Richard Childers, Virtual Space Entertainment founding Chief Executive, and now Executive Vice President, and Chief Creative Officer was cornered in Blue Mars earlier today, and agreed to an interview.

Inspired by Neal Stephenson's third novel, Snowcrash, and following a meeting with Henk Rogers, Richard and Henk decided that the future of Virtual Worlds was predicated on the new breed of high-definition engines, such as the CryEngine, which they had seen at the Game Developer's Conference in 2006, demonstrated by CryTek of Germany. The rest, as they say, is history, with Henk going on to form Avatar Reality and Richard forming Virtual Space Entertainment (VSE).

Originally VSE looked at forming an alliance with Sony, but eventually decided (lucky for us) to go with Avatar Reality and CryTek's CryEngine.

What was it about the CryEngine that really clinched it for you?
RC: It was the huge leap in High-Definition graphics that the CryEngine brought. Nothing had been seen remotely like it. We did load tests inside Blue Mars in the Avatar Reality labs, and getting 10,000 avatars into a single city was just awesome. It was impressive stuff.

Tell me about New Venice, VSE built that, right?
RC: Right, our own Blue Mars City is New Venice, an 8km x 8km virtual space which is already available to explore. We have also created the Tri-Tower, designed by Syd Mead; a Space Port, which is a space station connected to the surface of New Venice via a space elevator; and a huge underwater city where you can explore in a variety of submarines. All of this is already built, and will be released into New Venice when a regular Blue Mars population is established.

What other plans do you have for New Venice?
RC: We will add a Stadium just outside of New Venice where 100ft tall robotic dogs will race, and on October 19 we hope to launch, for National Geographic, a faithful reconstruction of the Tomb of the First Emperor of China, with its Terracotta Warriors.

So you do work for others too?
RC: Oh yes. We will be doing projects such as the Oceans Project in association with National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institute, due for launch in March of 2010, and an exhibit on human origins exploring early hominids and bio-mechanics.

We will also be creating and launching a Science Center for TERC, a non-profit educational R&D organization based in Cambridge, MA, who themselves are working with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the National Digital Science Library (NSDL) Resource Center, and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), to create a science learning community.

Other projects include work with Aramco and the Government of Saudi Arabia on virtual science labs.

So, about this wonderful condo in New Venice, I want it!
RC: Ha-ha. You will have to wait a couple of weeks, then we hope to be start renting out our condos. By then we hope Avatar Reality will have its Paypal-based economy in place and working.

When do you expect Avatar Reality to have Blue Mars ready for launch?
RC: Well I think by the 1st of 2010 is a realistic goal to shoot for.

Many thanks Richard
RC: you are welcome.


Rock

Having spent a lot of hours now chatting with the newcomers to Blue Mars since the open-beta started, it became quickly clear that most new players had no idea what beta-testing involved.

Most of the players I met wanted to do just that, play, and were complaining about this feature or that feature not yet being available. Some wanted to set up shop immediately and start making money!

The purpose of beta-testing is to iron out the bugs and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Blue Mars are taking the piecemeal approach, by adding functionality in small, controlled, chunks. The role of the beta testers is to test those new features, and report back any bugs, or make suggestions for further improvement. The BM developers will then iron out the bugs, get the platform stable, then issue an new release, with more functions to be tested, and so on until the end of beta and all planned functionality is present for launch.

For developers, bugs are reported on the Mantis bug tracking system. For players, problems can be reported in the In Game Bugs section, and general feedback in the Feedback section of the Blue Mars Online Beta Forum, and suggestions made in the Suggestions part of the forum.

It would save a lot of reporting and repeated suggestions if the Avatar Reality team published a roadmap of features that they are currently working on, and those they are going to try to implement in the future, so they are not repeatedly asked about avatar movement, camera controls, chat functionality, etc.

Rock

The latest Blue Mars client, released for the launch of the open beta phase, includes several new features for the beta testers to get to grips with.

Chat History
In response to beta tester feedback a new chat history window is provided, with avatar names. It appears from the screenshot that maybe bubble chat can be switched off (thank goodness if that is the case), so I cannot wait to take it for a spin when the doors reopen later today (midnight CET).

Menu Tray
A nifty looking menu tray is now provided, with animated icons, and the camera icon can be moved about. There are 4 cam zoom settings: 3rd person, half body view, head and shouders, and 1st person.

Friends List
You can now offer friendship and a new Friends List shows you which friends are currently online. This is just an interim design, and will be improved upon in a later release.


Other features include a Logout button, a Home * button to take you back to the staging area, and bikinis for the girls! What about the guys??

* Intriguingly, the Blue Mars blog states that the staging area now has 5 boards to choose from! Hope that's not a typo. I wonder what the new City is?

Edit: It is Shader City!! There is also a new apartment to take a look at, and something called a 'fur shader'.

At the Games Developer Conference (GDC) 2009 held in Cologne, Germany, 17th - 19th August, Cevat Yerli, CEO and founder of Crytek, gave a keynote speech, on "The Future of Gaming Graphics'.

The main points of his speech were that he did not expect graphics to get any better than they are right now, until 2012, as advances were geared to Console lifecycles. He did, however, give us a taste of what is coming between now and then, by unveiling the CryEngine 3. Yerli admitted that he had used Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within as Crytek's benchmark for the CryEngine 3.

The new engine will form the bedrock of the company's games until 2012. During a demo of a special version of Crysis, built on CryEngine 3, Yerli demonstrated a 7km view distance, 3D volumetric clouds, parallax occlusion mapping and soft particles.

See the Crysis 2 teaser trailer here.

However, not everything was looking rosy for Crytek. Germany's proposed ban on violent Action games prompted Yerli to announce that if the ban was passed by the German Bundestag (Parliament) then he would consider moving his operations to another state.

Rock

The Blue Mars Closed Beta will come to an end at 10:00am HST on the 31st August, and the servers will be shut down in preparation for the Open Beta, which will launch at 12:00pm HST on the 2nd September.

All current Player Accounts will be reset, so current players will need to re-register, via a web registration page (details when I get them). All currency (BLUs) will be reset, and all items purchased will also be reset.

Existing Developer Accounts will not be affected.

A new client release will be available for the launch, including several new goodies, including a whole new UI, avatar names, and maybe even a Friends List.

The countdown has begun....

Rock

Yesterday I had a chance to speak to Jim Sink of Avatar Reality, concerning the planned Public Beta on the 31st August, and other issues.

1. New Venice has recently been added to the cities available during beta. How many cities do you think will be available at the start of the open public beta?

JS: On the first days of the open beta, we’ll probably just have the ones that are available now. We should have a few more available in September. The big new release is the totally revised interface and some additional developer tools.

2. It would be impractical to continue Destination Island with its destination boards, especially when the number of cities starts to rise. What plans does AR have for replacing Destination island?

JS: You’re absolutely right; the destination island won’t scale. The destination island is going to be replaced by a places browser that will allow users to download different cities and eventually monitor events and new content. We’ll be rolling that in over the next few weeks. It works a bit like Steam.

3. How long does AR expect the public beta to last for?

JS: It’s hard to say. It will depend on how fast we can squash bugs and how fast they come up.

4. Is a new client envisaged for the public beta?

JS: Yes. Loads of updates are in works for the client.

5. As many people who will be joining the public beta will be coming simply for a looksee, and bearing in mind the importance of first impressions (as I am sure they will write about their experience in forums and blogs), and as a great many SL residents prize their avatar look above all else, are there any plans to introduce more avatar shapes/hair/clothes to choose from during the public beta, and maybe even some non-human avatars, (demons, dragons, furries, etc, just to show that they are possible)?

JS: We know how important character customization is to many people. The Blue Mars community is already working on some fantastic new fashions using our free Cloth Editor. Later this year, we’ll be introducing a Physique and Mask system to allow developers to create new body shapes and faces for their avatars. We won’t be changing the underlying skeleton at this time to preserve animation compatibility. Speaking of animation, we’ll also be introducing an animation editor later this year for developers who want to create new animations for their avatars.

6. Will commerce be tested during the public beta?

JS: Yes. We’ll be giving away Blue Mars Dollars as a test for people to use to purchase content and rent residences. When we officially launch the currency after we are satisfied with the test, we will reset the currency accounts and launch the online purchase process.

7. Mac users are crying. However, BM can be used on a Mac machine if it ran an emulator such as Bootcamp. Does AR plan to actively support a bridge (such as Bootcamp)?

JS: Blue Mars already works through Boot Camp. Technically, you can even run Blue Mars through an emulator like Parallels but the performance is very slow. We’re anxious to support a OSX client but Crytek hasn’t offered a Cryengine license for the Mac. Until there is a decent install base of Macs with dedicated 3D hardware, it’s unlikely that they will make the investment to port the engine.

8. Can cities be zoned or parcelled so different rules can exist depending on which zone/parcel an avatar is in?

JS: Cities can be zoned into Blocks and you can create access rules for events and residences. Content rules are citywide.

9. SL have now released a roadmap which includes the introduction of several features that are inherent in BM, such as mesh imports, created with 'Industry Standard Tools' (reference) and Flash-based applications (reference). Does this surprise you?

JS: It’s hard to say exactly what they’re up to based on the links you sent me but I’m not at all surprised that they are working to support more common 3D assets and to improve their multimedia capabilities.

10. Are there any other items of news/developments you wish to share Jim?

JS: Not at this time but we’ll have plenty announcements soon. I’ll keep you posted.


Rock

At last, the trailer for James Cameron's new blockbuster, due for release in December, is out. Watch it here:

AVATAR - The Trailer

Rock

Sorry for a prolonged absence. First was the annual summer vacation, then that was quickly followed by a spell in hospital having something removed that should ensure that I don't rattle as much as I walk along anymore :)

So, down to the news:

Blue Mars
The beta testing is going well, and the BM team are proving very responsive in sorting out the bugs the devs are uncovering. The open Public Beta is planned to launch on the 31st August.

A fourth demo city has recently been added, New Venice, created by Virtual Space Entertainment (VSE). It is still work-in-progress, but the work so far definitely has the wow-factor.

Some further screenshots are here:

Blue Mars have also confirmed that they have now added Google's Sketchup to the list of 3D packages they officially support.


Myst Online
Back in December 2008 Myst Online (URU Live) announced that they intended to release their sourcecode as Open-Source. However, progress has been slow in following through with this announcement. Apparently the problem lies in the 3rd party plug-ins that Myst Online uses, and the need to remove these and replace them with in-house code. They are currently looking for volunteer coders to help with the work.

Rock

Director James Cameron treated film industry workers at the Cinema Expo in Amsterdam to over 20 minutes of footage from his highly anticipated new 3D film Avatar, about a battle on a distant planet.

A media ban was in force at the event, but leaks soon spread throughout Twitter and elsewhere, where the comments were "jaw-dropping", "stunning", and the rest of the "Holy f**k" variety. Avatar hits cinemas in the UK and US on 18 December.

There are no clips or stills from the movie, as it is shrouded in secrecy, but there are a couple of Concept Art images to be found on the web.

Image Sources:

http://origin.aintitcool.com/images2009/avatarwaterfall.jpg

http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2007/11/26/avatar-creature.jpg

Looks tempting!

Rock

Blue Mars currently has no inworld creation tools, but uses the Sandbox approach to content creation. This has been taken as a disincentive to some SL residents, while ignoring the fact that most content creation for SL is not done inworld either.

SL provides no in-world creation tools for sounds, animations, textures, etc., all of which have to be created out of world (and they charge for uploading those assets), and SL provides no out-of-world tools for the creation of these essential elements of content either. In fact, all they provide is the creation of prims and basic vegetation, and an editor for writing scripts (but which has no syntax checking, or diagnostics built in).

Blue Mars, by comparison, has a Sandbox (which will be provided free to all residents), that leaves SL way behind in terms of content creation. Here is a side-by-side comparison:

SL
Inworld creation tools:
Prim creation
Basic tree and grass creation
Basic scripting editor
Terrain modify tools

Out of world tools:
Nil

Blue Mars
Inworld creation tools:
Nil

Out of world (Sandbox) tools:
Animation Editor
Artificial Intelligence Debugger
Asset Editor
Character Editor
Dialog Editor
Equipment Pack Editor (for games)
Facial Expression Editor
Flow Graph Editor (a visual scripting editor)
Material (texture) Editor
Mission Scripts (for games)
Music Tools
Physics Editor
Script Compiler
Smart Objects Editor
Sound Generator and Editor (lots included)
Terrain Creation Editor
Terrain Lighting Editor
Terrain Modify Tools
Terrain Texture Editor (down to pixel level)
Time of Day Editor
Vegetation Generator and Editor (huge variety to choose from)
Vehicle Editor
Volex Tools (caves and tunnels within the terrain)
Weather Editor (sun, clouds, fog, rain, snow, hail, sleet, thunderstorms, tornadoes, earthquakes)

The Blue Mars Sandbox Editor comes complete with sample cities (and you can create your own too), so you can see exactly what your creations will look like, and how they will behave, before uploading them into BM.

Another big plus for out of world creation is security. The big crash this weekend (20/21 June) of SL saw many people lose irrevocably content they had been working on for hours, and the loss of objects that had been paid for. See this thread. This cannot happen with the BM Sandbox approach, as content is created and stored on your own PC, before it is uploaded. You always have the original as backup.

Many SL content creators are already using Opensim as a Sandbox, as they prefer peace and quiet when creating. The only people who may not like the BM approach are those who prefer an audience when creating in SL, but my guess is that those creators are very few in number, and anyway, the BM tools make it a no brainer for serious content creators anyway.

Rock

Free Realms Out of Beta
On Monday, 27th April, Free Realms came out of beta, all beta accounts were deleted, and on Tuesday, 28th April, Free Realms went live.

Free Realms is the PC-based version of Sony's Home (only available to Playstation owners).

Beta testers reported that for a VW that was targeted at teens, the content of Free Realms was actually quite complex. LogaBauer at SL Universe described it as being similar to "Magic:The Gathering".

So, is Free Realms a social virtual world (ala Second Life), or is it a game? Well it is mostly a game, but with some social aspects. The graphics are 'cutsie', not on a par with Second Life, and definitely not with Blue Mars, and looks quite cartoony.

However, the teens will love it (as do quite a few grown ups, if the posts on the SL Universe site are anything to go by).

Details of the game, and the sign up info, are here.


Blue Mars not into Beta just yet
Blue Mars have been slowly releasing their preview viewer and developer SDKs. Problems with the software have delayed full deployment, which is not to be unexpected given the complexity of converting a huge game engine such as the CryEngine 2 to support a Virtual World.

I received both the preview viewer and the SDK (a modified version of CryTek's Sandbox 2), both of which were a full 1.4Gb download. This was surprising for the viewer, and it appears that this is the full download with certain functionality disabled. It is hoped that a much slimmer previewer will be released.

There is an NDA currently in force, so I am limited in what I can report, but I can confirm that the graphics are the most amazing I have ever seen in any virtual world to date. To get a taste of what some of the landscapes are like that can be created in Blue Mars, look at this collection from Sandbox 2 users.

Blue Mars now also has its own, independent, enthusiast's forum, but only developers are hanging out there at present, until Blue Mars goes beta in June 2009.

Rock

Jim Sink of Avatar-Reality has kindly clarified a few more questions:

1. Who will be able to upload content into Blue Mars?
a) The City developer?
b) The tenant of the city developer, who has a store and wants to stock it?
c) The tenant of the city developer, who has rented a home in Blue Mars and wants to upload a few pieces of furniture that they have made?

JS: A. Yes. B. Yes. C. Yes, eventually (we're still working on this part.)


2. Will non-human avatars be supported?

JS: Not natively by Avatar Reality. However, City Developers can create any type of avatar they choose. For now, the universal avatar that can move from city to city needs to be based on the default rig and model.


3. I have had a few enquiries from people who are already running various flavours of Crysis, and have the SandBox 2, and the CryMod SDK, and are comfortable creating with those tools. What benefit, if any, would there be to those people to apply for and download the Blue Mars SDK?

JS: The Sandbox is a great start. We've added new features to the sandbox including camera control and multiplayer functionality for games. Also, the SDK environment includes import tools for Max and Maya along with additional documentation.


4. Does the decision on whether to allow teleporting or flying rest finally with the city developer?

JS: Our default control scheme doesn't support flying at this time. For now, that functionality will need to be managed by the city developer. We haven't settled on a specific transportation policy. I can say that we are commited to working with developers on policies that meet their needs.

Thanks very much Jim.

JS: My pleasure.

Rock

FreeRealms
FreeRealms is a new family-friendly Virtual World, being developed by Sony. It will be free to download and play, and is currently in beta test.

FreeRealms offer exploration, combat, building, housing, pet-raising, mini-games and social interaction to appeal to as wide a variety of users as possible.

How FreeRealms and Sony's Home on the PS3 are related, if at all, is still unclear.

Demo video here.

Sparkle IM
You can now use your iPhone or iPod Touch to stay in touch with either Second Life or any of the OpenSim grids.

Genkii have launched Sparkle IM, an application for the iPhone/iPod that allows you to send and receive IMs, online or offline, chat, send tp requests, and accept Friends requests. Further details and a video on the Genkii website.

Rock

I've just got back from the GadgetShow Live! at the NEC, Birmingham, 17th-19th April.

The show was something of a disappointment for me, particularly with the absence of so many gaming and Virtual World companies from the Games Hall.

Electronic Arts did attend, and their booth was well attended. They had a nice little attraction whereby a short 1 min video of attendees (smiling, walking and jumping) could be used within games to make the central character in those games appear to be the attendee. Kids loved that!

There were a number of companies promoting software to rival Microsoft's Surface 2. I really liked the offering from HP, and LG were showing next-generation phones that will incorporate this multi-touch software - Apple, take note!

Rock

Jim Sink, is Vice President of Business Development at Avatar-Reality, the company behind the forthcoming virtual world, Blue Mars. Avatar-Reality is based in Honolulu, Hawaii, and currently employs a staff of 24, and growing.

Jim Sink began his career in the interactive entertainment industry at Foundation9 designing games for Sega, Hudson, Nokia, and Eidos. Following his work as a game designer, Jim managed business development and partner acquisition at Microsoft’s Xbox Live service. Jim joined Avatar Reality in 2008 to lead their business development efforts.

1. How will Blue Mars work? Will there be user-created content, user-created terrain, in-world economy?

JS: Absolutely. There will be two types of account: end-user accounts, and developer-accounts. For end-users the client will be free, and there will be no fees for entering Blue Mars, however, some cities or areas may be subscription-only areas.

For developers, the Software Development Kit (SDK) will be free, and content will be generated outside of Blue Mars, then uploaded into it, rather than creating within Blue Mars.

2. Who do you see as your main competition? Second Life? Entropia?

JS: We feel that Blue Mars, with its unique qualities, will be catering to a unique market, and so we don’t see ourselves competing directly with any of the other Virtual Worlds. There will be some, of course, but as we see the population of Virtual Worlds rising dramatically over the next ten years, there is enough growth there for all the main players.

3. What will be the hardware requirements for Blue Mars?

JS: We recently put together a US$400 home PC the other day, and Blue Mars ran fine on it. I would say that the most important requirement is that the PC should have a dedicated graphics card, as opposed to an integrated graphics chip. Most cards on the market today over 100$ are fine. Blue Mars will run on Vista or XP, and will use DirectX. Of course, the better the graphics card and the more memory you have, the better the experience will be. There are no plans right now to launch either a Mac or Linux version.

4. One of the key benefits of OpenSimulator is that it can be operated in standalone mode, which may appeal to a variety of companies and organisations that want a Second Life-like environment, but not connected physically, or by association, to Second Life. Second Life has responded by announcing a firewalled standalone version to be launched later this year. Does Avatar-Reality have any plans for a standalone version of Blue Mars?

JS: We have no plans at present to launch a standalone version of Blue Mars.

5. Avatar-Reality promised on their original website a cutting edge avatar rendering engine. Has this been finalised yet?

JS: Yes. Although Blue Mars is based on the CryEngine2, we have made a lot of extensions to it, which includ the avatar rendering, facial features, hair, etc.

6. In SL the unit of land is the Region, 256x256m. Will Blue have a ‘unit of land’, and if so, what will it be?

JS: No. Land masses can be 2Km by 2Km or more. There will be a minimum size, but that has not been finalised yet. However, land size is not what will drive the pricing structure. We will use the concept of ‘capacity’. For example, if you want sufficient capacity for 1,600 concurrent users, the price will be X. The more capacity you buy the cheaper will be the ‘per concurrent user’ price. Unlike other Virtual Worlds, such as Second Life, you really will be able to host a concert in Blue Mars attended by several thousand avatars!

7. Will it be possible to upload all media into Blue Mars, textures, sound, animations, video?

JS: Yes. Video will be handled using Scaleform, a flash compatible middleware package that we use for all our UI.

8. Blue Mars is based on CryTek’s CryEngine2. Now that CryTek have announced CryEngine3, will that effect Blue Mars? Does Avatar-Reality plan to keep pace with CryTek’s development?

JS: The CryEngine3 is more of a compatibility release for consoles than a major upgrade in features or performance. We work closely with CryTek, and if they bring out enhancements to their engines that we feel is of benefit, then of course we will implement them.

9. What methods of communication will be available in Blue Mars?

JS: Initially there will be chat, public and private. Voice will be optional, and interfaces to social networks, such as Twitter are in the pipeline.

10. What is the current schedule for the testing and roll-out of Blue Mars?

JS: We plan to go beta with the Client in June 2009. The development kit is available now for developers, and in the next day or two we plan to release a preview editor tool, which can be downloaded directly from the website, which will give users and developers a feel for how their content will look in Blue Mars. Both the development kit and the preview editor are WYSIWYG.

11. Tell me some things about Blue Mars I don’t know.

JS: We’ve worked hard to create an ecosystem where content developers can thrive. From robust content management tools, a centralized item registration database that helps prevent unauthorized copying, and a secure integrated transaction system, the Blue Mars platform lets content developers focus on creation rather than security and billing overhead.

We will appeal to those seeking social interaction, commercial opportunities, gaming, and educators.

Many thanks Jim.

JS: You are most welcome.

Second Life behind the Firewall
Mark Kingdon, the CEO of Linden Lab, dropped a hint last October that LL were working on a stand-alone, behind the firewall version of Second Life.

Recently, LL confirmed via their blog that the standalone version of Second Life is currently in the alpha phase, and they plan to take it into a limited closed beta phase this summer with general availability later in the year.

This has got to impact the efforts of the OpenSimulator community, as one of the key benefits that OpenSimulator was going to provide was the ability for corporations and educational establishments to have their own SL-like region/grid, but not connected to the SL grid, (SL being tarnished as it has been by salacious stories in the tabloid media), and have a sanitized, independent region/grid that was fully under their own control.

Of course, OpenSimulator will still have the benefit of being free, but when server costs and maintenance costs are taken into account it will be interesting to see just how big or narrow the gap is when LL finally announce their standalone fees.


OnLive
OnLive was announced in March at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Heading up OnLive as CEO is Steve Perlman, whose inventions include QuickTime and WebTV.

So, what is OnLive?

OnLive aims to provide, via a cloud gaming service, game data in fractions of a second, so even high-end games can be played on low-end computers.

I was never more astounded in avatar generation when I saw Emily, in the Image Metrics Tech Demo, but now see this example of Perlman's genius brought to life by Geni4 (pronounced Jennifer) on the Mova website (look for the Geni4 videos).

Using the latest techniques in video compression, OnLive works by hosting the high-end games, then compressing and streaming them to the home PC with almost no latency or losses.

OnLive have already teamed with major games providers, such as Electronic Arts, Epic Games, and Warner Bros.

Full story here.

Rock

Blue Mars signing up Beta Testers
Avatar Reality, the company behind Blue Mars, is currently accepting applications for beta testers and content developers.

They have revamped their website into three distinct sections (and 3 separate domains):

Avatar, for the Avatar Reality company itself;

BlueMars, including an About and FAQ sections, and the Beta signup page;

BlueMarsDev, including details on Content Development for Blue mars and a sign-up page.

There is also an Art Competition and in the next few weeks, they will be releasing an offline preview editor that will let artists see exactly how their content will appear in the online world.


Changes at Vast Parks
Yesterday VastPark's open source Player and Server code was made available online with instructions for developers on how to create builds.

Also yesterday the first version of the newly named Player was released online. The Player supercedes Codename Imp as the default VastPark client application and is edging forwards in terms of stability and functionality. More here..

Vast Parks recently hosted an inworld event that coincided with the "Virtual Worlds Down Under" event in Melbourne, Australia. Six speakers were talking from five different physical locations and spoke about their work on projects including VastPark, Badumna, RMIT and Planet Postmoderna. The event was filmed by the wonderful SLCN, with the new image on the front of the Vast Parks website being taken from the event. Given that this was their first ever inworld conference event, it ran smoothly, although the quality of the voice in the videos isn't as good as it seemed on the day. You can view the event videos in their Vimeo video channel. I especially recommend viewing Greg More's talk about architecture in virtual worlds.

Rock

The news that Second Life have decided to move adult content to a new continent has surprised many. The term 'adult content' is yet to be fully defined, but we know already what will be in there - sex clubs, brothels, escort agencies, various rp sims where sexual content and violence play a central role, will all be in. The grey areas include non-sexual nudity, skin shops displaying images of naked avatars for the purposes of advertising their products, etc. Sexuality of a private nature, taking place within your own home, will not be included.

The new continent will not be open to all. Those who have have not been age-verified or who do not have credit card details on file will not be able to teleport there. At present, none of these rules will apply to private island owners.

Profile picks containing sexual images and adverts for adult areas are currently against the TOS, but will be more heavily policed.

However, what is the point of all this?

Is this the first step of a two-step process that will eventually see the hiving off of adult content from SL, with a separate Adult Grid being the ultimate aim, with separate log-in to the main grid, in effect swapping places with the Teen Grid? This would lead to a more 'sanitized' version of SL, which would be much more family-friendly, and more attractive to the corporates.

I am not so sure if this strategy will be very sucessful. The image that SL has through various salacious stories in the tabloid press will be mud that will be very difficult, if not impossible, to completely clean away.

Time will tell.

Rock

Engage! Expo
The Engage! Expo, (previously known as the Virtual World Conference) finished last week (10-11th March). It was a sombre event this year, being much reduced in size from last year, with fewer attendees, presentations and exhibitors (not even Linden Labs showed up this year).

It was a commonly accepted truth that Virtual Worlds had reached saturation, with over 300 currently all vying for an ever shrinking pot of advertising and corporate backing gold.

The main theme running through this year's show was the lack of capital to fund Virtual Worlds, and for the money that was available - the maximisation of revenue streams, in the shortest period of time. The main group being targeted at this year's event were the teens and tweenies.

There were two companies showing monetization solutions, PlaySpan and Super Rewards, and payments via the mobile phone were seen as a key to success, as most teens do not have a credit card.

Sony announced that their user base had jumped from 4 million last month, to 5 million this month. They were one of the few exhibitors to announce substantial user growth.

Blue Mars impressed the hell out of everybody and had the biggest crowd around their booth of all the booths. They still did not have any downloads or a beta world set up as yet. A golden opportunity wasted.

Second Light
Like many others, I have been marvelling at the amazing piece of film entitled 'This is what Second Life should be like' on Bettina Tizzy's npirl website.

The film is quite moving, but also quite fanciful, or so I thought, until I saw this piece of film on the BBC website, showing 'Second Light', the working name for Surface 2.

It is staggering to think that what we see in This is what Second Life should be like can be a mere two years away.

Rock

New Kids on the Block
Three new Virtual Worlds are about to go beta.

The first, Blue Mars, is quite simply stunning in its graphics, being based on the CryEngine2 game engine, the heart of such games as Crysis. The realism is staggering and is destined to raise the bar significantly in Virtual World technology. Trailers are available here.

Second, Entropia Universe, while not being a newcomer to Virtual Worlds, is about to launch a brand new world, Creative Kingdom, also based on the CryEngine2. See their teaser trailer here. Their original World, Planet Calypso, being based on their own proprietory software, which is looking somewhat jaded today, although better than than the graphics in Second Life. Soon after Creative Kindom, Entropia plan to launch CRD, China Recreative Dreamland, following a contract signed in 2007 between MindArk (the owners of Entropia) and the Beijing Municipal People's Government to create the largest virtual world ever. The deal was negotiated for almost a year and Entropia Universe was chosen over several other bidders, including Second Life.

The new project will permit up to 7 million concurrent users logged into the virtual universe, which is amazing, considering that Second Life is currently groaning under the strain of just 70,000 concurrent users.

For sure, these high-end Virtual Worlds will require some pretty awesome hardware to run on to show off all their features, what the performance will be like on low-end High Street PCs remains to be seen.

Third, at the other end of the spectrum, is Metaplace, which requires nothing to download at all, and is a completely browser-based experience.

The approach taken by Metaplace is interesting, as it seems to be following a recent trend.

Multiverse, who have been around for some time now, and who supply free server and viewer Virtual World software, are about to launch Battle, a Flash game that can run on Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites. Battle will showcase Multiverse technology that will make it possible for developers, that are currently using its standard platform to build 3D PC or Server-based virtual worlds, to create 2D versions of the same titles that will run in a browser, enabling games that are started on a PC to be continued on a mobile phone.

My son tells me that he never plays any online game, or visits any virtual world, that he cannot access via his mobile phone. If its not on his phone, it doesn't exist.

What now for Second Life and OpenSim?
Two of the basic rules of marketing is 'supply what the customer wants', and 'keep your eye on the competition'.

Neither of these two basic rules seem to be close to the heart of the key decision makers within Second Life, or the core developers of OpenSim. Indeed, in an amazing irc session earlier today, one of the core developers said that 'marketing is a null concept for us'. This was in response to a user who was arguing for greater end-user focus, while the developers seemed to be more technology/code driven. There is nothing wrong with innovation, but innovators need to have a clear idea of just who the end user is, or several years of hard work will be all for nothing.

OpenSim is some months, even as much as a year away, from even going beta. One year is a long time in Virtual World terms, and I fear they could get left behind with a rather shabby looking technology compared side-by-side with the latest that is currently available, and what is yet to come.

One of the developers said that OpenSim was the only source of opensource Virtual World software, completely missing that both Vast Parks and Multiverse have been offering free server and client software for well over a year now. Another developer argued that while the Second Life software had so many problems associated with it (scalability for one), they could not adopt a different technology, due to their investment in their existing technology. This, in business terms, is called the dodo strategy to failure. I am pleased to see that Entropia do not accept that argument, or that fate, and are nearing completion of their new CryEngine2-based world.

OpenSim did make one significant departure from the Second Life feature set, when they introduced the Hypergrid, enabling anyone on a Opensim-based grid to teleport to any other. This was an amazing achievement. However, I fear it will take a much more radical approach if OpenSim is to have any kind of reasonable product lifecycle once it is officially launched.

Rock

OSIRIS Progress Continues
A great deal of progress has been made this last week, and particularly over the last weekend, due to the incredible help afforded to me by one of the regulars from the MSDN Visual Basic forum.

Using VNC he added a lot of code and cleaned up existing code, adding error trapping and a number of other refinements.

As of now the Starting up and closing down of OpenSim are complete, with all redirection to tabbed RichTextBoxes working, in color, all commanding working, and the Server Performance indicators (CPU and RAM % used) also working.

Work will continue this week on the last main phase, the automation of commands.

CopyBot Gone?
I see that from early January the website and irc channels of the Patriotic Nigras, the group behind the attacks on Furries in Second Life, and the perpetrators of the famous flying phalluses attack on Anshe Chung, and the hosts for CopyBot, have all been closed down. Normally sites like these close down one minute only to resurface shortly afterwards on a new domain, but this is more than a month now, so have the Patriotic Nigras been taken down permanently?

Second Inventory Locked out of OpenLife
Since late January OpenLife (OL) restricted access to their own client only (developed by Kirstenlee Cinquetti), so other popular clients, such as the SL viewer, Hippo viewer etc, could no longer be used.

A side effect of this change was that Second Inventory was locked out too, negotiations and discussions are continuing between the Second Inventory and OpenLife people to try to resolve this issue. Full story here.

Blue Mars Avatars Revealed?
Blue Mars promised us 'Believable Avatars', from their 'proprietary next-generation character animation technology and advanced behavior system, to provide a truly immersive experience'.

So the first pics of their avatars have been widely anticipated. Perhaps that wait is over. A new section on the Avatar Reality website have some screenshots of avatars.

What do you think?

Rock

Work on OSIRIS Continues
I have not posted in a while due to the work on OSIRIS. Unfortunately no-one offered to help in this project, so I am having to go it alone. The progress so far is:

• All the Servers are now embedded into the tabs, as per the work-in-progress screenshot in the previous Diary entry.
  
• The Statistics (CPU and RAM usage) are now completed.
• Selection of the working folder (the location of the bin folder) is complete.

I am currently working on sizing and positioning of the embedded servers, auto-detection of prompt, and hiding the servers until fixed into position.

OpenSim is 2 Years Old!







OpenSim celebrated its 2nd birthday on the 29th January, and it was marked with a number of functions and events in the OSGrid over the weekend.

A good time was had by all :)

Here are two videos posted by Nebadon:

Video #1 from SCHWARZE WELT ("watch in HD")

Video #2 from Port Edward

For news about the events in the OSGrid news.

Rock

OSIRIS, a new Windows Front-End for OpenSim
I started work on a new Windows front-end for OpenSim yesterday, called OSIRIS. I came up with this name as I was looking for a word that began with OS (OpenSimulator), and the dictionary only had one word that began with 'os' that really stood out from the rest, 'Osiris'. As the iris is a part of the eye, it looked like a good match for a front-end controller; and as Osiris was the king of the Egyptian Gods as well, I just liked the name right off.

The work is being done in Visual Basic 2005 Express (free), and if anyone with VB2005E would like to collaborate on getting it finished please let me know. The only tabs that have been completed are the ones you see in this work-in-progress screenshot.

More Blue Mars Videos
Virtual Space Entertainment, VSE Inc, was chosen by Avatar Reality, the people behind Blue Mars, to create the first world. The VSE website has some stunning videos on the work they did in Blue Mars, and some great stuff from the Cry Engine that Blue Mars uses. To see these videos, go to the VSE Inc website, click on Explore on the left side, then select Media. The first video will start automatically, so just give it a few seconds to buffer.

Rock

Blue Mars Beta Delayed
I received an email from the Blue Mars team today informing me that the beta originally slated for Jan/Feb 2009 has now been postponed until the end of march 2009.

Changes to the Save-Oar and Load-Oar Commands
From r7896 of the OpenSim software the Save-Oar command now saves not only all the prims on a region, but also the terrain textures and other region settings that you find in the viewer, under the menu - World, Region/Estate, Region tab, such as Water Height, Agent Limit, Object Bonus etc, and the settings in the Debug, Ground Textures, and Terrain tabs.

Open User Manual
Work has now begun on the Open User Manual, for opensim users. There are several contributors who have volunteered for the project, and I have made a start by uploading a draft of the manual to the Forge, which basically converts the tutorials on this blogsite into book-form. Most, if not all, of the info on the user part of the opensim wiki website will also be incorporated.

Giving the IRC Channels a Rest
I have noticed that there are one or two less than friendly characters in the #opensim-dev irc channel, though most there are friendly. As the 2nd birthday of the OpenSim project is almost upon us (29th January, 2009), I thought of preparing an article for the blog, outlining the views of the developers on where they thought the project was after two years. Is it on schedule, or behind schedule (or is there a schedule)? Are they happy with the progress so far, or less than happy? Has there been or are there still any major obstacles to further development? These questions I hoped to get some opinions on.

However, upon asking in the #opensim-dev channel how the developers thought the progress was, almost two years into the project, I was given a terse response from one of them:

#opensim <--- Rock Vacirca

This is shorthand for 'don't ask this question here, ask it in the #opensim channel instead'.

The #opensim channel is for 'general chat' and the #opensim-dev channel is for 'development topics'. Apparently, asking about the current state of development is not a 'development topic'.

I was taken aback by this snub, not least because looking at the chat on this channel, both before and after I was asked to take my question somewhere else, I saw several chat exchanges of little or no relevance to development, and no-one else was asked to take their questions/comments elsewhere that day.

This was not the first time that something like this has happened in that channel, and at other times I have asked a question, and have been met with silence. If the channel is for developers only, then that should be made clear in the description.

I received several Private Messages of support following this incident, and I thank all who wrote.

However, I do have a bit of a short temper, so rather than risk the possibility of being told where to go with my questions again, I have decided to opt out of the channels for a while.

Now that the forum for the new Open User Manual has been kick-started, there is no longer any neccessity for me use the irc channels.

I wish all who read my blog a very happy and prosperous 2009.

Rock

pCampBot for Fun and Romance
Opensim now includes your very own bot, called pCampBot, which you can use for load testing of your region or grid, and anything else you can think of ;-)

To get pCampBot download the latest binary from the OSGrid website, but you do not need to upgrade if you do not wish to, you can still use pCampBot. In the bin folder you will see some new files:

pCampBot.exe
pCampBot.exe.config
pCampBot.pdb
pCampBotSentences.txt

To run pCampBot you need to open a command console (Start, Run..., and type 'cmd' in the Open text box). You then need to navigate to the bin folder containing pCampBot.exe.

Once you are in the bin folder just typing 'pCampBot' at the prompt will display Help:

usage: pCampBot <-loginuri loginuri> [OPTIONS]
Spawns a set of bots to test an OpenSim region

-l, -loginuri loginuri for sim to log into (required)
-n, -botcount number of bots to start (default: 1)
-firstname first name for the bot(s) (default: random string)
-lastname lastname for the bot(s) (default: random string)
-password password for the bots(s) (default: random string)
-h, -help show this message

I found the easiest way to use pCampBot was to write a simple batch file in Notepad, and save it as CampBot01.bat

The script I used was as follows:

cd c:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\bin 7708\
start pCampBot.exe -l http://yourhost.com:8002 -firstname Test -lastname User -password test

The first line above is simply the path to the folder containing pCampBot (I always rename my bin folder to include the revision number, in this case: \bin 7708\)

The second line starts pCampBot, and gives the url of your region or grid, and the firstname, lastname and password of an existing user. If you want to test with a lot of bots, you will need to create user accounts for them first. I suggest Test1 User test, Test2 User test, etc.

You can then copy this batch file for as many bots as you want to login in, and rename them to CampBot02.bat, CampBot03.bat etc, and you only have to change the number in the firstname, in each file, i.e. Test1 to Test2 etc.

pCampBot does not keep still. He will leap about and walk around all over your sim, sometimes running off the edge of region boundary out into the void, so keep an eye on them on the mini-map!

You can type Help into the console at any time while pCampBot is logged in, and you will see some more commands:

Region# :
help
[HELP]
[HELP]
shutdown - graceful shutdown
addbots - adds n bots to the test
quit - forcequits, dangerous if you have not already run shutdown
Region# :

I tried using the addbots command, (addbots 2) but it just closed pCampBot down and closed the console window.

I also tried typing in some sentences to the pCampBotSentences.txt file, hoping that the bot would randomly utter some of the sentences I put in there, but alas he was completely mute.

I will look into pCampBot a little further, and update the Diary entry accordingly.

Merry Christmas to Everyone

Rock

Database Woes
I logged into my opensim grid on Saturday, and was dismayed to find lots of my palace build missing. I tried restarting the opensim server software, and then the server platform itself, but the missing prims were definitely gone. 'No problem', I bet you're thinking, 'Rock makes regular backups, doesn't he?' Ermm, well, I used to, but I have been so busy of late, the last one I had was 20 days ago, and we have done lots of building and creating shoes and clothing since then. It was time to think of a recovery strategy.

All of the prims that were missing were in the backup. However, if I loaded the backup I would lose all the builds and objects created during the last 20 days. So, what to do?

I decided to take into inventory all the builds and objects created during the last 20 days, then go to a void region and rezz them all there. I then did a save-oar on that region. (Unfortunately, drag-selecting and Taking does not work in opensim yet as it does in SL. In SL you get a single, coalesced object. In opensim you get all the objects individually, so every one would have to be repositioned).

I then wondered if I needed to delete my existing opensim database, then create a new, empty one, and then populate the new one with the backup sql file. As it would be no loss, I decided to see what would happen if I restored the backup over the existing database. Would it clear then write; would it overwrite some, but not all; or would it append? The answer was that it appeared to clear then write.

I then logged in to find all the missing prims back. I now needed to get back the builds and objects created during the last 20 days, and so I did a load-oar into the void region. On going there I saw all the objects where I had left them, and I took them into inventory. Then it was back to the main regions to put them back where they belonged.

I am now looking at scripts that will do a daily unattended backup for me.

Clearing the Clouds
Do you like the white cloud that represents avatars nowadays, when their shape or clothing has not fully downloaded yet, or do you prefer to see the avatar, even if they are Ruthed and/or grey?

If you prefer to see the avatar, rather than the cloud, you can. Here's how:

In the viewer go to the Advanced part of the menu (Control-Alt-D will bring it up if it is not already there). Then go to Debug Settings, and in the text box, type: RenderUnloadedAvatar, and in the lower drop-down box select TRUE, then close Debug Settings.

That's it.

Web Interface
What a great week!

I got the Web Interface up and running fully now for my grid (go here to see what it looks like), and also found how to synchronise the user and the wi_user tables.

I also got the loginscreen working too. This makes my login screen now look like the OSGrid login screen, with that nifty drop-down list of regions, so you can select which one to arrive at.

I have written the tutorials for the Web Interface now, and under More Tutorials I have added one to change the location within the region that you will arrive at.

I have also updated the Money in Opensim tutorial to include all the latest experience.


Latest on Blue Mars
After all the media coverage of this exciting new Virtual World, and that impressive teaser trailer, I was getting a bit worried that their website has not been updated since early August.

Their news section speaks of two shows it intended to participate in:

25-27 August, Nvision 08, San Jose

3-4 September, Virtual World, Los Angeles


Both shows have long passed but there has been no update to their website informing readers of how the shows went.

However, I emailed Blue Mars yesterday, and was told that they were very busy getting the beta prepared for January/February 2009.

I am on the list of beta testers, and this is one world I really want to visit.

Give me money, that's, what I want
It was only a small question. "Where can I get information on the use of money in OpenSim?"

That was the question I asked in the #opensim-dev irc yesterday. It raised quite a few hackles, I can tell you. Some even complained that the question had been asked there at all, and to avoid upsetting anyone, one of those involved in the debate that was brewing, fword, informed everyone that he had created another opensim channel for discussing just that one topic, #opensim-money.

I joined, and said 'Hi'. Within a couple of minutes 12 people had joined the channel, and the debate began. I have never experienced such a heated debate before in any channel, and those 12 members generated more chat during the next hour than both the #opensim (72 members) and #opensim-dev (66 members) channels combined. The views could not have been more diverse.

I will try to leave out the passion behind some of these views, but simply present them as options.

I was hoping to get some info on whether money could be used in opensim, and if so, how. Tomorrow, (leaving aside the debate on whether money should be in opensim or not, and if so, how should it be implemented), I hope to have a tutorial prepared showing how money is currently implemented in opensim, because, yes, it is implemented.

Should Money be implemented in Opensim?
Some people favour the adoption of money in Opensim, in much the same way as it is in Second Life. This has the advantage of using a well tried and tested system.

Others would argue that there is no need for any currency in Opensim, and that there are already RL options available for buying and selling, by using a PayPal plugin, for example, or sites such as SLX where you pay for goods in an online store, and have the goods delivered to you inworld.

Other options include using 3rd party solutions, such as that provided by fatfoogoo, and one grid is currently operating with its own proprietory currency module, xumeo/Legend City Online.

But it should also not be forgotten that the use of PayPal and Credit Cards is not universal. For example, in Germany you will be hard-pressed to find stores that accept Credit Cards. The Germans do not like the idea of some middlemen taking a cut of every transaction. They prefer to use Debit Cards, so the money goes directly from your account into theirs, with no PayPal or Credit Card company taking a slice on the way.

Several developers have also pointed out that Opensim is simply not ready, in its current state of development, (Version 0.6), to even contemplate the use of inworld money, and that it needs to get to Version 0.8 or 0.9 before they take a serious look at it. This was clearly demostrated in the recent 'bug' problem that faced 3rdRock, and they had to develop their own fix to avoid problems with their residents.

However, some grids are already using money, such as the 3rdRockGrid, A Biker's Life, Avatar Hangout, Club SL Portugues Opensim, and United Grid. OpenLife has no inworld currency as yet, but you can buy land in OpenLife externally, while VirtualSims says that land sales is coming soon.

Then there are the legal aspects that should be considered. LL avoids (for now) controversy over the use of its inworld currency, by calling it something completely different (a limited license right, and the 'buying' and 'selling' of the L$ is simply a transfer of those rights). But with governments around the world waking up to the fact that real money and real profits can be had from virtual worlds, they are wanting their share, via income or profit taxes. How long before they start demanding sales tax or VAT on inworld transactions?

Then there are the problems associated with money being taken for goods, but due to faulty scripts the goods are not delivered. Who will sort that out? Has anyone attempted to request a chargeback on a Credit Card for virtual goods not delivered? And what if an entire inventory or asset server gets borked, and users lose 1000s of dollars in lost inventory, that they paid for with real money? LL may have the resources and financial clout to defend a lawsuit, but what about the smaller gridowners? It is well recognised that the LL Terms of Service may (possibly) hold up in California, but in other countries around the world they are simply against their legislation and will not hold up. What do you do if your servers are hosted in New Zealand, your address is in the UK, and your users come from every country in between?

This is not a subject for the faint-hearted!

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day, but a momentous day in the development of the Metaverse. As of yesterday, the Hypergrid facility is now incorporated directly into the opensim build.

What is HyperGrid?

HyperGrid is the functionality to permit teleporting between any two opensims, whether they are in standalone or gridmode. HyperGrid is the glue that will bind all opensims into one vast Metaverse, and will allow intrepid travellers to wander this Metaverse at will.

HyperGrid is similar to the Open Grid Protocol (OGP) that is being developed to allow teleporting between opensims and the LL grids. However, HyperGrid has more functionality built in. For example, yesterday, when I successfully teleported from my opensim to the OSGrid, I arrived with all my appearance intact, and all my inventory was available too!!

There were some bugs however, which I am sure will be squashed pretty quickly. For example, because of the numbering of the regions on my grid, where the central sim has X and Y coordinates of 1000 1000 on the grid map, I found that when I teleported to the OSGrid I could not see the land or any avatars (just sky).

The reason for this 'all sky' bug is that the central sim in the OSGrid is numbered 10000 10000 and differences in the grid coordinates between two teleport points should not be greater than 4096. The temporary solution was for me to renumber the X-Y coordinates for the regions on my grid to be in the 8000s or 12000s. This problem was first noted during OGP tests, and is described in Jira SVC-2941.

However when I rotated the camera I could see the neighbouring sim, and when I crossed the region boundary to go there I suddenly saw myself, and all my appearance had persisted.

I was so excited by this development I left a marker pole on this sim, which was just the default 'Boob Island'. The marker I named: 'Rock Vacirca was Here', with a Description that reads: 'Arrived via the HyperGrid from Anubia'. When I returned for another test an hour later, a second marker pole had been erected by someone (have I started something here?).

I am currently writing a tutorial on setting up and using HyperGrid, so check the Main Tutorials page over the next day or two. In the meantime you can find more information on the HyperGrid on the OpenSim wiki page.

Note: I get very different results when viewing the HyperGrid wiki page with IE or Firefox. Firefox produces perfect results, while IE seems to overlay some of the graphics over some of the text, so you cannot read it. If you only have IE then right-click the page, and choose View Source, and you can read the missing text in there.

Rock