Second Life's new Gaming Tools - Linden Realms

[Loki Eliot]

So i finally got round to visiting the Linden Realms game and wow. 

Straight away I'm hit with 'HOW DID THEY DO THAT!???"

Over the last year i have battled with the limitations of second life when making basic gaming experiences that are familiar to those from proper games. Other than the basic cause and effect scripting and the 100% health level of a damage enabled sim, there isn't anything else.

Here is a break down of what Linden Realms does and how the tools could improve games I've already built.

Instant Teleport

In Linden Realms: 

The Goonys walked to the Linden Realms Portal which automatically teleported you to the game region. This is the first 'WTF?' moment . 

What i have thats similar: 

The closest i got to an auto teleport is for people to voluntarily click a board that teleports to the game location. Such as in the secret Underground base i have a hole you have to click to go down into.

Effect on my Games: 

You would be able to just walk on the hole and automatically be teleported down the hole.

Auto Attachments

In Linden Realms: 

Next we all automatically had a crystals HUD attached out of no where. I searched high and low for a scripting mechanism that might auto ad a HUD. This was because i wanted news on basic viewer to be able to wear my Bashables HUD so they could operate the bashing sticks.

What i have thats similar: 

The Bashables system on Escapades allows you to activate a stick to bash things on the island with one click. Unfortunately once you have been given the HUD and stick you have to find it in your inventory to then wear it.

Effect on my Games: 

The New tools could allow for the Bashable HUD's to auto attach making it easier for new people to quickly have fun on Escapades

Deadly Scenery

In Linden Realms: 

Then the Goonies went searching for Crystals upon which i Stumbled into a green swamp and promptly drowned and teleported to a respawn point rather than my designated home point.

What i have thats similar: 

I tried once in a goony adventure to have a room fill with custard. Those goonies unfortunate enough to get out the room before the door closed ended up growing in custard. With the help of my friend we created a script that would request to teleport them to a location on the island when the custard prim rose high enough to touch them. The drawback of course was it only teleported one at a time and had to wait for each to accept the teleport.

Effect on my Games: 

I can drown Goonies on mass!

NPCs

In Linden Realms: 

We suddenly became aware of big rock monsters chasing us, and it was really fun as they moved and followed at just the right speed that you could only JUST get away :) If they touched you then you died and teleported to respawn point.

What i have thats similar: 

Evil Zombie Worms. They use a basic base script package that i can drop into any monsters making them follow people. These follow in jerky movements as the detect script hurts every second or so to locate nearest resident. Also they do no damage because you need land to be set to damage enabled in order for objects to kill you and send you to your home point.

Effect on my Games: 

I could make goblins, worms, and other nasty things a threat to my visitors, not just a nuisance.

Im only speculating how the new tools might be able to enhance my own games. As yet LL have not told us exactly what these new gaming feature tools are so some of what i said might not work, it all depends how much is scripting and how much is region level permissions.

Regarding Linden Realms itself, my friend Jesper pointed out that it was not very social game. The Hud gave us tasks to do and places to go, and after dying and re-spawning the group quickly got split up. For anybody thinking of making games in SL my friends and i personally think that group activity is a very important piece of what makes Second Life special and should be considered in the games created from here on.

[Jen Shikami]

Huh, never heard of this. Where can I get more information? As for tools to help people at different scripting levels create games, you might want to check out my brother Seven Shikami's OpenArcade pack. He gives out a bunch of basic prims and scripts that could be used as the starting basis for a playable video game in SL.

[Loki Eliot]

They have not yet announced what the new tools are, but you can sample them at Linden Realms

[Feldspar Millgrove]

I clicked on the Linden Realms Portal from the Destinations guide, and landed on a platform that looked just like the old Help Island platform.   However, I was trapped -- stuck flailing in the air.  Below me was some avatar that had gone Away.  I could not move, and it being a No-Fly zone, could not fly off the spot either.  It was a no-script area, and all my HUDs stopped working.  After about four minutes of flailing and not being able to do anything about it, I TP'd back home.   From what I could see before I left, there were about a half dozen other avatars on the landing platform.   Didn't have any trouble in my home sim.

No idea what it's supposed to be.  Won't be going back, though.

 

[Charolotte Caxton]

Just so you know, there are 3 different locations you can start at, 1 is usually very full, 2 and 3 usually not anyone there at all. Well, sometimes there is.

The situation you described is what usually happens to me when I go to a very big opening event and there are way to many people there, you end up flailing above a sea of gray silhouettes, not fun at all

[Polenth Yue]

It's possible to get stuck on avatars in the Realms too, in the resurrection areas. But the old sitting on a prim trick works. Keep trying to sit on the scenery until you find something that'll let you sit.

[Loki Eliot]

@Polenth Yes this is an area LL could look into. I havent experienced Pile Ups for a long long time. It is where you land on someone and get stuck in a free fall animated state and cant move untill the person below you moves out the way to allow you to drop. Why this happens is one of the SL Mysteries

[Charolotte Caxton]

Hey, here's a cool variation to your sitting trick, basically you just right click your avatar and choose sit down:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Games-in-Second-Life/Linden-Realms-how-to-get-out-of-a-teleport-pile-up/m-p/1286997

[Polenth Yue]

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Loki Eliot wrote:

@Polenth Yes this is an area LL could look into. I havent experienced Pile Ups for a long long time. It is where you land on someone and get stuck in a free fall animated state and cant move untill the person below you moves out the way to allow you to drop. Why this happens is one of the SL Mysteries

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Everyone has superglue on their heads!

[Brianna Warden]

Does anyone know how to fire the cannon flare? I really need help and no one knows how to do it! Help please! Thanks 

x

[Frifta Orellana]

Any new news or threads on this topic?  Has LL worked out the kinks?  Is anyone using these features?  I played realms a bit, but I"m more interested in how the new tools are being used in world by creators.

[Cerise Sorbet]

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Frifta Orellana wrote:

Any new news or threads on this topic?  Has LL worked out the kinks?  Is anyone using these features?  I played realms a bit, but I"m more interested in how the new tools are being used in world by creators.

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The game is about the same but there was one important change just this week. There are now official rules that make cheating bannable from the game and/or SL.

[Frifta Orellana]

Thanks, but I meant are the new gaming tools LL used in these games available to mere mortals.  The tp someone to a spot other than land polnt, auto attachements, lakes that drown you, etc.

[Cerise Sorbet]

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Frifta Orellana wrote:

Thanks, but I meant are the new gaming tools LL used in these games available to mere mortals.  The tp someone to a spot other than land polnt, auto attachements, lakes that drown you, etc.

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Yes, we got llAttachToAvatarTemp, llTeleportAgent and llTeleportAgentGlobalCoords, and they do work within the allowed constraints.

Especially for the teleport functions, the permission constraints are quite limiting. It will be hard for them to evolve past curiosities and development placeholders unless the experience permission system can make its way out of development limbo.

[Frifta Orellana]

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Cerise Sorbet wrote:

Yes, we got

llAttachToAvatarTemp

,

llTeleportAgent

and

llTeleportAgentGlobalCoords

, and they do work within the allowed constraints.

Especially for the teleport functions, the permission constraints are quite limiting. It will be hard for them to evolve past curiosities and development placeholders unless the experience permission system can make its way out of development limbo.

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Oh, thanks so much.  That's the info I was looking for.  '-)