Just another unauthorised virtual world fansite
The Fairelands are stirring, spring is in the air, there’s magic everywhere. Fantasy Faire 2015 in Second Life is coming to town.
Last year Fantasy Faire raised L$5,955,893 ($ 23,824) for Relay For Life. I’ll start this year’s coverage with the press release, which will be under the cut. The usual caveats apply here, if you’re already under the cut you might not see the cut!
I have just read an article on Endgadget : Better than ‘Destiny’: Studios now make massive games in just months. The article centres around technology from a company called Improbable and this sounds very interesting indeed. The CEO of Improbable, Herman Narula, is quoted in that article as saying :
It’s about having no game server. What you’ve always seen has been game worlds where there’s one server for one region and another server for another region, these very neat lines. And the servers are actually just the same game engine that’s running on your computer. … But what if you didn’t do that? What if, instead of that, actually you had thousands of tiny, very limited processors — call them mini servers, like a swarm of insects? And what if, instead of having boundaries, actually they all moved around many, many times a second, migrating to deal with simulation in a particular area? And they’re all able to work together to model a world much bigger than any one of them could understand.
Whereas the focus in the articles I’ve read on the Improbable technology have been about games, I’m pretty sure these concepts could also apply to virtual worlds. Indeed one of Improbable’s employees, Dave Hillier, once worked on Second Life, so the company have someone with knowledge of virtual worlds on the team.
The Endgadget article explains a little bit more about what Improbable is and isn’t :
Improbable isn’t just a series of servers. It’s cloud-based, but it’s not cloud rendering; it’s almost an operating system. It follows in the fresh footsteps of other studios crafting large worlds with just a few people.
What they seem to be talking about is a potentially huge world that reacts in a permanent fashion to player actions, talking about the game Worlds Adift, the article states :
the game world reacts in permanent, persistent ways to players’ movements. Build an airship and drop a boulder overboard, knocking down trees and crushing players below. Come back to that same bit of land months later, and those trees will still be knocked over, perhaps with other plants growing around them, or with other players harvesting them for resources. Real persistence, real in-game consequences to physical actions. This impacts not only mechanical moments, but also the story that Worlds Adrift tells.
Those are the sort of concepts that make me ponder whether this sort of technology would be suitable for a virtual world environment, because in virtual worlds, especially user content generated worlds, changes are largely persistent.
Continue reading “Could Improbable Technology Make Massive Virtual Worlds Possible?”
I should point out here that I have no affiliation with MadPea Games, other than that I bug Kess Crystal for information. However I find myself sat in a chair watching images of previous MadPea Games productions, which are being displayed to me on a screen.
I’m in a cinema at the new home of MadPea Games in Second Life, Kess Crystal has been eyeing me suspiciously. I’m awaiting news from the great storyteller herself, Kiana Writer. In a somewhatWizard Of Oz moment, the curtain twitches and a voice booms out “What do you want to know?”
Well let’s start with an easy question, I think to myself and then ask when did you first start creating games in Second Life?
“Our first game came out in 2008, about 8 months after I joined Second Life.” replies the voice.
I feel a little more comfortable now, although Kess Crystal is making damn sure I don’t see what’s behind the curtain. Next I ponder on an issue that many people may have pondered, Second Life does not have a reputation for being a platform where interactive games thrive, what made MadPea Games decide Second Life was a suitable platform for games?
“I never thought that “Oh, SL is suitable for games!” Most of all, I’m a storyteller and I saw Second Life as a platform where I could bring life to my stories. I was utterly surprised when I saw people actually enjoying them and my hunger started to grow to make the stories into games.
That still applies to our games. The storyline and narrative are the most important part of the adventure,” replies the voice of Kiana Writer.
Next a very important question, thought I, what is the process for developing a game for Second Life? (Do MadPea Games write the story first and then develop the game)?
The curtain twitches, and then I hear “It all starts with an idea or often a dream I have. Sometimes it’s just a vague idea like with BURIED that I started building with Axiomatic and the story was born during that process. I never think “What would people like?” It’s like a nagging idea that takes hold of my brain and keeps growing and growing, with characters starting to talk to me and I just need to let them loose.”
Continue reading “An Interview With MadPea Games Regarding Creating Games Inside Second Life”
Jordan Reyne hails from New Zealand, although these days she lives in London, England. Jordan spends time singing in Second Life and like many a Second Life performer she has busy weekends, for example next weekend Jordan’s Second Life performance schedule reads :
Then Jordan takes a break, not returning to Second Life until Friday 10th April. However it’s what Jordan does during that break that may surprise those unfamiliar with her work. Whilst Jordan may not be performing in the virtual world of Second Life, she will actually be performing real gigs in places such as Leipzig in Germany and Warsaw in Poland. Late in the year Jordan will be appearing in the UK, Portugal and Germany and in between those dates she comes back to Second Life to perform there too.
Some of Jordan’s artwork on her record covers and her costumes actually look like something you’d expect to see inside Second Life. Jordan’s performances outside of the virtual world have earned some glowing praise, Cat On The Wall Music and Culture Magazine said :
Jordan Reyne – and I do not mean this as idle praise – managed to provide one of the most extraordinarily fascinating live shows I have ever seen on stage. A far cry from the punk and alternative rock that was beginning to form a theme of this April’s event, she instead built up a series of haunting, beautiful Celtic folk songs that proved to be mesmerising in both subject and style.
Continue reading “Jordan Reyne’s Musical Performances Span The Digital Divide”
Back in February Iris Ophelia published an article over at New World Notes regarding live streaming Second Life : Quick Tips: SL Content Creators, Here’s How to Start Livestreaming Your Work.
In that blog post Iris provided a tip for the choice of hosting service to stream your work on :
Twitch.tv remains the most popular choice among Second Life streamers because it’s free and has a lot of momentum in the tech and gaming communities, but it’s not without its drawbacks.
However it seems all isn’t well in the world of live streaming Second Life via Twitch. In the comments of Iris’ article Jessica Pixel wrote :
Be careful streaming ‘non-games’ on Twitch. I actually had my account banned for 24 hours today while I was streaming myself scripting things in Second Life. Granted, I think that happens when someone reports you and my screen probably didn’t look like I was ‘playing’, even though I know there wasn’t anything questionable on my screen.
Jessica appealed her ban and was then told by a moderator of Twitch :
Your account was suspended for streaming Second Life, which is not permitted for streaming on our services. Do not do this again.
This raised quite a few questions, the first one being why is there a Second Life category on Twitch if it’s banned? Another being, if Second Life is banned, why won’t Twitch point this out?
Yesterday Iris Ophelia published a follow up article : Twitch Reportedly Suspending Users for Streaming Second Life – Competitor Hitbox “Happy” to Allow SL Streaming. Iris reported that there is talk of Second Life being banned from Twitch going back to January 2014.
Continue reading “Have Twitch Banned Streaming Of Second Life?”