Jurrasic Park

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

I recently heard about a Jurassic Park themed place here in Second Life. Probably most everyone in Second Life, at least among English speakers, has heard of the 1993 movie by Steven Spielberg in which a genetics company has accomplished the once impossible: bringing dinosaurs back from extinction. The owner decides to make a theme park on an island far from the mainland, and invites a group of people on a tour before the planned opening. But unfortunately, things go wrong, and the dinosaurs end up out of control and the people in danger from them.

The SURL takes you to a cavern full of dinosaur bones, in which you're told you're a palentologist whom has just been invited to take a trip by helicopter to "see what your fossil findings have brought to life." You can pick up a flashlight and a backpack at a couple places. Leaving the caves, your next step is to click on the helicopter pad and hop on the helicopter. 

You go through some sky and clouds, and eventually land in front of what looks like a museum, with the sign Jurassic Park. Going inside, at first you see bones, but going further you see an incubator with eggs, and an animation showing a scientist getting DNA from a mosquito. 

Going through the door, you hop on a car and go on a tour, seeing the live dinosaurs for the first time, "Welcome to Jurassic Park." But eventually, something goes wrong and the vehicles stop. You then have to continue on foot, glad the carnivores are safely in their cages ... or are they?

Those familiar with the movie (and novel) can guess what happens next. There are scenes of the fences holding the more dangerous dinos now down, and making your way through jungle to the buildings, which are now overrun with raptors. You'll be going through them, as well as some explosions, then wreckage as you make your way to safety. At one point, there's a T-Rex chase. 

There are a few spots with some humor, such as the giant pile of poo in the triceratops area. And there are a few rides, such as the rideable pterodactyls. At the end of the experience is a small store in which you can pick up a souvenir, such as an Australian slouch hat. 

A great place to explore, especially for fans of dinosaurs. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/River/35/234/2252

 Hat tip: Inara Pey

Bixyl Shuftan
 

The Dawn Kingdoms : Walking with the Dinosaurs in Second Life

By Wesley Regenbogen 

The Dawn Kingdoms ( located in the Fort Nowhere sim) is the place where you can walk around aside the dinosaurs. The name comes from dawn, which means the early ages of Earth and kingdoms reflects on the empire that was owned by the dinosaurs.
 

This sim was created in the year 2007 and the Dinosaur Shop was opened in 2008, and is a full-sized sim. The owner hopes to expand the sim, when the funding allows it. The creator/owner of this all is Wanders Nowhere, but he gets assistance from two trustworthy friends of him (Alevan and Kaitlyn ), who are also sim admins of the place.
 

Wanders Nowhere created this sim all by himself and he also created the dinosaur mesh bots. Those dinosaur mesh bots are scripted bots that can react when an avatar is nearby, by roaring at them. The owner says it was difficult to create those dinosaur mesh bots in the beginning, but now he can create one in 1 or 2 weeks’ time. He is experimenting with new scripts and new methods of moving of the dinosaur mesh bots. Some dinosaur mesh bots are difficult to create, because they have unusual features, feathers and other things that all need to be animated and put into place. I have also seen a T-Rex in the Dawn Kingdoms, that was quite a scare, because it really is huge.

Wanders Nowhere also says that it has been hard work to create it all, but he says it challenging and rewarding to make it all. In the future he will create so-called “guests rides” where they follow a path or even fight with avatars who wear combat HUDs on them. There is also a group where you can get updates from this place, but I haven’t joined it yet.
 

Before you get in the actual dinosaur adventure, you arrive at the dinosaur shop and the entering area. To “time warp” into the sim, you need to follow the arrow , which takes you to a glowing orb and you need to touch it ( right-click and select “Touch” ). You then need to “sit” on the glowing orb and wait until the teleport system transwarps you to the era. Before entering it asks which era you want to teleport to. But there is only one option, at the moment of writing this article, so, you click it and it takes you to the sim itself.
 

The landscape of the sim is beautifully rendered and the dinosaur mesh bots are awaiting you. When you get a bit closer towards the dinosaur, it will roar once you near it very closely. This is the reaction that the owner put in place to allow the dinosaurs to “react” to avatars. When you wander around the place you encounter a few dinosaurs, like a T-Rex, and raptors and other dinos.
 

This place is one of the coolest places that I have ever visited in my lifetime on Second Life. In my personal opinion, this place is awesome and I hope he can continue to create further here.

It’s worth a visit, trust me.

You can find it at :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fort%20Nowhere/129/68/1102

Wesley Regenbogen