Category: Reviews

Launched alongside the October 2015 Premium Membership offer, but available to all SL users, is the return of the Haunted Halloween Tour, which can be accessed via the Portal Parks.

In 2014, the tour was offered as both a demonstration of Experience Keys, and the Oculus Rift project viewer. This year the Oculus aspect is pushed to one side (although this is still very much a first-person ride), which is hardly surprising given the headset won’t reach “mass market” status until 2016, and the Rift project viewer is lacking behind a lot of the viewer feature set.

On arrival at a portal park, walk through the gate marked Halloween and follow the path up to the red door of the house. Here you’ll receive a note card offering general advice for enjoying the tour, of which disabling any  AO you may use is probably the most important, together with making sure you have ALM enabled in your graphics Preferences.

You’ll also be asked to allow the Tour to take control of certain aspects of your viewer (e.g your camera , etc – see right).

This is – as I’m sure most people are aware by now – how Experiences such as this work, and you should grant the request in order to proceed. Any permissions granted will be revoked as soon as you depart the Tour; however, should you return, you won’t have to grant permission again, unless you remove the Tour from you list of allowed Experiences.

Once you have granted permission, you’ll be transported to a Tour region, and asked to take a seat in your coffin to start the ride. As you sit, your view will change to first person / Mouselook – should your camera fail to adjust itself, tap the ESC key a couple of times. While you can control your camera to look around, the ride is best enjoyed by allowing the Tour to control all camera movement.

I’m not going to say much about the ride itself – it’s there to be enjoyed after all. However, if you took the ride in 2014, you’ll find much at the start that is very familiar (aka largely unchanged)). However, the latter part of the tour has been extensively revised, offering something of a lean towards a certain 1980s film series which recently had something of a reboot.  I will say that in terms of decor, excellent use is made of materials once again, and of projected lighting. One word of warning I do have is not to stand up during the ride unless you mean to, as you’ll be automatically teleported back to a portal park (as you will be at the end of the Tour).

At around 12 minutes in length, the Haunted Tour 2015 is about half as long again as the 2014 version; which is a pretty long time to be passive in SL when you think about it. If you didn’t partake of the original, then it’s certainly worth the time if you’re looking for a little light Halloween fun. If you did take the 2014 ride, you could well find yourself experiencing deja-vu during the first (roughly) two-thirds of the ride – which is not necessarily to say you shouldn’t give it a go, if you’re so inclined.

Related SLurls

• Portal Park 1
• Portal Park 2

Loch Noble, Pinewinds (Flickr) – click any image for full size

It’s been a good while since I’ve had the opportunity to visit a {Noble} build in Second Life, so much so that I’m not altogether sure as to how many I may have missed since last writing about them far back in 2013. So when both Caledonia Skytower and Cube Republic both poked me about Loch Noble at practically the same time, I knew it is time for me to prepare myself for a visual treat and re-acquaint myself with these fabulous region designs.

Designed by Blossom Noble (AaliyahBlossom) and Noa Noble (VonDutch Sweetwater), Loch Noble carries a very Scottish feel in its name and in some of its looks, although it also carries with it touches of England and the continent (or perhaps America) in some of the smaller details.

Loch Noble, Pinewinds (Flickr)

Divided into four areas by the careful use of water, the region presents a series of individual settings which naturally flow together to present a complete landscape to the visitor. The landing point, for example, sits on an old fortification itself located at the foot of low cliffs, above which can be found a small hamlet with a quite urban look to it. To reach it, new arrivals must follow a wooden board walk, the cliffs to one side and a body of water – perhaps the loch of the region’s title – on the other, until they reach a dry stone wall and gate. Turn left after passing through the gate, and you can make your way up to the town, turn right and you can follow the track over a bridge and through a rural landscape to the Noble’s private home (do please respect their privacy!).

The little town offers a couple of streets, some shops and some little touches of the UK – a Royal Mail pillar box with an old red telephone booth not far away, for example – while through a gated side passage (or around the corner at the far end of a street) sits a cosy little pub overlooking the broad waters, with the hills of the region surround beyond again presenting an illusion of being on the banks of a loch.

Loch Noble, Pinewinds (Flickr)

From the town, and by following the paths, visitors can make their way to the more rugged landscape on the east side of the region. This is again split into two by a narrow channel of water, the land to the north comprising a high rocky plateau with a health-like feel to the top, and which hides a secret within (follow the path to the cave entrance, or take the ladder down  the well-like opening on the plateau). Across the narrow divide, on lower land sits a henge, a screen of trees and another little stream separating it from the Noble’s house.

This is a beautifully located location in which everything flows together naturally. Considerable effort appears to have been taken to ensure the region surround blends at much as possible with the region’s appearance, giving further depth to the landscape. This is particularly apparent in the more upland areas, where the region surround frequently gives the illusion of the landscape rolling away to a hazy and quite natural horizon.

Loch Noble, Pinewinds (Flickr)

The {Noble} builds in Second Life have always been somewhat special; places to be savoured rather than just visited. While it may not in small parts be entirely mindful of Scotland, Loch Noble nevertheless maintains this tradition in composition and presentation. I’m certainly enamoured with it, and confess to enjoying spending my time at the henge and up on the rocky plateau in particular; so much so that you may find me loitering at one or the other when you visit!

SLurl Details

• Loch Noble, Pinewinds (Rated: Moderate)

Belleck House, Oct 2015 (Flickr) – click any image for full size

The seasons change, and in the northern hemisphere winter draws closer, while in the southern, summer beckons. In Second Life, and almost bridging the two, Sera Bellic offers us a new design for her Lick Sim Designs demonstration region of Oyster Bay.

Belleck House present those of us in the northern hemisphere with a period of Indian Summer in the midst of late autumn, while for those south of the equator, it offers a taste of the summer to come. What’s more, in contrast to recent builds on the region, such a The McFly Project, which I wrote about in July, and the apocalyptic End of the World before it,  it offers a much simpler canvas in which to immerse oneself – although “simpler” should not be taken to mean lacking in detail. Far from it.

Belleck House, Oct 2015 (Flickr)

This is a wonderfully rural scene, the simplicity of which is in the very light touch of buildings and balance of open spaces and wooded surrounds. For me, it had a ring of England’s Cotswolds in part, whilst also being far removed from them, but the feeling was enough to help me feel a comfortable level of familiarity as I stepped out of the high stone tower of the landing point and wandered over the hill and into the region proper.

Belleck House is another design which amply demonstrates Sera’s eye for placement and design. The houses, church and folly are all carefully placed while remaining entirely natural within the surrounding landscape, the tracks and long, undulating stone wall serving to add a sense of being dee within the countryside, where sheep calmly gaze, and the church might just serve a small hamlet, perhaps just over the slopes behind it.

Belleck House, Oct 2015 (Flickr)

This is both a serene place and one that is highly photogenic. In fact, such is the overall natural beauty of the setting, that I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to have wandered down into the fields and through the gap in the dry stone wall to find a painter sat behind easel, capturing the view in watercolours or oils. In fact, a peep inside the main house suggests there is an artist living or staying there, although they may well be a little sidetracked with the decorating at the moment. Whoever they are, they do appear to be taking care to compose a letter, and also to enjoy Lewis Carroll. Perhaps the latter is why a little afternoon tea has been set out on the garden table…

At a time when most of us are focused on Halloween, spooky comings and goings and the promise of tricks or treats, Belleck House offers a pleasing side step into those long, lazy summer afternoons just ripe for a wander along tracks and between fields, simply seeing where your feet take you and what may lie around the next corner or over the next brow.

Belleck House, Oct 2015 (Flickr)

SLurl Details

• Belleck House, Oyster Bay (Rated: Moderate)

WOD: Château Village (Flickr) – click any image for full size

Note: this vision of Pandora Box of Dreams has closed.

Miza Cupcake Verlack, partner to Lokhe Angel Verlack (Jackson Verlack) of Pandora’s Box of Dreams fame, recently contacted me about a new role-play environment she and Lokhe are developing. Given I’m very much an admirer of Lokhe’s region designs, I was keen to accept her invitation for a personal tour of their new realm.

World of Darkness: Château Village, as perhaps the name suggests, draws its inspiration from the World of Darkness universe. The intention is to provide an immersive story-based environment with its own flavour of background, events, races and characters. Formal role-play won’t actually commence until after the Grand Opening, but there is currently an open invitation to those who are curious to visit the region and its accompanying website and find out more about the environment, races, factions and various back stories already created, and perhaps enrol as a player and formulate a character of their own.

WOD: Château Village (Flickr)

To get a flavour of the setting and intent, it is easiest to quote from the introductory notes:

The World of Darkness: Château Village, resembles the contemporary world, but it is darker, more devious and more conspiratorial. The dichotomy between rich and poor, influential and weak, powerful and powerless, is much more pronounced than in the real world. Decadence, cynicism and corruption are common. Humans are unwitting victims or pawns of vast secret organizations of supernatural creatures. Vampires, werewolves and wraiths – among others – struggle with internal factionalism and against other species in secret wars of intrigue for control of reality.

Thus it is that Château Village is a place cast forever in the twilight times, where the sun never rises and day never quite comes. A contemporary 20th / 21st century island town located just off the coast of France, it is at first seemingly an ordinary place. Houses are lit from within, warmth and light spilling from windows, and the streets are illuminated by lamps which cast aside shadow and increase the feeling of normality. However, all this is just the surface calm which barely conceals the maelstrom of intrigue, rivalry, the supernatural and magic, the foundations and structure of which are carefully defined through the Château Village website.

WOD: Château Village (Flickr)

In terms of the physical environment itself, this has been beautifully crafted by Lokhe and makes superb use of the available space within the region. So much so that in exploring, it is hard to escape the feeling that it is a place occupying more than a single region.

Architecture and environment are important here, serving to define the various factions occupying them. The Camarilla clan of vampires, for example, occupy a mansion of quite contemporary design located overlooking the main town. The Sabbat, a clan of vampires with a very different philosophy, occupy an older part of town, one perhaps reflective of their more archaic approach, and their desire to stand aside from (and rule over) others. Meanwhile, the Garou (lycans) live in a more rural area suggestive of the edge of town, and close to the woodlands and wilds.

Given this is a world very much of secrets, magic, and hidden powers, there are also hidden places accessible only to those who know the way (or those fool enough to ignore warning signs), and which lay up in the sky or are hidden underground, again making further adding to the expansive feel to the various locations in which RP might take place.

WOD: Château Village (Flickr)

Touring the region, the level of love and attention which has been poured into it is evident; as is the desire of Lokhe and Miza and their team to make this a community-driven RP environment.It’s also highly photogenic – and I did spot Loverdag exploring while I was there!

I understand the Grand Opening is to take place – appropriately enough! – on October 31st, although details are still TBA at the time of writing. Therefore, and as mention, of you are into supernatural  / dark powers RP and are looking for something new, why not drop into Château Village and have a look around and peruse the website. Should you be interested in signing-up, you can find the application form on the website.

SLurl Details and Related Links

• World of Darkness: Château Village SLurl (Rated: Adult)
• World of Darkness: Château Village website
• Château Village Flickr group