The Numbakulla Island Project Competition

As some of you know I took a step back from Second Life for a number of reasons on the 17th October. I closed my stores and tiered down. However, there is one major outstanding part of my second life that only a few people know about – Numbakulla, my private island sim. As I had already stumped up the setup cash and for a few month’s worth of use for the island, I decided I would keep it until such time as RL and SL contrived to make it viable to develop again. RL work has a habit of presenting some things unexpectedly and this has happened this week which leads me to having even less spare time, and this is something that will be on-going for many months.

I won’t detail what my plan was for Numbakulla but, at its core, was one very important principle – it was not being done to make any money, not even to break even. There was to be nothing for sale, nothing to pay for – the whole experience was to be free. I wanted it to be an imaginative, fun, innovative and interactive place to visit.

So, since my RL work increased again last week, rather than get rid of the island I have decided to launch The Numbakulla Island Project. In essence this is a competition open to teams of 3 or more people to submit project plans for the island by 30th November 2004. One of these teams will then be chosen on 14th December 2004 and the very next day will be given complete access to Numbakulla to develop their project to completion and public launch. I am guaranteeing that the team that develops the island will have it until 30th June 2005, and that up until 1st April 2005 (at the latest) you will not have to launch to the public.

There are no land fees to pay and all dwell and developer bonus’ will be split 50/50 between myself and the winning team.

But the project plans I am looking for teams to submit must fit in with my original core principle – whatever it is you bring to the island it should be free for others to enjoy. My only exception to this is that the project plan may include a small store that sells only related items to whatever the theme of the project is.

I want to foster innovation in SecondLife with this, free from the burden of having to make something that generates enough money to pay your land tier fees, and with the comfort of knowing that the land is available until a set date. By doing this, I am hoping that the winning project team who gets the chance to develop the island creates something that everybody in Second Life will appreciate.

For more information on the rules for submitting a team project plan for Numbakulla please visit: http://www.numbakulla.com/

From now until the 14th December 2004 I have also decided that I will make Numbakulla available as a public sandbox, so please feel free to use it at will.

You may also feel free to email me at [email]moopf@numbakulla.com[/email] if you want any more information or to discuss this in further detail.

I have just added a launch event for this competition at Noon PST today on Numbakulla. If you would like to find out more about this project, or have any questions please feel free to join me on the island then.

Thank you to everybody who came to the launch event, even though it was at short notice. If anybody has any questions please get in touch and I'll be happy to answer them.

*shameless bump*

If you would like to help advertise this competition, you can now pickup a copy of the competition sign on Numbakulla. Just touch the box next to the teleport spot to get a copy. The sign is only 3 prims.

If you do take a copy to put out on your land and help advertise this, I would be very appreciative.

If we didn't need to sell things in DL, we'd take it.. but I hope you get some interesting and creative submissions from others!

PC

I thought you already had a sim anyway? Thanks for the interest though - I certainly hope I get some interesting and creative submissions as well!

moopf.. maybe we can team up i am doing pretty much the same thing.. the most intresting idea gets to use my sim. im me in world if interested.

In order that I can guarantee what's being promised as the prize with this competition, although it's a great offer, I'm going to have to decline I'm afraid. Good luck on finding somebody to use your island as well, it's great to see others doing something similar.

*another shameless bump to make sure as many people as possible know about this competition*

Yup, we've got a sim, but once that's full I see no reason to stop making zones.. especially at the rate our players like to level (if you play 12 hours a day don't complain about content ok! hehehehe)

Get someone to make a myst-style adventure game in there. I reckon that would really work with some beautiful builds. Or an all-water one.. with.. floating cities yeah yeah.

Peter

Well I'm not stipulating what the project can be (apart from the non-commercial part) so I'll have to see what plans people enter. I'm sure there are plenty of really cool ideas out there just needing the space in which to be born.

yea i thought the same thing and 85% of the responses i have received were commercial.. anyway to make a buck.. seems sl lost its creative crowd

Well, we'll wait and see who applies for this competition.

I have a million ideas, but unfortantly that keeps me busy alot of the time and I'm not sure how much time I could dedicate to a large project.

My favorite idea that I still dream of doing is to recreate Cube, from the movie of the same name, in SL. If you've never seen the movie see the IMDB page here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/

Unfortantly this would require the sim to be empty realy, with the land either flattened or non-existant. Also it would take alot of scripting. Bright side, not much building or texturing.

I would go for Cube instead of Cube 2 or a combination of the two together, because Cube 2 would be harder effects to pull off.

I have alot of ideas how this could be done, involving stuff like using "The Boot" to check for traps, and actualy having to use a mind puzzle of some sort (of course using the same one from the first movie would be bad since its already beene explained) to get out. I've thought alot about this one.

Other than that, maybe an outlandish fantasy sim, something in a crazy style simular to any Final Fantasy game, you could go steam industrial or colorfull fantasy.

Or some mind bending random things.

Edit: To change some words/grammar to make more sense.

Oz, if you have lots of ideas, as this competition is open to teams, there would be nothing to stop you being the ideas man, with others in the team doing the implementation.

OK, last bump from me. If anybody else on the forum likes this idea and wants to support it by keeping this thread visible so as many people as possible know about it, please feel free to bump this thread.

The self-bumping is making me feel dirty

proposal submitted via im and notecard

Great! Just so everybody is aware you'll need to fill in the entry form on the web site http://www.numbakulla.com/ in order to enter - just so we make sure I get all the information needed to decide the winner.

* I felt extra clean this morning, so don't mind bumping *

I too, only have an idea, and not enough 'manpower'.

Maybe this isn't the most original idea, but I've thought of a 'Jurassic Park' in a sim, with all the animals (scripted), gates, visitor walkways, etc. I don't feel I could get together a team for it, that's why I'm releasing it into this forum, so someone might pick it up, plan for it, get a team together and apply.
(I only ask, if someone reads this idea for this sim, and does something because he read my post, please mention me as 'an idea from a forum post by Zonax Delorean'.)

I think we could see more ideas here, as it's only a small, starting part of the work, the other 99% requires much much creative manpower. Though, of course, there are really original ideas which take more percentage, maybe much more.

Zonax, if you're interesting in getting a team together you could always post in the building forum, for instance, to see if others are interested in being a part of it.

No, you see, getting a group together and managing it still requires a big amount of time and energy, that I don't currently have. That's the reason I posted my idea, and if there are others in the same positions, maybe they could post ideas, too. That still leaves the to-be-team much effort to think a lot about it, design, plan, prove to you that they are 'worthy' and capable of doing it, etc.

Ah OK, understood

Oh, and I am helping you keep the forum on top

But maybe you're right, and there should be a third topic, that everyone can just throw their "free" ideas, that might be used, or might 'just' inspire willing teams. Like, say, someone sees this and that idea, and says, wow, I'd love to get a team together for that!
Or... maybe this topic is good enough instead of a 'third' one