Nika Talaj

I've been wondering if they'll do "niche" builds as well. There's a number or posts in this thread about row houses, and frankly I wouldn't want to live in any of them (including the one I posted). None of the townhouse/row house proposals so far pass my 'smell test' for LH themes: "I've always wanted to live in a " .... Townhouse? Not so much, and besides it's fairly easy to do in RL. Row houses/townhouses inch toward an "urban" environment by making it seem like there's more density with facades that appear continuous. But actually, I doubt whether that's what people mean when they say they'd like "urban" Linden Homes; I suspect they mean more of an Inner City feel. Real cities fill up frontage with 1st floor retail, services like police stations and clinics etc.; and while I've seen several successful "city" builds, they all mirror real cities in having a lot of non-residential frontage. (Actually, many of the most successful urban builds I've seen have been roleplay regions). I can't see that sort of build in a Linden Home densely residential model. Really, aside from the "look" of the build, real cities ARE cities not because of how they look, but because they provide a lot of things to DO in a small area. It's activity, not decor, that makes a city FEEL like a city. Also, The Realm of Rosehaven. Been around forever, medieval/fantasy. But ... I don't think LL has it as a goal to offer what other estates are doing, only with better mesh and administration. Or, at least, I hope not. Broaden the theme to New Orleans Garden District AND Bayou, and personally I think it could be really attractive. New Toulouse had one or two regions of each, and people loved it there. There was a hurricane with flooding every year We used to go around in a Tuff boat and "rescue" people.

Personally, I doubt it. But your guess is as good as mine!

There's a new road link between the Ranches & the Mediterraneans coming! A brand-new road tunnel runs from SSPWoodwind through Crab Puff and Shipyard. The single region between Shipyard and Petit Vignoble is still a void, but the tunnel points squarely at the road in the middle of that side of Petit Vignoble. (note, there is no indication of a rail link being possible in this area.)

If you broadened the theme to just DARK or SPOOKY, it seems like a possibility. The market for such a theme would probably be Harry Potter/Twilight/Addams Family/Coraline fans, tho you might be able to appeal to Gothic Romance novel fans as well, if you spun the landscaping right (Wuthering Heights-ish rather than Tim Burton-esque) One might say that Twilight etc. is all passe now, but the genre of fantasy horror is as old as cinema (Nosferatu, anybody?), and new interpretations show up every year. I could see decorating one of these with Edward Scissorhands hedges. Put a Goth Vic on a hill and I'm sure its yard would sprout Sandworms and a gateway to the afterlife's version of the BBB. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! It might play best as a 2048 theme, and you would need some variation in home styles (unending rows of gothic mini-mansions would be kinda funny, but ...). You could throw terrific costume parties in such a theme. Some style thoughts ... you might want to try to make this sort of timeless by going for a run-down look, rather than placing it in a specific time period: Goth Vic (House of the Seven Gables-ish, as in Persephone's pic) Manor home, brick -- something that you could decorate more sunnily 1950s home Farmhouse Ruins Graveyard/Mausoleum School Chapel Spooky cottage in a marsh Drive-in theater!

I'm back with yet another new theme idea!! I keep on hearing that some folks want urban. I remember Abnor firmly nixed "urban" once with a Brutalist apartment block he tossed into Millbank. But ... does it have to be that way? I'd love some feedback from folks on this idea. Walkable Urban Neighborhood The basic LH plan of 1 owner per parcel, 1024 & 512 parcel sizes would still be in force. The moles would provide homes of 1-3 stories, mostly townhomes, generally with only 1 or 2 floors actually open for furnishing. There would be small grass patches in front, and an actual back yard. Here are some ideas for homes: Triple-or-double-decker wood or brick townhomes. One or more floors would not be usable. These might APPEAR to be separate apartments on one parcel, and perhaps an owner could furnish them separately for alts or friends, but there would be no way to set up separate LI allocations per floor, or sound insulation lol. Interior staircases. Some styles may have a choice of faux shops on the 1st floor A style may feature a very large, open studiio on the top floor as living space, with roof garden optional. A single wooden frame small house (yes, in US cities you still see the occasional little house still persisting in a row of denser homes, which is a charming look). Narrow alley-like spaces between homes, if any. In order to avoid encroachment of all kinds, the "rooms" near parcel boundaries might actually have VERY thick walls lol. LL could set up a variety of small community gathering areas in the regions, like: Skate park Farmer's market Basketball court Bowling Alley So you could end up with something like this, which I believe is DC: Or, less upscale, Baltimore brick & Formstone row houses: Or 2-story wooden ones, (Annapolis, Maryland): Would this have any appeal? Or, when they say "Urban", are folks looking for something more post-apocalyptic or modern?

*cough* There are a WHOLE LOT of threads which exist just to have fun in. This SSP thread has always been about the process of building Belli. Multiple moles are working intensely on the (new) east Ranchland coast now. In other news, all the region borders have been removed from Fantasseria (there had been red borders on almost all coastal regions). However, all coastal regions that have homes on them still have their SSPnnnn names. There continues to be occasional activity up in the SSP zone which seems consistent with developing a new home style. Wild guess: another for Fantasseria? The activity seems rather leisurely, though, so it could be something else entirely.

It IS beautiful, homes scattered through a dense forest, bright flowers peeping at you from the shadows, dappled sunlight through the canopy, lovely lakes. I question whether that same feel is possible in a 2048 region. 12 2048 parcels take up a lot of space, which may be why both the Ranches and the Meds are (comparatively) sparsely landscaped. We might find that it looks weird to have dense landscaping like that in the Logs or Campwich end abruptly at large parcel edges. Might look ... patchy. I would love to have someone like, say, @Moonstruck Mole give us insight about that. I'm not saying that it isn't possible to have lush, say, Mediterranean landscaping in a residential region. The Grove, for example, is exactly that, and its gorgeous. I'm questioning whether it's desirable to attempt that within LH 2048 constraints. At The Grove the parcels are generally larger, a LOT of the parcel landscaping and particularly parcel hardscaping is done by the Grove's team, and residents pay much more per m2. The estate does not have enough open water for boating, which cuts down on their overhead. Or at least that's how it was when we rented there.

Complaint: Why isn't this thread in the Linden Homes forum, where Bellizens hang out? Complaint: Yesterday I came up with the BEST idea for a new theme, Icelandia! And I see no signs that work has begun on it! OUTRAGEOUS Complaint: I demand that the process of getting a LH have a MORE random land page option, where it gives you whatever Belli home it feels like giving you, in whatever theme it wants. HA! (Why? Because for me personally, hopping is a form of tourism.) Yes, SSP DOES stand for "Super Secret Project". It was an area on the grid where Olde Belli was originally built, before being moved to its current position. IT STILL IS an "off limits" area where new themes and/or styles of homes are developed, under colored covers. The start of the "SSP" thread is a very fun look at residents, Lindens and Moles talking about what they were doing up in the SSP zone, before Belli started. If you wish to peek at it, search for SSP1 on the map, and then zoom out a bit. It's not too edifying at the moment, because no new theme is under development, and the moles are spending a lot of time in Belli building coastlines. Also, the map has huge hysteresis so is cluttered with colored tiles for old themes whose development regions have been deleted.

Yes, I do see it, thx! I also see it on a Black Sand item that I was looking at. I think you're right, perhaps it used to be required and now isn't.

I can't decide if this is a Peeve or a bug! I searched here & there for a discussion about it ... Seems to me that nearly all Marketplace listings for objects used to have the Land Impact on the right-hand info panel. Now, none seem to. Are other people seeing this? Did I accidentally reconfigure something? GRRRR Lazy Sunday used to be fun, now it's kind of a pain!

I, too, would like to see a smaller Log Home, tho I don't expect it, since I share Matthieu's observations. I was lucky in finding a parcel well suited to the Lincoln, which isn't TOO large (like the Grand View, the 2nd floor is just a mezzanine). I love the woodsy view out the front, the little 2nd floor balcony is a blessing, and it's nice to have a mudroom when you live in a forest.

So ... do you find us making guesses as to what a new theme will be disincentivising as well, particularly if someone chances to be right, months and months in advance? Or if a person guesses that a missing region will eventually become a community region? I think these guesses proceed naturally from a very human curiosity; don't you ever drive by a construction project in your city or neighborhood and wonder what it is? And then the person next to you in the car or bus makes a guess? They're not trying for bragging rights or hoping to take credit for the soon-to-be Trader Joe's or Food Cart Pod. But if your team finds it discouraging, I suppose we can abandon that part of the "Building Belli" game. Or at least I can.

New Ranches and Mediterranean homes just released.

ICELAND!!!! Yes, the RL land of FIRE and ICE Iceland is spectacular, there are many reasons why epic film crews and video game developers go there. Just a few thoughts on what would be fun to see in SL, where we could live/visit without investing hundreds in clothing to keep from being cold and wet all the time. Build it similar to the Log subcontinent - a large island ringed by VERY high peaks. However, leave room for villages at ocean level. Icelandic villages are mostly wooden frame houses (odd because there's no longer much timber in Iceland). Other common homes are cement modern block homes & townhouses. Spectacular waterfalls everywhere ... just like RL. Interior land at 2 levels: one green, one alpine. Some decor elements: Caves (sandstone, lava, ice) Exotic ice/stone formations (we hiked past a huge, circular portal formation; the glacier dropped away swiftly on the other side of it. Step through and, one way or another, you WOULD be in a different existence.) Volcanos, maybe just oozing along rifts. Black lava fields dotted with sturdy wildflowers. Black sand beaches with crystalline basalt cliffs. Geothermal ponds/lakes (check out Lake Myvatn) Little spas or geothermal lagoons for neighborhood gathering spots Viking wreckage and decor. It would be fun to have this be a 2048 theme so people could have sheep or Icelandic Horses (unique breed with 2 special gaits, that to this uneducated eye look like high-stepping prances. I would prance too if I had to walk through geothermal marshes.).

I forgot Persephone had already started a "new theme" thread

Well, I agree with your point. But I'm not sure you're thinking of the same area Sarah was talking about. That entire Southern edge of the Meds was released and claimed in the week after the Meds were released, Dec. 18th. There are no work borders, all rez zones are functional, homes are mostly decorated. Certainly most of the coast ends in a void, although Typhoon appears to have its final shape (makes sense because it has the large bridge in it), and Falkun Malti not only has its final coastline, but has 12 occupied homes. Reign de Mer also has a small corner of finished coastline. S̵a̵r̵a̵h̵ Diamond 's request was not TOTALLY absurd, but probably not worth mentioning, given that, as you say, it's early days for that whole area. Besides, the cannon is a fun way to get to the rez zone on the Ranch side.

Giving feedback to the moles about Belli is like giving feedback to the architect of a VERY large apartment complex that you live in. It's unreasonable to expect that your individual feedback will have any impact; but it's still worthwhile to publicly give the feedback, in case a LOT of residents agree. Cf. forum feedback may have contributed to the decision to add the tremendously popular treehouses to Fantasseria. [Btw, It's not impossible that another home style could be added to Fantasseria or other themes. *eyes SSP83X, SSP Conspiracy III, and QA Vault speculatively* ] I think it's considerate of Abnor to try to manage expectations; in this case he has of course neither confirmed nor denied that a rez zone will be added to Typhoon. But he has promised more development along that coast ... eventually. Meanwhile, there is an auto rez zone on the road right before the bridge to the Ranches. Or , for an easier edit to water, you are welcome to rez a smallish boat (40 or so LI) at my parcel in Reine de Mer. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Reine de Mer/243/34/29 Build is on, with of course autoreturn in a few minutes.

Long ago and far away, rez zones in Belli were so rare that Jon Ree maintained a list of them, in a set of notecards that were distributed every two weeks. As Belli grew, Jon added various other landmarks of interest ... also, rez zones became more common in newer areas. The notecards became truly unwieldy, and I think the last set may have been sent out in 2022. My alt just dropped the notecard for land rez zones in the Traditional areas on you. And you're right, there are very few! It was common during those early times for landowners to leave 35 or so LI free on their parcels and build on for everyone (with a few minutes autoreturn), so that passersby could rez a car or boat and drive away. You can find all such areas in the region you're in by using a rez zone finder gadget. She's also dropped one of those on you, courtesy of the LCC cruising club. There are a lot of those on the marketplace; this probably isn't the best one, it's just one I picked up long ago.

OMG, WHAT?? You don't remember the immense party at the cooling towers? The thread about 3 Mile Island (now known as region Permaglow) is hilarious. The towers themselves were, at that time, HUGE.

That makes sense, given your mapmaking mission, which you've been pursuing for quite some time now. The purpose of my map is different, to give newcomers to Belli a quick orientation for where they can find neighborhoods of each theme, a question I see often in Belli Citizens' chat. The Belli orientation area in BelliHub does not offer such a map, which is consistent with LL's and the moles' tendency to shy away from naming geographical features. @Abnor Mole , please feel free to distribute imy map there, as a resident-contributed navigation aid. I will also offer a mod version of the map (so that people could easily use it to show tour routes, if they so desire). [Incidentally, whoever is narrating the Bellisseria Orientation video in BelliHub pronounces it like Raspberry (and I) do, "Bell-iss-sair-ree-ahh". Every time I hear Patch's pronunciation, my little finger lifts reflexively. Haha, yes, well, I'm sure many in the BBB would not mind if residents think of them as the "Bellisseria Bureau of Bellicosity" . An enjoyment of (perhaps) ironic posh is something they seem to share with Patch. They do a lot of valuable community-building. The only objection I have to the BBB is their tendency to assume that their voice represents all Belli residents (definitely untrue), and their tendency to demonstrate a sense of ownership over all of Belli. I'm sure we'll see both of those assumptions on display, AS WELL AS their generous donations of time and energy, during Belli's anniversary celebrations. I'll update my map this week, taking into consideration some of the comments here (e.g. I will bid adieu to "Bellevaria", which IMHO is just the cleverest name ever lol, in favor of "Chalets".)

You mean, you don't like the idea of making up these names? I think of them as nicknames, primarily intended to help new people find the different theme areas in Belli. Or, you don't like some/all of the proposed names? If so, which do you like, and which don't you like? Do you have different names you like?

I'm puzzled as to why the BBB is pushing @primerib1 's map, when the map available from a vendor in their own headquarters in Swordfish is this one. I haven't yet updated it to include the Mediterranean homes. That said, I like her name for the Upper Clump (Pickle End). She may have left out the Lower Clump, for which I suggest "Fishtown End". I like her carving out "Victoria East"; and I suggest that my "North Houseboats" and her "New Islands" be combined to "North Islands". I'm open to "StiltLands" instead of "StilHaven"; tho many of the stilts are not actually on Land of any kind. I think the Campwich area DOES deserve it's own name, as I've done. ETA: I plan to update this map soon with the Mediterraneans, some of Claire's names, and any other suggestions made here that folks seem to like.

You know that you can move into a Bellisseria home instead, using your regular Premium membership, yes? The control panels work Most of the parcels in Bellisseria are 1024sqm, as opposed to 512sqm in the older homes. But there are a few themes that offer 512sqm homes (Newbrooke (modern), Sakura, Campers), and then you can use the extra 512sqm to pay tier on a mainland parcel. If you want to see the homes with a little sample of the landscaping for each theme, take a walk around the Belli Demo region, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BelliDemo/100/3/22 . The parcel controllers work, and doors are unlocked, so you can walk through every style of home Belli offers, if you have the time! (Each theme in Bellisseria offers multiple styles of home in that theme)

9 HOURS! Wow, an amazing voyage! I see you went right by some nice Community Regions - I can only hope that when you took breaks for meals yourself, you arranged for your avatar to disembark and get a little refreshment too! 😜

I've often wished that explorations like @SarahKB7 Koskinen 's and others were easier to find, rather than being buried in the SSP, individual theme, or Linden Home Photos threads. So I hope that if you make a voyage and want to share the route, or just come across an interesting spot, you'll think of this thread! No need for gorgeous pictures (tho I so enjoyed @Rolig Loon 's travelogues!). Let me start with this N-S Mediterranean voyage. I started on water (red), then switched to wearable horse (yellow) to go to the nearest rez zone, then switched to my jeep for the drive down south (teal). It was a very pleasant and EASY voyage! Note that Med bridges are fairly low, you want a small (or phantom!) boat. The teal part of the trip is only approximate, to show the regions I went through. The Med road network is extremely easy to navigate, it is not as twisty as many themes and has few dead ends, so I was able to make my way by the seat of my pants, sometimes going out of my way to see a region that I thought might be nice. My jeep wasn't needed - any car will be happy on Med's roads. Have you noticed that on every void-facing Med region, there is a road in the exact center (N-S, or E-W) of each void-facing edge? I didn't notice if that's true on the edges that face existing regions, but I wouldn't be surprised it if was. But I didn't feel that I was driving in a grid, the impression was rather of pleasant wandering (someone should do a coffee table book of Med parcel entrances!). There are curves, hills, etc.. So far, I'm impressed with how residents are adhering to theme in their landscaping. I think the Meds so far are my favorite theme for a pleasant Sunday drive! Psst! I have not traveled the Ranches at all, and would be interested in someone else's experience there