Working USS Monitor Steam engine model

Found this recently and thought it would be nice to share.

USS line officially updated

All of our USS series is now updated to use all the improvements we have developed so far. These include...

• Dial controls for all weapons and cameras allowing for 360° of turret and camera rotation

• Eject button allowing crew to exit vehicle safely

• Engines now have a simplified system of SLOW,HALF, FULL speeds reducing key presses needed to get to full speed

• Flagpoles and other prims that obstruct firing are now phantom making it safer for ships like the USS Passaic to fire forward
  

• Steam whistle added and activated by pressing UP or E
  

• Ability to cut engine power by pressing DOWN or C

• Arm/Disarm feature has been removed, ships are now armed at all times

• Wake effect added for forward and reverse movements

We have a medium-class airship coming next to accompany our heavy Fafnir ship. After that the MSS Tyrann and MSS Fishkill will get a huge overhaul both visually and how they operate.



Also Sidney Arctor has finally released his destroyable ICS cannons and is donating all the proceeds to Relay for Life.



These cannons are a huge improvement over our ICS artillery, featuring dial controls for rotation and angling and awesome death & damage effects. It also scans to see if people are close and won't fire or repair unless you are close enough. You can find them here and I suggest you take advantage of this offer as he is offering both cannons and bunkers as a set for this event.

USS line gets massive overhaul

Due to my concerns with the state of our current ironclads I have started work on doing a massive overhaul to all the ironclads. Currently the USS line is the first to get the makeover, and below you can see how much they have improved aesthetically ...

Sculpted hulls give the ships a more smooth, streamlined shape

More detailed and historically accurate texturing

The combination of sculpted prims and the fact that vehicles can now be 32 prims regardless of passenger count means ships can have more details like anchors and vents

Not only have the ships been upgraded visually, but huge improvements have been made to the HUDs and internal scripts. Some of these improvements include...

• Dial controls for all weapons and cameras allowing for 360° of turret and camera rotation

• Eject button allowing crew to exit vehicle safely

• Engines now have a simplified system of SLOW,HALF, FULL speeds reducing key presses needed to get to full speed

• Flagpoles and other prims that obstruct firing are now phantom making it safer for ships like the USS Passaic to fire forward
  

• Steam whistle added and activated by pressing UP or E
  

• Ability to cut engine power by pressing DOWN or C

• Arm/Disarm feature has been removed, ships are now armed at all times

• Wake effect added for forward and reverse movements

All of the USS line is complete save for the USS Queen of the West, however that should not take long as that is one of the simpler ships. Once that is complete these will all go into the update server. The MSS Ugly Duckling has also received the same makeover and will be updated at the same time as well.

After the USS line will naturally come the CSS line, followed by the fictional ships. I had wanted to start on some other things like the Miniclads game but as this is our staple product it takes priority, but don't worry I will eventually finish the game as it's 80% complete.

I also want to announce that we are discontinuing our line of coastal artillery, mainly because I have not had the time to keep up with upgrading it but as well as the fact that Sidney Arctor has already finished a much improved ICS artillery. Once he actually releases them I will have more details for you regarding this, but suffice to say from what I have seen they are a giant improvement.

Goblin update complete

The Goblin has officially been updated to the new control system and received some very nice upgrades in the process. For starters the tank now has a machine gun, so you can deal with infantry or other unarmored targets. Also included is a better light with a nice looking light beam.





Another nice addition is the commander's position. Whoever decides to be the pilot can now take the commander's position at the turret and can steer the tank effectively in mouselook. Just be warned that you will be vulnerable to explosives and small arms.





Below is the new HUD for the tank. The new dial control method allows for more finer control over the camera and weapon systems. We also included a gunners HUD as well, which has only the basic controls needed for gunners. Technically they can use the commanders HUD if they want but it's better for gunners to use a simpler HUD if they can.




The Goblin now also comes with BNWCS and can toggle between that and ICS. Switching to BNWCS will turn ICS off and vice versa. We are new to BNWCS so not sure how well the HP value stacks up with other vehicles, but that is what we have updates for.

Fafnir Complete

Murakami Steamworks first airship is now available at our shop. Many weeks went into this ship and now that it is complete all the new advancements it received will trickle down to all our other vehicles in the coming weeks as we slowly update everything.

Next on our list is the Goblin light tank which is getting a massive overhaul. In addition to the weapon and camera control improvements from the Fafnir, it will also be getting a machine gun installed on the turret for taking care of infantry. It will also be able to hold a third crew member who will take position at the turret hatch, such as a tank commander would. This makes driving in mouselook very fun, but on the flipside you will be exposed to enemy fire. Should be interesting...

For those curious what our roadmap is currently...

1. Complete Goblin overhaul (75% done)
2. Update artillery and AA guns to new dial controls and to re-balance them. -not started
3. Updated Miniclads game for sale (25% done)
4. Wyvern fighter plane (needs to float on pontoons correctly, 60% done)
5. Update naval vessels to use new Fafnir technology (huge update) -not started
6. Ammo swap system for all combat vehicles (shot, shell, grapeshot) -not started

Murakami Steamworks Returns

Well after a small break Murakami Steamworks is back! We have been working on many projects in the backroom and now is a good time to show you what we have. First on the list is our airship Fafnir we talked about awhile ago... The ship has gone through many evolutions and is 99% complete...


The Fafnir is not only our first airship, but also carries with it many new enhancements to our vehicles as a whole and some of these are quite revolutionary (for us at least). For starters, the ship now has sculpted turrets in place of the 2 prim ones, saving us a massive 6 prims which we used to enhance the look of the ship. I have been able to grasp how to make complex sculpted prims as well as texturing thanks to Sidney Arctor who is an expert sculpter and indeed one of the best I have ever met. Check out his shop here if you would like to see his work. With my new skills I should be able to go back and reduce the prim count on many of our ships, allowing me to add some details I could not before.

We also changed the way movement controls work, in which instead of having engine speeds 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9... etc etc we simply have SLOW, HALF,FULL. This reduces the amount of times the pilot needs to press the forward/backward keys to get to their desired speeds as well as reduce the amount of overhead between the ship and HUD. We also got rid of the automatic turning so now you must hold down A or D to rotate the ship. This again reduces some overhead and makes turning more smooth and controlled. Ascending and descending work just like our submarines do.

Weapon controls are the biggest change, heavily reducing the complexity of aiming and firing. If you look at the picture above and zoom in on the HUD, You will see there are no aiming buttons for the cannons. This is because it uses a new dial method taking advantage of llDetectedTouchST. This means instead of having to click on say...6 buttons to control the angle, you can now just click anywhere on the dial to aim them and have 45 different angles instead of 6. Suffice to say this is huge, and it will make our monitor type ironclads 10 times easier to operate. MrBunwah originally had something like this rigged up way back when llDetectedTouchST was first introduced but because many of our customers were still using older clients they could not actually use this new method as it required a client upgrade.

The next big improvement also uses this new dial method. If you look at the center of the HUD you should see a circle dial with a smaller blue side dial next to it. This is the new camera system. The way it works is you press anywhere on the circle to rotate the camera in that direction relative to the ship, then you use the blue dial on the side to adjust your camera pitch. So instead of having to click on all those buttons for limited camera angles, you now only have 2 dials which can move the camera almost anywhere you want. This is huge, as the way SL utilizes cameras is terrible. Our ships have always been plagued with camera problems but with this new system we have finally fixed it and made it a viable alternative to simply using the click drag camera in SL.

Last but not least is the implementation of BNWCS into the ship, making this our first real dual combat system ship. It might take some updates to get it balanced right for BNWCS, but what we have now works very well and seamlessly with ICS.







Up next is our first fighter plane, the Wyvern. This plane will be unique in that it will not have 1 but 3 combat systems implemented. ICS,BNWCS, and TCS. This will make it a very versatile fighter that can engage almost anything else it comes across...except perhaps for VICE equipped vehicles (future update perhaps?). The Wyvern will also have an auto pilot mode that stays in the sim, useful if you need to go afk or type something up while in the air.

The picture above shows it with landing gear, but the final version will have pontoons allowing it to take off and land on the water. I may also incorporate our advanced camera system mentioned above if it proves to be useful, however I would like to have this be a HUDless vehicle if possible for ease of use... but who knows.

The final version will also have ICS/BNWCS bombs that it can drop on larger targets, as it's ICS machine gun rounds can't damage ships above 250HP. Like I mentioned before, I want this to be a very versatile fighter...








Last thing I want to show you is our medium tank, the Trollkin. Both our tanks will be getting a huge upgrade that will incorporate all the enhancements mentioned above. The Trollkin is the 2nd of a series of 5 tanks we plan on making. Light, Medium, Heavy, Mortar, Amphibious. The Trollkin will sport 2 machine guns for dealing with infantry, and a large howitzer for armored targets.


That's it for now! Will keep you posted when these are released.

Fleet Week 2010

This year Fleet Week will be held in Steeltopia. If you are not familiar with this event, it's an annual gathering of all the steamland's navies in Second Life. There will be a shipbuilders expo and contest, races, mock battles, a naval review, and a uniform ball at the very end of the event. In other words if you have any interest in 19th or 20th century naval warfare in Second Life you have little reason not to attend. Below I have pasted the revised schedule of events...

FLEET WEEK 2010

The Second Annual gathering of
Second Life's Steamland Navies



Shipbuilder's Exhibition * Submarine Races
Tall Ship Races * Epic Ironclad Battles * Naval Review
Social Events and Uniform Ball

Steeltopia * November 13-20, 2010


************************************************
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13

* Fleet Week Opening Ceremonies - 4:00 PM SLT
Excelsior Airship Docking
Hosted by Steeltopian Emperor, SteelCobra Calamari

A special event honoring the peacefully-gathered naval forces of the Steamlands.


* Shipbuilders' Expo and Shipbuilding Contest Begins
Port Tiburon

Shipbuilders offering ironclad-era nautical vessels will be set up along the piers and wharves of Steeltopia, offering their wares to the Public. The public may vote on their favorites throughout the week.

Harbor Master: Rachire Andel - Rachire will assist vendors in displaying their ships in an orderly manner. Please assist her by registering your intent to participate as a vendor.

Ship Building Contest Chairman: Wrath Constantine - Contact Wrath for details. Builders will show their skill and imagination, to be judged by a panel, TBD.



*Seaman's Ball - 11-13-10 Saturday at 6pm PST SLT
Pneumatic Revolution Lounge
Hosted by SteelCobra Calamari

A Celebration to open the weeks festivities. Music, dancing and merriment!
Uniforms and period dress encouraged.



**********************************************************

SUNDAY 11-14 thru WEDNESDAY 11-15

Shipbuilder's Expo continues... Random unplanned events may take place in the spirit of celebration!
We ask all vendors to vacate the docks by the end of Wednesday to accommodate setting up for the Melee Events.


**********************************************************
THURSDAY 11/18

* Ironclad Melee, 5PM SLT.
Port Tiburon
HOST: Steel Cobra Calamari

An epic naval skirmish featuring the navies of the steamlands, slugging it out on the open ocean. Behold the power and glory of the assembled navies. Rumor has it that the latest examples in lighter-than air naval support vessels will also be supporting their nautical units...

Participant navies are asked to register with Robin Sprocket or SteelCobra Calamari prior to the event. SteelCobra will make available the Rules of Engagement to participants. Please direct scheduling concerns, etc. to SteelCobra Calamari.



*********************************************************
FRIDAY 11/19

* Belly Up Performance - 12:15PM
Excelsior Airship Docking
HOST: Elleon Bergamasco

Please come enjoy a performance by the renowned mermaid dance troupe, Belly Up. It's a cultural treat and a fitting prelude to the spectacle of the Fleet Review!


* Fleet Review, 1PM SLT.
Obsidian Sea Event Seating
HOST: Justinian Huszar

The state-based navies of the Steamlands, in their finest regalia, proceed on a course taking them past reviewing stands. The Public is invited to attend.



**************************************************************
SATURDAY 11/20

* Windjammer Race, 12 noon SLT.
Port Tiburon
HOST: Aevalle Galacia
CHAIRMAN: SteelCobra Calamari

Tall ships and wind-powered vessels to compete in this yachting race, before cheering crowds gathered on viewing stands. Trophies will be on hand for the winners.

Please register for this event with Robin Sprocket or SteelCobra Calamari. SteelCobra will make available the rules for competitors.



* Submarine Races, 2PM SLT
Obsidian Sea Event Seating
CHAIR: Rachire Andel

The finest submariners - and their daring mechanical marvels - will line up to compete against each other in this underwater tournament. The Public is invited to view the races from the specially-built underwater viewing stands. Appropriate dress is encouraged.

Please register for participation in this event with Rachire Andel. Rachire will make available the rules of the contest to participants.



* Highland Ball at Piermont Landing , 6PM SLT
Wheatstone Waterways
HOST: Breezy Carver

The public is invited to attend a inter-Steamland nautical-themed Ball hosted by Breezy Carver at Piermont Landing in New Babbage. Naval uniforms for officers and sailors are encouraged. Shipbuilding awards and race winners will be honored.