The Metaplace forums featured an announcement the other day for a Valetine's Day contest. Everyone was encouraged to create their own Valentine-themed world and then get together to vote for the one they liked the best. I'd done this once before when MP asked folks to put together a holiday themed world for the New Year. (You can see that world here, if you're in Metaplace. If you're not in the beta yet – drop me an email and I might be able to help you out.)
As an artist I've always enjoyed seeing the various approaches that different people will take to the same project. I decided not only to enter a world in the contest, but to document my efforts with a little build blog. So here we go!
First we need a concept. I like to steer away from the cliché when I can but with a holiday like Valemtine's it is not that easy. I thought about building some kind of Lover's Lane, toyed with the idea of an anti-love site, but neither idea really grabbed me. When I need inspiration I often Google various words and/or phrases. While looking at images of Cupid I saw an old Renaissance painting of some cherubs up in the clouds. Word associations started rolling through my head and up popped the phrase Cloud Nine.
Metaplace lets you use a number of file formats for creating graphics. Among them is the PNG format. One of the cool things about PNGs is that they can have alpha channels. This means you can have parts of an image be transparent. I could theoretically have cloud objects that fade out towards the edges and create the appearance that avatars are walking around on a cloud and partially sinking into it.
Alright! I'll do a Cloud nine world where the ground appears to be actual clouds that people are sinking into. Add some cherubs that can follow people around, mix in a Greco-Roman vibe for the visuals and it sounds like I have a plan.
Next time: a little proof of concept
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