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Dec 12
2008
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Twelve new fish have also been released to the ocean including frost fish, raccoon fish and frozen fish. Also keep an eye out as fishing areas release limited edition Christmas catches.
I was lucky to randomly bump into Amara Twilight while at Twilight Fishing, one of the most talented custom catch creators. She kindly agreed to a quick interview in between her projects and even let me see her create her latest catchable Ruby the Red Nipped Merdeer.
Maia Patton: Thank you for this interview Amara, how long have you been in Second Life and what bought you to the game?
Amara Twilight: I started my account on Feb 16th 2004. Someone mentioned in a previous game I played that Second Life had a lot of customization so I came to check it out.
Above: Amara in her workshop.
MP: How long have you been fishing in SL using the 7Seas system?
AT: Since about May of this year when a friend I met introduced me to it.
MP: What are some of your favourite standard 7Seas catchable items?
AT: Some of the clothes are neat ideas like the fishhook earrings, though I wish they were transferable :) and I do enjoy the blueprints. For fish I like the more creative ones like the mermaids or the lazer shark :) the cyber ones are neat but even the standard ones such as the betas are really well done.
MP: Can you tell us a little behind the fishing area set up you have? How long have you been offering fishing on the sim?
AT: I started creating a custom catches list for custom areas and then hosted it on the sim my partner/friend rents but the sim owner didn't like the grunge look, though thats the same look the houses were and I was forced to move it.
AT: I ran into Tamsin Ireton when asking in the 7Seas channel for a host to let me set up a small dock and the customs list on her land. She said it wasn't getting much use and as long as I matched the theme of the place I was welcome. She's enjoyed the fact that people can come fish there now and there is some traffic. She's done a wonderful job of terraforming the place and it's very peaceful and pretty.
Above: the Twilight Fishing docks.
MP: When did you start to create custom prizes for your fishing area?
AT: I started doing them about a month or two ago I'd guess, around September. I can't remember why I started but it may have just been more inspiration from other customs and thinking 'Hmm I could do something like that'. Oh and I remember seeing a "mature" themed custom and feeling that people were a bit too uptight I figured I'd make something silly that was a bit naughty and the only real sea creature that came to mind for that were the Sirens/Mermaids of tales. I then created a mermaid tail in Rokuro and made the first mermaid, which was the MerMilkMaid :) followed by the Puffermaid and then some more normal fun ones, the Pirate themed Mermadeer and the Mermatey.
MP: How long do you spend creating each item from concept to end product?
AT: They vary on complexity and how much extra stuff I add to them. The more complex ones will take me two or three days to do and the easier ones about half a day. I add in a lot of details, animations and fun sayings at the very least to each mermaid to make them more enjoyable for people.
Above: the Merkyrie in production.
MP: You have also created two custom fishing rods - the Nebula Star Fishing Rod and the Ensorcelled Bone Fishing Rod. Have they been very popular?
AT: So far they have been pretty popular, more then I really expected, but then so were the mermaids. People like the extras that I add in and the fact, I feel, that you can turn these on and off. I'm currently working on a mermaid fishing rod with future plans to create a light saber rod and a lava rod.
MP: What is your favourite creation so far?
AT: I don't really have a favorite that stands far above the others but so far I really love the silliness and the creation of the Puffermaid and all the little things I added to the Merbrarian/Schoolmaid and the Merkyrie Svenska.
MP: How do you draw the line between spending days on making it absolutely perfect or just doing it so it looks good enough without spending hours and hours?
AT: Hmm I probably don't draw a line where I should :) sometimes it's the frustration factor of a specific thing that makes me say ok, that's not really needed time to wrap it up and move on :)
MP: What is your inspiration behind the creations?
AT: I just think about what kind of things would you see with mermaids or how something in SL/RL would be changed if it was in a mermaid world. I try to keep them fun with a bit of tongue in cheek humor. I think it's good for people to enjoy a creation and to laugh. Fun, friendly laughter is healthy. It's the same process as when I write the text for the mermaids... "hmm what would be a funny saying/chat/text for a mermaid pirate?" is the kind of question I ask myself.
AT: Then I just poke fun at that genre/thing, the Puffermaid is a good example. Mermaids/Sirens are usually portrayed as sexy and deadly leading sailors to their doom at times, men and some women are fascinated by boobs and hourglass figures, so I made the mermaids sexy in general. Now I was thinking what kind of sea creatures could a mermaid be descended from and if so what special abilities would carry over that could also be funny/sexy. Well pufferfish puff their bodies up to scare off predators, hence the Puffermaid and her ballooning chest when frightened :)
Species/Item Name: (TC) Mermatey [red-gold]
Rarity: Rare
Creator: Amara Twilight
Location: Twilight Fishing custom prize
Information: Mermatey = Pirate Crew Mermaid
Favourite Saying: Mermatey whispers: Mess with me and you'll be sleepin' wit tha fishes....and NO that's not an offer for a date!
MP: My favourite creations of yours are the Schoolmaid and the Bookmaid that track your fishing stats. Have they been received well by the fishing public?
AT: Yes people seem to really like the fact that they keep track of your stats. They also monitor your catch/miss streaks and will tell you your best/worst one on request. I did the Naughty Schoolmaid so that each camp of person would have a mermaid they liked, Naughty or Nice :). I do have a few more stat mermaids planned in the future.
MP: I notice some of your creations come in both PG and R rated flavours, are the naughty ones sometimes the most fun to create?
AT: Hahaha. Yeah sometimes the risque ones are the fun ones to make. It's always a challenge to come up with a good, funny, naughty idea. People seem to really enjoy them, more so then the non-naughty ones. Most of the ones that have the R rated flavor are just standard story mermaids, you know... topless, compared to the Disneyesque wear shell bikinis. I added this mode for people who wanted a more cheesecake mermaid and for people who didn't :) This way they can choose how to have their mermaids display themselves.
Species/Item Name: (TC) Mermadeer [purple]
Rarity: UltraRare
Creator: Amara Twilight
Location: Twilight Fishing custom prize
Information: Mermadeer = Buccaneer Mermaids
Favourite Saying: Mermadeer whispers: My treasure chest, bring all the sailors to the sandbar..
MP: I hear you have been collaborating with other 7Seas custom prize creators, can you tell us a little about what you are doing?
AT: Migizi and I came up with the idea to make a set of catchables that would work together with each other. He had created this neat little Mini Me, which is a tiny Migizi that sits on your shoulder puffing away on his cigar. So I made a mermaid that would sit in his lap and then we decided on some animations and we both wrote some text for the couple to speak. The neat thing is that they interact only when they detect each other. When they are solo they say "Where is my sweetie?" :) looking for their other half.
AT: I just finished another one for Migizi that I was woefully behind gettingto him. I've also tentatively talked to another custom creator about a merger but I need to work out some logistics with the mermaid sculpt before we can proceed.
MP: I see that you offer custom builds (for the very reasonable price of L$1000 I might add), has that been popular too and do you enjoy creating for others?
AT: I do like creating stuff for others as long as I have some creative freedom :). So far I've had two custom orders but I think it's because people don't know that I'm offering them. I have about 3 people thinking about what they'd like to order in the future (a mermaid and some rods). I need to dig out the name of yet another person who owns a fishing area and talk to them about a custom they wanted too, now that I finally have a set price. When they first approached me I was still working out what I would charge for such a service that I felt comfortable with. I may increase the price in the future as my workload goes up.
MP: Can you please give us a sneak peak on upcoming items you will be making?
AT: Sure! I have a list that I add to whenever an idea hits me. In the works now is Ruby the Red Nipped MerDeer, a December-only special that will be released very soon. You've watched me build most of her and now I have the animations and her song done :) (Editor note: See below for pictures of the creation and final result).
AT: After that I'll finish off a Punkermaid and then move on to a couple of Mermummies, bandages and little egyptian headgear. People seem to enjoy the silly boob jokes and innuendos I add to these, so one of the Mermummies will be very busty and be called the Mamermummy :) After that I'll dig something out of my list that sounds interesting, be it the Fairy themed mermaid or the Borg themed one or any of the other dozen or so I have slated for the future. I may do a new year special but not sure what yet as I have been thinking about an angel mermaid.
MP: Have you created other non-7Seas fishing items?
AT: I have created a dock/pirate/sailing themed table/chair set that works similar to MystiTools spawned chairs. The table is a barrel with an anchor resting against it and a candle on the barrel, the crate you sit on spawns more crates to sit on. The table will pass out ales with a custom drinking animation for the left hand and the candle can turn on/off and will cast light. The other thing I created was for 7Seas but can be used for anything and thats a donation/freebie giver barrel set in grunge or wood flavors with many configuration options.
MP: Well thank you for your time Amara and I look forward to seeing your future creations.
AT: Thank you for my first ingame/second life interview. I had fun answering your questions and chatting with you in my studio.
Ruby the Red Nipped MerDeer - the creation process.
1. Amara edits an existing mermaid into the beginnings of the new creation. (When this picture was taken Amara had already done quite a lot of work).
2. Amara adds on the glowing nipples and works on the harness that will be used to hold the presents.
3. Next up is the reindeer textures. Amara uses a grid pattern on the prims so she can see where the lighter and darker areas need to be on the texture when she edits it in Photoshop.
4. Here is Ruby with textured body and tail and Amara starts on the animations. She uses a scripted animation suite that IMs her the coded output of the prim's movement. Amara is then able to call on any frame at any time in any script for any movement, so she can play frames 1, 2, 3, then jump to 7, 8, then back to 4, 5, 6. This also lets her control how fast/slow each frame will play back, or interject anything else during the time a frame plays, such as a facial change or another animation call to another set of animations.
5. The next day I visit Amara and she has almost completed Ruby. She has custom themed sayings, a Ruby the Red Nipper Merdeer song and fully animated. The only thing left to complete is her antlers.
6. And here is the completed Ruby, now available at Twilight Fishing as a rare custom prize catch. You will need to hurry down though however as she will only be catchable during the Christmas season.
Species/Item Name: (TC) Ruby the Red Nipper Merdeer [R Rated]
Rarity: Rare
Creator: Amara Twilight
Location: Twilight Fishing custom prize
Information: Ruby the Red Nipper Merdeer is a special help for jolly Kelp Kringle. She really lights up his life!
Favourite Saying: Ruby's Song (start this by clicking on Ruby then selecting it from the menu).
