A Job in the North - Story for IST Flinders Project

My story for the IST Flinders Future Melbourne project.

A JOB IN THE NORTH

Winston looked at the HUD on his visor display as he crossed the Queens Bridge. It was 7pm. The smog over the Yarra was starting to cool down, the air finally breathable. People were emerging from their pods, up for the night and heading towards the few open businesses which were back up and running after the wars. Most people chose to stay in their pods, where they could live in virtual environments which far surpassed the current reality in Melbourne.

A savage battle with Sydney in 2050 had left the town in ruins, and much of what remained after that was wiped out with the Great Yarra War of 2051, fought between the North and South of Melbourne.

Winston was born on the South of the Yarra, and had fought in the war killing people he knew, the families of his old friends, feeling pleasure as they died. Now he had to go North, and face those same people again.

Even as he passed through the usually rough ticket scanners at Flinders Street Station, this was what was on Winston's mind. As the probes scanned and prodded him checking for his ticket and any unauthorised snacks, all that was on his mind was the new job he was starting tonight, as a concierge in one of the main virtual worlds, NorthG.

NorthG was a multinational gaming consortium which had bought out the entire suburb of Brunswick, building their headquarters in what used to be Parkville. After the infamous Sydney Road battle very little remained of the previously vibrant inner city community, and the locals were happy to trade the rights to their town for necessities such as food, water, medicine and utilities. NorthG moved in, helping Brunswick survive, however since that time, Brunswick suffered heavy attacks from jealous Southern groups such as the Frankston Militia.

It was into this hornets nest that Winston was taking a train. In the North he was a hated Southerner, if anyone found out he would be dead in hours - however he had a job to do.

As he boarded the train his eyes scanned the standing crowd from left to right. Who was a Southerner? He doubted anyone other than himself. No-one else would be that stupid. Still, a job was a job, and in the current economy there were few who would turn any work down.

Most of the passengers were dressed poorly. He was glad he had deliberately dressed down for the day, buying old Chinese labeled clothes which were only available in the North from his local tobacco dealer. He felt bad wearing such a cheap and common suit, but his usual hand made threads from his tailor in Toorak would have him spotted before he even arrived.

As the train approached Parkville the smog started to clear slightly, to the point where Winston could even make out the Sun, a faint glow from space peeking over a cloud through the deep purple haze. The only people visible were the NorthG Security Force, dressed in their distinctive bright orange uniforms, stomping around the wastelands of what used to be the Melbourne Zoo in the blurry shadow of the NorthG complex.

It was this orange army which Winston feared. It didn't matter if he was innocent or guilty, if they found out he was from the North, he would be lucky to make it out alive. Winston held no personal resentment towards the guards, they were just doing their job. He just hoped that they let him through so he could do his.

The train arrived at the NorthG station, and Winston shuffled towards the doorway, pushing through the crowd of NorthG workers pushing their way onto the train, finally escaping from the long day shift. Lucky bastards, he thought, and walked through the tunnel leading from the station directly into the monolithic grey NorthG complex. As he approached the light at the end of the tunnel his conscience started to stir, but he knew there was no going back now. His pace quickened, by the time he reached the reception hall he was practically jogging.

He thought of his mother, his father, his friends back in the South. He thought of the man who had hired him for this job the week before, and of the liquid explosives that man had strapped to his torso. Finally he thought of his beloved wife, who had been killed during the Great Yarra War by a NorthG missile whilst pregnant with his first and only child.

Winston reached under his jacket and pulled on a nylon cord.

THE END

Todays Class - IST Flinders

TASK ONE

Using pen, paper and cameras, we will explore the proposed area(Flinders St station). Look at it from a new angle, explore everything(legally!) as if you were exploring a new location in Second Life. Go to places you(and others) would generally never go to and look at things from a new 'point of view.'

As you find a new 'point of view' - answer the following questions.

What is already there that can be used somehow? Objects, buildings, textures, people, businesses etc...
What could be there in the future - how will the overall future theme effect what exists at the moment, and what will replace it?
What would you like to see?
What wouldn't you like to see?

Also;
What area would you replicate? Where are the boundaries? How will this be handled?
Keep an eye out for different forms of writing for the project below.

Answer these with pen and paper for at least two different 'points of view,' then post it on your blog along with any photos.

We will then discuss our ideas as a class, each person answering each of the three questions and sharing what they learnt. We shall discuss once again an overall vision for the city with guidance from Johnny and Adam, taking some more definite notes about ideas.

TASK TWO

Each person then writes a linear story based in the futuristic Melbourne (500 words minimum). The story can take any form you choose, however spelling and grammar are important! Please use spell check, and feel free to email me draft versions if you would like any assistance. These stories will help us form a historical background for our project, and can be included on the project website.

The stories are due at the start of next weeks class (Thursday September 6th) and can be posted to your blog(feel free to edit them continually online).

3d Studio Max tutorial for reference;
http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=185426

IST Flinders

T-shirts, Clothing, Weapons

Ideas WM1 Flinders

In this lesson we will be creating some t-shirts that can be worn, and given to friends within Second Life.

Download a free t-shirt template for photoshop (made by Robin Sojourner) from the following location.
http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLPages/RSWTShirtStart.html
(Please note the terms which include donating to charity if you wish to sell the shirts.)

Open the template file in photoshop, it's a simple case of replacing the images and text with your own.

Possibilities include bands, art, sporting teams, and sayings. Try googling some suitable images or logos.
The file can then be saved as a TGA if transparency is required, or a JPG if it is not (simpler for beginners).
A more detailed explanation can be found here; http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLPages/RSWTShirtLong1.html

See articles below for some examples.

We then created something to wear and learnt how to attach it to our limbs - there was a wide variety of outcomes, tattoos, top hats, bats, balls. This is Jay on his way to becoming a Tinman;


And a couple of beauties from David;


We then had a discussion about the class project once again, unfortunately Enoka had left the class but I hope she can return and have an impact on the class, she has had some great ideas so far.

What the group has generally agreed on is;
A Space Station
Which can then feature a wide variety of things like;
- Shuttle/ships
- Costumes Area
- Holodeck
- Gun shop
- Biodome
- Elevators
- Evil Lair (trapdoors)
- Bar

WM1 St Albans

Today(as with IST yesterday) we got a little bit more serious about building, learning how we can drop scripts into objects we have created to make them behave a certain way.
The first half of the class we designed objects using the rotation script, I don't have a picture of the best creation which was Chris's bulldozer type vehicle with spinning rollers and a transport script dropped in, very nice work.
The second half of the class we all designed a t-shirt each, again some fantastic results, but the network crashed towards the end so we didn't get a chance to take many snapshots, but they were all good. I look forward to a group sl snapshot next time I am out there.
Checking now a lot of the blogs don't seem to be very up to date.

Had to return this Sthap but I admire your focus!

Thursday IST at Flinders

Today we got a little bit more serious about building, learning how we can drop scripts into objects we have created to make them behave a certain way.
The first half of the class we designed objects using the rotation script, with some great results.
Elemesh Merlins chopper in particular was an amazing first effort, topped off by using a flight script from another free object.
The second half of the class we spent discussing and finalising all of the ideas for the town (Futuristic Melbourne) - more to come on that as I dissect the photo of the mass of notes filling the whiteboard over the weekend. Johnny and Adam will be directing the project, Johnny came up with more ideas than I can remember! A few things discussed - Sydney Ninjas, Super Toilets taking you underground, a giant squid in the Yarra(which mutates you), Flying transport, blocks of 7-11s - and the whole place is run by evil vegans - I do like that!

Tuesday WM1 Flinders Class

Today we took photos in real life and snapshots in second life, which we then uploaded into the SL environment to learn how textures work(examples below).
We then started some basic building, with an emphasis on using WHOLE NUMBERS and making sure our work is millimetre perfect.
Some handy shortcuts;
CTRL L - Link
CTRL SHIFT L - Unlink
CTRL D - Copy (or hold shift and move an object)

Employment Opportunity

Avatar: building an online 3D world in Teen Second Life

Youth mentor assisting secondary school students accessing and getting involved in a Teen SL project.

Some information about the project is available at www.art.tafe.vu.edu.au/avatar
Minimum 4 hours per week at $25 per hour
Starting in a couple of weeks
Requirements: Be interested and proficient in the Second Life, have a current drivers license and a vehicle to go to various locations, be interested to work with young people, able to do at least 4 hours per week until December
Contact me for further details

STA Class Video from Mobile

St Albans - Learning to build

We began with a short discussion about the Sports Stadium project, and using it for a portfolio piece at the end of the year.
Some points;
Seats, color co-ordinated
Color scheme
Advertising
Building Materials
Changing Rooms
Stadium Lighting
Scoreboard
Field/Flags
Corporate Boxes
Toilets
Ticket Booth
Cand/Hot Dog/Kiosk
Bar/Club
Boxing
Concerts
Footy
Cricket
Soccer
Quiddich
Brand New Game
Hockey
Flying
Shooting
Car Racing
Boats
Horse Racing

The final verdict was a stadium which can change to host several sports, as well as an original game which we will create as a class, possible involving something like riding a horse and shooting a ball around.

We then took photos of ourselves in Real Life and Second Life comparing the two, then uploaded the RL photo into Second Life to learn about textures.
Everyone then had to build a basic house, with emphasis on keeping the numbers whole and simple to prevent problems. Some quite decent builds came out of it.
More to come including video soon.


Remember
CTRL L - Link
CTRL SHIFT L - Unlink
CTRL D - Copy (or hold shift and move an object)

Some footage of the IST Flinders Class (From a mobile phone)

Atomic Johnnys Idea

A product of Johnnys very significant imagination - Melbourne in the future.

Pictures in SL - IST Flinders

Putting those images into Second Life

We then uploaded our photos and displayed them in world, as a simple example of how to upload a new texture and apply it. Damion (I kill them all) Barzane came up with some very nice stretching of his own image to build a house.

Pictures of life

Today we started by taking a picture in real life as well as a picture in Second Life, to discuss and force ourselves to think about the difference between our RL images and SL images.
We discussed there being two sides to the argument, some thought that avatars were a way to hide and not really you, whereas the alternate view was that they can be a more true representation of people than their own physical body, which they cannot change.
People were also (generally) much more self-conscious with their photos than their in world snapshots - but then spent more time on the in world snapshots. I am not sure what if anything that suggests.
Some great results, and I think most people were forced to think about their self-image from a totally new perspective.

Below are some links to some RL images uploaded for students.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/6747/09082007784cm6.jpg
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/4812/dsc00266px7.jpg
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/6237/dsc00267ib9.jpg
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/9141/dsc00040xs4.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1768/dsc00041td1.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6902/dsc00042oi9.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8612/dsc00043rq8.jpg
http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/3170/dsc00270sg8.jpg
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/2826/dsc00044dn7.jpg
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2300/spa0293bm1.jpg
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2421/dsc00048qr5.jpg
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7729/dsc00049yv0.jpg
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6243/dsc00050nh9.jpg

WM1 Flinders Class One in Second Life

Todays class we started looking at Second Life, firstly joining(troubles once again) and then travelling to three different locations and writing reviews.
Once again we saw an interesting range of places.
After this we had a discussion about possible ideas for the town, in particular themes and PODs.
Some ideas;

• Health Retreat
• Theme Park
• Prehistoric
• Cartoon
• Space/Aliens
• Futuristic
• Medieval
• Spanish Colonial
• Historical Tombs
• Graveyard/Spooky
• Get Smart
• Changing Land (Magic Faraway Tree style)
• Depression
• Ghetto
• Gangster
• Underground
• Western
• Ancient Times
• Sudan

Another good idea was to combine several of these themes. The changing land is a great and original idea.
We finished up by building a bucket each, just an introduction to building tools and seeing what people could come up with themselves.

*Details to remember for Jay on WOW
Wasabiman
Oceanic Servers PVP Server
Jubies Thos

First WM1 Class St Albans in Second Life

Today was my second trip out to St Albans, and the first opportunity for a class in Second Life.
We started out by trying to sign up, but as luck would have it, Second Life has closed off new accounts, so slowly and after a few phone calls to 'borrow' friends usernames and passwords, we got everyone logged in. Once logged in the lag was quite bad, creating quite a few operational problems, hopefully it was just one of those days.
Once in world, due to the limitations with building, editing characters or doign anything too delicate, the first assignment was to (as below) travel to three seperate SL locations and do a quick report including it's name, likes and dislikes, snapshots, and whether it was worth another visit.
The purpose of this is to gain an understanding of the scope of Second Life, and as a group gain experience in what can and has already been done, and how things work.
We then took a moment to chat about the classes ideas for their town, which was a tropical paradise like city island. We discussed some of the limitations including 'prims' for each parcel and the size of each island, and then continued to discuss more specific ideas.
- Submarine
- Resort
- Racing
- Lifesaving
- Hovercraft
- Jetskis
- Boats
- Cocktail Bar
- Sports Arena
There seemed to be a lot of discussion about the sports arena, with replicas of Telstra Stadium, the MCG, Rod Laver Arena, Aquatic Centre, Motor Racing/Motorcycle Tracks. The vocal consensus after discussion seemed to be the MCG, so I called them just out of interest to try and set up a meeting with their marketing people. I left a message and will try to arrange a meeting out of interest.
In the short term, the most realistic option seems to be if we could make something similar, like the ACG - to avoid licensing issues, and also potentially have a great portfolio piece which the class could then approach real venues like the MCG or Rod Laver in an attempt to get real paid work.
A new concept would also give us more creative freedom, and time is a constraint for any larger project.
The other issue is how a story and secret can be incorporated into a build such as this.
It's all still open at the moment, I am looking forward to more discussion, absolutely nothing is concrete, it would be good to explore a few more ideas in depth(perhaps some of the ones above).

Todays IST Class

In todays IST Class we firstly visited and reviewed 3 places each from within Second Life.
We then brainstormed more ideas.
Some more ideas;

• Choose your own adventure
• Funhouse
• Pinball Island
• Trampoline Island
• Aquarium
• Forest tree houses
• Specialised
• Snow
• Cloud City
• Heaven Hell - Costumes?
• Neon London
• Futuristic Melbourne
• Horror
• Dinosaurs
• 3d prims
• Arcade
• Murderball
• Spaceship
• ZeroG
• Roman Style
• Combat soccer (commentary/ads)
• Staff costumes
• Racing
• Takeshis Castle

SECRETS

• Matrix
• Freebie Room
• Crystal powered city

We finished up with everyone building a bucket, canoe, dolphin, or something of their own choice.
Homework was considering seriously what the theme of the island could be.

Reviewing places

The first location I visited was Ocean Sunrise.
I liked the trees(nice palms), they used some nice saturated rich colors, and nice waves.
I didn't like the land style, and the sand was a little boring, it needed more shapes or perhaps some grass.
I would come back if I needed a new style of palm tree.