Sky homes

[Fritigern Gothly]

I was thinking the other day that it would be cool if LL would add sky homes which would hover somewhere between 25 and 150 meters.

I know what you're thinking: "skyboxes", but that is not at all what I was thinking. 
Imagine a group of floating islands, different in size, connected by (rope?) bridges, each island a little higher or lower than the other to give it an organic feel. Some islands will have multiple homes on them, others will have one home, and yet others have none (these will be community areas).

Here are some pictures of what I imagine in my head, not as an exact template, but more as a mood board. Most of the islands in these pictures are isolated but I would imagine that IF LL would decide to build such homes, it would all get connected to avoid the "skybox" feel and create the sense of community that the Lindens and Moles have been so good at creating lately.

As for the style of the houses themselves, I would picture them to be fantasy themed, ranging from a dark old witch's abode to a bright elf dwelling.

What are your thoughts? Would this be heaven or unliveable in your opinion?

   

  

[Stephanie Calavera]

With a transportion system and everything, it could be something akin to Columbia from the game Bioshock Infinite. Whether it's viable or not, I still like the idea. 

[Ivory Bouscario]

It's a unique idea and I am always for anything unique. I think if that was the way the whole area would be it would be neat. No land under it just sim water. Even a little higher up like in the 300-500 range maybe so it is more sky than water. My only negative thought would be that it would be more prim heavy for them to create. My RL husband would be all for a cave in the ground. There is another thought to add in somewhere else. I'm easily picturing him as a little hermit. Somehow the thought of sticking him into a cave isn't terribly unappealing. Is that wrong? lol

[Fritigern Gothly]

2 minutes ago, Ivory Bouscario said:

My only negative thought would be that it would be more prim heavy for them to create.

I was thinking of that too, but if you walk around the townhomes on Belliseria and check the LI on the trees, you will notice that many are 30+ LI per tree. That is rather high as compared to commercially available trees out there (which tend to be 1-2 LI each).
A sky island could possibly be made to be less than 30, but let's say they will be 100 LI per island, that would be a smidge over 3 trees and still leave room for homes, landscaping, etc.

The only real issue that I could see is that there will be a limited number of sky island models, which could become boring and give a cookie-cutter feel. Although perhaps with different textures per island model, the number of island styles could be expanded. This is, of course, not including the homes or decorations on them, I am talking purely about the sky islands in this case.

12 minutes ago, Ivory Bouscario said:

Somehow the thought of sticking him into a cave isn't terribly unappealing. Is that wrong?

Trust me, you are not the first woman that wants to stuff her husband in a little cave and leave him there   

[Anna Nova]

Think of the electricity the servers would need to keep them up there.

We got moles.  They should dig.  Tunnel homes.

[Chic Aeon]

7 minutes ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

That is rather high as compared to commercially available trees out there (which tend to be 1-2 LI each)

While 30 IS high for trees, the trees have extremely long LODs made for the Linden viewer default which is much lower than Firestorm's default. That is part of it. Those 1 LI trees (assuming they are mesh trees :D) typically have horrid LODs and are only viable for folks that run with LOD4 on (which really taxes your computer).  So there was a purpose there. 

 

Happily I haven't seen too many of those low land impact LOD 4 trees around  -- mostly I guess because some areas have a lot of trees already. 

THAT being said and especially since I don't make trees all that much, the houses are also very "primmy", partly for the same reasons -- but as noted on a thread or two when they houses were first unveiled, there really is no reason why the houses need to be that high of land impact.  That LI doesn't really matter to the citizens as it doesn't count against their land usage, but still a bit of a puzzle as to the "why". 

 

[Ivory Bouscario]

7 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

That LI doesn't really matter to the citizens as it doesn't count against their land usage, but still a bit of a puzzle as to the "why". 

 

Agree on the why. Good explanation on the LOD issues too. Although anymore if you don't have a good computer then SL is extremely difficult to do much in. Most people who have an older or lower quality computer will not enjoy SL as much as they should, and if it is that bad likely won't stay because all they ever do is lag, freeze, or crash. It's pointless for them. I think LL would be better off going with less primmy stuff and design for the new here and now rather than for the old ways. My thoughts on it anyway.

[Evangeline Ling]

I LOVE the idea and I hope lots of people with houseboats love the idea too... maybe I'll have a shot at getting one if a good share of folks decide to live on a sky island instead 😃

Plus for some reason I'm thinking of the little hover van from the LSD song Thunderclouds when I think of Skyhomes...

Damn now i want a skyhome!

 

[Ivory Bouscario]

3 minutes ago, Evangeline Ling said:

LSD song Thunderclouds

Thanks for the video. I think that is officially the weirdest thing I will see today but I liked it

[GinaFreumann]

Nice idea, it makes me think of Pandora/Avatar, with their floating islands--beautiful.  There could be a different region for them, like the old Linden region homes in Elderglen.  I hope they wouldn't be to high, imagine sailing the sea & looking up at them.  I'm not an Elf anymore, but I might be tempted, lol

[Evangeline Ling]

Another theme that would be incredibly popular in SL would be a steampunk continent with clockwork structures and a healthy mixture of sci-fi and victorian looking builds

[GinaFreumann]

4 hours ago, Ivory Bouscario said:

Thanks for the video. I think that is officially the weirdest thing I will see today but I liked it

Sia is the nicest kind of weird  😍

[Sum Littlepaws]

6 hours ago, Ivory Bouscario said:

It's a unique idea and I am always for anything unique. I think if that was the way the whole area would be it would be neat. No land under it just sim water. Even a little higher up like in the 300-500 range maybe so it is more sky than water. My only negative thought would be that it would be more prim heavy for them to create. My RL husband would be all for a cave in the ground. There is another thought to add in somewhere else. I'm easily picturing him as a little hermit. Somehow the thought of sticking him into a cave isn't terribly unappealing. Is that wrong? lol

Mentioning caves, maybe in the woods, my husband would be up for it too (he likes to be a furry fox in SL, lol)  ... Besides, i love the floating island idea - like lost Gardens of Apollo, a famous old sim theme -  but why not combine the higher up in the air isles with some wood with caves on the ground, small islands, dark and gloomy. Fantasy, go live!

[Gabriele Graves]

Perhaps the next theme of the Linden Homes will feature the idea put forward in the OP.  Having islands at different levels could even alleviate visual lag if it was planned correctly.  This also means that each island could be landscaped really well because there isn't much need for infrastructure otherwise.  The islands would still only need to go from say *pulls a figure out of her hat* 500m - 1500m if the islands were staggered right.  This idea would be even better if most of the regions were water with maybe a include few water level islands for rezzing boats, etc.   There could even be houseboats at water level to mix things up seeing as they are popular.

Even the communal areas could be in the sky.  If themed well it could be stunning and could showcase EEP really well when it arrives and works properly.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Gabriele Graves