Estelle Pienaar used to review games in Second Life on her blog : Second Life Play Instinct. Then her blog went quiet, so quiet indeed that I did not notice her Resurrected post back in February :

Well, here I am – writing another post almost one year after my last one. You might ask what I have been up to? I didn’t want to review SL games and experiences any longer, I wanted to do create games myself. Interactive adventure games that are non linear, that build a real relationship between the player and the non-player characters.

The result of Estelle’s work can now be seen in the shape and form of a new interactive adventure game entitled “Free Wilma”. Estelle blogged about the game when it launched earlier this month :

Prepare to embark on an interactive adventure game in Second Life. Situated on Escapades Island, a place of childhood dreams and mayhem, the play scenes of this point and click game will immerse you into the world of an anarchic children fantasy. Solve a series of little quests to finally save the elephant Wilma, who is held hostage by the biggest mouse ever: Modsno the ferret.

“Free Wilma” is based on a new game system in second life that breathes life into the NPCs (non player characters). The characters will react differently to the player depending on the game progress. This feature caters to a more immersive experrience than traditional linear Second Life point and click games.

I’m not going to review the game, I haven’t finished it for a start, but the concept is an interesting one. To play the game you will need to buy the Hud for 180 Linden Dollars, which isn’t very expensive in real terms but obviously some people like to try before they buy.

One of the interesting concepts is that you are given choices. For example at the start of the game you click on a boy who asks for assistance, you have choices on how you respond, for example whether you will help or not, meaning there are different paths through the game.

This is a point and click adventure, you click to collect items or interact with NPC’s, it’s a style that is very much suited to Second Life. At times you will be required to click a dialogue box, at other times you will see information in the chat window.

The action takes place on Escapades Island, home of Loki Eliot, who has also created interactive experiences and games in the past. The island has some interesting visuals that are worth seeing whether you play Free Wilma or not.

However the game is an interesting development within Second Life. Games in Second Life are a difficult sell, tier is a real barrier to independent game makers but what Estelle is doing looks to be on the right lines, she is working with others, some are listed in the game credits and by bringing the game to an already existing location, some of the barriers that exist are removed to a degree.

Hopefully Estelle is encouraged enough to continue to develop games within Second Life. There is a market for them, but it’s most definitely challenging for creators.

Free Wilma

Prepare to embark on an interactive adventure game at Escapades Island, a place of childhood dreams and mayhem. The play scenes of this point-and-click game will immerse you into the world of an anarchic fantasy story. Solve a series of little quests to finally save the elephant Wilma, held hostage by the biggest mouse ever: Modsno the ferret.

Visit in Second Life

SLURL : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Escapades/144/183/24/

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