Loki's "THE WELL: Sollicitus" - Second Life as a game engine

One of the bloggers that I follow regularly, Ciaran Laval, has recently asked if LL is working on a new project, making Second Life also a game engine.  He thinks that the TOS change might have an origin in an aim of Linden Lab to enable Second Life to become a game engine as well. 

Desura, the digital distribution platform Linden Lab own lists a number of game engines for devs to get their hands on. There are big players such as Unity 3D , Unreal Development Kit and CryEngine3. However there are also much smaller players such as Ren’PY for visual novels and Adventure Game Studio for those who want to make point and click adventures. These latter ones are the ones where I think opportunity could knock for Linden Lab.

Picture by Uccello Poultry

It is funny that Ciaran's post coincides with one of the best game experiences that I have had so far in Second Life. Loki has just released his newest Second Life game called "The Well: Solicitus" and you shouldn't miss it as it will only accessible for one month. The game is a sequel of a Second Life mini-adventure that people could play last year at Halloween time. 

The story is that a year after the events of 2012, a team of scientific investigators are sent down the well to understand the caves strange geology and maybe find a clue to why the rescue team and a young boy disappeared with no trace. You arrive a day later than the rest of the team to find the make shift lab abandoned. [lokielot.com]

My wishlist for a real "Bashable Combat System" in Second Life

This post refers to my enthusiastic review of Loki's Bashables System 4.0 a few weeks ago.

Dear Loki, 

I know that you have just finished your bashables system version 4 and the result is awesome. 
I have been lately looking at some other systems, namely the Grim Combat System and the Riot combat system and I think that your system plays pretty much in the same league.

The Bashables system is now getting close to a real combat system - maybe even better than many existing combat systems on the market. I know that you are very busy and that "life is not a music request programme", but I'd like to share my ideas how to make the Bashables system even better - most of them are inspired by what I saw with the Grim Combat System.

1) Bashables need a "Player versus Player" option
I think that your bashable system is really fun, because it is - for SL standards - fairly simple to control the avatar and the attacks. It would be totally great if we could use this system to duel other players. A PvP option - that can be switched on and off - ensures that we fight with each others permission. (Do you remember the "Separatist Goony" roleplay? How exciting could a bashing fight have been that day...)

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.

Loki's "Bashables" 4.0 and NPC melee fights

When opening his Escapades sim in September 2010, Loki also introduced a 'Bashables' game where you can smash things up using a stick. This system allows you to activate a stick or other weapons to bash things on the island with one click on a bash button of a HUD (heads up display) . When hitting a bashable object, it will dissapear. Sometimes a gift is found when the object is destroyed or the player gets "a monstrous surprise": some of the bashable objects have different monsters that appear when being hit.

Loki has enhanced his Bashables game over the years and with his "Rabbid Rabbits" game and the Bashables 4.0 update, he has added a health status and a "game over" feature. Players without life energy get teleported to a "lost point" on the island. 

Rabid Rabbits - A Second Life Experience Game from Loki Eliot

Loki Eliot has released a new game on Easter Monday and it combines adventure game with hunt game and jump'n'run game elements. Go and help the Goblins to get their Sacred Statues back from the Rabid Rabbits. Play a game of finding Rabbit holes, bashing Bunnies, collecting Sacred Statues and pleasing the Goblin King of the Goblins. 

Using the free HUD you meet the Goblin King, get a given a weapon and sent to search the island for nine Rabid Rabbit Holes, each containing a Sacred Statue. The game length depends on how quick you can find the Rabbit Holes and can be from 15 mins to an hour. It uses RPG story telling elements at the start before letting you loose with a weapon system that has its own damage system where you need to eat sushi to regain health.

LSL - the reason why there isn't much interactive content in Second Life

I have been planning for a few months already to write a blog post why there isn't much interactive content in Second Life. Today I saw a post by Loki Eliot, usually one of the most enthusiastic game creators. I have covered some of his game creations and other activities on my blog. Two days ago he needed to relieve his heart from some frustrations that he experienced while working with Second Life as a platform. 

Loki Eliot on his sim "Escapades" (photo taken from his SL feed)

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.

MadPea's "The Escape" and the role of HUDs for story telling

Check out another great gaming experience that is based on a heads-up display (HUD): MadPea's "Escape Room". 

There are two editions of the game. One is set in a run down motel room, the other in a Seventies design stage at its finest: Wallpaper with huge eyes, lava lamp, Kiss poster and even a record player. But whatever room you chose - once you're in, you will notice that you cannot get out of there. That's when the game starts! 

The "Escape Room" HUD serves as an interactive inventory space displaying pictures of the items that have been collected. The game itself follows the principle of "point and click" flash games that you can find on the internet. Look for interesting items in the room and click on them. You will get some items in your HUD. You can select, view and combine the collected items in your HUD and they can operate with other items in the room.

Loki's "The Cheese Fairy"

Today I want to show you a very short SL experience created by Loki Eliot. The so called Cheese Fairy quest is available AT NEMO BEACH. If you try this experimental mini-game you might get an idea about the potential of future adventure games in SL. The story is uncovered by clicking things which trigger the HUD to show encounter bubbles similar to what you find in RPG games. An entire RPG story could be stored in a HUD.

You can either watch this video I made or play it yourself in +/- 5 minutes.

When I played Loki's "Cheese Fairy" experience the first time I was really enthusiastic about it because it shows that interactive riddles and story telling is at least theoretically possible in Second Life. I had to think of the Electrobit City Sim: if players would meet such AI-characters there that send them to accomplish a quest, it would be fairly easy to transform this "exploring place" into a "real game". And that would be a great mix of old jump-and-run elements with adventure game elements. I would really love that!

Loki has also written a blog post about developing the Cheese Fairy experience. I really hope that he will continue this path in the future.

Location Scouting in Second Life (RPG in SL part 2)

This article is the second part of a blog post series on role-playing in Second Life.

• An Introduction to Role-playing in Second Life
• Location Scouting in Second Life
• Determining a role-play event in Second Life
• The fashionista - A Second Life Role-Play Archetype 

In my introduction to Role-play games in Second Life I have written that there is a huge variety of role-play settings. One very successful niche is the Scouts RPG in Second Life. There are several Scout groups and regions on the grid and I am going to present you two of them today. 

I like SL exploration roleplay as there are usually many people and due to its more casual nature.

Camp Kawabata

The first group that I want to present you is Camp Kawabata. While not connected to any real life scouting organization they promote the values of of scouting’s founder Sir Robert Baden Powell, including building character, citizenship, personal and group skills in Second Life.

Kwabata Scouts at the comic book merit badge meeting - picture by Christian Welles

Camp Kawabata is a beautiful full SL region and a great place for casual role-play including horseback riding, swimming, hiking, boating and campfire activities. 

But the main reason why the Scouts stand out from other RPG environments are their biweekly field trips with the opportunity to get a merit badge. The badges are earned by participating in a specific activity and by filling out a Merit Badge notecard at the end of the meeting which tests your acquired knowledge.

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".

Loki's The Well - An SL experience

Loki Elliot has a long history of game creation in Second Life such as the "Babbage Chronicles" or "The John King Experience". The name of the latter points to the genre definition for mini-games like "The Well": an experience. Just like in SL adventure games the player is interacting with characters and objects in order to advance in the story line. The SL experience differs in my eyes from an SL adventure game such as "The Guarden" by all or some of the following criteria:

• The game is rather short or consists of a longer series of short scenes
• The puzzles are not very complex - the actions triggered by game objects and characters do not change based upon steps taken earlier in the game
• there are not alternative game paths, solutions or endings

Picture taken from Loki Elliot's blog