Siden, a horror, survival and combat sim in Second Life

This might sound strange but I am actually not spending much time in Second Life playing all those games that I write about. I only have a very limited spare time each day and I need to make a choice if I want to blog or just enjoy playing for myself. The last days I have been immersed in two Second Life shooting games leaving me less time to write texts for this blog.

Is it a picture or an apparition?

One great roleplay and shooting game that I can't stop playing is the so called Siden combat system on the Siden Survival/Horror sim. It has been around for some time, but I only recently discovered it. The Siden combat system has the most detailed combat system that I have seen so far in Second Life and I am still discovering new things. That's why I hopefully will write a full review at a later stage. Here are what some other bloggers wrote about Siden:

After the Fall - Dark Urban Roleplay with the Riot Combat System

The Riot Combat System - a new game system which allows players to level up by in-game credits - has its first roleplay sim for interactive "Dark Urban Roleplay" called "After The Fall" (AFT).

The first location that the exploratoin quest HUD wanted me to find: the hospital

After The Fall (AFT) has been launched in May 2013. The settings have been created by the newest graphical and SL performance standards. New players can immerse into the roleplay world easily since the background story is presented in a comic book way - it's a great idea to get into a new roleplay setting without a steep learning curve. You just need to wear the comic book HUD from the welcome pack in-world. There is even a Youtube video version of the comic (below).

Another nice idea to introduce newcomers to ATF quickly and to give them some tasks that they can do on their own is an exploration quest HUD that gives the player little exercises such as "visit the following locations on the sim". After playing the quests, you'll be familiar with the sim, the community rules and the roleplay aims. This is really the best introduction to a roleplay community that I have ever seen!

The Quests of the exploration HUD

Last but not least the roleplayers on the AFT sim can use the exciting new Riot Combat System for their fights. If I had more time for roleplay, this would be a place I'd definately explore it further.

After The Fall

On the verge of economic collapse, with the world in a very vulnerable place, astronomers predicted frequent and disastrous meteor showers. But they couldn't predict what came next... Dark and gibbering creatures emerged from the impact craters, decimating everything in their sight. As a human, how will you survive? As an alien, what's your next move? After the Fall has an elaborate interactive grungy urban city, aliens, and adult-themed role play. See the graphic novels at http://youtu.be/NUnlCeH2n6k.

Visit in Second Life

Riot Combat System - Level-up with in-game credits

Second Life isn't a game and doesn't provide game mechanics out of the box. But it is a platform that offers the opportunity to develop in-world games. One of the most vivid game categories in Second Life are shooter games which can take place in combat areas or in a roleplay setting. With the variety of existing combat systems, newcomers need special features in order to draw interest from the community. 

The Riot Combat System stands out of the crowd as a combat system which offers in-game credits and even Linden cash prizes. Moreover there are regular exciting bounty hunter events. 
For Riot in-game credits, players need to kill an enemy during a fight. Credits can be used at the Riot shop for buying more advanced armor or damage guns. More kills equals more credits. The game developer claims that some kills bring even random LS cash prizes.

The Grim Combat System - A game construction kit for Second Life region owners

Back in February I reviewed a zombie fighting sim called "Axis of Evil". I was amazed by the game mechanics and the density of NPC monsters on the sim. I also mentioned in the post that the shooter is based upon a system called Grim Combat System (GCS).

The GCS creators claim that their combat system is the fastest growing combat system in Second Life and their region list shows that about 80 regions are offering shooter game experiences based on their system. The GCS approach is different to other Second Life combat systems. GCS does not only provide weapons and a meter that measures the players health. They provide a whole game construction kit for region owners. The GCS system includes - amongst many other items - all kind of monster spawners; exploding cars, barrels and dumpsters; low lag city building kits; scoreboards; recovery systems; fog machines; breakable glas; quest items and even quest NPCs (non playing characters).

A free Star Trek game mod in Second Life - by Loki Eliot

What is Loki Eliot doing if he doesn't work on SL Goonies adventures on his sim Escapades, when he isn't developing his Bashables system and NPC fights, when he isn't developing mini games (or working on his virtual fashion line)? Well he is probably putting together a Star Trek game mod - because he isn't busy enough and because he can.

Picture by Loki Eliot

Loki Eliot has released a first freebie demo pack with two ships and a medical base to regain energy. He explains that the aim of the game is to outfox your opponents and blast them into submission. As you get damaged your ship will emit smoke until finally you will drift in a spin for 30 seconds before regaining control and health. You can get full health back by clicking the Medical Space Stations, but be quick as there is a 60 second wait before the option to click the station returns. Each ship has their advantages and disadvantages.

Warbug - an SL aerial combat game

Picture source: LUCKY KITTY CREW

When playing the Room 326 hunt last week, I came to a sim with cute little aeroplanes. They were sold for dog fights and for bombing target marks. These warbugs looked really cool and so I searched for more information on this game concept. The creator Arduenn Schwartzman explains the basics in an interview on the MadPea blog:

Crossing sims has always been a problem in SL. Especially with fast-moving objects. So that's why I had the idea of making smaller and slower planes - not necessarily for tinies or micros, but also normally sized avatars. They would just have to squeeze their arms and legs together to fit in. That's how the WarBugs were born. I made then fly slower so a single sim would be more than enough for dogfights.

The warbugs may not be the fastest aircrafts in SL, but flying them is definately a fun experience. If you want to get a first impression of this SL aerial combat game, you should watch this really video with a "star wars" version of the warbugs:

THE (amazing) MAZE - a new claimant to the SL shooter game throne

After my critizism of the LSL scripting language last Tuesday - a post with a rather pesimistic tone - I am today giving you a contradicting proof of what can be achieved with the Second Life scripting language (if you are a programmer and if you have enough time and resources). I am talking about a collaborative shooting game called THE MAZE.

THE MAZE is a huge underground labyrinth system that is filled with  deadly combat robots and zombies. You will encounter secret doors, traps, machines and special vehicles. In order to advance you will have to fight your way through THE MAZE and solve puzzles.

Another day at the Maze for Superflufee and his gecko pal 

Welcome to the true AXIS OF EVIL

So far I have only presented one SL shooter game on this blog: the MMO snowball game. The reason why I haven't written more about shooting games is that I suck so badly at playing them. Recently I tried one shooter that was really amazing, so here is my second SL shooter review: Welcome to the "AXIS OF EVIL".

The level design, the NPC monsters, the sound effects, everything is so elaborated that my adrenaline levels rose to unknown highs  The zombie shooting game is quite obviously inspired by the video game franchise "Resident Evil". If you believe that Second Life isn't a good platform for action shooters then visit the "Axis of Evil" and then think again. Of course the overall graphics resemble more the first Resident evil game in 2002 than recent releases. But the concept works: the zombies and the scenery create a great apocalyptic atmosphere. Here is a video created by Loki Elliot showing some of the raw charme of the "Axis of Evil" sim.

Some short news

• I just opened the SL destination guide looking for the latest games additions.  I almost dropped out of my shoes when I found my parcel there. Ok, I did submit it a few days ago, but I would never have expected it to pop up as number two in the games section.... I bet that people will enjoy the "SnowBallFight" shoot-out game of Jackk Eales as much as I do.

Some lighthearted fun in the snow

• If you haven't been at Loki's "The Well" you should go there before the end of December. Afterwards the prims will be needed for new projects and the game destination will be closed. I made a short teaser of this SL experience:

• My blog has been added to the SL bloggers directory that contains almost 2000 recent and past Second Life bloggers. My blog is the first one filed under the heading "Games".

MMO Snowball fight season has started in Second Life

Come and play a snowball fight game! Ok, let's recapitulate what I liked most about winter time as a child: making snow angles,  building snowmen and hiding in igloos. I also kind of enjoyed snow ball fights but I was not good at throwing balls or hitting a target. When I participated in a snow ball fight it was not for the win but rather for the one lucky strike that would make my day.

Watch out - or I'll shoot ya!

Also In the virtual world I am not gifted with targeting and shooting skills. And in the past I haven't played a first person shooter like Counter Strike. But last year I found a snowball fight version of "counter strike" on the SL marketplace. Since that moment I almost can't wait for the winter season. I still don't win the snowball fight games but I feel a great joy when hitting a "professional" gamer with a cold and wet snow ball.