Category: Sansar Pick of the Day

The Pick of the Day is one Sansar experience which I highlight for you to visit.

Sansar Pick of the Day: Avalon Lounge

One of the often-heard complaints in Sansar is that there is no designated central meeting area. Sinespace has their Welcome Centre with greeters, AltspaceVR has their campfire where you can chat and toast marshmallows, and for a while High Fidelity used a Welcome Wagon concept, rotating between six different HiFi domains every two hours (I think they’ve replaced that with a single location now, though). Some people felt that having a common gathering spot would make it easier for avatars to meet each other.

Jenn, the Community Manager for Sansar, and Ebbe, Linden Lab’s CEO, both rightfully pointed out that there was nothing stopping any of us from creating such a space ourselves. And so David Hall has decided to create the Avalon Lounge, a comfortable, spacious lobby with helpful teleporters to other popular fantasy and sci-fi Sansar experiences.

It’s a large circular space on three levels. Flying cars arrive and depart from the uppermost level (these are actually teleporters to two of C3rb3rus’ experiences, 2077 and Darkwood Forest).

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On the two lower levels, there are teleporters to other experiences located around the perimeter. Each has a sign indicating the destination.

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And these are some wonderfully creative teleporter portals that David has made! Check out the video of them in action:

A nice touch is the addition of various objects around the lounge which remind you of other popular Sansar destinations, such as a statue I recognized from the Urban Art Experience, and arcade games from 2077. Thoughtful additions, and evidence of the care that David took in pulling all this together.

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Vanity Fair in front of the steampunk teleporter to Bluebell Home & Garden

Vanity Fair is wearing an appropriate astronaut outfit created by the talented Nya Alchemi:

Sansar Pick of the Day: Eternity

C3rb3rus has, once again, created a jaw-dropping experience in Eternity! A giant mechanical horse with glowing green eyes gallops in place within an intricate cage, mesmerizing to watch, bathed in an eerie purple light:

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Beyond the horse is an oversize orrery, with planets revolving in endless orbits before a gigantic wall of spinning gears:

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The gears extend along a catwalk. The overall effect is one of time inexorably marching onward, much like the mechanical horse which gallops forever.

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Vanity Fair is wearing the same outfit she wore to another one of C3rb3rus’ experiences, 2077.

 

Sansar Pick of the Day: Stereopixel Arcade

My self-imposed hiatus from Sansar meant that a number of new experiences popped up while I wasn’t paying much attention. One of them was a wonderfully nostalgic experience by Theanine, called Stereopixel Arcade. It makes extensive use of stereographic 3D media surfaces, which allows you to embed three-dimensional pictures and video in objects. (You can see an excellent example of a stereographic media surface at the Sansar Studios Creator Academy: The Hall of Materials experience.)

Note that the 3D effect is only visible if you are in a VR headset; if you are using Sansar on the desktop (non-VR), you won’t get the same stereographic effect.

If you loved and played 1980s video games, you’ll enjoy a retro trip to the Stereopixel Arcade! All the classics are represented in a recreation of an Eighties video game arcade: the Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Dragon Quest, Metroid, Final Fantasy, and of course, Super Mario!

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There’s also a disco dancefloor in day-glo colours, right next to a supersized, old-time Nintendo entertainment system:

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If you’re pining for a return to the Eighties, be sure to pay Stereopixel Arcade a visit!

Sansar Pick of the Day: HoverDerby

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Daisy Gator Standing in Front of the HoverDerby Welcome Sign

A common complaint I hear about Sansar is that it’s pretty, but there isn’t a lot to do yet. Experiences like HoverDerby (put together by Galen, Jasmine, and Drax) are going a long way to counteract the suggestion that there isn’t anything to do in Sansar! It’s the first competitive team sport in Sansar (well, if you don’t count the 5-A-Side Soccer Stadium) and it’s great fun to play, or even to watch!

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Watching a Two-on-Two HoverDerby Match

HoverDerby is still in beta; Galen and Jasmine are still working on it, but it is already playable. The game is pretty simple. Step on one of the red or blue teleporter pads to join a team (red or blue) and get onto the playing field.

You hover around the field, using the triggers on your hand controllers to fire at the other team members (if you’re in desktop mode, press the Spacebar or the F key to fire). If you hit your opponents, they can no longer fire at you or anybody else, and they have to get back to their circle of safety before they can fire again. The navigation takes a little getting used to, but you quickly get the hang of it.

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Matches last five minutes. The team that has captured the most opponents wins (in case of a tie, the next capture decides who is the winner).

Note that you do not need to have a VR headset to play HoverDerby; can also play in desktop mode as well as in VR. Full instructions are on the board next to the blue and red teleporters.

Every weekday morning at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time/Sansar Time, a group gathers at HoverDerby to practice their game. Drax sometimes livestreams the games too. Hope to see you there soon! As I said, it’s great fun!

UPDATE 1:41 p.m.: Turns out there is already a website for HoverDerby!