Kellie's Hero

Opensim, like life, can sometimes throw a curved ball and this week our planned first destination had to be postponed at short notice. But it worked out great, because Spax Orion said we could come and preview the big changes he's been making at his funfair, Dismayland. 

Spax will be our guest on Inworld Review this Sunday - a Live show about OpenSim on YouTube, so if you watch at 11am SLT, you can also comment and ask questions! Just recently, he's worked hard to give a typically bright and busy tribute to one of Opensim's most memorable creators, the great Linda Kellie. The HG Address is at the end of the post, as always.

Dismayland is diabolically clever

Spax Orion: Dismayland is starting to look like one of the "Sierra: Roberta Williams" Point and Click Adventure games (we had tons of games like those around the turn of the millennium) - Return visitors will notice the world with more interactivity. Plenty of little distractions to wade through before passing the gate...

Tosha Tyran: giggles

It's true. When you arrive on Dismayland you find yourself in a sky box organized like the entrance to a theme park with security personnel (the terrible Wanda and poor, mistreated George are legendary.) There are lots of signs and NPCs talking, and for some of us, it feels overwhelming and the first reaction is to get out of the crowd and hurry down to the rides, but if you take your time here, you'll discover that there is more going on in this one skybox than there is on many a 4x4 region!

Spax Orion: This Season and forevermore, Dismayland is not just HONORING Linda Kellie, we extend our gratitude to everyone who contributes meaningfully to our platform. That includes some of you. Linda Kellie's contributions keep on giving, even to this very day. 

Spax Orion:  I am testing a NEW FEATURE TODAY called PARK CLOSED...

Tosha Tyran: ha, so we are the new guinea pigs

Spax Orion: This one is a little more devilish... I can keep the entire sim open but restrict everyone to a certain area. No drawing special parcels, no groups, one gatekeeper script can TRAP an army of agents in a defined area!And here we are.... Waiting on these JACK-WAGONS to open this odious fart fair. Perhaps we are making Opensim history.

Tosha Tyran: Hi James, be careful

Spax Orion:If any of you try to step into the PROCESSOR before the 'Park Open' sign is on Display, it will immediately kick you back to the landing, smashed together like canned fish awaiting on Dirty Helga to flip the switch.

Spax Orion: You will notice new colors and a more vibrant appearance... While The TRIBUTE is in progress, I am transitioning the park into a "Jester's Toybox" styled branding for Season 3. Think Willy Wonka with a Chainsaw! Who knows what will be next... maybe my 'Orange Vests' can do an Oompa Loompa ACT for you next season. On second thought: That is a crime too heinous for my twisted mind to commit. Feel free to cam around the room... touch everything except Wanda....

Thirza Ember: I'm staging an intervention. Poor guy, someone needs to whack Wanda

Spax Orion: she does not like being touched

Thirza Ember: I noticed! as soon as I went in the Security pen, my screen went very red and I got thrown back to the wait area

Tosha Tyran: Wanda is a little horror, seems

Forest Azure: not that little!

Dings gets chewed up

Jade Serenity: looks to me like we walk into a meat grinder :P

Dings Digital: "Try to keep it together", lol

Spax Orion our host

When we got down to ground level we found the Dismayland answer to Anne Robinson the ghoulish quizmistress of the BBC show The Weakest Link back in the naughties. With her usual mix of cutting insults, Anne asked us multiple choice questions about the art and crafts of Linda Kellie. Here's just the first question, you can go play the quiz yourself any time, and we wouldn't want you to miss out on the wrong answers...

Anne Robotson: Welcome to The Weakest THINK: I see a room of 10 avatars and none of you look worthy enough to summon my existence. We honor the Ghost Linda Kellie ::: TONIGHT ::: your answers might not. Let's find out who has the most feces between their ears in this episode of: The Weakest THINK!

Anne Robotson: QUESTION 1 of 10: What software did Linda Kellie use to add textures to her mesh kits?

Anne Robotson: A) Photoshop  B) Krita  C) GIMP  D) MS Paint  E) A custom in-house tool  F) A single sable-hair brush  G) Blender

Govega Sachertorte: C GIMP

Anne Robotson: IDIOT! Time is wasting... Try again.

Nara Nook: A

Anne Robotson

Forest Azure: .. who is Linda Kellie?

Govega Sachertorte: Shelby Moonlight - she was certainly prolific.

Forest Azure: ah, so really a person

Govega Sachertorte: My first ever opensim experience was joining a grid run by her daughter's best friend

Thirza Ember: early days of opensim, Forest. Linda Kellie used several different names, moving from grid to grid, she made stuff in opensim, lots of free stuff, you can read a bit about her here 

For our visit, Spax had turned off a lot of the Chatting NPCs, because in a big group, it gets hard to follow the conversation between host and visitors when the NPCs are chipping in all the time. But when you visit on a regular day, be ready for endless comments, jokes, insults and more!

Thirza Ember: this place is so wild. if you're here alone, it feels like you're in a crowd the whole time

Govega Sachertorte: cause as we know  Opensim can be a lonely place

Spax Orion: Those of you who were on the recent PRIMLAND Tour at Avacon will see some of that design influence here. That was just last week. A touch of that inspiration caused a COMPLETE flora overhaul of the ground. In 24 Hours I wiped out all of the plants, Visited 'Jimmy's Flora', then had Dirty Helga (Anthropic) tint all of the graphics including the terrain to match 'The Jester's Approval'. It was a gamble... the old terrain was not working with all of the pretty paint I added to the rides... Originally I wanted a decayed park with malfunctioning rides, as I went along I decided it would be better to give the park a look worthy of its name.

Dorena and Nara take the balloon ride

Nara Nook: The balloon was fun.

Spax Orion: How did you like the tour guide Nara?

Nara Nook: He was very talkative, what do you use to power the NPC plays?

Govega Sachertorte

Govega Sachertorte: Next time I will attempt the rides here

Spax Orion: Originally this season for a MAIN EVENT, I wanted our fanciful food processor to redirect avatars to the 'Costume Cage'. It works like the PARK CLOSED mechanism only it has a twist. It scans ALL avatars in the region and any agent NOT WEARING A VALID COSTUME is sent to the cage to change. If you would like to see it, cam on over to the rightmost castle spire and peek through the opening. The left Spire of the castle contains: The Silence. A room free of Channel 0 chatter. One day we might have a theme party and it is there when required.

The Moat platform

Spax Orion: This area is called the MOAT... This was all WATER last time you were here. I erected my 3rd generation lighting rig called IMAGE AETHER. This is the prototype. It has some bugs and it uses math only Xengine will understand. 

Spax Orion: I took my SimGear Lightclub and threw away the hud completely. Instead I programmed it to change lights and patterns automatically... removing the micro-management of its predecessors. Get the V2 rig on the gift table... that works anywhere! If you have headphones on you should be hearing the spatial audio system so I can do shows without a stream using 59 second loops and broadcasting the sound through the club.

Thirza Ember: the atomic bomb might be a bit of an overreaction

Spax Orion: Ricky helped me to test and refine this game\

Govega Sachertorte: Oh cool

Thirza Ember: i wonder if this is damaging our health standing so close

Spax Orion: of course it is

The Freebie boxes

Thirza Ember: oh did anyone else see all those goodies in boxes? Oh I'm sorry Tina, I only just saw there was a translator available

Spax Orion: and yes, please do partake of the donations the community was kind enough to share

Tina Bey: Haha, don't apologize... Thirza, I'm just relaxing here and looking at everything—it's amazing...

Thirza Ember: Spax tell us about the first  fun fair ride you made

Spax Orion: that is Leviathan's Fury. it Started at Ozone as Imbrium Inferno. It use scripts from Cuteulala Artis to power it. Before coming to opensim I specialized in Macromedia Flash. I made web pages POP on Dial-up... it killed me when Flash died

Taarna Welles: Macromedia Flash! Long time ago I used this too :)

Govega Sachertorte: interesting I can see the flashy connection

James Atlloud: Ah Cuteulala - now known as Bloom Peters of Winxtropia

Spax Orion: now... cuteulala's code required me to mend my coaster... and that was a major PITA because the car would not follow the tracks and I could not get great speed emulation

Dings Digital: I remember the Macromedia Website Builder in the early days. Forgot what it was called...

Spax Orion: We dragged the Ghost of Linda Kellie out thanks to the CC0 license... there are a lot of Linda's textures all over the park...

Thirza Ember: Linda must have been responsible for 1000s of textures over the years

Taarna Welles: Linda IS Opensim :)

Govega Sachertorte: She was with Digiworldz last I heard years ago

Nara Nook: I used to go to their sim. It was very pretty. They were really low profile about it all.

Ricky Fournier: I've never found anyone who actually knows if she's still around with a different name.

Taarna Welles: Maybe she is one of us and we don't know.

Spax Orion:  Linda may have left opensim BUT her generosity remains in those who contribute to this platform.

Taarna Welles: Anyway, the most of us have good memories about her.

Thirza Ember: me too, she was a lot of fun,  and I bet she will enjoy knowing you did this

Dings Digital: I met her in Metropolis. She was very kind.

Ricky Fournier: absolutely

The 'Linda Kellie Throne' will do electrifying things to you!

Spax Orion: I never got to meet her personally. or IF I DID I might have met one of her alts... who can say? it is a small world in opensim

Thirza Ember: very creative and with a fierce love of free stuff

Govega Sachertorte: the free stuff stuck for a long time,  I continue to push that agenda every day

Spax Orion: I was learning to make magic from day one I think... I hit the ground running and have not stopped.

Thirza Ember: for going on for two decades, Linda has been an inspiration for so many people to make content and give it to the community. That is what she would want to be remembered for I'm sure!

Thirza Ember: how many rides are there here, Spax?

Spax Orion: I lost count... 8 coasters,  4 tours, several NPC sideshows and plays, there are easily 40 or 50 different interactive gauntlets in this sim

Tosha Tyran: I think I might as well move into the afterlife. It is the absolute most crazy place I have ever seen - or better: that has ever possessed me :D

Dings Digital: yes, wonderfully crazy

Dorena Bree: I enjoyed this space, I want to come back and explore more.  Maybe see an NPC play

Nara Nook: me too

HG Address: xoaox.de:7000:Dismayland