Posted on

Another pointless walk

I’m sufficiently bored today to *walk* from Iris at the northernmost point in the new continent to Alcona (180,14) where the highway ends suddenly. At that point we’ll be tired enough not to care that we’re in the middle of nowhere and log off.

pointless walk map: click here to embiggen
Map of the pointless walk: click to embiggen.

Did I mention it was a pointless walk?

If you’d like to join me please do. I’ll be in Iris at noon, game time. My route will be posted on www.CubeyTerra.com. Photographers welcome. No running, no flying, no vehicles.

Photos (click to embiggen):


6 minutes: The trek begins underwater in Iris.


45 minutes: The highway makes for easier walking… or rollerskating.


1 hour, 6 minutes: We stop to chat with a couple of curious W-Hats.


1 hour, 23 minutes: We’ve officially gone insane. For some reason we walked through the mature snow sims, au naturel. Good thing avatars are immune to the cold.


2 hours, 13 minutes: Journey’s end! Alcona’s highway ends suddenly at the sim wall.

Posted on

Poking about in ActiveWorlds

Out of curiosity, I dropped in on ActiveWorlds this morning to see what it was like. As Eggy put it, “it’s SL’s grandpa”. It’s a 3D world with chat, like SL, but the feel of it is like a computer game from ten years ago. Avatars are stiff and lifeless, chat is IRC-style in a separate window pane, and I can’t tell if there’s a physics engine. But it’s all there — user-made content, socialization, and a gigantic world with lots of places.

Naturally, the first place I visited was an airport.

Heartsville CybAirport in the ActiveWorlds area, 'Atlantis'.

(When I switched from the default first-person camera to the third-person camera, I was a little surprised to discover that I’d turned into a fish!)

As Eggy pointed out in-world, the models are mesh-based, so they have shapes that may not be possible in Second Life, where building is primitive-based. Look, no seams!

Inside a hangar at Heartsville CybAirport

Not all planes looked expertly-made, but that’s the same in SL, where all content is created by users — everyone has different skill levels, but everyone contributes. Some of the planes would do very well if they were built and scripted in SL.

I can see why ActiveWorlds lasted so long. It must have been cutting-edge in the beginning, and even now it offers much of the same experience and community as SL… but without the lag.

Posted on

Happy 2nd birthday, Second Life!

Two years ago this week, Second Life finished its beta and went “gold”. To celebrate the occasion, Pathfinder Linden pulled together a gaggle of builders and olbies to fill the four sims with well-known builds and objects from throughout SL’s two-year history. Some of the attractions included carnival rides, towers by Maxx Monde and LordFly Digeridoo, Cannabis Cathedral, a city street, the beta time capsule contents, and my contribution, Zoe Airfield.

Founded in autumn 2003 by Apotheus Silverman and me, Zoe Airfield quickly became a meeting place for propeller heads to exchange ideas and hold aircraft-oriented events like building contests. Many of today’s prominent aircraft builders were among the original Zoe Airfield group members. Apotheus and I later moved our operation to Abbotts, where it became Abbotts Aerodrome.

Zoe Airfield - November 2003
Zoe Airfield in November 2003

Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take any snapshots of the 2nd anniversary celebration, and I took down the Zoe Airfield re-creation too early, thinking the event was just the one day. Oops.

Posted on

Just wibbling about

If there’s proof that Second Life is not a game, but a virtual world, it lies in the fact that I just spent my entire week doing chores. I tended to rental units, put finishing touches on the passenger terminal, updated my hot air balloon, and… well I did a bunch of other things too, but I can’t remember. Oh, yes… I did some touch-ups on this website too. I’m hoping to add a help section soon, where I’ll post how-to info and FAQs.

The highlight of my week was revisiting the hot air balloon. This has got to be one of my favourite vehicles. I dropped by the Welcome Area several times and picked up random avatars for an aerial tour of the city and surrounding sims. And thanks to a new feature in the balloon, I was able to hand off the controls to passengers for a bit while I enjoyed the scenery and conversation.

And back in Abbotts, the aerodrome’s new passenger terminal is just about done. The last coat of paint is just drying, and the new one-hour parking lot is open. That’s right, park your vehicle in front of Abbotts Aerodrome for up to an hour while you skydive or fly, or whatever. Drop by to take a peek.

Posted on

Woo, it’s all hovery and stuff

I am just now putting the finishing touches and squishing the last bugs on the newest in the Futura line of hovercars. The Futura 6 is a sleek, sporty vehicle that switches between ground-hover and flight modes automatically.

New features in this Futura include:

  • More paint colours to choose from, plus a painter accessory that helps you create your own custom paint scheme.
  • Pop-up menus to configure options and appearance.
  • Scripted decals. Choose one of the preset decals or use your own texture.
  • Terra Combat System. Duel with any other vehicle that also has the Terra Combat System (almost all of my vehicles have it). Comes equipped with a particle cannon.
  • Automatically switches to ground-hover mode when you fly close to the ground.
  • Turbo-boost kicks in for an extra zip when you go uphill.

And like the Futura 5, the Futura 6 also has these featres:

  • Seats 2 avatars
  • Landing gear retracts
  • Thrust effects and sounds
  • Canopy opens/closes

And it’s available right now at my shop at Abbotts Aerodrome.