The End of One Adventure is the Beginning of the Next for Hypergrid Storytellers

We launched Immersive Edge this weekend and celebrated at the after party last night. It's the Monday morning after.

What Next? 

Well to start let's talk  about Next Dimension Tales which is a brand new grid that quietly launched  as part of Immersive Edge.

 world.nextdimensiontales.com:8901

We wanted a place that was not linked to any particular commercial or private grid, something that could stand on it's own as a common ground for the hypergrid community. This is a library for 3D stories. If you create one we would like to link it via a holographic scene or a gate back to your grid. If it is a story built by a multi-grid team we can make space to host some. This is a free service so finances will create limits to how many can be directly hosted. Future projects from our teams will be hosted here. Immersive Edge will remain here open to the public.

How to submit a story to Next Dimension Tales:

1) It must be a 3D story.
2) It must be a story: a clear beginning, middle, end.
3) If both the above are true, you get in touch with Nara Malone via FaceBook, G+ or inworld and let her know you'd like to place a story at Next Dimension Tales.
4) Don't be intimidated by the rules because I am notorious for not following them. 

What will this look like?

I have a vision of a catalog region of floating books that rez a scene when you land on it. You would then walk through the scene as an introduction to the story and go through a teleporter into the book which may be hosted on another grid. I think of it as a library where you check into a book rather than check a book out. Ideas often shift and refine themselves as you start making them a reality, but that's where it stands for now.

We will be a resource for storybuilding as well:

The tools we used to build Immersive Edge, the tools we use to control NPCs are all there. Other creators are already contacting us about including AI, making ebooks that contain portals into worlds, holodeck novels and so on. We will add to current resources as new methods are developed.

Exploring the future of fiction:

Nara's Nook Greyville Writer's Colony was created to explore the future of fiction in virtual reality and how virtual reality can continue to inspire better traditional text stories. The Immersive Edge project demonstrates that it takes more than a writer to tell a 3D story. It requires artists, scripters, musicians, etc. Fortunately our grid projects have been a gathering places for folks with these skills, sometimes those skills are all wrapped up in one person. Most Nook members have homes on other grids but come to Nook to join our experiments. Others enjoy making their homes with us. Either way, Nook is where the plotting and experimenting takes place and we welcome anyone who wants to explore the future of fiction with us. If you decide to join the Nook grid, please hold off until next week as we are in the process of moving to a new server and would lose any new members registering now.

world.narasnook.com:8900

The Full List of Immersive Edge Machinima

I thought I'd post the complete list of Immersive Edge machinima from Nina Camplin. I will add the remaining scenes here as they are made public. Nina's machinima is dramatic and compelling. Keep in mind that while the Immersive Edge movie tells the story in flash fiction narrative, there is a deeper story inside each scene. All scenes include immersive interaction between visitors and characters. You know you don't want to miss fending off crocodiles, riding the flying bed, shooting demons to set humans trapped inside free.

Chapter One: The Tesla Tower
The Tesla Tower scene was designed and built by Nara Malone, Neo Cortex, and Shannan Albright. Namaka's Journal Narrative and character dialog by Nara Malone.

Chapter Two: The Wizards RetreatWizard's retreat was built by Avia Bonne with scripting help from Jessie Campbell. Gameplay, characters, dialog and Dylan's Journal narrative from Shannan Albright. Be sure to test your skill crossing the bridge of falling books.

 Chapter Three: The Swamp
The swamp scene was designed and built by Mattie McBride, Serene Jewel, and Fred Beckhusen. Character dialog by the builders and Namaka's Journal narrative by Nara Malone. This scene is an exploration of nonhuman characters and I think it is safe to say there are more characters in this scene than any other.

Chapter Four: The Desert
 Surreal build from Talia Sunsong and Endora Twinklens. Characters and dialog from the builders. Dylan's Journal Narrative from Shannan Albright. The Escher house is a must-see.

Chapter Five: Unicorn Valley
Fantasy and faeries from Sunbeam Magic with scripting help from Jessie Campbell, Fred Beckhusen, Neo Crotex and Aine Caoimhe. Namaka's Journal narrative from Nara Malone and character dialog from Sunbeam Magic. This is a build that feeds the soul. Be sure an ride that flying bed.

Chapter Six: Metamorphosis
Praline B and Cherry Manga were tasked with taking us through the dark night of the soul. Four levels of emotional and artistic brilliance await. The emotion HUDs put you inside the character viewpoint. Namaka's Journal narrative by Nara Malone. Scene dialogue by Cherry Manga and Praline B. Don't miss riding the keys.

 Chapter Seven: The Keeper's Tower
 Aine Caoimhe made a refuge for our characters where they could rest and reflect before the final conflict. Beautiful statues have lessons hidden inside. Dylan's Journal narrative written  by Shannan Albright. The Lesson dialogs were written by Aine Caoimhe.

Chapter Eight: The Labyrinth 

Ruby O' DeGee's build is a delight and a marvel. It includes a balloon ride and a chase across the sim through the labyrinth. Dylan's Journal narrative by Shannan Albright. Character dialog by Ruby O' DeGee. Don't miss collecting the treasures in the pirate chest.

Chapter Nine: Demon Dancers

From Shin Ingen, the demon dance is the final battle before you reach the portals home to choose your future. You must set free the unmask all the demons with the laser gun to unlock the portals. It's not easy, but you won't want to stop until you've done it.

Chapter Ten: Choose Your Ending

There are three portals to choose from after the demons are conquered. You choose the ending you want for Namaka and Dylan.

Immersive Edge the Full Movie

All the scenes above combined to to tell the story.

 To learn more about Immersive Edge, view walkthroughs and find details  visit our website.

Meet the Presenters for Immersive Edge Launch

We're lucky to have an incredibly talented team  working on Immersive Edge and luckier still to have a gifted group of presenters dropping by on launch weekend to share their knowledge about story building  and storytelling. Presentation will last about 15 minutes, followed by  a few quick instructions from me on how to adjust your viewer settings for best experience and how to access the story. Then our team will give you a guided tour through Immersive Edge. Clean out those suitcases because scattered through the scenes are gift items and storytelling tools. We look forward to seeing friends from around the metaverse.  world.nextdimensiontales.com:8901

Speaker info and times :

Sande Chen:  How Technology is Changing Storytelling.

If you are a fan of The Witcher then you are already a Sande Chen fan. If you're more into serious games, the you'll recognize her as the coauthor of the book, Serious Games. She is respected throughout the gaming community as a game designer and author. Sande will be speaking Sunday, Nov 8th at 9 AM SLT.
Bio: Sande Chen is a writer and game designer whose game credits span 10 years in the industry. Her writing credits include 1999 Independent Games Festival winner Terminus and the PC RPG of the Year, The Witcher, for which she was nominated for a 2007 Writers Guild Award in Videogame Writing. She is the co-author of Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform and a contributor to Writing for Video Game Genres, Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing, and Secrets of the Game Business. In 2006, she was profiled as one of the game industry's top 100 most influential women for her work as Director of the non-profit, Girls in Games, Inc. She has spoken about games at conferences around the globe, including the Game Developers Conference, Austin Game Conference, and the Serious Games Summit D.C. She also has a Grammy nomination.

Ruby O' DeGee: Story Building

I was looking for a bio on Ruby and found this article and stole a chunk of it because I swear Ruby and I have some kind of mind link going on. This is exactly what I think the future of storytelling should look like:

"It seems like it took forever.  12 years of developing a process for storybuilding with virtual reality technology.  And finally we are not so lonely anymore.

With those billions of dollars on the horizon 2018-2020, the band wagon is being loaded with the folks (entertainment corporate sorts) who have the wherewithal to get things going.  I am not one of those folks, but my heart and soul is in it.  I would like to live long enough to see it happen: the wider acceptance of a new storytelling medium using digital and immersion arts.  From poetic tales written across clay tablets to novels and film.  Now at last we readers will enter the stories we tell for as long as we like, experience the triumphs and pitfalls, and be out in time to have dinner with our families or get a good night's sleep in our own cozy beds."
Drop by Saturday, November 7th, 9 AM SLT for Ruby's talk on Story Building. 

Bio : Ruby O'Degee is a fictive author and storybuilder, penned by Ann Dickerson. In the tradition of characters developed for telling stories (Sherlock Holmes, Marco Polo, Cynthia Rawlings), Ruby was first made a character for a journal in 1994, and later represented by an avatar (fall of 2003). Ruby is much better known than her typist, author and benefactor, a fact that pleases Ann.

Aine Caoimhe:  All about PMAC  

How do I love PMAC? Let me count the ways... I love it because I was able to figure it out myself in about 10 minutes. I love it because it sets me free from all plus and minus clicking of buttons in MLP to adjust a position. You just grab the model and put them where you want. I love it because starting from scratch with a build was impossible for me to figure out with MLP, but with PMAC I can do a set of animations for an object in a few minutes. I love it most of all because using NPCs on MLP is always a frustrating and iffy business. PMAC is built with NPCs in mind and sometimes even right inside. If those aren't enough reasons, when I replaced all the MLP in one house in one region with PMAC it dropped the region script usage by 30 percent.

Bio: Originally a photographic artist in the 70's and 80's, I gradually added digital art to my repertoire and now work primarily in Photoshop and Blender. I'm enjoying the freedom of retirement to explore 3D virtual worlds using Opensimulator software (OSGrid people will better know me as Mata Hari).

At various times I have taught, lectured and led workshops on photography, visual perception, and the psychology of art to all levels of student -- from post-grads to grade schoolers.

Now living in the wonderfully secluded wilds of northern Ontario with my daughter -- soon to be off to university herself -- and the latest addition to the family: Bonnie, our yellow Labrador retriever who keeps my heart light (and feet warm!)

On Saturday November 7th, noon SLT, Aine will demonstrate just how easy it is to make the PMAC system a part of your story builds.

 Fred Beckhusen: All-in-One-NPC Controller

The foundation of Immersive Edge is Fred's NPC controller. The years of work he has poured into making a tool easy for everyone paid off on this project. From artists to authors we were all able to use some version of Fred's work to rez and move NPCs through a scene to tell our stories. While we were building he kept adding new features we told him we needed. I think his controller went through a dozen  revisions over the course of the project. We've coaxed Fred out from under his troll bridge to demonstrate all the amazing things that are possible with his NPC controller.
Fred will be demonstrating the NPC Controller on November 8th at noon SLT.

Bio: Fred K. Beckhusen, President, Micro Technology Services, Inc. Microcomputer and microprocessor hardware design and programming. My software work is primarily in C and its variants C++ and C#, with lots of perl, lsl script, Visual Basic, 3-D modeling in Solidworks, and lots of other languages and tools I'd rather forget, dating all the way back to the early 1970's. My first computer was the Rockwell Autonetics Recomp-II, a 1K word, 40-bit drum-memory military computer. I took it apart, rebuild it, and wrote John Conways "Game of Life" for it, from careful study of the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American. I still read and love Scientific American, which first published the rules for the game of Life in 1970. Yeah, I know. It dates me.