Category: Exploring Second Life

Furillen, Serene Footman’s homestead region, is a beautifully atmospheric place (see my last post on it from December 2015). Given this, it is quite possibly the last location you might expect to come across a celebration of English rock band Pink Floyd. But for a short period of time, that’s exactly what has happened.

“I enjoy transforming the sim for events – the Bowie and Radiohead weekends will always be highlights for me of the sim’s first six months – but this one really did get out of hand.” Serene says of the region’s current incarnation, as he introduces it in a post he’s called Pink Floyd Ate My Sim.

In place of the region’s normal sombre skies and brooding landscape (some of the familiar buildings remain), sits a marvellous tribute to Pink Floyd which includes iconic album covers through to commemorations of live tours and scenes from the group’s music videos – and more.

“It was carnage as some of Furillen’s biggest landmarks were hoovered up into my inventory,” Serene states. “When this is over, I’ll be taking full advantage of the option to ‘restore to last position’!”

In the meantime, visitors can variously enjoy Battersea power station, complete with pig floating overhead (Animals, 1977), which brackets the landing point between itself and that iconic wall from the 1979 album of the same name, whilst alongside the power station sit the rows of beds from 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason. And that’s just the start of things.

With Pink Floyd songs playing in the music stream (a 13 hour play list featuring every studio album made by Pink Floyd, in chronological order, no less!), a spinning CD of The Wall forming the landing point (courtesy of Tizzy Canucci) and a terrain texture taken from the album, Furillen is a veritable nirvana for Floyd fans. So much so that it’s hard not to get entirely snap-happy as you wander / cam around!

As well as the references to album covers visitors will also find references to individual songs by the group and to members of the band – Serene helpfully provides a list of all the points of interest if you don’t want to miss anything.

This is a spectacular, fun exhibit Whether viewed as a tribute to Pink Floyd or as an artictic statement or simply as a little bit of fun, the end result really is eye-catching and a must-see. So if you haven’t done so already, now is the time to hop over to Furillen. Serene has promised to hold off hitting the “restore” button until around mid-week after July 10th; and when you visit, do please consider making a donation towards the region’s upkeep so Serene can continue to provide us with delights like this.

SLurl Details

• Furillen (Rated: Moderate)

Theresa Tennyson-Trang dropped a landmark into my hands recently, with a suggestion Caitlyn and I might like to pay a visit to the Unknown Theme Park. So – we did!

Established in 2006, by Ade Franklin, the park is now managed by Miyi Nishi, and  is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. And were I to sum it up and just a handful of words, I’d describe it as one , and it is quite simply one of those gems of Second Life which needs to be experienced rather than just read about.

Located on Heterocera, the park sits between Route 1 and the sea, offering everything a visitor might expect from a theme park – main rides, side shows, activities like 10-pin bowling or skating, all of which have been gathered from creators across SL and brought together for family friendly fun.  It’s a place in which you can quickly lose track of time – as Caitlyn and I found out when we discovered our visit had stretched over two hours – and we still had more to try!

“[We Have] 37,000 square metres packed with more than 50 activities,” Miyi says of the park. “Come on by and have some fun or do some fishing or skydiving, or relax at our beach or tree house! All rides are free with a money back guarantee if not satisfied!”

The landing point is located right in the centre of the park, surrounded by several of the larger rides. Some of these, like the tower drop, roller coaster and Ferris Wheel, are precisely the kind of ride you’d expect in any theme park in the physical world. But as this is SL, there are also one or two which blow a raspberry at gravity, opting instead to offer patrons the kind of ride physical world theme park designers can only dream about – such as Free Fall by Obione Klaar and the G-Force Spinner by Mr. Mad (MadLad Clip).

Alongside these, there are “smaller” attractions – bumper cars and boats, the old pirate ship swing, and so on, to be enjoyed. There also the side shows and attractions such as 10-pin bowling and roller skating as well as the skydiving Miyi mentioned. There’s even a miniature railways running around and through the park, offering visitors an easy way to discover all the park has to offer as the little train chugs its way around the track. Movie buffs might want to try the theatre across the water from the main park.

Filled with ambient sounds, offering a marvellous mix of old and new spanning a decade, and presenting many, many opportunities for fun and enjoyment, whether on your own or with a friend or two, The Unknown Theme Park is very much worth a visit. Should you do so, please consider making a donation towards the park’s continued presence in Second Life.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, Caitlyn and I are heading back to the Space Roller for another ride!

SLurl Details

• The Unknown Theme Park (Rated: Moderate)

Legacy Ridge – click any image for full size

Legacy Ridge is described as a private residential community within Second Life, although it is open to public visits. A full region, the design is largely the work of Isa (Isa Messioptra) and Cipher (Ciphertazi Wandin), the talents behind Crestwick Island, a destination I last wrote about a little over a year ago, at the start of June 2015.

Given Isa and Ciph are involved in Legacy Ridge, you might expect it to be somewhat special in look and feel – and if you were to do so, you’d be absolutely right. This is a beautifully imagined and designed coastal hamlet, tucked into a fjord-like lnlet cutting deep between tall mountain peaks which hunch protectively around it as if sheltering it from the rest of the world.

Legacy Ridge

A visitor’s journey begins at the welcome centre, down near the north-facing waterfront. The latter is without the expected beach; instead the grassy land sit protected from the waters of the bay be a strong of boulders which sharply define the waterfront and give every impression of having been hauled down from the mountains and placed as they are for precisely this purpose. Behind them sits a tarmac parking lot and the 50’s style Lucy’s Diner.

The road from the diner offers short run to the east, passing and ancient fishing boat which has been left well and truly high and dry, before petering out, a rough track completing the route to a small dock built out over the water. Southwards from the diner, the road climbs a short incline to reach a little row of shops sitting with their backs against a sheer cliff and looking out over a children’s playground to the bay beyond.

Legacy Ridge

A junction marks the end of the shops, offering a choice of routes: continue eastward, and you’ll arrive at another parking lot, this one sitting before the local motel. Turn left, however, and the road will lead you onwards and upwards to a further junction. This is denoted by the abrupt end of the tarmac surface as it is crossed by an unpaved road pointing west and east. It’s entirely up to you which route you take from here, as both will lead you around the rest of the region, climbing ever higher in the process as you pass houses cosily nestled under hill and tree.

It is this aspect which gives Legacy Ridge a very unique look and feel. Walking (or cycling) up and around the tracks, there is a real impression of moving along an old coastal road, winding slowly away from the little hamlet below and to some new destination “inland”. To the west and north, the land falls away, offering views out over the water. To the east and south the land rises to a series of rounded peaks, and while these don’t blend seamlessly with the mountains of the sim surround, they do nevertheless give an immersive feeling of being the foothills to them, as they naturally hide the tall peaks from view as one winds passes directly below them.

Legacy Ridge

The majority of the houses up in the hills were empty at the time of my visit, but they are defined as being for private occupancy, therefore investigation is not recommended, as requested within the region rules. Other than this, Legacy Ridge is open to exploration and offers some excellent opportunities for photography, and is perfectly completed with a natural sound scape, so be sure to have local sounds enabled. Should you enjoy your visit, do please consider a donation towards the region’s upkeep.

SLurl Details

• Legacy Ridge (Rated: Moderate)

It All Starts With A Smile – click any image for full size

I’ve long enjoyed visiting It All Starts With A Smile, the photogenic Homestead region by Kaelyn Alecto and Maxx (Maxxster). I first dropped in far back in May 2013, and have since blogged about it several times in these pages. However, over the course of the last year, I’d actually lost track of the region, and so was delighted to receive news the latest iteration would be opening in mid-June, and made a point to put time aside to visit as soon as I could.

In this new design, It All Starts With A Smile has become a tropical paradise of five islands. Four of these are little more than idyllic stretches of sand rising out of the water, offering banyan shaded escape from the worries of the world; places where visitors can simply relax under an early morning default windlight. Standing over them like a mother guarding her brood, sits the largest island, offering tiered opportunities for exploration which reach from beach to  grassy plateau, where gazebo and ancient castle await discovery.

It All Starts With A Smile

Nor does it end there. Tiki huts vie with cabins, pergolas, and shacks in tempting visitors to tarry within their comforts, the waters idling gently between the islands further inviting wanders to take a dip or rest on a raft or snuggle on a rowing boat; the latter also form one of the means by which visitors can move between the islands, while bridges also connect four out of the five for those who prefer exploring on foot, with smooth stepping stone crossing the water to the fifth.

The landing point is located on the largest island, offering visitors the opportunity to make their way through lush foliage, over sand and beach and up stone stair to the plateaus and tiers above, where sit the castle and gazebo. Continue northwards, and the first of the wooden bridges will carry you over the water to the first of the smaller islands, where sits a bar offering the chance to quench any budding thirst, the opportunity to dance, or the restful retreat of Tiki huts reach by wooden stair.

It All Starts With A Smile

Continue onwards north and east across the region, and more beaches will offer themselves to you, one with a seaplane drawn up onto the sand, newly offloaded luggage alongside, perhaps destined for the cabins just across the water. Then there is the hulk of an old man-o-war, raised upon rocks, her broken hull offering more shelter from the sun and a place to rest and snuggle.

It All starts With A Smile has always offered consistently delightful designs, guaranteed to please every SL traveller and visitor. But I have to confess, there is something especially delightful about this tropical world Kaelyn and Maxx have created. There is a very natural beauty about it which is wonderfully enhanced by both the wildlife found scattered across the islands and waters, and in the marvellous ambient sound scape.

It All Starts With A Smile

Should you enjoy your visit – and I have absolutely no doubt you will – please consider a donation towards the upkeep of the region so other might enjoy it as well. You can also join the  IASWAS (it all starts with a smile) group for a modest L$250, which gives you rezzing rights for photography props, your payment also going towards the cost of the region. Visitors are also welcome to post their snaps and images to the It All Starts With A Smile Flickr group.

SLurl Details

• It All Starts With A Smile (Rated: General)

 

Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size

Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd) dropped me a line about a new project she and her partner, Max Butoh have launched in Second Life – Hell’s Crossing, a homestead region they’ve opened to the public.

Max explains it thus:  “It’s for exploration, light role-playing and photography. Periodically the sim will be updated to a new theme, all [of them] based on the common thread of a crossing. Danger may lurk at any turn for the hope of a breath-taking discovery.”

Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size

Intrigued by the idea I hopped over to join Lucy (Max was at work at the time) to take a look around. “We were talking about Game of Thrones,” she explained. “And he mentioned it would be nice to have a Winterfell inspired place, but not exactly that; just inspired by. The next day he had the builds and the sim, and everything set! He just made it happen!”

The result is – right now – a rugged place called Saltcliffe, a place which might easily be one of the Iron Islands, were we to continue the Game of Thrones analogy. A tall table of rock thrusts upwards from the surrounding sea, flat face turned towards a tan sky. It is home to a stone fortress facing a line of knobble topped cliffs beyond which, on slightly higher ground, sits a small wood, a sturdy tavern lifting its roof on the far side of the trees. Small tongues of mossy rock thrust outwards on the west and east sides of the island, whilst a slender wood and rope bridge links it to a smaller pillar of rock as it also rises, flat-topped, from the sea, crowned by a single wood and stone tower.

Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size

But to think this is all there is to the island would be a mistake. Scattered around the island are several statues, all of which carry a slightly sinister air about them, suggesting there’s more here than meets the eye. When exploring the keen-eyed may spot further clues in the form of  cavern entrances, stairs which descend behind closed door, or ladders vanishing into the darkness beneath the rocks.

“We’ve no set rules for role-play,” Lucy said as we wandered. “It’s all very free-form and open to whatever mood you’re in. The sim is very serene and peaceful above, but below the castle there’s dungeons and caves with a couple of ‘creepy’ things so you could go either way.”

The dungeons certainly offer hints for some directions role-play can go; do keep in mind this is an Adult rated region. While the ‘creepy’ elements in the caverns and tunnels offer their own ideas for stories and role-play.

Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size

But it’s not all about role-play; as we chatted, Lucy echoed Max’s sentiments in his description of the region. “We  thought it would be nice to have a place people could enjoy and take photos,” she said.

Max isn’t sure how often Hell’s Crossing will change in look or theme; it’ll very much be on the basis of as and when the mood takes him. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what else takes form here over time, and I’ll very much be keeping an eye on the region in the future!

SLurl Details

• Hell’s Crossing (Rated: Adult)

La Vie – click any image for full size

“This is actually one I did over a year ago now; I’ve made changes, and decided to reopen it,” Krys Vita informed me when I dropped in to see La Vie, a long-standing region she recently opened to public access, albeit on a temporary basis. “Tre [TreMeldazis] and I did this one together,” she continued, “It’s just too pretty not to share for a while :)”.

“Pretty” is actually too small a term for this beautifully landscaped and presented homestead region. I’d actually be inclined towards “idyllic”. The sandy landscape rises gently from waters which appear to have done much to sculpt its shape, dunes gently inclined across the centre of the landscape from the flat western beach to slightly higher, rocky eastern side, two bays cutting deeply into the land on the north and south sides, wasping the land’s midriff whilst presenting tongues of sandy headlands waiting to be wandered along and enjoyed.

La Vie

This is a place for lovers and couples; swings and hammocks and love seats hang from bent trees, while coves and dunes shelter snuggle spots which range from upturns rowing boats through tents to little treehouses given a new lease of life as they sit out over the crystal blue waters.

There is an exquisite sense of peace and tranquillity about La Vie which is captivating; everything has been placed and the landscape sculpted to present an incredibly natural setting, one which might be found along any temperature coastline on a fine summer’s day. Breakwaters and fences give the region a sense of order; tall logs arranged as piles prevent dunes collapsing into a bay – and stop the waters of the bay from encouraging them to do so. Up on the east side of the land a small summer-house sits, luggage by the door suggesting that for someone it might be time to leave the sanctuary of beach, tree and sand; the lyrics of Birdy’s Wings on the typewriter adding a sense of regret that they have to do so.

La Vie

Quite how long La Vie will remain open to the public is unclear, “I’m not sure yet,” Krys told me when I asked her. “I’m debating some changes ;).” However, if you love beauty spots in Second Life, this is one I really do recommend you hop along to sooner rather than later, just in case.

SLurl Details

• La Vie (Rated: Moderate)

La Vie