• Second Life Building – Progress is slow

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    2014-07-21_19-12-22Progress has been slowed down recently, but I did make very good progress on Saturday and the beginning of Sunday. I got most of the Living Area done. I even managed to find a few people to take up a couple of vacant rooms! But there is still a lot to be done. I have made a bathroom-ish area out of one of the rooms. But I am not quite sure what to decorate it with and will probably be a while before I do anything with it.

    I also have moved the Dance/Rave area over to where Cabro’s Terrifying Abomination was at. This was due to a fight among us over some returning of objects that escalated into them raging and leaving to do their own thing. As a result, there is now a large open area next to the building that has been marked off as Work In Progress while I decide what to do with it. Its likely that I will turn this into an entrance area for the land, i just need to work out exactly how.


    This entry was posted in Games Images

  • Second Life Building – The Fun Begins

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    2014-07-19_21-29-29Well, I kind of got bored and couldn’t come up with any more direct ideas without actually seeing some progress done on what I already have for designs. So, I have begun to tear everything apart. FUN! Its actually turning out to be quite nice. I used some very simple Mesh blocks, because the default SL prims are very annoying to work with, and started with the Dance / Rave room. Its not fully done, cosmetic items are missing such as Windows and some things to go on the walls, but its looking good so far!

    After I get some cosmetics out of the way, I plan to begin building the rooms. I have some pretty cool designs setup for outside that I need to have done so that I can make the cosmetics for. There is a lot of mesh items I need to design but without actually seeing the area it is difficult to judge what I can do in simple mesh boxes vs having to create a whole mesh object for. Come visit if you’re interested in watching me put things together!


    This entry was posted in Games Images and tagged

  • Second Life Building – Prepare for Terrible Drawing

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    scan0001I got tired of all the issues I was having with any design software I could find online that didn’t want $400 just so that I could draw lines and circles on a grid. I tried using a few other photo editors and quickly gave up on them. Layout, from Google, was the best I could find for software and was what I was using up until now. However, even it is lacking what I really needed: the ability to simply DRAW lines and not have to deal with objects, boxes, and other things that got in the way.

    So instead, I will be going old fashion and drawing by hand with pencil and graph paper. My only complaint is that the graph paper I bought was in inches and not in cm. So I guess I will have to do a little bit of math to create a ratio conversion so I can keep the measurements precise. I did run into a few mishaps such as the top middle window is slightly off. This was due to my own rush and I would have likely made the same mistake through software. Only difference is that its much messier to fix issues on paper. But hey, I can live with that if it means better freedom to do what I want!

    As for the design, its pretty simplistic. I got lazy, as you can see with the right side. I also noted that when I was done and thinking about the door… how the hell is the door doing to open? I decided that I will have to make a slight change to the distance between the windows and the door. I also decided that I should remove the upper window as it looks more and more silly the more I think about it. I may make a designed window or put some kind of sign up there. The windows themselves will likely be grid-box style windows with some sort of Anime related window painting. I have some more pictures that I may use for these.


    This entry was posted in Games Images and tagged

  • Second Life Building – All of the Dance

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    2014-07-17_22-32-59So, there has not been much progress today. I would like to hand draw the rest of the designs but I am too lazy to go to the store right now to get some proper paper. It will probably be Saturday when I go shopping that I will get the paper that I need to do this on.

    The design for the Club is fairly simple. I plan on using some of the stuff we currently have, such as the floor, dance animations, dance poles, speakers, and some of the stage clutter. I will also be bringing in some new furniture, I have not decided if I will be making my own or using bought furniture. I think creating furniture would be a great experience though and I will probably stream me creating it when I do. The Area marked as Glow Sticks is a joke at Tom’s expense for being a derp and leaving a bunch of floating glow sticks in the building for over a month now without moving them. We may sell, or give out free, glow sticks with some effects.

    I do not think I will be doing a floor layout for the stores or for the park area. However, do be on the lookout as once I get the paper that I need I plan on creating some neat effects. Cabro likes the idea of having a Deadspace-like air-lock for his entrance. So expect to see some concept designs soon!


    This entry was posted in Games Images News and tagged

  • Second Life Building – We are Doomed

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    2014-07-17_00-17-23So, I did end up going with the multiple shops idea. After talking to Tauren Tom, we decided it would be interesting to try and rent out a few shops. I am not sure on the exact details but the shops will be approximately 8mx12.5m with the corner shop being bigger (or possibly 16m x 12.5). This would give approximately 100 square meters for people to put up their own shops. I don’t have any definite values, but the prices should be in the range of about 75-125L/week and 15-20 prims allocation and the ability to purchase more prims. But again, we will have to wait until I am done with everything and all the things are moved around so I can get exact numbers on how many prims are still open.

    Additionally, I have the Living area now completed! They are attached below. There are currently 6 rooms available for rent (3 on first floor and 3 on second floor with the option to rent both floors). Rent prices, like shops, will not be determined until we get a final prim count on what is available and what is used. While it is not likely, it may be possible to snag a room for free depending on where we go. It is also possible that the rooms will never be up for rent and are reserved for members of our group. But again, this is something that will be decided later and thus I cannot give a definite answer.

    Also, this project will likely take some time. I am currently only in a design phase and there is going to be a lot of work done to make sure we all like this design and that this will become our permanent design. I expect the designing to take at least until the end of the weekend. The actual building is going to be the long part as part of the design will be incorporating a lot of Mesh building materials in order to help optimize visitor (and our own) experience (I mean, help relive some lag).

    After spending many months of redesigning straight in SL, I found it to be easier to actually make a plan first. This should prove a great learning experience as it will be great for when I begin the designing for the games I wish to make in the future. It may be worth following my posts in  the future if you want to get into game design but not sure where to start. Building up a pool of assets is the most important thing for building a game after all!

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    This entry was posted in Games Images News and tagged

  • Secondlife Building – Work In Progress

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    2014-07-16_22-28-16I am currently only in the design phase, but so far its looking good! I have had to scrap a few ideas along the way in order to make it look more fluid. I have also been bouncing the idea of extending the area marked as Cabro’s Terrifying Abomination (no seriously, there is horse porn in there) forward a bit more and then adding shops around the entire area. Biggest problem I am running into is that it would mean I would need to setup rentals and I am not sure how well that would go since it would then mean someone has to manage the prims and such and find actual renters.

    For those curious, this design is going to be in 100% mesh building materials. I will likely be posting videos on my progress when I begin the actual building phase in Blender. It can serve as a great tutorial for 3d designing (at least on a basic level working with mostly square corners). For the immediate future, I will be posting a few more design layouts. I will likely be designing a full layout for the Shop, Park, Living Area, and Club. The Warning Zone is more of a joke and I will leave Cabro’s place up to him to decide what to do with.

    If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment or message me! You can also find me on SL @ http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bona/230/80/2001


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  • Crunchyroll and Summer 2014 Anime

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    2014-07-15_23-32-10Crunchyroll has been around for quite some time now. But for the first time since it came into existence, I will not have to use other means to get my anime fix this season! An outstanding 16/18 of my series I plan to watch for the summer are on Crunchyroll with the remaining series available on Funimation. It may not be free but its very convenient to watch anime without having to fiddle with storage!
    If I had to give complaints, my major complaints would have to be two things. First is the All-Access requirement to read manga. If I have an Anime Sub, why do I also need to pay for an All-Access sub that includes stuff that I do no want, such as Dramas? I simply do no like it. Second, the video player on the website is getting very dated. The player has many lag issues and a few weeks ago I had to submit a ticket only for the CR staff to simply say there was nothing they could do at the time and that

    “we would like to let you know that issues you are encountering have been known, and we are actively working on multiple solutions to provide you a better streaming experience in the future. We are currently working to enhance our Flash Player, so as to remedy the playback problems described”.

    I look forward to them hopefully fixing this issue once and for all so that I do no have to randomly deal with lag or sudden video stoppage. It is especially annoying when you have a 55mb/s download speed and suddenly videos are choppy / randomly stop to ‘buffer’. Otherwise, I highly recommend to those that can stream video to do so. Its a great way to give back to the industry and can even strike you some amazing deals on the Daily Deals!


    This entry was posted in Anime Manga News and tagged

  • Summer 2014 Anime

    Posted on by Semple Comment

    e4810312e75c4225ceacb10c88a54290
    It is that time again. I am a little late on this post, but that at least gave time for all the first episodes to air! This season should be a good one with some very good titles. There is pretty much an anime for everyone this summer including Yaoi (dear god… why…)

    First up on my list is the much anticipated Sword Art Online II. This series has already proven to be different from many anime out there, but I cannot help but feel indifferent about Asuna. I much prefer Shino, Lis, or Silica. Asuna does have her good points, but shes got nothing on Shino. I am looking forward to this series the most for the summer! However, my most looking-forward series remains Log Horizon II.

    Next, Glasslip. This series is extremely reminiscent of Nagi no Asukara. The main characters have that air about them and the art styles are fairly close. Throw in the story that appears to be unfolding and it looks like we will have another feels day! Prepare your feels to be royally screwed with…  unless there will be more “Thank you…” responses.

    My personal choice, Rail Wars. Mostly because I like trains. There really is no other reason why I am watching this. its because of the trains. And maybe the tsundere. But mostly the trains.

    Majimoji Rurumo also makes the list. This anime has one of my favorite kind of stories in it while still making it a comedy to make it all the more entertaining to watch. Rurumo is cute and my only complaint would be that this lacks romance. Otherwise, its a great laugh and seems that there will be plenty of fan service.

    My last three choices caught my eyes simply because of their intense story, excellent art, and just overall awesome. Tokyo ESP, Zankyou no Terror , and Aldnoah.Zero will definitely be shows to watch. Tokyo ESP being about Espers and attacks against the city with super powers. Zankyou no Terrors being about a group of terrorists in an alternate world. I have a feeling that the latter one may spark some emotional outcry from a few groups, but they can shove it. As for Aldnoah.Zero, it really caught my interest from the first episode just from the setting of the story. I put all three of these together because they are very similar in many aspects. I feel that I could recommend all three at once to someone who likes these kind of anime.

    As per usual, you can catch everything I am watching on my MAL account: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/noobiesnack


    This entry was posted in Anime