Watch how to build a simple clock in Second Life in over 45 minutes of video tutorial, right from the ground up. Includes building the components, designing the textures, using transparency, and writing the scripts to make the clock show the correct time. It's a great way to gain a whole set of building skills that can be used in Second Life. More ...

Building a Clock in Second Life - a Video Tutorial

What is Second Life®?

Second Life is a virtual world of thousands of people existing, interacting, and creating 24 hours a day. It's an addictive habit - once you really understand the scale of the world you inhabit and the incredible variety of people, environments, situations and interactions that are possible it becomes almost irresistible. Part game, part simulation, Second Life is an alternative to the real world that has almost as many similarities to it as differences from it.

And there's real money being spent here too: Most days there is around USD$1 million spent by people in the game, either on land, or objects, or services, gambling, or whatever else they may dream up.

Copyright © 2007 Ian Monstre  ·  All Rights reserved

Why Build in Second Life?

People use Second Life for all sorts of reasons. Some of them spend their time in "adult" areas, some gamble, some of them just meet up and chat with people, some buy and acquire objects for their virtual homes, and some have jobs where they're paid by the hour. For me though, Second Life's real attraction is the ability to build things, to imagine what you might be able to create - then go ahead and create it. Some of the things you build will be valuable to other people and may make you some money; some are just fun in their own right. But for me, building in Second Life goes right to the core of its attraction. And hopefully this website will help you to become a builder too.

Video Tutorials

Having spent many years (way too many) in software development I'm used to having to learn new stuff on a regular basis. So when I first started using Second Life I looked around for tutorials and guides, and particularly video tutorials. I find videos work best for me - having someone walk through how to use a new technology is always the best way for me to learn, and I think that's probably true of most people. However, although I found lots of help and advice (see the resources section for some of these) I didn't find many video tutorials. So it kind of made sense to me to create some.

So far the feedback has been great and it's really good to hear that people are finding the videos useful. I do feel that I need to point out however that in most cases I'm demonstrating one way of doing things - there are almost certainly other ways of achieving the same ends and part of the fun is exploring those other ways. I know I'm finding new techniques and approaches all of the time that allow me to build things that are most efficient or more effective. My advice is to not let that stop you: don't wait until you think you know exactly how to build something, or how to write that piece of script, just dive in and try out a few things. Second Life is a great place for experimentation and I encourage to you let go of inhibitions and enjoy yourself. It works for me :-)

Second LIfe allows you to build some quite complex objects that interact with each other using a messaging system. This written article provides the source code for a simple sliding puzzle that helps demonstrate how to use messaging in Second Life. Full source code provided.
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New Videos?

Using Messages in Second Life

This new video shows you how to create a simple radio in Second Life that connects to Internet radio stations for broadcasting on your land. As usual we cover all elements including finding radio stations to connect to, the script for operating the radio, and the object to represent it. Full walk-through with source code. More ...

Create a Working Radio

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