Steampunk Framed Pictures!

Just a quick heads up on the release of the first batch of my series of classy Steampunk-themed picture frames, featuring Lady Mechanika.

You can find them under the category "Art" on my Marketplace site. Enjoy!

Lifesigns!

The last post here has been over a year ago, so I guess its time for an update. The rezzing system has been completed since and it works very well and I am going to do a couple more things in the store slash showroom in the next couple of weeks (yes, there has been some inactivity on on my end - how did you guess?). I am also happy to announce a new product: *drumroll*

The Dieselpunk Gyrocogster!

The Dieselpunk Gyrocogster in its standard-version.

The idea for this one came from the the Prof and me discussing possible events on his sim. Like the usual things like dances, film nights and exciting academical pleasures like readings and radio-plays, there was the recurring topic of an air-combat-event he brought up. Since the Steampunk Gyrocogster is quite ideal for this purpose, well, apart from being unarmed, unarmoured and not very fast, I decided to make a more "beefed up" variant. With armour plating, a machine gun, higher speed - and the super low-lag TCS combat system!

And in the popular rezzer-variant.

The new version also got an overhauled guest mode and a colourize script for the metal bands along the hull, for personal/team colours.

Lots of shades. Including grey. Its Drow Science after all!

You can find the new Dieselpunk Gyrocogster at the Drow Science Mainstore & Showroom, and at the SL Marketplace. The rezzer-version of course too!

There is also a little Christmas-surprise in the works for all current owners of the Prometheus. But I won't tell you more right now!

Work in Progress!

If you happen to visit my store in the next days: don't panic! We are currently working on turning it into a scene-rezzer, so you can see my creations in their fully glory.

Obviously under construction.

The scene rezzer will be linked with my vendor-system, so that the object that is rezzed will also be active on the vendor. The rezzer needs the object added to it yet, but the vendor is already fully set-up and operational.

Also the landmark to my store/showroom has changed slightly. Here is the new location.

Stay tuned for more!

Now Available: Historic Airship Replica Santos-Dumont No. 9

Alberto Santos-Dumont, son of a rich plantation-owner developed early a fascination with flight. As adult he moved over to Paris - back then one of the hot spots of early aviation - and soon became known as constructor of airships. He built several models and did fly them at exhibitions and contests. His favourite model was the No. 9, which he gave the nickname "Baladeuse" - "cart". It was his most compact airship and it seems to have been quite ideal to casually fly with it over the rooftops of Paris and land in front of a café for a coffee break, which he did!

I built this replica after historical photographs and modern reconstructions to get all the little details right.  It was a welcome challenge, after not really building much over the summer and I went really nuts on the engine, which makes it quite surprising even to myself that it has a land impact of only 8!
Special thanks to my friends Jack Tracker, who gave me the idea of building it, and Prof. Zen Wickentower, who spend a lot of effort in creating a historical correct flying pose for it!

The Santos-Dumon No. 9 now available at the Drow Science Showroom and at my Marketplace Store. Also feel free to drop by at the Baitoushan Aviation Museum, where it is currently on exhibition:

Drow Science at the Sci-Fi Fair

My Steampunk/Dieselpunk Pub at the Sci-Fi Faire

Since the Sci-Fi Convention earlier this year was so successful, the organisers have decided to hold second event this year too. The Sci-Fi Faire:

"To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek TV & film franchise the sci-fi alliance in second life has organised a convention covering 3 sim from September 7-11, with over 80 booths set up by residents to promote their trek and sci-fi groups, content made in world  and services. The event supports  “The American Cancer Society”  with donations and exposure.

The sims called “Vulcan” and “Qonos” are used for housing the booths whilst “Risa” in the centre being used for entertainment."

Sci-Fi Convention Blog

I'm not sure if its going to be a regular thing. But it would be certainly nice for the community to have such a happening twice a year. There is always so much to see and discover!

I am also happy that I finished the interior for my Steampunk Pub right in time. Impeccable timing, isn't it?

See you at the Faire!

No late April-Fools-Joke - LL reduces Landprices! Well, kinda...

It has been quite a while, since SL has been growing. It might be just about half a decade actually, since the number of sims did increase. The recent years saw a steady decline in sheer numbers - and to make it worse it was more and more high-profile sims which shut down. Sims which left a significant gap with their demise.

I wondered how long can it go on like this, until it really brings SL's sheer existence into doubt. It seems LL did finally understand that they have to do something to work against the trend. And they did at least something - but it is actually not so simple. To quote LL itself:

In November, we lowered the set-up fees for land purchases by 40%. Today, we’re introducing a limited-time offer that will make land even cheaper by allowing you to lower your monthly tier payments (aka land maintenance fees).
From today until October 4th, 2016, you can “buy-down” your Full Islands and/or Homesteads to the grandfathered maintenance rates. By paying a one-time fee up front, you’ll be entitled to lower tier rates on your land for as long as you hold it (and remember, we now also allow transferring grandfathered land).
The pricing for this offer is as follows:

Full Island:
One-time buy-down fee: $600
Grandfathered maintenance fee: $195/month (regularly $295/month)
Homestead:
One-time buy-down fee: $180
Grandfathered maintenance fee: $95/month (regularly $125/month)
Note: This offer cannot be combined with our Education and Non-Profit discount program, and cannot be applied toSkill Gaming Regions.
If you plan to hold onto your land for longer than 6 months, this is a great deal for you!
To take advantage of this offer, you’ll need to submit a Support Case using the Land & Region -> Region Buy Down case type. In that case you can provide us with the names of the regions you would like to buy down, and we will assess the appropriate buy-down fee per region.

Source: Second Life Blog

So this means you pay a one-time fee (the so-called buy-down the post is talking about). Then, after 6 months holding your sim and paying the reduced (Grandfathered) fees, you are breaking even and save money compared to the original pricing.

I think this is a start, its not a game-changer, since the prices for sims are still ridiculously high, but its at least some kind of reaction. We will see how the situation develops in the next months.

Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) at the Sci-Fi Convention!

The Sci-Fi Con is over and while I am looking back at a beautiful, well-organized and very friendly event (ok, there must have been a few incidents between different fan-groups, but nothing I am aware of), I have one last goodie for you:

A video of the Q & A Session with Garrett Wang (Voyager's Harry Kim at the SL Sci-Fi Con!

During the two-and-a-half hour recording Wang talks (amongst other things) about his time at Voyager, fan-produced films and reprising his role in the MMO Star Trek Online.
And yes, it is no fake! I was following the Facebook thread about getting him into Second Life for appearing at the Con and I couldn't really believe it, until a few days later it happened!
Sadly due to time-zones (and I assume that might have been the case for more of us) I was not able to participate the Q & A so right now I am listening to it for the first time too.

A really exciting and kind move of Wang to participate in the fun and many thanks to him and Steve Atlanta who established the contact and got him in.

There is also a audio-version of the session available at Soundcloud.

Sci-Fi Convention Blog

Sci-Fi Alliance at Facebook


Edit: I just finished listening to the audio and found it very entertaining and interesting too. Wang was absolutely unpretentious and friendly and gave a lot of insight about his time in Voyager. He also wasn't shy of giving his opinions on Star Trek's back-then producer Rick Berman or J. J. Abrams 2nd Star Trek film. There was clearly somebody speaking who is as passionate about Star Trek as its fans.