From the Content Creators’ UG (CCUG) meeting we get some more precise project updates. I’ve also tossed in some information from Meet the Lindens get togethers.
Starting out Alexa Linden is talking about Bakes on Mesh, BoM. It appears they are getting close to releasing it. There is apparently ‘one more’ thing they are tweaking… presumably, before it can release.
Alexa says items that use the new BoM will have a unique inventory icon.
EEP is getting another viewer update. This version will be in QA over the weekend and if it passes, they hope to have it out Monday.
Getting the news out took a bit as I decided to include my own Meet the Lindens video. Pantera Północy posts his videos more quickly than I do. I get bored with his single camera angle. I also process the video to improve the audio… since my camera is moving around have to capture audio at my avatar’s location, not the more easily controlled camera location which has the audio level is all over the place if I move around. That single spot audio is not the best, so I think it still needs some help. But it is serviceable.
SL16B Crowd – The Meet the Lindens Tuesday event was attended by close to 200 people, 11 were Lindens, spread over four regions. Max per region was about 55. I didn’t crash and things worked well. People were a bit slow rendering, textures lagged, but no regions crashed. My FPS was in the 7 to 11 FPS (i5, 32GB, GTX-1060 High-Ultra Shadows + Projectors). – April’s mic was cutting out. – The video is a bit jerky. At 7FPS that happens.
Video Abstract
The video starts with Oz and April telling us about their history with Second Life™. Both were residents before they were hired by the Lab. I found this part of the video INTERESTING… Saffia is a good interviewer.
When we can get Oz or other techy Lindens talking, they always have interesting stuff to say and we learn things about the SL system.
In this Meet the Lindens meeting, April Linden confessed that 2 to 6 months ago they moved the SL inventory to the cloud. Not every detail has moved, but basic inventory (database) now runs in the cloud on much faster computers. And no one noticed, which is what the Lindens want.
Server Deploy Posts – They are back… Last week speaking to Caleb Linden at the Beta Sever UG meeting I learned there was a problem and it would get resolved. It apparently has as there is a deploys posts this week.
Caleb posted the announcement Monday about noon SLT/PST. Yay!
June 24 – This is the date Premium Membership Rates increase. Until then you can renew for one more billing cycle at the current rate, US$72 per year, which is a deal. I just renewed. I am good until 2021.
Someday Soon
With Premium, one gets a L$1,000 signing bonus (down the road) and L$300 per week. At the average exchange rate of L$250 to the US$1 that is L$16,600 or US$66.40. Net cost is $5.60. With a jump up to US$99 the net cost goes to US$32.60. That seems like a huge rise until one considers the cost of some other games.
Star Citizen with ships costing US$400 to $2,500 and EVE Online at US$15/month are particularly expensive. Other monthly games are often US$10 per month or US$120 per year.
If you like looking at pictures of Second Life™ or making them or want to learn how to make them, Focus Magazine will likely be of interest. If you are posting SL images to Flickr then it is very likely of interest, as they have a group on Flickr named, I’m too sexy for this group. And a similar group name in SL, Too sexy for this group (SLURL).
It is a monthly magazine published in SL. You can also find it on the web at FOCUS Second Life. To subscribe to the in-world magazine join the SL group. Angela Thespian and PINK (PinkLady2) are the owners of the SL group. People are often posting links to Flickr images in the group’s chat.
The group is pretty active all week. It picks up on weekends.
Flickr GroupInteresting Stuff
If you want the current issue of the magazine, join the group and ask Angela to send you a copy.
The magazine has the events-schedule for the month, 2 or 3. This includes their photography classes.
They now have a gallery in-world, FOCUS Magazine building (Map URL). There are the gallery and classroom. It is a very modern gallery-feel build. Well done.
Bellisseria is the new continent south of Sansara. It is the location of new houseboats and box homes. A very middle-class neighborhood and surprisingly popular. Homes and houseboats can be owned… leased… by Premium Members. They are selling out in minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWDZTfvC_8E
I can’t account for the popularity. It just is.
The popularity is leading to a number of blogs focusing on Bellisseria and the going-ons there. Daniel Voyager points to some of them.
The Bellisserian opens with a first issue carrying an interview with Patch Linden. It is here we hear the first reasons for the popularity of Bellisseria. Seems previous homes were designed as ‘starter homes.’ Bellisserian homes are designed to be “homes.” I suppose that makes a difference. Well… apparently…
While there are currently only a couple of styles of homes in Bellisseria more are planned.
RL has me bouncing from client to client. Not much time to play. But, I did make it to Thursday’s CCUG meeting. This meeting was status reporting, questions about what is being worked on, and what may be considered in the future.
