If you’ve yet to really get out there and shake your booty in-world, we’re here to get you out there and swingin’ it!

To help you out, we thought we’d share a site that the SmallWorlds staff often refer to for inspiration when designing moves for our own avatars (it feels a little like  sharing our secret weapon…). The hilarious Zefrank, and his online ‘dance demos’. You can lean how to dance properly, and then move up to take his advanced class. We expect to see some seriously impressive moves out there in-world as a result of sharing this rare dance up-skilling opportunity!

 

The Development of the Dance Studio

We managed to wrest one of our developers,  Andrew Higgins, away from his SmallWorlds ministrations to ask a few questions about the creation of the  dance studio.  “The most challenging part of building the Dance Studio was coming up with a way to create unique dance moves that could be played using our existing animation system.  The method and tools used by our artists to create animations is fairly complicated, so we decided to simplify it by allowing the user to select from a variety of predefined poses for different areas of the body.  The most fun part of creating the Dance Studio had to be testing all the different moves – especially when they didn’t quite work as expected!”

You’ll be pleased to know that the Dance Studio is set to evolve…  “as we add new frames to the avatar, the number of possible combinations increases.  Certain combinations can then be selected to create new dance poses“.

Andrew also shared a little known fact. Most of the available poses are directly based on the real-life moves of SmallWorlds staff, many of whom are very accomplished dancers.   In fact, the default avatar dance was originally performed and choreographed by co-founder Mitch at an early Dance Studio meeting before being carefully digitized – he wanted to get it just right.

The dance studio is easy to use and enables you to some up with some pretty complex routines. Ready with some great moves? We’d like to show you a few places in-world to go show off your stuff.

 

Dance Clubs

Club Trey

A great club set up by Trey Mista. First up there’s a great mission that gets you from lining up outside the club, paying to get in and then dancing on the dancefloor. Trey lives in Australia, and he’s often hanging out in his club, so go make his acquaintance. Trey tells us about his club: “on the dj decks its mainly R’n'B and Hip Hop but then I purchased a seeqpod stereo; anyone that comes into my club can add more songs to it. I’ve had the club maxed out quite a few times, it’s a popular club :)”

He enjoys knowing that people can come and enjoy the space… “ have a good time, play pool… its what its there for… to enjoy ”. Trey runs a mega pool competition with 1st prize of 9723 tokens - other prizes too.

Visit this Space

 

The Jungle NightClub

Big Dawg runs the Jungle Nightclub - he’s got all the things you’d expect from any great real life dance club; state of the art sound system, two bars, pool tables, video games, dance floors and food and drinks at cost. “We try to make it a place to showcase the players hard work in creating one-of-a-kind dance moves and be justly rewarded for their efforts”.

Big Dawg runs regular dance-offs, as well as bi-weekly pool tournaments with mega token payouts. BD also hosts the Mr & Mrs SmallWorlds competitions, rumoured to be happening monthly!

Visit this Space

 

The Movers

Now you know where to dance, lets meet two keen in-world dancers. Again we  drew a few more names out of the growing SmallWorlds hat – lets meet a few who got the moves!

Ocean Waves & ‘The Ocean Motion’

Ocean does a very cute little shimmy that is simple yet really effective!  “My dance was has been referred to as ‘Ocean Motion’ and I’ve even had a song dedicated to my dance, ‘Shake It’ by MetroStation – I’d say that is the best compliment of all. My most favourite place to “shake it” has to be in peoples rooms during weekend dance parties. That is where you meet the coolest people and see the greatest dances.” Ocean was kind enough to give us the formula for her Shimmy, so you can go out and recreate it (or build on it) for yourself. “You alternate between two positions: 1) Head Half Left, Walk 3, Arms Relaxed, 90 degree angle and 2) Head Half Right, Walk 1, Arms Relaxed, 0 degree angle.  Pause is set to 2, so it would alternate fast. 1,2,1,2,1,2“.

 

Soup Sung - Spun Out!

Soup is a helper here on SmallWorlds, so look out for him in his cool blue cape marked with an “H”.  We asked Soup about his dance –  “I created it when I went to a party. I started dancing and then everybody started to copy me. I felt totally powerful! (laughs)” One of Soups initial dance creations saw  his body rotating underneath a still head - “some people said ‘Soup, you look like a beater; aren’t you getting dizzy? are you digging?!’” We hear he’s made some interesting modifications to these early moves – go find Soup for a dance-off!

 

The SmallWorlds dance studio & dance clubs! - yet another very cool feature of our ever expanding exciting world, providing you and your friends with a great place to hang out and dance the night away!

Just when you thought voting was over for the year;  a mere 9 days after President-elect Obamas’ historic win, here we are asking you to “Vote for Us”!

However, its not the big job in the White House we’re after - oh no, we’re ever more humble that that.  Mashable has just just kicked off the 2nd annual Open Web Awards, a multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honours the top achievements in 26 categories.

Nominations will be held from November 5th till November 16th 2008. The first and final voting rounds will be held from November 19th till December 15th.

We’d get a great kick out of adding SmallWorlds to the list of 2008 winners and we’d really appreciate your help in achieving that.  Please vote for us in the Online Games category.  Tell your friends to vote for us too!  You can use the form below.

Well, you have to see it to believe it. What some people can create with a few swishes of the mouse on a virtual canvas is nothing short of incredible!

We featured the art of Robin Banks in a previous blog.  Seeing her work spurred an exploration into who else we might find creating cool stuff on the graffiti boards.  As you might expect, there are some truly talented people out there and we’d like to take you on a short ‘art tour’. Think of it as the Louvre of the virtual space… the Guggenheim of the www.

As we were getting said art tour organised, we wandered through the world, admiring the collected works of the artists… we noted a slight discomfort emerging. Just exactly ‘what’ were we planning on saying about these works?  Some of us are not particularly talented with the real - or in fact virtual - paintbrush (as ably demonstrated above), and a sense of creative panic began to descend.  With the double handicap of little painting skill and perhaps smaller art criticism aptitude we quickly embarked upon a  very (very) short google-facilitated crash course in art critiquing.  And so, with a sense of relief and a little newfound knowledge, we stepped into the virtual space ready to do some serious art analysis.

Phew.

There we were, ready to dissect and deconstruct.  Our avatars promptly broke out into varying degrees of  pixilated sweat. We were literally saved by a quote we had come across during our crash art critics course:

“I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like.” - Gelett Burgess, Art Critic (1866-1951)

It was with a sense of relief that we dispensed with all vestiges of art-snobbery and linked arms with Gelett. Thanks G-man!  When you get right down to it, he’s onto it. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, and we even allowed ourselves to think that someone might think the picture up top might have some merit. Hmmmm.

So – back to the virtual art gallery tour.   All the featured artists have such unique styles and we’re grateful to have their works here, making SmallWorlds a visually richer place to be in.  Yep, we know what we like, and we think what these folks are creating is great!

 

 

Greg Dot

Greg loves Disney characters and has created some amazing renditions. We asked Greg if he had any tips for budding SmallWorlds artists:

“Have fun; play with the size and transparency of the brush stroke, and use the undo button as frequently as needed! Work from the background forward”

I asked Greg a little about his creative process.  “I do both planned and spontaneous, it depends on what it is for, my fun, or someone’s request. I have done several commissions so far. I am more of a “realist”, at least as close as we can do.”

To see more of his work, Visit Greg’s Space.

 

Peggo Beta

“My advice for in-world artists is to try all the controls. You can get some surprising results with transparency and layering colours. I like to have something in front of me when I “paint” to serve as a reference. But I have had fun just creating out of my head.”

“I don’t actually take commissions but I check for ideas in my Guestbook and usually make the painting if I can find a reference photo or object. My style? I try to go for realism, but it tends to be impressionism“

To see more of her work (you can even purchase them - they are for sale in Peggo’s Gallery), Visit Peggo’s Space.

 

 

Lynn Candy

Lynn is a Helper here on SmallWorlds, and is appreciated for the creativity she brings to her Helper role, as well as that she unfolds for us on the virtual canvas. Just check out the expressiveness of those eyes, the lusciousness of those lips!

Lynn says: “Drawing on canvas take time and patience. Try looking at a picture or object, and try to draw it. It helps to have something to look at as a reference. Drawing things that you like will make canvas art even more fun! I find that the biggest  challenge virtually / with pixels is that I have a hard time drawing smooth straight lines or circular shapes.”

To see more of her work, Visit Lynn’s Space

 

 

Thanks to the three profiled artists - we appreciate your creative expressions.  And to you dear reader, our hope is that you are now inspired by them (and by our humble effort) to jump on in and have a play around with canvas art.  Step one is easy: purchase your very own blank graffiti board from the Modern Living store, it even comes complete with all the paint you’ll ever need, with the compliments of all of us here at SmallWorlds!

Here at SmallWorlds we work hard to ensure that the time you spend playing in-world is as enjoyable as we can make it. We think we’ve got a really good recipe for a great online entertainment experience:  great graphics, a very cool mission engine, dance studio, pets, magic items and spells (+ more) - and there’s another vital ingredient too…

Without further ado - I’d like to introduce our brilliant team of Moderators and Helpers, here to keep things friendly, safe and enjoyable for everyone. They are real easy to spot - all have a saintly (some might say unearthly?) glow as they travel about in-world. They also wear a snappy looking blue cape with an “M” or “H” on the back – so they’re unmistakable. New Zealand based  Moderator Carcer Keel models a cape for us in the shot at right.

I asked our Community Support Manager what she looks for when choosing a moderator. She said:

“I’m looking for someone with a great knowledge of the game, someone who is already helping because they want to. I look for people with a sense of fun; the ability to really play with other users of SmallWorlds and someone who gets a kick out of teaching users new stuff. As a team we try and create a sense of fun and enjoyment for the SmallWorlds community.”

Of course we have a big team of moderators & helpers in SmallWorlds, but only a small amount of space here, so unfortunately we’re not able to introduce you to every member.  So we put all of their names into a hat and randomly picked out some, and so now we’d like to introduce you to three members of the Moderator team:

Ray Zenz

“I have been moderating in SmallWorlds since the beginning of August.  I live in the North Eastern part of the United States, where it just happens to be turning quite cold.  Perhaps a relocation is in order!”

[Ray meditating with his patch of rocks in his minimalist home space - could he be more saintly as a result?]

What do you enjoy most about being a moderator?
“I find inquisitive players to be the most fun.  Answering questions can really bring forth spontaneous conversations with people I might have never gotten a chance to meet. Helping players with their missions is something that really can add to the fun while getting to know new friends.  Such a variety of people and backgrounds can be found there, I guess it really is a small world.”

Have you ever tried doing your SW dance in real life? Did it give you a leg cramp?
“I have never tried and it’s not the leg cramp I am worried about!  I would have to be an owl to even attempt it or I would be scared my head would fall off! Speaking of dancing, some of the funniest in game moments for me have to be many of the creative uses players have come up with for their dance moves.  Every time you think you have seen it all, a new one blows you away.  So many different combinations along with a little imagination seems to make the moves limitless and so very humorous!”

Any final comments?
“Sharing personal information with strangers is never a good idea.  Play hard, but play safe!”

Daisy Duck

“I’ve been a Smallworlds moderator roughly 2 months. 140 hours later… I’m still here and going strong! I live in Australia - the land down under! If you’re looking for my kangaroo… I’ve parked him outback.”

[Daisy in full moderator mode  about to amaze someone with her encyclopedic knowledge of SmallWorlds]

What do you enjoy about being a Mod?
“Getting the chance to meet and help people you wouldn’t expect to ever meet in daily life. Whether they’re young, old, veteran or new players everyone brings a new experience to SmallWorlds. It’s very satisfying helping others.”

What’s your favourite game to play in-world?
“There’s so many games in the arcade it’s hard to choose just ONE favourite! Although I find myself going back to Blox.”

What difference do moderators make in-world?

“Moderators make a huge difference in the daily life of Smallworlds. As moderators we’re looking out for your well-being and making sure your Smallworlds experience is a pleasant and enjoyable one.”

Persephone Pierce

“I live in Oregon, USA and I’ve been a mod on SmallWorlds for approx 2 months. There are so many things that I love about being a moderator, its hard to choose the ONE thing I like most. I love the fact that we get to be so available to the players.”

[Persephone enjoying a quiet moment in a lavishly decorated space]

“I love that I get to see that the players enjoy this game as much as I do. It’s been great to be able to come across so many different personalities and nationalities in one place. I love playing pool  in SmallWorlds. I was instantly addicted when I first found SmallWorlds and I still can’t get enough of it.”

Dancing?

“I have tried my latest SmallWorlds dance in real life and I look just as ridiculous as I do in SW doing it!”

Any funny experiences you have had in world?

“My time in SW has really been a series of funny experiences. I have to say that running amok in my squirrel suit has had me laughing pretty hard.”

[Persephone marching to the beat of a different drum...]

Thanks to you Ray, Daisy, Persephone – nice to get to know you a little more. So - say “Hi” to a moderator today! I hear that if you stand next to one long enough there’s a chance you might glow a little too

Did you know that Halloween got its start thousands of years ago? The Celtic Druids celebrated a holiday known as Samhain on October 31st, the Celtic new year.  A large bonfire would be built and sacrifices made to the dead, while people would dress up in animal skins and try to tell their own fortunes (perhaps with a similar success rate as the “professionals”!). The night of Samhain began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

Okay - end of history lesson. It’s all very interesting to know these ancient origins, but we think that the best thing about Halloween is having good, scary fun with friends and we’re hoping that you’ll spend some of your Halloween here on SmallWorlds!

 

Slice of maggot pizza anyone?

We’ll be swapping some standard items in your inventory with some spookier versions to help you scare your friends (all pizza’s will be covered in writhing maggots, all spa pools shall be transformed into pools of green slime – plus more!). We’re also releasing three or four new items, available exclusively over the Halloween period. There’s a haunted pumpkin head as a wearable item; witch and vampire spells; plus a whole lot more – you’ll need to come on in-world and see it all for yourself.

Happy Halloween Hall (pictured below) is the place to come and buy your special Halloween items. 

 

 Visit this space

Halloween Spaces to Visit

Come take a tour of some of the great Halloween-themed rooms created by members of the SmallWorlds community – all designed to raise a prickle of fear on the back of your neck!

 

Creepy Hollow

A frighteningly great place to go while away some time this All Hallows Eve – crafted by SmallWorlds member Trace Blue. Hang out in the graveyard, but hey; have some respect for the dead and don’t sit on the tombstones!

Visit this Space

 

Halloween Town - Sleepy Hollow

A terrifyingly huge space to really get yourself lost in! Incorporating a mission, Van Tassells Parlour, The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and The Sleepy Hollow Café; for some creepily good cuisine.

Visit this Space

 

The Haunted Mission

Don’t go alone… make sure you take a friend with you when you visit Rawhide Kidds’ Haunted Mission. Feel your knees quake as you perilously make your way through.

Visit this Space

 

Just as much as it’s about scaring, Halloween is about fun. We’ve gone and dredged up a few of our favourite Halloween jokes for you:

• What is Beethoven doing in his coffin right now? Decomposing
• What is as sharp as a vampires fang? His other fang
• What do you call a ghost in a torn sheet? A holy terror
• What did Dracula say after reading all these jokes? They suck!

From all of us here at SmallWorlds, enjoy Halloween!

Need a little inspiration for your 3D space? Come and check out a few spaces being created by people in the SmallWorlds community.

We created SmallWorlds to give virtual world players like you a playground within which you can spend time having fun with friends, somewhere you can really unleash the virtual-world-space building creative capacity within you! We wanted to ensure that when you create your 3D virtual space, you have the power to build something truly innovative. We’ve made this possible through the combining of aspects like:

• …the crisp, clear, beautifully rendered in-world items and décor options
• …the mission engine, ‘interactibles’ and magic items
• …the web 2.0 integration (Flickr posters, Graffiti boards, YouTube videos and user created unique playlists)

All of these blend together to provide SmallWorlds users with a visually gorgeous, web 2.0 saturated palette with which to work from. Simply put - there is nowhere else on the world wide web that you can build 3D spaces like this, right within your web browser.

Many spaces are such are great ambassadors for the SmallWorlds concept & platform – come along on a short tour of a few interesting spaces I’ve discovered lately. And so, feeling a little like the intrepid travelling gnome from that great movie Amelie, here’s a few snapshots for you:

 

Mission Mania Island – created by Happy Guest

Come and get lost on Mission Mania Island! A beautifully put together space, incorporating an aesthetic experience, with some great Missions. The link below will take you to Happy’s room - you can then teleport to the Island through one of her portals.

Happy says: “I love to build rooms and create missions in SmallWorlds. I find it a great way to be creative and meet players.  My design idea was to create the warm and relaxing feel someone would get at a five star island beach resort.   I have no idea how many palm trees are on Mission Mania Island - all I know is that Fred SmallWorlds is probably tired of seeing me in his Garden Life store…I wish he had a frequent shopper discount! My hope is that the missions on the island will also help players to create their own dream room.”  

Visit this Space

 

Jim’s Maze – created by Jim Shoe

A green and restful place to be - come here when you need a break from games, dance clubs and missions! 

 

I asked Jim for a few comments: 

“there’s not much to say… I just wanted to make something new and exciting that no one else had done before, so I started to make a maze.” 

In contrast to the complexity of his creation, here is a man who uses his words with economy. I like that. 

Visit this Space  

 

Malibu Art District – created by Robin Banks

Each time I visit Robins’ room I’m just amazed at what she can do with a mouse for a paintbrush. A true talent.

Robin says: “I’m a native of Southern California and enjoy the beauty this coast has to offer. Being a part of SmallWorlds and the love and laughter from friends fills my inspiration tank. I have enjoyed creating on the graffiti boards here and giving the gift of my world to my virtual world friends. Thanks for enabling me to share a piece of my life with you here on SmallWorlds.”

Visit this Space

 

SmallWorlds National Museum – created by Axle Giratina

Axle has provided a large, multi-themed, visually interesting space - and theres a mission too. There’s a lot to see and do here.

  

Axle says: “One of my friends here on SmallWorlds made a very nice, fully furnished room. This inspired me to make my own huge room, like his. It took me a few days before I finally got the idea of a museum. I really enjoyed getting lots of positive feedback when I was only just working on my first exhibit, which was the Ancient Egyptian room. It was lots of fun in the making!”

Visit this Space

 

SmallWorlds Laundromat – created by Bling Blingboi

Your avatars’ outfit looking a little shabby? We’ve got you covered - drop in to the SmallWorlds Laundromat and check out Blings’ rather creative use of furniture!

 

Bling says: “One day in the middle of August, my friends and I were playing together in SmallWorlds. Someone connected 4 wicker corners together and called it a laundry basket. My immediate reaction was ‘Laundromat!’. Creating it has also inspired me to get into creating more rooms for the SmallWorlds community to enjoy.”

Visit this Space

 

This is a just small sample of some of the creative spaces you can find in the ever expanding universe of SmallWorlds. We’d like to invite you to come exploring!

Immigrants bring richness and diversity to the towns and countries they move to as their culture and traditions are transported to new environs.    And for the people themselves making new roots, a new home can bring a whole range of different experiences. 

Sometimes even whole communities are uprooted by major events.  Disney-run Virtual Magic Kingdom opened its doors in 2005, but sadly for its members was permanently shut down in May 2008, leaving a real hole for many loyal players.  Many of these VMK ‘refugees’ have been finding their way to SmallWorlds.  We spoke to a number of them this week to discover how they are getting on. Here’s a selection of what a few of them had to say:

 
Trader Sam

“I am impressed beyond words.  SmallWorlds has perfect graphic and art design, everything looks so rich and well formed.  The ability to build a custom soundtrack is terrific.  It’s a nice place to come, be creative and build a nice place for friends.   I think that SmallWorlds has gone a long way to replace VMK and is actually better in many ways. Certainly the customer service has improved!” 

Sugar Pie

”I find that SmallWorlds is more ‘real’ than VMK or Runescape mainly because of the faces and other very real looking graphics. The embeddability function is fantastic!  Thanks to you guys for making SW a cool new virtual world for the masses!”

Natie Love

“SmallWorlds is my home away from home. I have found myself completely addicted to it. One of my favorites is the custom missions that users can set up themselves. It is great to see what other users have in their imagination and what they can do with the items that are currently available”.

AmberDaze

“I definitely recommend it.  There is something here for everyone - missions to keep the quest-players happy, games for the all-night and all-day addicts, and new & fun items. If you join SW you’re sure to find something you enjoy… and you’re sure to find some friends. It’s a unique community and definitely a new world you should check out (or check into!).”

ReeBee VMK 

"I love that  players are free to create whatever they want. I love that SmallWorlds functions like an amazing platform, without a specific agenda. For example, I don’t have to live in a world full of only  penguins, or weird cartoon characters, or pirates. Players on SmallWorlds can be or create whatever they want. It’s truly unique to find a game that gives that type of freedom!"

We’ll leave the final word to ReeBee who finished by saying:

“Another thing that stands out is the staff. I’ve been a beta tester, and player on lots of games, and have never encountered a staff that was as open, genuine and concerned with the happiness of their players. I am continuously delighted by how involved the artists and creators of the game are. The people creating this game seem to truly love what they are doing, and that shines through and brings that excitement to the players. Amazing creative environment!"”

Thanks for the kind words folks – very much appreciated.  Our team are hard at work on our next release, and we look forward to continuing to engender your generous impressions of what we intend as the best social entertainment experience on the internet. 

We hope you’ll invite your friends in-world soon!