Blog – Page 65 – Cubey Terra

January 26, 2006

A Tigershark ate all my free time!

It never fails. I begin what I expect will be an quick project — say, a few hours work — and then it spirals out of control. What began as a simple “point release” upgrade of the Tigershark, my simple addition of a HUD attachment, turned into a major revision.

This week I’ve put in countless (and often frustrating) hours testing and rewriting the Tigershark flight script. The controls now use a gradual, cumulative force in the angular motors. Instead of slamming into a full-force turn when you press an arrow key, the force is applied gradually, which ensures a smoother flight.

Like the Talon, the Tigershark now has a HUD attachment which includes, altimeter, speed, artificial horizon, throttle, status indicator, and assorted buttons. The status indicator was interesting to make — it shows which parts of the plane are damaged by highlighting that part in red on an overhead view.

And since I was rewriting most of the scripts anyway, I thought I’d make a few modifications to the Tigershark’s appearance too. It now features a WW2 style canopy, larger engine pods, shorter fuselage, and a new tailgun design.

I’m not done yet, either. Give me another week of testing and bug-fixing, and it’ll be ready to take to the skies.

January 22, 2006

Entrepreneur teaches campers to fish

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. -Lao Tsu

This morning I had an enlightening chat with SL entrepreneur, Mark Coffee, who has gone into the taxi dispatch business. After buying a Terra Taxi, Mark rezzed several copies of it, assigned pilots, and sent them out. “It pays more than camping,” he said.

Instead of eating up server resources, away-from-keyboard, for endless hours while parked in a camping chair, these pilots are now earning their way by providing fun tours and rides for a small fee.

You might ask why you’d need a taxi when we all have point-to-point teleport. The answer is… Why not? It’s fun! Hail a cab and take a tour. It doesn’t cost much, you’ll see beautiful builds you may have missed before, and you get to meet interesting people along the way.

If you want to get your own taxi, drop by my shop in the northwest corner of Abbotts (click here).

January 19, 2006

I’m still here!

The busy holiday season is finally over. Well, alright it was over a couple of weeks ago. I suppose it was some kind of holiday hangover that kept me from being productive in Second Life. My “to do” list isn’t growing any shorter, so it’s time I started making things again.

First off, I released a minor fix to the Terra SPEED flight boost attachment. That’s the HUD attachment that works a lot like the Terra WARP, but has an on-screen button panel.

Second, today I finish the Terra Taxi. It’s kind of a novelty thing, since point-to-point teleporting renders taxis obsolete. But… should you ever have the urge to drive around picking up fares, now you can!

The Terra Taxi is available for L$200 only at Cubey Terra Aircraft in Abbotts (click here).

Next up: adding HUD attachments to my other aircraft.

December 28, 2005

Shutting down

It’s been so long since I wrote here regularly, that I think it’s time for me to shut it down. I’ve cancelled my account with my hosting service, so it’s only a matter of time until you’ll see not this page, but a default domain parking page.

I still have my Second Life blog at www.CubeyTerra.com, but it’s only relevant to those who have Second Life accounts.

Many thanks to everyone who dropped by to read my drivel and to leave comments. It was great fun. Happy new year!

December 19, 2005

Have a holly jolly Christmas

Every year, I dread the approach of December. December means the “holiday season”, schlocky Christmas music in every shop, and the enormous pressure of Christmas shopping. That’s why I put it off until the last minute. I plan my shopping list well in advance, however, so that in the very last week, I can hit the shops all at once in a surgical strike. Get in, extract the items, and get out. Bam! It’s over in an instant

I don’t hate Christmas, but I do hate being pushed into the holidays before I’m ready. I push back, and let everything wait. It really does take a feat of willpower to reach the point where I actually clear space on the table and start to wrap everyone’s gifts.

And then, a funny thing happens. As I fold and cut and tape, and write little “Merry Effing Christmas” labels, I catch myself whistling “Have a holly jolly Christmas”. But I stop myself, because I seriously hate that tune and wish that the person who wrote it would be buried in an ant hill up to their necks with liquid sugar poured liberally over their wobbly bits, while playing that tune at full volume on a loop. In a shopping mall.

Not long after that, I notice myself humming “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “Silent Night”. Before I know it, I’m absolutely oozing with Christmas spirit, and what better time to pour a little Christmas brandy into a little mug or two. And after an hour or so of wrapping, humming, whistling, and pouring brandy down my throat, I strip down to my shorts, hang ornaments from my ears, and go caroling door-to-door at each pub I can find until a friendly police officer offers me a warm blanket and some handcuffs.

So I don’t know why I have so much trouble starting the Christmas season. After all, it ends well, and they usually let me out in time for Christmas dinner.