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Best of SL Halloween Host: Uccello Poultry


Linden Lab

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Making your own Halloween _______.


So you've had lots of fun exploring the various haunted houses, maddening mazes, and other spooky spots celebrating Halloween in Second Life this year and you say to yourself, “But I can make a better Halloween _______ than that!” Maybe you can, but it takes a bit of planning to bodge something together. Good thing you have a year for putting it all together.

First you need to sort out what kind of venue it will be. A so-called “dark ride” like you find in amusement parks? How about a walk-through haunted house or even a haunted forest? The assets you have will be your biggest consideration in this decision with land being chief among them. Fortunately, Janeforyou Barbara let me use a large chunk of her land and a few thousand prims to make my fourth annual Halloween treat, the Menagerie Isle Haunted House  My dream is to one day use a whole region as the folks at Innsmouth do, but even if you have only a 117-prim, 512-square meter parcel, you can put together something great if you have great ideas. It all comes together with the decorating.

That's the where the theme comes in. Popping about Second Life this year, I saw a greater variety than ever before, but paying tribute to horror films was quite popular, especially zombie flicks. Even folks who usually don't go see the likes of Freddy, Jason, and their kin in theaters will, thanks to mass marketing, be familiar with the characters — so your intent is clear, but these themes might be so mainstream that their familiarity could decrease their impact. Think carefully about clever ways to incorporate pop-horror into your creations while seriously considering more traditional items like ghosts and skeletons.

This means you also need to think about the build itself. Get together with your team, or if you don't have one, frequently invite friends to give you a third-party perspective. This is my second year with a two-stage installation at Menagerie Isle: a pre-show walkabout in a decrepit mansion made by BailyMarie Princess and available in her shop at Abbey Island, every room decorated with spiders or ghosts or... well, I won't spoil the surprises. Then there is a dark ride through several themed tableaus that eventually ends in an eerie graveyard where anyone who survived can pick up a gift before running off. I used many commercially sourced items — ghosts, spiders, furniture, etc. — along with custom textures and items I made myself. Because I worked alone, I had several people look in to catch my mistakes, such as when the ride stopped at a certain spot if two or more folks were in the car at the same time.

Assets, theme, and build are the basic components. Post your ideas in the comments for what you like to see in a Halloween attraction, whether you are a builder or not. I’d also like to see your suggestions, with SLurls if you can, for what you thought were great attractions or places to shop. Don't be scared to post something!


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Bay City Hay Halloween Maze

The Linden Moles and the Bay City Alliance have a Hay Maze full of whimsical fun and prizes.

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Bewitched Haunted Dark Forest

The Bewitched Haunted Dark Forest is a whole region of spookiness.


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Isle of Ewe

Shops can be attractions, too! The Isle of Ewe has dressed up for the holiday and the Meeroos have gotten into the spirit of things.

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Wowsers! I didn't think this post would show up until Friday. Well, start the comments and I'll look in when I can. Part of the idea of having Resident Guest Bloggers is to answer your questions (if we can) and keep a conversation rolling. Let me start off by mentioning a few things about the pix in my post. The Bay City Alliance and some really talented Linden Moles have a fun, all-ages hay maze for you to explore with some prizes when you get to the middle. Click the coffin often as it is a random prize giver with a total if nine gifts. A mesh-enabled viewer is best for when you visit. Many thanks to the Moles, Marianne McCann, and Pygar Bu for all the fun. The Bewitched Haunted Forest is the dark side of the fantasy region Enchanted and is a nicely spooky place to wander about or to carry on some role play. Well worth a visit with friends and fiends alike. So many businesses decorate for the holiday, but the Isle of Ewe is particularly festive. Temoren Drathman and Kerrie Miles have gone out of their way to show the lighter side of Halloween. Be sure to pet some Meeroos while you are there!

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Hi all :-) hugs Ucce.

Nice to se all the cool Halloween stuff! I need to get time to get round more to looki hehe,, buzzzy bee you know :-)

Hugs From

Miss Jane

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@Dragonlady ... Using the right Windlight settings is important. I know some viewers automatically change to what the landowner prefers. But it's always good to remind folks.

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I feel bad that a lot of the people who visit the sim won't be able to se the windlight settings, and have to run graphics on low> Sl is a huge resource hog, and I feel blessed that I can see windlight, because I remember back in the day about 3 years ago, I couldn't at all, and ran on low. it was like an entire new world the first time I got to be able to set graphics to high/ultra! But for those who can't see them, I did place a photo in the nformation skull LOL

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Hey Ucci. ^^ Thought I'd give you an update from BareRose.

 

This Friday the 28th there will be an EGL Halloween Party with contest, trivia, attendee gift. Also following during the weekend the new Vampire Hunter hunt will begin with great prizes! Also throughout the whole halloween weekend we'll be having fashion shows, live concerts, and more parties. Keep checking at the store front of BareRose for all the info and dates, or join the BareRose VIP group for direct notices. ^^

 

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bare%20Rose/153/7/30

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Another fun thing for us furries out there and others too (but it has some furry avatar mod kits so...). There's a zombie hunt going on at Spare Parts. Some of the items can be used for modding your avatar, decorating a haunted house, and other goods. Join the Spare Parts group, click the weapon giver at the front and hunt out zombies and sometimes they'll drop a great prize or two. ^^

 

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Risque%20Isle/122/177/1145

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Thanks Ucello for this great post. As Ucello mentioned there are so many things that go into creating a Halloween Sim event in SL. Octoberville, the halloween sim I create has been around since 2005. After reading Ucellos post on what goes into making this kind of sim, please read my post on what goes on behind the scenes. Unfortunately, we were limited to 400 words, so I didnt get to include much detail, but post your questions and I will be happy to answer them.

As Ucello mentioned, planning is the most important part of creating any sim. At Octobervile, we begin planning in May or June of each year. I would be interested to know when the other Halloween sim creators start planning their builds.

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@Serenity ... Thanks for the info. If you get any more about the Bare Rose hunt, please feel free to post it here.

 

FYI, y'all ... Serenity is the lead blogger for the Lucky Kitty Crew and she's been finding lots of Halloween bargains and freebies! Check out the blog here.

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