CEO Rodvik Humble Shares What's New in Second Life

[Void Singer]

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PeterCanessa Oh wrote:

What interests me most is that they're getting rid of Basic Mode, thank the gods for that!  I am amused that binning the brainless is hyped as "you will see us

merge

the Basic and Advanced modes, which will eliminate the need to switch" - so, just like it was before then?

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 be careful... I've bolded a word in there that should frighten any user of V3... you may be right, and they're just going to chop out the unused and underwhelming basic mode... and that "merge" is just code for "we don't want to admit that it was a waste"....

but the possibility exists that they are going to plug some of the backwards handling, and dumbed down and restricted use into "advanced" mode (which would probably be ironic, given that's what many of us would expect from a sensible "basic" mode).

pathfinding sounds nice and all, and it'd be nice to see it more intelligent (since even though somone ported A* to lsl, the limitations of lsl haven't made it very useable) but the applications are a bit limited...pets that don't walk through walls, transports that don't need manual adjustment each time something changes.

AI "not really" avatars is kind of a mixed bag to me.... on the plus side it means no more need for account bots that sit around sucking up bandwidth, on the minus side they'll be everywhere and sucking up region resources instead

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

I must be missing something here.  I am not even sure how this sounds like a good idea.  I would not want to show up to a sim (rp or other) and see a bunch of people walking around that aren't real and can't really interact.  How would I find the real people if there are any?  I understand the atmosphere stand, having a bustling city, but in my opinion it would take away from role playing if all these AI people kept me from finding actual avis to chat with.  I could use the radar to locate other players, but it is easier and more realistic to just 'see' where they are.  I hope they are easily programmable, because by the tenth time I walk down the same street and the same beggar is yelling "got any spare change?" again, the realism is gone.

I don't get it,

Cinn

[Jo Yardley]

Oh I completely agree, unless it is done well and tasteful, it can only make a sim worse.

Mind you we still have no idea what they are supposed to look like and what the possibiities really are.

Talking about beggars, we have one in 1920s Berlin.

He sits there and now and then mumbles something tragic, he is a World War I veteran so you can imagine it can be rather umcomfortable to hear his story.

To me he creates the scene, a typical view on the streets of Weimar Berlin, I even put a RL photo of such a veteran next to him.

In his profile you can read about his life story and I think I am doing something right with him because people, even those that see him almost daily, really like him, give him food, clothes, shoes and I even get worried messages when he is not where he is supposed to be.

Mind you when I use bots they are usually asleep or have a 'Deaf & dumb' sign by them, so people know it is useless to spend time talking to them.

Mind you, I've been to many sims where there are people who are not bots but AFK or too busy in IM chat to even notice me.

So, yes it does depend on how it is done.

I still see huge potential.

We have a train going around the sim, it would be great if it could actually have an engineer on it driving it

Mind you, if they use a lot of resources or prims or scripts, there never will be an army in Berlin, except perhaps for special events.

For special events they will remain AWESOME at any case.

Imagine all those singers who can now bring their own orchestra or band

Or have a big parade marching trough your sim on special events.

[Stella Carver]

I wonder if the "Move Star" mystery has anything at all to do with this. Was Saint Brockli just a test dummy?

[Jo Yardley]

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Stella Carver wrote:

I wonder if the "Move Star" mystery has anything at all to do with this. Was Saint Brockli just a test dummy?

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Who what where when why?

 

[Chelsea Malibu]

I still believe they have network and server issues that need to be addressed.  Building a World of Warcraft on the archecture they have makes little sence but I do love the idea conceptually.

The game has always needed a NPC's and this would be awesome.

[Stella Carver]

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Jo Yardley wrote:

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Stella Carver wrote:

I wonder if the "Move Star" mystery has anything at all to do with this. Was Saint Brockli just a test dummy?

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Who what where when why?

 

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Lol, sorry. The Movie Stars, weird bottish things, on abandoned land, recently, no one yet knows.

The Movie Stars

and hilariously here:

Curiouser & Curiouser

Janelle Darkstone did some storyboards in that thread that are pure chocolate covered genius.

[Dillon Levenque]

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Stella Carver wrote:

I wonder if the "Move Star" mystery has anything at all to do with this. Was Saint Brockli just a test dummy?

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:smileyvery-happy:

And you are sooo right about Janelle's stuff. She practically created a new forum art form, and then took it to its zenith.

[Rodvik Linden]

Thanks for the kind comments folks. Yeah i think NPC's and entities are pretty cool and will have many applications. I cant wait to see what people come up with. The idea of monsters being able to seamlessly track/attack over and around terrain, NPC's in a fully simulated village, the great stuff you can do with pets, new vehicle applications. There is a bunch of cool stuff that can happen.

 

 

[WADE1 Jya]

Thanks again for the updates, Rodvik.

Can't wait to implement the new NPC stuff!

I'm sure I can make use of something here to make my animals much smarter & hopefully more fun too!

It's neat to see there is two parallel systems coming in alongside. Way more advanced stuff will be possible with the new LSL functions, and also this new NPC stuff... these two things sound like they will compliment each other nicely... or give alternate methods to do the same thing.

I'm not sure which stream will be more useful to advance my work here yet, perhaps I will end up implementing a hybrid mixture of the two.

Exciting times in the world of pets :matte-motes-sunglasses-3:

[Wildcat Furse]

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Rodvik Linden wrote:

Thanks for the kind comments folks. Yeah i think NPC's and entities are pretty cool and will have many applications. I cant wait to see what people come up with. The idea of monsters being able to seamlessly track/attack over and around terrain, NPC's in a fully simulated village, the great stuff you can do with pets, new vehicle applications. There is a bunch of cool stuff that can happen.

 

 

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@Rodvik .... what plans are in the pipeline to improve the sim crossing performance moving forward?

As you have stated in your article that 'boating' is an activity, 'sailing around in circles in one sim is not such a big experience but rather a boring one'. Remind that a whole community of aviators and sailors are waiting for a sustainable solution that will boost theirs and the newcomers performance tremendously, abling any user to cross sims in a smooth way!

I applaud the fact that you want to innovate, but solving core problems can be very innovating too *meows*

[Jo Yardley]

Oh Herr Linden himself replies to a topic I started!

How exciting!

I should get a promotion for that, or something.

Is there anything more you can tell us about how this will actually work?

Are these robots just like normal avatars, are they rezzed prims that will use lots of prims?

Will be be able to see if 'someone' is a bot or not?

Anyway, now we're going out with each other (BBC comedy show joke, never mind), drop by in Berlin some time for a schnaps and we'll chat about bot options in our city

[Venus Petrov]

NPCs make the world work in many games.  As a WoW player, they sell stuff, manage the auction houses, give and receive quests, provide help to lost wayfarers, and provide all the toons to kill. 

Shop owners in SL could have one of these in a shop able to assist a customer find things.

An Africa sim could be filled with moving herds of critters, interacting with each other.

Just imagine....

[Deej Kasshiki]

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Deltango Vale wrote:

Rod, okay, this is nice, congrats, well done, but would you please give us your

strategic vision for Second Life

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(Emphasis added)

This is what I was asking for and hoping for.

It's nice to get an update but it would be nicer to get something a bit meatier. It would also be good if Rodvik would post here as much as he does over on SLU or Twitter.

[Pamela Galli]

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Deej Kasshiki wrote:

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 It would also be good if Rodvik would post here as much as he does over on SLU or Twitter.

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Hmm that would be interesting :-)

[Mayalily]

This just makes me think of "lag".  I wouldn't like that.

I would have preferred an update on a working viewer so bling, sparkles, and pretty things will work again.  On V3 no bling, no fairy dust.  I know those things cause lag too, but it's prettier than false bots or animals walking around.

I miss my bling and fairy dust! 

[Jo Yardley]

There is no bling and fairy dust in V3?

 

 

 

 

Thank God!

[Mayalily]

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Jo Yardley wrote:

There is no bling and fairy dust in V3?

 

 

 

 

Thank God!

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LOL, Jo, meanie.  Just kidding.  Now some bling is obnoxious, I will agree, but a little looks nice, especially if one is a fairy.  I miss my fairy dust so much.  And no, doesn't work on V3.  No, fairy dust.  :matte-motes-frown:

Oh, my twinkling stars don't work either.  Twinkle doesn't work for anything, not on V3, not even a little twinkle.  The stars in the sky for midnight setting look like circles or dots, and that's about it.

[Jo Yardley]

Hehehe sorry couldn't resist.

I'm sure it is different for fairies, we have a few in 1920s Berlin but erm... of a different kind

They aren't very dusty though and they better not sparkle unless on stage at the Eldorado club.

We had a naked fairy playing the piano last weekend, the police arrested him.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Jo Yardley wrote:

I may have overlooked it, but I couldn't find a topic about it yet.

Yes, Humble has spoken!

And I for one am very excited.

Again it all sounds positive and he seems to know what he is talking about and what is happening.

Especially this bit;

Over the next few months (with testing most likely starting in December), we will be rolling out a series of more advanced features. These will make the creation of artificial life and artificial people much smoother. For starters, we'll unveil a new, robust pathfinding system that will allow objects to intelligently navigate around the world avoiding obstacles. Imagine being able to create advanced pets, creatures or even a living town where non-player characters are walking about. Combined with the experience tools I mentioned above, it should soon be possible to create more advanced MMORPG’s or interactive experiences which use AI right within Second Life.

Of course I hear a voice in my head shout "Imagine the lag this will cause!" but I love the idea of being able to create a living, populated even  busy sim with artificial people.

Not to mention the orchestra, chorus line of pretty girls on stage, soldiers marching, etc, etc.

Those things that are very difficult to find people for can now be performed all the time.

Anyway, what do you think about his post?

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Jo, I don't understand enough about the sort of game play AI creatures allow to say if I'm impressed or not. As a person who comes to SL for the real people in it, I'm not excited about the prospect of artificial ones. We already have enough of them ;-)

Otherwise, this sounds like Fiat announcing that they're adding a power glove box door when what I really want is for the car to start when I turn the key.

I'm with Deltango here, I want to hear something that makes me think LL has vision. If I have a worry, it's that Rodvik's gaming background will work against what I love about SL, the absense of rules and goals.

 

 

[Mayalily]

Well, you sound so happy about these "bots", it may be good.  I'll have to wait n see, like everyone else.

 

[Melita Magic]

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Jo Yardley wrote:

Over the next few months (with testing most likely starting in December), we will be rolling out a series of more advanced features. These will make the creation of artificial life and artificial people much smoother. For starters, we'll unveil a new, robust pathfinding system that will allow objects to intelligently navigate around the world avoiding obstacles. Imagine being able to create advanced pets, creatures or even a living town where non-player characters are walking about. Combined with the experience tools I mentioned above, it should soon be possible to create more advanced MMORPG’s or interactive experiences which use AI right within Second Life.

Anyway, what do you think about his post?

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Oooh! Aah. Sounds exciting to me.

I have a gorgeous gothic pipe organ I got in the Witch Hunt, and I want to put an NPC on it, playing it. I can't leave an av logged in 24/7 the month of October. I just want to be able to make a robot that looks spooky and put it on the bench instead.

I can imagine all sorts of things. What's missing in SL the most is a feeling of it being populous!  No one wants to feel like The Last Avatar on Earth. 

Bet you can think of 100 uses for your sim alone, Jo!

 

[Jo Yardley]

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Melita Magic wrote:

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Bet you can think of 100 uses for your sim alone, Jo!

 

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100?

Understatement of the century

But yes I can!

Unless of course they use lots of prims and cause scary lag... then I might not use them for 1 idea

All depends on how it will work!

But yes, it could all be very exciting!

[Melita Magic]

Tier costs are so high hardly anyone can afford the sims  to put their bots, pets, NPCs on.

__

 

Two thoughts on this, although I'm sure some would howl in protest (but "some" always will.)

1. Roll back prices (WalMart does it!), or, stagger the tier jumps a bit more so people can own more land before another $100 jump.

2. Cap land prices, both high and low end. A few land flippers who are NOT community minded, and ONLY in SL for price gouging profits, have made owning land impossible for most other people. Land prices are so low in some places no one can sell. So high other places no one can buy.

I suggest no lower than .99 Linden a meter be allowed (otherwise no one can compete with abandoned land except the flippers), and no higher than 15 Lindens a meter be allowed. I am so sick of a few sitting on all the land in SL, because they can afford to buy in bulk.  Linden Lab, do you want SL to be played by only a few?

The Linden exchange rate is set by the Lindens. The tier rate is set by the Lindens. Land is just another form of currency, in fact, the biggest one in SL. They should set that rate as well.

 

[Melita Magic]

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Rodvik Linden wrote:

Thanks for the kind comments folks. Yeah i think NPC's and entities are pretty cool and will have many applications. I cant wait to see what people come up with. The idea of monsters being able to seamlessly track/attack over and around terrain, NPC's in a fully simulated village, the great stuff you can do with pets, new vehicle applications. There is a bunch of cool stuff that can happen.

 

 

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I love making 'environments' - I can think of so many applications immediately. I just downloaded Blender (finally!) and am ordering the tutes. 

I'd love to have magical creatures living, interacting with, greeting, visitors. I'd love to have a visitor be able to enrich their experience that way. I'd make careful and judicious use of it, so they didn't feel swamped. Some NPC would only activate if clicked on, etc.  Others would be flying around, swimming, or doing their own things.  

I have animated animals on my land already, but this takes it to new possibilities. Very imaginative.  Can't wait.

(And I still want to make a breedable, but it would be open source, probably. So, finding a scripter...difficult. Lol)