I don’t often talk about the stuff I do in Second Life – it’s not much really, made some houses when I first started that still seem to sell, am working on a sim that integrates a Web-based narrative engine with in-world objects, and other odds and ends. I suppose I’m better at thinking up stuff than doing it, and I’m more like to be staring at prims than rezzing them these days.

But part of what interests me is simply exploration. And as part of this, I set up a sim called Remedy Exploration. I think of it as an interactive sandbox and am excited by what Bid Messmer has done there, exploring glow when it first came out, shadow boxes, and sculpture. For good measure, he built an underwater movie theatre and, with Felixe Thorne, a little club for the occasional special event.

One of the focal points of his work has been an exhibit called “My Heart”. With Bid’s background in music, this exhibit not only explored glow, it also combined music and particles to provide what I can only call a haunting space – one in which movement through the space triggers the environment.

I don’t know a lot about scripting, but preloads and other tricks of the trade really make this, in my possibly biased opinion, a beautiful example of what can be done in Second Life.

Now Dizzy Banjo has picked up on it as part of his new podcast series, and many thanks to him for creating a machinima of the work:

At 2:37, the video shows how the space grows with the inclusion of “rain”, adding a new layer to an already immersive experience.

Dizzy’s podcasts will be something to keep an eye on, promising “Metamusic podcasts exploring interesting uses of music and sound throughout Second Life and the metaverse.”

Brigitte also picked up on the build, posting some nice shots to Flickr:

And SLThingsToDo covered the sim in quite a bit of detail, extending beyond “My Heart” into other sections of the build, including the shadow room and some of the sculptural installations.

(P.S. When exploring, make sure you don’t just cam to the objects – some of the exhibits only work based on avatar presence).

Be an Explorer
The intention of Remedy Exploration is just that: to explore, examine new techniques and to provide new thought and prim experiences in order to build, over time, a rich set of experiments that might be useful for future builds or interactive spaces.

I do offer an open invitation to anyone who needs some space or prims. Just drop me a notecard including a brief note on what types of projects you might want to use the space for and photos or SLurls of past work. For exploration projects, I can offer land and prims and the chance to help us build a ‘destination’ of interesting experiments.

I’m also interested in connecting with builders as we expand out the Remedy sims. I’m currently looking in particular for individuals who might like to take on some custom work on exhibit and meeting spaces and other projects. Fees would be negotiable for these builds as they’re more commercial as compared to experimental. Again, drop me a notecard if you’re interested.

Many thanks again to Dizzy and of course to Bid for creating such a compelling experience.