Walk-through Safari

             Each Safari trip lasts about three hours. Sometimes, that's divided into three one-hour visits, and sometimes into two ninety minute encounters. This week was of the ninety-minute-times-two variety, and for good reason! Our destinations were on OSgrid, Metropolis and Mobius grids (huh? three grids for two destinations? You'll see.) and all the HG Addresses are at the end of the post, as usual.
          First up, the new ephemeral hunt by Nani Ferguson and Ange Menges. Teraphosa is a scary place with a scary name (Google 'theraphosa' if you don't believe me) but it's a good scary, a Hunt build with a chinese flavor. The build is only open for just 10 days, beginning today Thursday 13 April, so be sure to go very soon. Before you go, watch this video in youtube so you can understand the way the game works.

Max Hill of Ignis in an extraordinary Lion avatar

          This is perhaps the finest build yet by the Ferguson/Menge team - and that is saying a lot. The lovely book HUD, the dinosaurs, the unique twist on the classic Easter egg theme, the jeopardy and the dual-sim layout of the hunt make it all worth visiting even if you're not a fan of Hunts, or like me, useless at them. 

       If you're a creator and thinking of making an immersive build,

...then this can serve as a masterclass in everything, from 3D renders to exploiting NPCs to their best advantage, and the cleverest use of space.

        Since we are always a big group - rather more than twenty of us showed up this week - it is a great thing that Teraphosa is available on two different grids simultaneously. You can choose to go to the Osgrid or Metropolis instances of the region, they're identical. 

Siberia liked the Hunt so much he was jumping for joy

         We split the group just about evenly between Metro and OSgrid for our special preview visit, and nobody seemed to suffer too much from lag - kudos to the servers! - which would, of course, kill the pleasure of a hunt where walking around and finding things is paramount. 

      Whether you visit the OSgrid or the Metro version of the hunt, be sure to jump to the second region, which has skyboxes that contain some of the most stunning scenery anywhere in the hyperverse.

      It was not easy to prise everyone away from the build after 90 minutes, between getting killed by dinosaurs, finding eggs, reading clues and taking photos, but the build will be open for the next 10 days, so we will all be back!

     Second stop was on Mobius Grid. Co-owners Wish Dreamcast and Serra Royale as well as other talented Mobians, were there to meet us. And by 'there'... well, let's just say, it's no small place, the Mobius Welcome sim. 
          Forewarned that the Mobians have some Bento avatars, it was time to use Firestorm or Alchemy and not Singularity Viewer, which currently doesn't show bento to its best advantage. 

Drake Spyker

          Mobius grid has about 1500 registered avies, and the small but dedicated core developers have been working hard to mesh up many of their builds and make the entire grid SL friendly, with features such as money, and shop spaces available. The best part of Mobius, for most of us, are the avies and the sounds, which set the grid apart from most of the hyperverse.

Wish Dreamcast

           Wish took the lead in explaining the main welcome sim, and she did a fab job of it! The region has a vast, open-air, waterside feel to it. The area cleverly combines loads of must-haves, like shops and social zones, with some great architectural features, like this bridge.

         We were particularly impressed by all the creativity of Drake Spyker, who put together much of what you'll see on this huge region.

       From five-legged teleports to fountains, from textures to buildings, from scripting to avatars, a trip around Mobius is always a delight for its sense of humor and bright positivity. So nice too, to meet other Mobians and see how enthusiastic they all are. If FS hadn't decided to eat my Chat Log, I'd tell you all their names, too.

      After about 90 minutes we arrived at this intriguing underwater build, straight out of the video game with which the grid is so closely associated. 

          Just gorgeous and a must-visit, Mobius Grid is friendly, fun loving, with kick-ass avies, great stability, and masses of potential. Take a trip there and see for yourself.

HG Addresses

Teraphosa Ephemeral Hunt (open 13-23 April 2017 only) 
by nani ferguson and Ange Menges
Two identical venues:
hg.osgrid.org:80:teraphosa   
and 
hypergrid.org:8002:teraphosa

Mobius Grid Welcome region  grid.mobiusgrid.us:8002