finally making changes to our much loved and adored Love's Trinity Temple area ... a comment and an echo back to memories of when we regularly constructed themed sky boxes.

Shelly asked if we had considered doing some more themed event builds and perhaps using the popular 'Holodeck' technology. I am pretty sure Babette and I said much the same thing "Hmmm .... That sounds like a good idea!". In short order several things happened; I looked into the Holodeck options and had to report they would be both prohibitively expensive and far too restrictive for the scope of our typical themes and, we both realised the ideal space to use would be Love's Trinity.

After a little more research we decided to use 'Primtechnics Platform Rezzer' package which is similar to Rezz Faux but has access list control ... Perfect to allow our regular hosts to swap out the themes without having to involve either of us.

Babette launched into action and created the 'Gothic Temple' variation of the original, specifically because she had already made preliminary design decisions after a request from another good friend Masiko who wanted to hold her wedding at Love's Trinity but wanted a Goth Theme. I helped out with the design of the production and packaging work flow plus the 'Theme Switcher Panel' to allow easy presentation and selection of the themes.

With the Goth variant ready to go I helped Babette to carefully package up our original and still much loved temple area and that now resides safely in the 'Theme Switcher Panel'. With the system tried and tested Babette and I have put a 'Moroccan Courtyard' theme together and have plans for at least 4 more already with great suggestions from Shelly and some natural choices springing easily to mind.

I think if it were not for our delight at turning Love's Trinity into a wonderfully versatile and open ended themed resource the weekend would have been a fiasco to cry over. With 5000 sims offline and confidence falling to an all time low events and clubs were deserted and performers and audiences alike were annoyed and upset.

In amongst the scant acknowledgements from Linden Labs (and pitiful indeed were the updates) perhaps not surprisingly there was no suggestion of a compensation package for all the lost hours when businesses, clubs, and the multitude of other diverse established Second Life ventures were unable to even log in to the system.

Well done Linden Labs ... Score 0 out 100 for customer concern and satisfaction!!

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Second Life and Shopping ...

... Is this a perfect match?

In a lot of ways the answer to this is 'Yes - It is!'. There are few of the complications of Real Life with system level clothing being a perfect fit every time just as the designer intended.

All is not completely rosie of course once we move into the arena of sculpted and prim attachments/clothes and shoes. Once you move away from system level clothes/accessories then much of what you actually get for your Lindens is down to the skill of the designer/maker of the particular items. Without wishing to draw particular examples into comparison I think most people will be able to easily see that some prim shoes for instance are of a much superior quality to others and hence they attract a premium price.

So then back to the original question ... is Second Life a perfect match for the Shopping Experience. I think it can be, but, rather as in Real Life, you still need to either get some good recommendations or do some serious searching and wandering to find the best quality your money can buy. Designer shops/labels/sims abound in Second Life and there is a slew of fashion magazines published in Second Life to attest to the continuing popularity of 'Looking Good!'. Personally I enjoy the challenge of finding a special outfit or particular piece of clothing or some really nice shoes without having to negotiate with my bank to fund my shopping experience .... I can however see that for some it is a bewildering and un rewarding experience with some of the search results promising so much and in reality delivering some very mediocre offerings when you actually TP to them.

One way in which we can all make our shopping experience more productive, interestingly, is to invest a few lindens in one of the Fashion Magazines I alluded to earlier. The point about the articles (some sponsored) and advertsing they carry is that these represent high value in world businesses that not only believe they have a good product but are confident enough to put their money where their corporate bragging sits; they have a reputation to uphold so you can expect to get good quality items and good customer service.

There is one note of caution I would sound to all potential shopping addicts .... sometimes you might be well advised to think hard about what you are buying, because sometimes you really could make it for free!! I know we aren't all accomplished scripters or builders but occasionally it is easy to get mesmerised by all that is out there and spend your money on something which is actually very simple to construct.

One last comment before I rush off to get my latest pair of killer heels ... LoLoLoL ... take a friend with you. You won't need them to help carry anything but you may need them to help you remember where you saw that perfect bargain you wanted to go back for later!!! *S*

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Second Life a learning opportunity ...

... I was speaking to Mericat Ireland during one of the regular Monday night Music events she DJ's for us in The Pig & Whistle on OneFinalDarkness. I was explaining about the new Wedding packages Babette and I were developing for the Love's Trinity area of the estate; I told her about the website we are developing for the estate (Http:\\www.onefinaldarkness.com); I mentioned the machinima techniques we use to produce promotional video clips for the site and our current integration with services such as Google Calendar and Flickr.

Not long after I had got into this list of things we do Meri turned round to me and said 'You girls are just so busy trying all sorts of new things in Second Life ...'; Meri is of course right! Indeed it is one of the most appealing things about Second Life; it provides opportunities to explore new things and learn new skills. In fact it's not just about opportunities ... to some extent unless you have an endless supply of money it is essential you learn at least some of the new skills that go with trying to run/promote a sim; it is prohibitively expensive to try to pay others to do all of the work required.

Neither Babs nor I believe in solutions being exclusively homegrown ... we tend to find there are still clear advantages to using some bought in skills usually in the form of objects for specific purposes which would otherwise take months perhaps to properly script. What we have both discovered though is that many of the items/services which are for sale in and around Second Life are not really that extraordinary ... they only survive because people don't have the inclination to push back against their own limits and try out new challenges.

A good example of this last is sculpties. There are a number of software packages and inworld devices which allow anyone to begin experimenting with the sculpted objects that Second Life has in it's rich repertoire of building blocks. Although I would agree that making sculpties is not 100% straightforward it really isn't impossible to produce some of the less complex shapes like cushions for seats or seat pads for furniture ... even parts for simple weapons are not that difficult to construct. I for one would always suggest that everyone at least has a go at all of the various building disciplines and other such related tasks that abound in Second Life simply because ... you will probably surprise yourself!!

It's not even just the skills and services and tasks that I would recommend experimenting with. There are so many different types of lifestyle represented in Second Life and of course there are no long term issues or problems to be experienced as a result of choosing to experience any of them. If nothing else everyone should at least visit as many sims as they can to see and be amazed at the bewildering variety and depth of peoples imagination and patience that have led to hundreds of unique and wonderful environments.

In short I believe Second Life is probably one of the most flexible and approachable learning experiences i have come across for some considerable time and for anyone thinking they may be a little past adapting to new things and ways or working/thinking .... think again ... Second Life will fire up your brains and turbo charge your creativity!!

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Weddings and wedding packages ...

... for quite some months now Babette and I have talked about the Ballroom area at Love's Trinity being rather underused. It is a beautiful romantic area with great views and a general sense of grandeur of the Greco/Roman times. We have started to arrange some events and have the great privelege of Elvera Lerner singing live here tomorrow 9th June.

 

Babette has already begun the planning for a program of music events to follow Elvera and during those discussions we started to explore the idea of using the ballroom area as a wedding venue. It is a natural fit in many ways with it's already romantic environs and vistas so it was conceptually simple to see how the area could become a gorgeous wedding venue. Once we had this vision Babette just took the idea and went into overdrive; she has already produced a Gothic Wedding Package that can be deployed into the ballroom area and there are plans for a series of alternatives with the option for bespoke packages.

 

As of right now we are still working out a framework of costs to reflect the amount of time we have put into and would need to continue to put into this concept to make it practical ... but also we want people to come and enjoy the moment and we appreciate not everyone has lots of Lindens to throw around.

I can highly reccommend asking to see the venue and it's options if you are considering a Second Life Wedding ... we would love to see you have a wonderful day and with all the other romantic areas around the OneFinalDarkness Estate I am sure you will have a superb romantic day to remember *S*