Rezzable Sandbox is Moving

i think it's great! go chica :D

why have a sandbox at all?

The initial idea was to have a space were serious builders (from intermediate to advanced) could work on their builds and also get some support from other builders. Some feedback, some ideas, some useful tips, scripty stuff but also some chance to learn about how to make more interesting things. In the last year we have had about 60,000 avatar visits from the now 400 or so members. There always seems to be a few people knockin' around every day.

But what should the mission for this place be now? It has to be more than just a free sim for some people to rezz a few things before they put into their shop. We know have a more robust web site where we can also exchange info, tips, tutorials with the Rezzable Creators group.

We are really interested in feedback now on this Sandbox experiment. What is good, what is bad, what can we do better to make this a more useful place.

TBH, if I was really going to put a lot of time and effort into a colab. build, I would have to be certain that it was going to last and get a lot of traffic, otherwise it's hard to justify. But sandboxes by nature are not static builds, they are always changing and if they fill up it becomes an obvious problem.. so seems kind of like there are natural limits that serve as a good guide as to what direction things should go.

Large scale builds can be problematic. I understand what you're saying Neal about creating space for large scale works, but it also creates many difficulties. Rezzable has had many projects prototyped on a small scale in the sandbox migrate to full sims. Believe it or not there are many folk who can fill a sim in no time flat - I've often wondered if we've given folk like madcow cosmos a sim to play in just to get some relief from their hyper-prolific sandboxing :) Madcow seems to have laid down more prims than the rest of rezzables artists, their families and pets combined. The current sandbox sim was completely filled with madcow builds for several months before its current incarnation - the original sandbox was reclaimed for Relay for Life, and is now host to the NPIRL garden.

There's always a few floating sims around on the rezzable campus where we can put something that's outgrown the sandbox to see if it goes anywhere, something we've done on many occasions. The sandbox acts as audition for such projects to prove themselves on a smaller scale before getting space of their own allocated for further development. I believe several of our key sims started out this way. Just as often though such projects fade out after an intial flurry of building, and end up being eaten by the prim monster - enough of them that we'd probably be reluctant to hand sims over to folk we hadn't seen producing consistent output, and shown the tenacity and endurnce to take on a full sim build.

We like it when good ideas do come to fruition though so do take on applications from time to time. The prospect of a free sim to build in, for us struggling creators, is an extremely popular thing - I've even had lindens ask me if we had spares :P So our policy has been to get to know folk in the sandbox or through projects in other places in sl before accepting proposals. There are other collectives in SL running on different models which do offer sims for shorter term rental, but I'm unaware of any that offer them for free. For us it's only prudent to check builders credentials before doing the same.

Well that's my two cents, the boss may beg to differ :P

Perhaps we could terraform a ledge along one side of the sandbox (like we once had) or similar area for script sandboxing. Long and thin would seem to work though as folk who need little room can work side by side. Anyone can change media rights could be set for the parcel - or it could be divided into several allotments to allow testing of media scripting. A thin no object entry, short autoreturn parcel could stand between it and the main sandbox sim to catch stray rezzed objects.

Scripters, or folk learning scripting, don't often need a lot of space to practice their art. The larger part of the work is standing around on the spot, falling afk while they stare at a plywood box. Something that can be done on a 10x10 platform at a pinch, though obviously slightly bigger is nicer. After the scripts are more refined and tinkered with there'd be a full sandbox meters away where code could be integrated into larger builds.

Several of our folk (self included) have collected libraries of opensource scripts we could put out for people to tinker with. Maybe these, and other scripting resources could be put down one end in a small learning parcel for this purpose. Raising the scripting platforms onto a ledge helps in three ways; it makes the scripting parcels appear as a distinct area to avoid encroachment, lets us hide the protective no-object-entry band on a slope where people won't try to build, and gives a nice hilltop view of the sim to scriopters so they can be inspired by what's happening around them when they aren't busy looking at their plywood box.

Just my two cents.

Encouraging scripting is a good idea certainly, and I can see the attraction of having both a library of scripts set up for people to look at, and also a "lounge" in the area where they know they can go to find other scripters to chat with and discuss problems.

I would be quite happy to have regular hours that I attend there - I'm sure that I could help a few people.

Miss Ordinal?! Weally?!!! Yeey! *goes to rezz first in the queue for help* ;)

What for instance with a 'mentor' program? We used to have those that connected a photograph person with a Photoshop person for a month, and during that month you were allowed to bug each other with all sorts of silly questions, for 'hey, what do you think', 'how can I do this better' and 'SOS! Please! Now!'. Was rather fun.

We could marry a builder to a scripter for a month's time?

"I, scripter, take you, builder, for my virtual lawful creation partner, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, despite script lag, despite prim limits, in laggyness and inventory loss, until the grid goes down or at least for a month."

Scripters area is now on the sandbox, with these features:

* script library that any rezzable creators can contribute to or use (more below
* classroom / scripters hangout area.
* 5 scripting bays (each on their own little parcel to enable media scripting if required)
* "the parcel of death" a slightly larger parcel with damage and push enabled.
* a band of no-object-entry between the scripting parcels and the sim (to catch stray bullets, vehicles or moving scripted prims)
* a tiny no-script parcel for loading script library books.

The scripting library is perhaps the most interesting new thing. Scripts (and related groups of scripts) are on a bookshelf - click on one to get the contents in a folder.

Anyone can add scripts to the library by going and clicking the glowing red book for a kit. This will give you instructions and a script giver book. Simply load it up in the no-script parcel provided and put it on the shelf. Your scripts will be freely available for anyone to peruse. Please ensure you comment them well so that others can learn from them.

The scripting sandbox areas are a work in progress and we welcome any suggestions or contributions folk make have to improve them.