Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, October 13th, 2024
This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.
Official LL Viewers
Release viewer: version 7.1.10.10800445603, formerly the DeltaFPS RC, dated September 11, promoted September 17 – NO CHANGE.
Cica Ghost is back for October with another whimsical installation with White, which opened its doors on October 14th, 2024. The setting uses a quote from the American portrait and genre artist, Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930), who is perhaps most famous for for his lushly painted portraits and landscapes and for founding the Cape Cod School of Art (1899):
Put variety in white.
To be honest, I’ve no idea of the context in which the quote was originally given, but Cica has taken it to heart ahead of the coming of winter in the northern hemisphere to give us a symphony of white from the ground on which we walk when visiting to the sky overhead. Has it snowed? Is the world frosted? Are we perhaps in another realm entirely? You decide.
Cica Ghost, October 2024 – White
Certainly, the creatures scattered through the landscape are somewhat otherworldly; some appear slug-like (but friendly – for the most part!) as they sit upon the pockmarked white of the ground; others appear to be partially extruded from that very ground, as if squeezed up from below – or perhaps they are simply lying partially buried for some reason; still other looks like alien mice, small (compared to their companions!) and potentially huggable. Some even look like hills within the landscape – at least until their maws open in a long, slow yawn-like motion.
The structures here are equally strange, carrying with them the feeling that they’ve also been extruded from the ground – or some giant little boy or girl has been building the more extraordinary sandcastle-like creations as they raise trumpet-like appendages to the sky.
Cica Ghost, October 2024 – White
But then, also, there are the tall flowers, snowdrop-like in their white innocence and the monochrome butterflies flittering overhead (and under at least one of which people can ride); these look so natural, so familiar, it’s hard to place this strange place as being anywhere else than on Earth. And perhaps it is; perhaps it is a dreamscape, and we are invited to be travellers crossing it. The choice is yours.
And that’s the beauty of Cica’s installations: they allow us a moment of escape, a chance to relax and inhale the air of whimsy. so – enjoy!
Cica Ghost, October 2024 – White
SLurl Details
White by Cica Ghost (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)
Simurg – Halloween + Autumn, October 2024 – click any image for full size
In June 2024, I dropped into Simurg, an engaging 4096 sq metre parcel seated within a Full region leveraging the Land Capacity bonus and designed by Lintu (KorppiLintu). Presented as a photogenic location, it offered an engaging mix of ancient history and a touch of fantasy mythology (see: Simurg’s mythical beauty in Second Life). Since then, Lintu has been busy expanding that build (of which more later), and is also presenting another setting specifically for the Halloween season.
Also located on a Full region (but entirely separate to Simurg), this is Simurg + Halloween in Autumn. Occupying a parcel roughly twice the size of Simurg, it offers an equally engaging location for photography in which there is more to be found than might meet the eye on first arrival.
The landing point sits on the east side of the setting, which is itself located in the south-east corner of the region, allowing it to to have, in keeping with Simrug, open water on two sides. Indeed, the landing point sits with its back to the sea as it sits in the shadow of two of the buildings within the setting. One of the latter is the Simurg Gothic Cottage, designed by Kwoone Oui (Kwoone), Lintu’s Second Life companion, and it is the first in a series of scenes suitable for the season that are awaiting discovery as one explores.
Simurg – Halloween + Autumn, October 2024
Spreading itself out before the landing point is something of a stone-flagged village square or street, the local chapel and graveyard to one side showing more signs of ghostly goings-on, edged with touches of humour via some of the tombstones, along with plenty of indications the dead are not entirely content to rest. A large house looms up over the back of the chapel, and while it is unfurnished within, its nature is such that it draws the eyes to it. More to the point, a walk up the steps leading to it will provide arched access to a back terrace where fortunes might be read, together with a bridge spanning the gap to another rocky plateau.
This second plateau is home to The Ruined Retreat by Marcus Inkpen, and here offered as what I take – from the cauldron bubbling away in the remnant’s of one of the building’s rooms – is potentially the home of one or more witches. This house overlooks the northern end of the village, where a street runs west from the cliffs, passing assorted places of business and residence (façades), with two of the former being the local apothecary’s abode, where potions and other magical items might be found, and the local music hall where the bare bones of entertainment might be enjoyed (in a manner of speaking 😀 ).
Simurg – Halloween + Autumn, October 2024
The western end of this street takes the form of the open maw of a cave which at first appears to be a rocky tunnel passing under the witches’ house. In fact a wander into it will bring one to the three witches gathered around their cauldron as if awaiting a certain Macbeth to come to them in much the same way as he found the three weyward Sisters (to use the description from Shakespeare’s First Folio) as he crossed the “blasted heath”. Beyond an encounter with the three, the cave will bring those walking through it to a ribbon-like meadow beyond, where horses peacefully graze and water tumbles down rock to fill a pond on which a leaf boat awaits those looking for a place to rest. More on this anon.
However, a look to the left as one reaches the three crones when entering this subterranean walk (or to the right, if coming from the meadow) will reveal a second passage downwards, lit by what first might seem like the flames of hell, given the denizens found along its length. However, allowing for the spider and the webs she has woven, it leads to a quite unexpected and hauntingly attractive setting sitting is a large cavern. With access also provided by steps descending the cliff-face to the south of the Gothic Cottage mentioned above, the cavern also provides access to another little sitting area well away from the rest of the village for those who seek it on the water.
Simurg – Halloween + Autumn, October 2024
Now, to return the to meadow, which can also be reached by walking through the village and passing under the bridge leading to the witches’ house. Follow the path meandering through it and past the pond, and you’ll come to both a further little seating area, and open against the rock wall a teleport portal that will carry you to Simurg, delivering you to one side of that setting. Here, a further portal directly behind you will take you up to the gardens, or a walk through one of the arches under the stone curtain and then across the stepping stones beyond, will bring you to the ruins.
Neither the gardens nor the ruins have significantly changed since my last visit (although some details have been added / removed), although they do now sit under a most dramatic sky. Two enormous craft hang in the sky above, their form perhaps vaguely reminiscent with Stargate SG-1’s ships of the Ori for those familiar with that show (a not entirely out-of-place line of thinking, given the show’s dives into mythologies and an ancient history, etc.).
Simurg – Ancient and Underwater City, October 2024
However, the most significant change is to be found by using a further teleport portal located within raised garden to carry you below the flagstoned and partially-flooded floor of the main structure. Here you will find the aquatic element of the setting that gives it its extended name: Ancient & Underwater City. It is a place of flooded ruins where a trio of Roman deities – Venus, Mars and Saturn – are joined by the Romano-Hellenistic goddess Diana in poses of battle, as kraken-like tentacles rise from even greater depths below the submerged ruins, while sea plants and fish calmly go about their business.
I did not find a teleport portal linking Simurg back the the Halloween setting – which might be simply a case of lack of seeing on my part – so I’ll add the Simug link below as well, as if you’ve not visited either, both are more than worth the time, offering as they do compact settings with plenty to explore and appreciate. I assume Simurg Halloween + Autumn will vanish some time after October 31st – so be sure to visit on or before then!
Simurg – Ancient and Underwater City, October 2024
Alex Riverstone sent me an invite to visit his Sugarfish Village, which opened its doors on October 8th, 2024, with a celebration of art running through until the end of the month entitled the Sugarfish Village Art Walk, run in collaboration of Michiel Bechir.
The Village sits within a tropical location at ground level below Alex’s Sugarfish Photography gallery, a place I first visited in July of 2024 (see: A Sugarfish Gallery in Second Life), and offers a number of attractions and points of interest and fun. First among these are the studio spaces, available for artists to use for up to 3 months at a time, rent-free – for more on this see below.
Sugarfish Village Art Walk, October 2024: Raven Arcana
For the Art Walk event, invited artists have been able to set-out their art along the sands and flagstones of the beach, with each artist allocated space for four pieces each. Those participating are: ArtemisDemeter, KharisAdrasteia, TaniaAltAlbatros, YsabellaRose, Alex Riverstone, Ceakay Ballyhoo, Franny Fairywren, Georgie Iceghost, Karsten Iceghost, Lalie Sorbet, Maggie Runo, Noa Cloud, Prins Evergarden, Raven Arcana, Shosha Stransky, Therese Carfagno, Thomaz Blackburn, and Zia Branner. Given this list, the art is diverse, covering Second Life landscapes, avatar studies, and physical world art uploaded to Second Life.
The studio spaces, meanwhile, take the form of shipping containers converted for land-based use. Each is raised on legs and has a deck fronting it, allowing artists to use both the interior and exterior space (such as for seating in the case of the deck). A very generous 100 LI per unit is provided – although Alex informs me this may vary, depending on what else is set-up with the Village. Other details of note on the use the studios includes:
Units are offered on a quarterly basis, with quarters commencing on the first day of January, April, July and October each year. Available units can be requested at any time during the given quarter.
Artists are allowed to sell their art and decorate the interiors of their studio, if they wish. A request to staff can be made to have interior colours in the containers changed as well.
Sugarfish Village Art Walk, October 2024: ArtemisDemeter
All images must conform with the Second Life Terms of Service. Images depicting ageplay, sex, pornography, racism, hatred or of a political nature will not be allowed.
Nudity is allowed, within the bounds stated above.
The emphasis is on art and photography created in the physical world or Second Life; images created using AI or similar tools is not allowed. The focus of the Village is the talent of and techniques used by photographers.
A full notecard on displaying at the Village is available on request.
Sugarfish Village Art Walk, October 2024: Ceakay Ballyhoo
As well as the studios and the open-air exhibitions space along the sands, the Village boasts the O-Shen Diner sitting to one end of the studio containers. Set back a short way from the beach and reach via steps is the cosy little Tick Tock Café with seating indoors and out and a dance area just below it, between it and the beach (and presumably for opening events or just a little dance hang-out.
There’s also something of a clubhouse where people can hang out, complete with table games and fishing, and which has an over-the-water deck behind it offering another place to hang out. For those feeling energetic there also are rock walls behind the clubhouse, while a swan boat rezzer is available alongside the deck for those wanting to go a-paddling on the waters of the bay.
Sugarfish Village, October 2024
In all, Sugarfish Village makes for an engaging place to both visit and appreciate art, and to display your own art if you are an artist / photographer. Highly recommended.
Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: The End, October 2024 – click any image for full size
In August, I wrote about New Deer Isle and the touch of America’s New England that Kaiden Glocke Tray (KaidenTray) had brought to Second Norway (see: Second Norway’s touch of New England in Second Life). Kaiden is a gifted Second Life landscaper and his work can be seen across the grid places large and small, some of which I’ve also covered in these pages over the years.
For Halloween 2024, Kaiden presents Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: The End, a region-wide build presented on a Full private region leveraging the Land Capacity bonus. It’s a setting with a lot packed into it, both in terms of what to see and what is happening there throughout the month of October.
Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: The End, October 2024
Welcome to the most haunted and realistic location of New Orleans. It is a post-apocalyptic and dystopian environment, which was left bare after the flooding of Hurricane Katrina, There is an abandoned but interactive theme park with rides that still work, but ride them at your own risk! Release your competitive side with bumper cars, become lost in the mystical swamp, challenge your courage in the haunted house, create some amazing memories with photos, or get a real life reading from tarot readers!
– Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: greeter message
Unless you are there simply to pose for very specific photos of yourself, this is a place best experienced as it is designed to be seen – using the Shared Environment (World → Environment → Use Shared Environment). As there is a lot in the region that is going to keep the viewer business, I’d suggest that having Shadows enabled is not vital to the overall experience, and some might find they will need to adjust draw distance if they have it to the upper end of the scale. Do make sure that if you’re running a pre-PBR viewer, that you have enabled Advanced Lighting Model (ALM: Preferences → Graphics make sure the appropriate check box is ticked, but not you do not also need to enable shadows), and enable local sounds if you have them off.
Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: The End, October 2024
So, with all that said, and in the words spoken by Benedict Cummerbatch, “Now, shall we begin?”†
The Landing Point sits towards the western side of the region, along the main street of a Section of New Orleans as it runs north-to-south cross the region, and which is in places flooded (with the tide being held at bay at one end by a wall thrown across the road). The town forms the greater part of the setting, and at its southern end, merges into swamplands crossed by wooden board walks, the waters around them heavy with crocodiles. Among the mangroves and the cabins scattered around are various ritualistic goings on, whilst on the far side of the swamp, what appears to have been an outburst of murderous mayhem has struck the little village there.
Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: The End, October 2024
Both the bayou/ wetlands and the town also connect with the abandoned theme park as it occupies the north-east portion of the region. Partially flooded, this is fast turning into a wilding of a place – although the rides are still working (if some of them manned by ghoulish characters!), so be ready to try them out. The Landing Point is not enforced, so it is possible to hop around, but explorations on foot are really the only way to go lest you risk missing out on some of the frights.
When arriving at the main Landing Point, a greeter will provide an invite to the local Group, and information on both tours and a special show being staged in the region. Visitors are also offered a flashlight, and ADDing it helps with explorations.
Exactly which path you choose to take when exploring is entirely up to you, and I do not want to give too much away here and possibly spoil things. I will say that the theatre for the stage production is neatly tucked away (if apparently still under construction at the time of my visit, going by the raw prims), so it can sit within the setting without interrupting the overall flow of exploration or seeming to break with the overall region design.
Not all of the buildings have interiors, but those that do should be entered and appreciated / explored. Surprises may await and objects may require touching. I particularly liked the Black Cat Inn offers a cosy and relatively spooky-free place in which to relax. I will admit to being a little confused by the reference to a haunted house; not sure if I simply missed it (or maybe a teleport to it…) due to a case of the Stupids on my part, or whether you have to join one of the tours in order to visit it.
The performances I referred to above feature Theatre 6 in The Witches of New Orleans, with shows at 12:00 noon SLT on Sunday, October 13th, 2024 and 13:00 SLT on Saturday, October 26th, 2024. Dates and times of tours, meanwhile, are per the poster, above right.
Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: The End, October 2024
I’m not a great fan of Halloween as we treat it in modern times – haunted houses, trick-or-treating as it is now, etc., – although the tapestry of Gaelic influences and the link to Gothic fiction which are tied to Halloween are a different matter. As such, I tend to be a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to the plethora of Halloween themed events and regions and so on which pop-up between late September and early October in Second Life.
However, there are exceptions to this – and Witchcraft & Voodoo in New Orleans: The End is one of them. The region is well-crafted, and explorations offer surprises and things to poke at or ride or enjoy. It offers fun and engagement over simply trying to shock or excite, offering plenty of opportunities for photography as well as offering something just that little bit different by way of events within its boundaries (and some nice (and occasionally lewd!) touches of humour present in some of the signs around the place). So why not head over an have a look?
October brings with it all things spooky in the run-up to Halloween. Within Second Life, this means a plethora of region designs focused on ghostly goings-on, spookiness, haunting, monsters, vampires and the like, many with associated events and activities.
One such Halloween-ish event combining exploration, activities and entertainment in a more nuanced manner, and making a return to Second Life for its second season, is Seanchai Library’s The Bradbury Project. As it’s name implies, the month-long event is a celebration of the life and work of American author Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012), with a focus on some of his more spooky writing.
Bradbury is perhaps best known as a science-fiction and futurist/speculative fiction author responsible for titles such as Fahrenheit 451 (a book perhaps of special relevance currently), and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles, and The Illustrated Man. However, he cast his writing net far wider, dipping into coming-of-age stories, screenplays, television scripts, poetry and both fantasy and dark fantasy. In the latter categories we have (the semi-autobiographical) Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Halloween Tree.
The Halloween Tree
The latter is the story of eight boys as they attempt to rescue their friend on Halloween night. Under the guidance of the mysterious Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, they travel through time and space, learning about different cultures, and the role that the fear of death, ghosts and hauntings has played in shaping civilisations down the ages, and how it has all contributed to much that is encompassed in modern-day Halloween activities. It’s is also one of the focal elements of The Bradbury Project.
In 2023, the project took place on sky builds within Seanchai Library’s home region of Nowhereville. For 2024, and thanks to the support of Linden Lab, the event expands into a dedicated Full region, allowing for more space for activities. However, like 2023, all donations / tips received while the Project is open through until Sunday, November 3rd, will be donated to Reading is Fundamental.
A major feature of Bradbury’s writing is Green Town, a fictionalised version of his place of birth, Waukegan, Illinois. It is a place of safety and home, featuring in a number Bradbury’s darker tales and in his short stories, and which has a result is depicted at several different points in the 20th century. Green Town is also the starting point for The Bradbury Project, which offers aspects of Green Town as it might have appeared in the 1950s.
Visitor arriving within the Project will find themselves within the garage of one of the houses lining Green Town’s main street. This offers information boards about the Project and the planned events, as well as information on the two Second Life Experiences operating within the region – both of these should be accepted in order to enjoy the Project to the fullest; however, if you an unsettled by the idea of using Experiences, a box of landmarks can also be obtained from the landing point to ferry you around.
Seanchai Library: The Bradbury Project 2024
A wander around the town will reveal its charm and also some points of interest – information boards that provide more insight into Bradbury’s life and work, and other interactive pieces (such as a television presenting the short film The House I Live In, which whilst not in any way focused on Halloween or the like, nevertheless carries a message of relevance).
Cutting through the region from east to west is the Ravine from Dandelion Wine, a collection sf short stories, and which is considered to be Bradbury’s most personal work. The Ravine can be accessed from the town at its eastern end , beyond the railway tracks, were a path slopes down into it. looping back under the railway bridge, the path will take visitors through the Ravine and up the far side to the residence of Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, esq., and the Halloween Tree. Here again, indoors and out, is more to explore.
Seanchai Library: The Bradbury Project 2024
Events at The Bradbury Project
Story Tours of “The Halloween Tree” (presented in three episodes):
13:30 SLT, Sundays (October 13th, 20th, and 27th).
19:00 SLT, Tuesdays (October 15th, 22nd, and 29th).
Other Seanchai Library events will take place in The Project, and some additional readings from Bradbury may take place. Check out the Seanchai Library Special Projects Calendar.
Note: not all events presented by the Library this October are associated directly with this project.
eClipse Club & Resort Presents at The Bradbury Project:
Monday, October 21st, 21-23:00 SLT: DJ JAdmiral Maelstrom.
Friday, October 25th, 19:00-21:00 SLT: DJ Momma Hoi.
Saturday, October 26th, 19:00-21:00 SLT: DJ Iniry Vaher.
Sunday, October 27th, 19:00-22:00 SLT: DJs Caledonia Skytower & Tiger Pawz present Dr Frankenstein’s Halloween Boogie – music, dancing, and prizes!
In addition, those crossing the railway bridge spanning the Ravine can step through the tunnel to reach a Trick or Treat surprise. So when not pop over and have a look around / join in the events?
The Bradbury Project was created for Seanchai Library by David Abbot, Dawn Greymyst, Dagmar Kohime, Gloriana Maertens, Stevie Morane Basevi, Iniry Vaher, and Caledonia Skytower.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 