Showing posts with label developments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label developments. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

NCS2 Rebooted

Letter to the Naruto SL Community from the Creators of NCS

We are well aware of rival combat systems attempting to label NCS2 as “dead.” I can assure you, we are most certainly not! We are in the midst of performing some major restructuring, to address all of the issues the community has had with thus far. We have had great success in this regard.

Any attacks from rival system should be seen as desperation. They want NCS2 out of the way. We will not comply with them. You deserve better.

The incident of some NCS development team leaving, and as a result the removal of Iwakgaure, can be summarized as this: some members of the team did not agree with some of the clans being added, and those members threatened to leave if they didn’t get their way. NCS does not run like that. As a result, those particularly disgruntled members left and took what they could and did whatever they could to hinder future development of NCS.

The rest of the development team feel the community should be informed about the subject, as there have been many rumors and mentionings of what actually happened.

* * * * *

Down but not out. Despite a setback, Naruto Combat System version 2’s development is still on track, and the sim will soon be open for both business, combat, and roleplay. “People think we are dead,” Bioblaze Payne told SL Newspaper, “I just wanted to set the record straight.” A look at the NCS Official Mall District showed a shopping area constructed with some of the stores filled and the team looking for more. “I just opened up the sim,” Bioblaze explained.

Bioblaze went on to say his goal was to bring both elements of “massive multiplayer online” and “first-person shooter” to NCS2, “Everyone can make a prim fire from another prim. We are trying to bring meaning to it, melding both role-playing, with constant action, to combine a seamless yet, interesting form of playing that has yet to be named, on Second Life that is.”

Bioblaze showed a picture of the new HUD display, which was different from the previous version, “We are debating if to use countries or villages. We have yet to decide. We will be including a TOS (notecard) on creation of your character along, with a full database, to show your stats to your friends, and even look them up online, giving people not only control over their character, but actual Information on what they have purchased and objects they have won from tournaments, as well as other things.”

“Going along with this System, we are adding several styles of taijutsu along with almost fifteen Clans. We are sporting clans that are in the anime, not sticking ourselves to just the normal clans, but the clans that are within the anime and manga itself, branching off to where other Naruto combat Systems have yet to tread. By doing this, we are hoping to have a very in-depth system. People will no longer have 15 HUDs with 15 characters. They will have one HUD with one character, and may buy additional slots to store new character data.”

“We are not only implementing a new HUD, but we are also doing a Team-Based System and a Role-Playing Tool. You and your friends can attach a special HUD which will be very very low cost, and none of you will be able to damage each other on Role Playing Missions and SL Grid Wide Missions, allowing you to communicate off the radar. If you are familiar with Naruto, they have a Squad based system. With the Team HUD you will be able to make your own Squad so several team members can gain experience, as well as Different objects/items/stats from various missions/battles/tournaments. At the top you will be able to place your own Team name which will auto fill once you have all agreed on the Squad name. The Squads will have a one-time fee, and will be identified throughout Second Life by their name and picture. We will work on haven this also shows on the webpage, given a list of all the squads for every single village.” The HUD itself will still be free, “Never going to charge for it.”

Of the sim, Bioblaze explained everything should be up and running within a week, two weeks at most, “period.” He and his teammates, such as texture artist Syhon Hoxley, lead builder MeetThe Engineer, and Bioblaze’s partner Dark Broome were busy setting things up, “We’re currently working on a few juitsus.”

Bioblaze explained the HUD version in development could not be shown, “Too many people want to try and copy us. ... but the basic style of the artwork hasn’t changed. A basic idea of what’s to com. ... People want to be the best, and NCS2 is the best Naruto system combat-wise. We pull all the stops to get things done.”

Bixyl Shuftan

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Sloodle browser breakthrough

Malcolm Crowe ( in SL: Malcolm Glasgow) has developed an interactive web browser which uses a special inworld mouse to enable interaction within secondlife. It not only allows one user, its also possible for several avatars to collaborate and interact opening up a host of possibilities.
"To drag the virtual mouse, you have to hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard, then click and hold your left mouse button on the arrow pointer, and move your mouse around. If the pointer disappears, then let go of the mouse and Ctrl key, and it will soon re-appear. To click the virtual mouse, simply click on the red button attached to the pointer.
Data entry occurs using ordinary text chat: URLs to visit can be specified on channel 2, and form data can be specified on channel 3."

Crowe developed the browser and mouse as part of an international collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland and San José State University they have also developed a quiz hud which will allow 3D interaction with surroundings.
"The quizHUD is a free, open source educational tool for Second Life. It primarily consists of a HUD (heads up display) object which you 'wear' on your user interface in Second Life, and separate website software which you use to administer the system."
Crowe does warn that the system is still in developement and open and free sourced - it still has a few bugs but it is a far greater improvement on what was previously possible.

More information on the Sloodle can be found HERE and on quizHUD HERE .

Monday, July 7, 2008

SL5B: Rounding up the wagons ...

On it’s 5th anniversary SL is way passed the pioneer era. But then again ... It’s not.

"It is always an uneasy transition for the pioneers, and I think we’re going to go trough that again." (Mitch Kapor)

Under the flawless pixel summer sky, a crowd that was way passed the limit of safe occupancy of sims, struggled with lag and gathered to attend Mr. Mitch Kapor’s closure speech of SL 5th birthday celebrations.

People there where anxious, and hoping to hear announcements of change. Maybe we have this feeling about the Linden Lab being a kind of a nice Big Brother, but a Big Brother after all, that is supposed to provide us with tools for enhancing the experience and help make our virtual existence richer, more comfortable, more successful.

He encouraged residents to stop whining and start acting like the grown ups that the platform has become.

I sensed I bit of disappointment (Especially from residents who pay money to be here). I think both points of view are partly right. To people "in the know", the showing of clips from the video previewing his 3D camera (www.handsfree3D.com) was no news.

There was, instead, a 'political speech'. Sounding a bit like President Kennedy ("We stand at the edge of a New Frontier ..."), Mitch talked about the Internet, and about how a new technology always starts out in a frontier condition. In the beginning, SL residents have been pioneers, and he compared their spirit to those who settled the West.

The first pioneer era is ending now. We are at the gates of a transition. It's like we have reached the moon… and now we have to figure out how to move on from there.
It's not have been easy for pioneers. It's still not easy for newcomers. Only the strong stay.

He spoke about the 'high attrition rate' of the early years (many believe it's still high). "There are some things that Linden Lab has to do, to allow the potential of the platform to unfold, to improve ease of use, ease of learning", is a phrase that seems to point in the right direction.

Please see the video of Mitch Kapor's video, or just hear the audio, by going to the Linden Lab official blog. He spoke about the SL5B week, about the stage of development that Second Life is now in, and about new upcoming developments including real photo-realistic avatars, controlling your avatar by moving in front of a webcam. He also talked about other things, but please see the video on the LL blog for that.

Mitch Kapor is member of the Linden Lab board of directors. He has been involved with Second Life long before it was opened up to the public as an investor. Besides this, he has made a name for him self in the IT and internet world for various accomplishments. Please see the Wikipedia page about him for more detailed information.

Written by: Covadonga Writer