A Look at Horror-Themed Sims

By Theonlyjohnny Resident

Second Life is full of sims of all types. There are clubs, stores, rp sims, and many more. There are even horror sims, for people looking for a good scare. This reporter is one of those people, looking for the best scare I can find.

However, there is a bit of a problem out there. Most "Horror" Sims, aren't truly horror sims. Out of 50 horror sims I have visited, very few of them can be called horror sims. Of those few sims, only a small number, are actually up to their potential. The others, of these few, have not met their potential yet. The rest are either sims that have horror in their description to get more visitors, or sims that need a lot of work before they can truly be called horror sims.

Two of the great horror sims are, Toxian City (of course), and Larisa Incident. Some would argue that Siden be in there as well, however, Siden is more of a survivalists sim, not a horror sim. Of Larisa Incident and Toxian City, we can really see how genre doesn't matter. We have Sci Fi/Horror (Larisa), and we have Rural/Horror (Toxian City). Both sims have not only met their potential, but have exceeded it as well.

A trip to Toxian city is filled with mystery, as one doesn't know what might come out of the doorways, if anything. It is also expertly designed, for rural horror, with a dark air around a falling apart city. This sim is one of the very few true horror sims.

On the other side of the hand, we have Larisa Incident, a horror RP sim based around science fiction. Just going into the cargo hold, makes one feel scared. Not only due to the dark air around them, but also due to the quietness. It gives even this reporter the shivers, thinking about what might jump out and attack.

Some sims advertise horror, and might be trying, but either aren't trying hard enough, or are trying too much. Take a look at *The House on Haunted Hill, a superb ghostly haunt*. This sim even says it's superb in the title, so one might assume it truly is. However, I am sorry to say, they are a bit mistaken.

While the sim does have potential, they tried too hard to make it scary, and ended up making a house with so many scares, it borders on comical. In fact, in one bed, they have enough scares to fill a small room. Not to mention, in that same bedroom, they have another piece of furniture that moves, as well as a demon (or ghost) in the wardrobe. If they remove quite a few of their scares, they would be able to say it is superb, but right now, it's not true.

All that is needed to make a perfect horror sim, is a vision, a computer, and the knowledge of what is too much, and what is not enough.

Theonlyjohnny Resident

Siden Survival/Horror Sim

By Theonlyjohnny Resident

    Siden is an amazing sim, filled with creatures to kill, as well as a vampire castle, a pirate ship, an abandoned town, an elf cave, a place to relax with your partner, and even a hell world. Adding all of this, along with the hud, the weapons, the staff, and the visitors, this is a place a lot of people should check out.

    Siden is mainly a creature killing sim, using a hud, along with a lot of weapons. Like most places, that allow guns, Siden has its own set of weapons, and also allows other weapons. The Siden weapons, unlike most weapons, in SL, are scripted to a minimum. This means they use as little scripts as possible. In fact, they don't even have a draw and sling script. They do, however, have a safe mode. When the weapon is attached, it is automatically put into safe mode, meaning you cannot fire it accidentally. To remove the weapon from safe mode, simply click it. Clicking it again will put it back into safe mode, of course. These weapons don't even have the many mouselook fire scripts that guns usually have. While you can still fire in mouselook, it is not needed to fire/swing these weapons.

    The Siden creatures are affected by nearly all weapons, in SL, but are damaged more by the Siden weapons. This causes more people to want to use the Siden weapons, which reduces lag, a lot. The weapons have a safeguard against griefers. You cannot buy the major weapons, from a vendor. The major weapons are all scattered around the sim, but require a certain level, on your hud, in order to get them. These weapons require ammo, which can be found around the sim, and you must have your weapon, in your hand, in order to pick up ammo. The minor weapons, however, do not require ammo, and can be bought, either around the sim (for free), or at the landing point (using credits). The minor weapons bought, around the sim, are only bats, bloody bats, and crowbars.

    The creatures found here are, rats, minor apparitions, apparitions, strong apparitions, angry ghosts, elder ghosts, hell apparitions, guardians, and then there are the bosses, the Blade Lady, Death Tree, Ghost Lizzy, Flesh Lizzy, and the Siden Van (Siden Mini Event). Of course, the bosses are difficult to defeat. It wouldn't be fun if it was easy. There are also zombies, but killing them does not help you increase your EXP on your hud.

    The Hud is what makes it so you can collect resources, buy things with credits, and level up. The hud is a circle, surrounded by 4 meters. The top meter is purple and it keeps track of your body condition. Each time you die, your body condition will decrease, however there are ways to raise it again, but that is something you need to find for yourself. The right hand meter is cyan, and it keeps track of your Nourishment. There are ways to keep your nourishment high, but what is the fun in me giving you all the answers? The yellow meter, under the hud, keeps track of your Life Style points. And the left hand meter is your health.

    Inside the circle, of your hud, are three rows of words, followed by the menu button, and then there are three circle buttons. The rows of words, in order from top to bottom, are your level, then your cash amount (I like to call them credits), and then there are your experience points (showing how much you have, and the number needed for the next level). The menu shows you, well, the menu, and it is how you can switch between different pages in the hud, of course you will have to figure out them for yourself. The three buttons, on the bottom of the hud, are another thing you will need to figure out for yourself.

    The look of the place is amazing, as so much detail was put into it, and so much work. It is hard to not be impressed by it all. Even the placement of the creatures is amazing, as if they have a plan for everything. This is truly one of a kind, and is a place really worth paying a visit to.


The Siden Survival horror - Elven/Pirate RPG , is at Emata Almarae (115, 8, 656)

Theonlyjohnny Resident

Tamarillo Island Maze

You begin in a large open area with a few vendors selling various weapons programmed for use inside the Maze. There are things like swords and blade-arms (good against flesh, not so good against robots) and there are energy weapons (designed more for blasting 'bots instead of zombies. After buying the "reloader hud" for 50 $L, I decided on a "Blade Arm" (short range, high damage) and hopped down to go into the maze proper.

The maze is just that, a maze. From my perspective, the upper levels look like an industrial warehouse with various zombies flitting about; I can see a Doom-ish influence here. I hit mouselook and began slashing at the zombies, and as I did so, they fell apart and as I moved closer I found they're physical objects. Killing them released "gems" which I had to walk over to pick up and they were added to my "hud" for eventual purchase of improvements to my weapon. Along the way there were a few terminals with buttons on them you can click (I had a good laugh over one button labeled "not bound", meaning it did nothing) with some opening doors and others releasing more monsters which I had to kill.

One problem I had was constantly entering mouselook and leaving it to click on my reload hud to reload a freebie pistol that is available (I figure there's a way to fire without being in mouselook but at the moment it escapes me). Another problem I had was that since the objects are actually -physical-, a lot of them in the area will lag the sim down. There was one area with about 6 or 7 "zombies" all grouped together as a single cluster when it was meant for them to be separate, and that slowed the system to a crawl. I saw the cluster fall through the floor twice trying to orient itself or move while the sim was computing how best to approach me and attack. Movement slowed and rubber-banded me back and forth as the sim repeatedly tried to compensate for all of the movement, and fortunately I've played enough of these game types to know to move away or around as far as possible until the system "woke up" and everything flowed smoothly again. On top of that, the "gems" are physical too, and walking over them sometimes kicked them instead of added them to my hud... I had to walk over them repeatedly.

I didn't end up getting very far. On my furthest foray into the maze, I got caught in between prims in one of those tight spaces that makes SL think you're falling. Couldn't move or jump or even fly out... easy prey for the zombies.

I tracked down the owner of the Maze, Chainsword Audion, and asked him a few questions...

Xymbers Slade: How long has the Maze been active, and what is the main objective?

Chainsword Audion: It opened a few months back. Its objective is to bring some fast paced action adventure to Second Life. Dancey clubs, beaches and lag are something we already have enough of.

Xymbers Slade: What kinds of critters can be found in the maze? Any power ups, puzzles, etc?

Chainsword Audion: New enemies and content are being added to the maze every so often. As of now you will encounter many kinds of zombies and robots. Puzzles yes; powerups: besides the weapon and hud everything you need is right here. #chestpat

Xymbers Slade: Any tips for survival in the maze?

Chainsword Audion: Bring friends. Do not let things get near you. Try to be fully reloaded at all times. Stuff like that.

Xymbers Slade: How long did it take to build this whole thing up?

Chainsword Audion: The maze has been something I have been working on since early 08. Created a total of 7 times and destroyed 6 times.

Xymbers Slade: I noticed a lot of the "monsters" are physical objects. Has that been a problem, since many physical objects interacting at once lag the sim down?

Chainsword Audion: This is unfortunately a part of Second Life. With careful managing of script resources though, this can be minimized.

Xymbers Slade: Is there anything you wanted to have the maze do/have, but could not thanks to the way SL works?

Chainsword Audion: Bigger battles. I would love to have large scale battles in the maze where you must hold off hundreds of enemies coming from all sides. This, however, is just not something that can happen with the amount of processing power Linden Labs chooses to allocate to a homestead or even fullsize sim for that matter. Would gladly be willing to shell out some cash to cover a hardware upgrade fee, however, that is not an option offered.

Xymbers Slade: What kind of improvements are you planning on making for the Maze in the future, or are you going to let the work stand for itself?

Chainsword Audion: I have several ideas for improving the hud and adding a possible armor feature. As for sure things though you can expect to see extensions to the bottom of the maze as well as new enemies and weapons. (only a little under 50% of the maze is actually finished)

Xymbers Slade: Any parting shots for those who want to make something similar? Pitfalls to avoid, words of wisdom, etc?

Chainsword Audion: Something similar? Don't make something similar. Make something that no one has ever seen before.

The Maze can be found at Tamarillo Island (238 239 1170). I'm going to give the Maze 3 Dragon Hoards out of five. The effort shows, but the SL physics take away from the overall effect and shoot 'em ups like this aren't my thing. Still, the pricing of the weapons is right (gotta support the sim somehow) and it's a nice thing to visit and try out if you're into this sort of thing.

Xymbers Slade