Five Tips: How to visit the Garden of NPIRL Delights

The most frequent comment I hear from visitors to the Garden of NPIRL Delights is that they are "overwhelmed." I understand this. Four sims filled with the works of over 110 content creators - many of them quite complex - can have that effect. I worked alongside the artists for weeks, and I am still discovering new things. The good news is that there are several fantastic tools to make this easier for you.

If I were to take you by the hand and show you the Garden myself, here is how I would do it:

1) Arrival and Preparation: Take the HUD and Info
Teleport to the Garden from here. Beatrix Newt created a tranquil path at the entrance to the Garden with signage that invites you to "take" the HUD and info offered there. Please do!



2) Take the Tour
Just to your right as you exit the pathway, you will see the Tour area. Hop on the gorgeous Fleur de Lys-shaped vehicle, especially created for the Garden by famed vehicle maker (and founder/owner of the Ivory Tower of Prims), Lumiere Noir. The Fleur de Lys was scripted by Darek Deluca, the creator of XIDD Particles and Gadgets and the fabulous Particle Theatre, as well as a four layer installation at 3000m above the Garden that spans all four sims.



And off you go!



The ride is surprisingly smooth and pleasant, especially considering that you are crossing four sims.



You'll fly over many installations you might not have known about, otherwise.



There are many wonders in the sky. Having seen them, you will be able to plan your visits with a better idea of what is in store for you.



3) Wear the HUD
They said it couldn't be done. Really! Many expert coders warned me that we were going down the path of disaster, but Master Scripter Miki Gymnast pulled it off.

Look in your inventory for a folder called "Garden of NPIRL Delights Info" and inside it for the NPIRL Garden Tour HUD. "Wear" it. It will look like this but only fill a tiny spot on the lower left-hand corner of your screen.



"Touch" it with your mouse, and it will pull up a Second Life® teleport map. Choose "teleport," and you will find yourself at one of the installations at the Garden. And get this... the HUD will remember where you have been and take you to new places each time. Once you are wearing the HUD, you will be able to teleport to all these places directly from any spot on the grid, too.



4) Nifty Landmark-Ready Notecards
Loved the work of a particular artist and want to go back? Easy! Thanks to my SL brother, Corporate Jay, and in the same folder where you Garden HUD resides, you have four notecards, one for each sim. Open them... and voila!


Click to see large

Obviously, the notecards don't have to be stretched so large on your screen, but thought you might like to see their content.

5) Walk down the green glowy paths
That King of Glow, Spiral Walcher, spent many hours arranging his official Garden path throughout the four sims to ensure that you had ready access to every single installation on the ground.


Here we are, in the wee hours of the morning, welcoming our first guests to the Garden. That green glowy path will lead you to many adventures and surprises.

Along the paths, you will find local teleporters to the sky builds, too.

As you can see, many people contributed countless hours of their time, and industrial quantities of their knowledge and good ideas to make your visit to the Garden a happy one. I can't even begin to thank each one of them enough.

A run in with a rocket scooter.

This is part one of a two part article based upon the creations of Lumiere Noir and his contributions to Second Life. Corporate Jay has gone undercover [shh!] to uncover Lumiere Noir's newest creations.


Ever since the dawn of the virtual world and Second Life, we have looked for methods to immerse ourselves in fantastical and creative ways. When Second Life first emerged from the dark underworld of the Internet, it was found that as the grid grew, it slowly became tougher for residents to get to the places of their choosing: the teleportation system that we have become so used to today had not yet been implemented and residents had to teleport to telehubs, and move to their respective destinations. As sometimes the destinations were a couple of sims away, vehicles were used to cover the remaining distances. At first, the few vehicles that existed were created by the Lindens. However, they soon began to be created by other, independent, users. As was expected, they quickly gained immense popularity. However, when complete teleportation was introduced, vehicles dropped in popularity as no one needed them anymore. They were seen more as recreational objects as they began to be outfitted with many features.

A few days ago, I met with Lumiere Noir, creator of the Ivory Tower. I had been told that he was making big breakthroughs in vehicles. Sure enough, he was nice enough to send me a copy of the Rocket Scooter 3000. Following a quick read of the instructions, I sat upon it to try out what would be one of the biggest thrill rides of my second life.

The scooter itself is outfitted with crazy tricks and is built for speed. With up to 7 different speed levels and just about the same in tricks and built in features, the rocket scooter is perfect for the speed enthusiast in anyone. If you've tried Abranimations' free roller skates, then you'd know the thrill of watching yourself attempt to skate on Second Life. This is comparable, except you're flying a fantastical scooter and have a need for speed.

If you've ever watched a cheesy movie about Aliens and abductions, then you'd know what most UFOs look like and move like. I watched as Lumiere rezzed one in front of us and proceeded to sit in it.

As it goes, most UFOs I've seen are freebies - badly designed freebies at that. Lumiere instructed me to sit on the UFO and he flew. This single project of his has been the longest in production and the particular version that he showed off was in beta v.99.

From what I experienced, it was the most realistic UFO to date, in both the building and the movement. Even the little details, such as the swaying and hovering motions were spot on.

Lumiere took us up into the clouds and showed off many of the little features of the UFO, including the fantastic particle effects. He then took us down, into the water and told us of his plans to include a bubbling particle effect and when it emerged, a water dripping particle effect. I urge everyone to drop their silly little freebie UFOs, and invest interest in this one, for it is perhaps one of the most interesting vehicular concepts that I have seen!

After a wild ride on the rocket scooter, in which I was shown just about all the capabilities of the scooter including a feature which drops giant bouncing balls for you to avoid (or crash into, depending on your mood), and the humdinger drive, which propelled us to insane speeds that only Ricky Bobby could dream of achieving, Lumiere set us back down on the ground.

He showed me two of his other creations, a dive ship, and a vertical take off and landing ship. The dive ship that he showed off was capable of taking us up to 4000 meters and releasing us to fall to the ground.

The other ship could take off vertically, much like those in 50's movies. Although we couldn't test this, we were able to try out the drop ship. Lumiere took off and dropped us into the ocean, whereupon he rezzed a submarine.

Not just any submarine though. It was very Pink. Lumiere told me that it was for a customer who had specifically requested a pink submarine. He got in, and I sat down on the railing as he took us both deep underneath the water.

We sailed around and he showed off some of the many features of the submarine. He took us up to the surface and shot a rocket, which was purely for aesthetics. All the “weapons” and features implemented within the submarine were based upon a 'girly' theme. Lumiere proceeded to show off many of the features of the submarine by launching a torpedo at the shore.

The torpedo exploded into a shower of kisses. He then showed off another feature of the submarine, that being crabs being launched everywhere. I found the submarine extremely enjoyable, and definitely something to look forward to within the world of recreational vehicles.

Throughout my stay at Lumiere's sim, I enjoyed all his works, especially the rocket scooter (definitely look forward to it when it comes out) and the UFO (I wish I were rich...). Lumiere Noir has certainly crafted his own little niche in the world of recreational vehicles. A niche that encompasses vehicles in their entirety to such an extent that most anyone can find enjoyment within these objects. As I write this, I have an intent to search through my inventory, pull out my little Linden go kart and play around in the racing sims.