The Eyes Have It

Seen the lady
Seen the lake
Seen the mirror crack and break
Held her close at night
What a perfect fit
Till I saw her eyes
The eyes have it
The eyes have it – Karel Fialka The Eyes Have It

There comes a time when you look at your walls full of eyes, and think, “I wonder how the wall would look if I simply made eyes with a color change HUD and just put everything into tidy fat packs?”

Then that time comes, and you realize somewhere in the middle of remaking everything that this is a phenomenally huge project.  You wouldn’t think remaking over thirty sets of eyes would take that long, but apparently, it takes a lot longer than I realized when the project started.  Part of this can be attributed to finding different looks for my model (who is basically just me in different skins and shapes).  A minor issue is having to re-upload a bunch of eye textures because I stupidly made transparent eyes that could sit on a blank sclera texture.  Dumb.  Dumbedy dumb dumb dumb.  Sure, they looked nice at the time, but now I want these eyes to be mesh, and sit against an eye alpha, and one cannot have a hollow head showing behind the irises.  It just looks weird.

The cool thing about this enormous project is I no longer have to remember the color names after taking pictures of individual eyeballs for vendor ads.  This is particularly nice, since I have a memory like a sieve most days.  This makes it a bit less work in the long run.

Another wondrous side effect of this project is putting stuff on the walls and on the Marketplace takes way, way less time.  So once all thirty plus sets of eyes get made, there will be a bit more room for more new eyes (I have plenty of ideas for new eyes!).

The best part?  You, the eye-loving person looking for these glistening orbs to stick in your head, will only have to make one purchase to get up to 12 pairs of eyes (depending on the style, of course).  Each package includes the System Layer Eyes in all the colors available for that particular set of eyes, plus a set of lovely mesh eyes that are HUD controlled for changing colors.  Oh, and the alpha for the eyes, which makes things look a lot nicer, too.

If you’re looking for new eyes, all of the Avatar Bizarre eyes are Modify and Copy.  Prices range from 99L for six colors, up to 165L for 12 colors.

You can find these inworld (with more coming as they filter in through the upload box) and on the Marketplace.  For an easy search, look for the Avatar Bizarre store, or you can do a search on NEW 2015, and the eyes should pop up.

Just when you thought it was safe…

There’s recently been a rash of Old God infestations in Second Life.  The Crawling Chaos, also known as Nyarlathotep, the bringer of madness and harbinger of doom, has spawned.  Its offspring are agile, and have a driving need for insanity to follow in their wake.

These horrible creatures are known to sit on your shoulder and whisper words of chaos and discord into the minds of men.  Even the strongest of us have fallen prey to their mindnumbing terror.

Avatar Bizarre’s lone perpetrator is fully responsible for unleashing these horrid beasts upon the unsuspecting populace.

The Nyarlathotep pets are currently available in two installments:  A Head Crawler (cost 100L), and a Head Sitter and Shoulder Sitter combination (cost 200L).  These guys come with a color HUD that includes nine color options.  They are copy and modify, and materials enhanced to bring out their inherent sliminess.

For the more adventurous among you mortals, the Head Sitter and Shoulder Sitter will be available as separate colors (Transfer and Modify) in a gacha, come Twisted Hunt time.  The cost will be 15L per play.  There will be no rares, for this creature demands its minions to supplicate themselves with all colors at all times.

Do not be afraid.  Do not be frightened.  Be TERRIFIED!

Visit Avatar Bizarre Inworld and on the Marketplace

Lovecraft Wake – The Chesuncook High Priestess

This is a sneak peak at a new thing from Avatar Bizarre.  Given how many horrifying Lovecraft-inspired avatars I’ve made lately, it was probably time for something a little softer and a little prettier.

The Chesuncook Witch Coven, or the Cult of the Skull, is a group of witches and warlocks who worship Shub-Niggurath.  Ol’ Shub is one of Lovecraft’s Outer Gods, which is described as The Black Goat in the Woods with a Thousand Young.  While it’s mostly a genderless being, Shub-Niggurath is often portrayed as female, and gives birth to a lot of male offspring that resemble walking trees.  Her presence inspires madness and degeneration.

The Chesuncook coven meets in the deepest darkest woods of Maine, regularly calling on Shub-Niggurath for guidance.  It is said their ceremonies sometimes involve descending into a dark pit full of Shoggoth.

The Chesuncook High Priestess has been materials enhanced for a luscious leather feel and a subtle iridescence on the scale pattern of the skirt.  Available March 9, this gown will debut at Lovecraft’s Wake in Second Life.  There are six colors, and the demo is free!

Twisted Hunt – Id Creature Abides

Psst, The semi-annual Twisted Hunt’s going to start March 1 and run through the end of the month.  I’d tell you about it, but then I would have to drive you mad.  It’s basically the hardest hunt in Second Life.  While merchants are only allowed 10 *visible* decoys with which to fool hunters, they are allowed any number of *invisible* decoys, meaning they can hide as many as they want in the walls and floors, plus rename random objects in their stores to match that of the hunt object.

The good news is the hunt object is always the same:  The Twisted “Lament” cube, your basic run of the mill puzzle box.  It spins.  It is some predetermined color.  And it is kind of small.  This incarnation’s color is called “Ectoplasm”.  Beyond that, you will have to wait and see what surprises the 13th Twisted Hunt holds.

Oh, did i forget to mention that this is the 13th Twisted Hunt?  And did you know there is a Friday the 13th in March this year?  Rumors are flying about what we have up our virtual sleeves for torturing those brave enough to tackle this hunt, but rest assured all of the merchants in the hunt create fantastic gifts for our hapless and insane hunter friends.  Plus there are gachas, side hunts, mazes, games, extra gifts, decoy gifts, sales, and various torture implements by all the various merchant critters.  They really tend to outdo themselves with every hunt.

Oh, and then there’s the traditional End Game, which can be pretty difficult, but often results in even more stuff for the hapless hunter.  Plus, you can get the coveted Survivor Tag.  If you get that, you’ve definitely earned it!

Avatar Bizarre, being one of the organizers and sponsors of this hunt, likes to uphold the high standards with an awesome gift.  This time, feast your eyes on the Id Creature Avatar, a beastie (no, I do NOT know what it is) who will be given out in male and female forms.  It’s materials enhanced, and comes with six sets of eyes, so you can choose whatever eye color strikes your fancy.  All eyes blink.  As for the rest, it’s rigged mesh, yadda yadda.

This will be exclusive for the duration of the hunt.  Once the hunt is over, Avatar Bizarre will be releasing six more colors in both genders, for your Online Pleasure.

IN the meantime, the hunt starts soon.  When the time comes, happy hunting.  And please don’t go mad.

Lovecraft’s Wake and other animals

Holy cow, I’ve let this blog sit stagnant for a month.  Bad, Sred.  Bad, bad, bad!

Well, hello there, folks.  After a bit of a prolonged absence from this blog thing, I’m back with some vital information for my faithful readers, droogs and devotchkas.

The first thing I want to alert you on is this event in Second Life that Faeryfox Beth, Sirius Farspire and I are attempting.  It’s a fun little event called The Lovecraft Wake, and it will be held roughly around H.P.Lovecraft’s Death Day.  It’s a Wake, get it?  Anyhow, I want to get some stuff straightened out right now.

The first thing is that we are in no way affiliated with the organizers of LoveFest.  Let’s put that to bed right now.  This is a small event, which will be held in the Dunwich Lovecraft Sim, and will not only feature a number of fine merchants hawking their Lovecraftian wares, but we will also have several DJ dance parties, horror readings, and OH so much more.  The Official Blog is here.  We still have room for a few more merchants, so feel free to apply.  There’s no booth fee, but we are providing vendors and gachas, which will take a 10% cut to cover expenses and to help out with the cost of the sim.

The second thing I wanted to tell you about is the fun little chotchkies I’ve put together.

Here, we have a fun little mesh shoulder Cthulhu.  He’s copy and modify, and comes with a color HUD with ten color options!  This is a great little wearable for the Cthulhu fan in your life.  Just beware, for he will whisper sweet evils in your ear.

The Chinese Shoulder Dragon comes in three different options:  Metal and Earth colors, Fire and Sky colors, and Water and Air colors.  Like the Cthulhu above, these guys come with a color HUD.  Each dragon comes with seven color options in the HUD, and are copy/modify.

Aetheraptor Wings are also supplied with a color HUD and include seven color options.  These are unrigged mesh wings.  They do not flex, but they look pretty good, don’t you think?

All three items have been materials enhanced for your viewing pleasure.  All are available on the marketplace and inworld at the Main Store location.

Stay tuned.  I think I see the Twisted Hunt lurking behind the sofa.  We’ll talk more about that later…