One Month Down, One to Go!

If you haven't heard about Buried yet, or you've come to this story because you've just learned about MadPea's latest interactive hunt/game/adventure, you're just in time! While the story has been going on for the past month, it still has another month to run.

Tens of hundreds of players have already immersed themselves in this multi-media "hunt." We've spoken to a handful to get their take on what Buried is, and how to explain to newcomers to the game what this adventure is.

Notice that the key words used here are "game" and "adventure." While it's true that it is also a "hunt," players of this game recognize that it is different from the rest because this "hunt" has a story and a mystery that needs to be uncovered. 

When asked to put the experience in her own words, longtime player Jessy Sleydon had this to say:

"It's this totally fun game / hunt where you find little capsules all over the grid and follow a murder mystery along the way, and IF you make it through, you get some amazing prizes from some of the best creators on the grid," she said. "And make sure you do it when I'm on 'cause you're gonna need help."

Mathiaswolf would probably heartily agree with Jessy's assessment that Buried is as much a story, but he would probably add that it is a story with a lesson.

"I love having to endure the feeling of how fearful technology can be when used with malicious intent as to being watched every step of the way. An event like this should definitely be a wakeup call for those who put in their personal information in programs," he said. "And giving those very programs the permission to be in control of certain functions of your device. You may never know when you would wake up to something appearing on the screen of your device, not knowing how it got there in the first place."

For you see, this adventure/hunt comes with a HUD and a story line to follow, the HUD being a simulation of a tablet, with an app on it that "watches" you as you geocache around the grid in search of Lily, a missing author.

It is a challenging game, a real puzzler, as Louna Alchemi said. Nonetheless, for those who enjoy a bit of adventure, this is without a doubt something for you to get into.

"I've been recommending this lots of people. A lot of people say 'Its just another hunt blah blah.'" said Louna, "But I tell them NO! Its a challenging, interactive story, with adventure! And at the end you just happen to get some pretty sweet swag to boot."

So yeah, about that "swag," players do seem to have their favorites. If you'd like to see who our participating vendors are, you can find them at this blog post.

That being said, some players consider the prizes the "frosting on the cake," so to speak, as to most Mad Peas, the game is the real treat.

Do be sure to see for yourself, though. To learn how to get yourself started with this game, see this "How To Play" link.

Happy hunting, and we dare you to not get BURIED!

Let's Have a Party!

TIME TO PARTY - MADPEA STYLE

To celebrate the opening of our new home at the Consignment sim we're having one helluva party to kick off this new collaboration. 

Starting at 12noon with an amazing live performance from ColeMarie Soleil - her first in Second Life for many years! 

The music continues at 1pm with an hour long rocking DJ set from DJ Kess Crystal of !Exodus! Rock Club and streaming live to SL Live Rock Radio. 

During all of this there's an epic simwide mini hunt going on with huge prizes from Consignment and L$ prizes to be won. 

Check out the MadPea and Consignment stores and take a walk through MadPea history. 

IM Kess Crystal if you have any questions. 

Buried Clothing - Limited Sales

Limited Sales Time for Buried Souvenir Clothing Items

Madpea have produced a range of clothing items to complement the Buried hunt which is taking place on our Glimpse of Eternity sim. 

Buried is one of our most successful hunts ever and you have a chance to take home a piece of that MadPea history...but only for a limited time. 

These items will only stay on sale at the sim until the game closes at the end of March and then they will be retired from sale. 

Male and Female Grunge Hunter outfits include mesh pants, top, jacket, boots and jeans to achieve the perfect Buried hunter look

Alternative options if you just want the souvenir t shirt to remember the hunt from without going for the all out hunter look. Stand out in the crowd as a MadPea Buried hunter! 

Digging ain't easy and is murder on your high heels or brogues, so grab a pair of grunged up Buried Wellington Rainboots.

Don't miss out these items are only available until 31st March and ONLY available at the Buried sim 

TP TO THE SIM

Consignment & MadPea join forces

MadPea & Consignment announce new collaboration

MadPea's new “home from home” at Consignment

MadPea and Consignment are delighted to announce an epic new collaboration of resources in Second Life with the opening of MadPea’s new home on Consignment’s sim.

MadPea has a large and amazing community and MadPea has been searching for a home for them for some time. With the opportunity to share sim resources with Consignment and a programme of offers and events for both groups of vips the owners of both MadPea and Consignment believe the sim, and both companies, will flourish further.

Kiana Writer, CEO of MadPea said “It's no secret that I have for long admired Wavie's (Owner of Consignment)  talents and fell in love with the Consignment sim at the first sight. After our collaboration for Blood Letters & BURIED and Wavie joining our MadPea Crew, this seemed like a natural next step in our partnership. We've created a beautiful area to hold community events and happenings and hope that our community will find it a place to call their home”

Wavie Haller, Owner/Creator of Consignment said “Collaborating with MadPea was and will be a great experience.  I am honored to be involved with such a prominent and highly regarded set of designers and event coordinators.  I look forward to working with Kiana and the MadPea team on future projects.”

MadPea’s part of the sim includes their new mainstore, a history walk and a main stage area for events and officially opens at 12noon slt on 1^st March with an opening event featuring a live performance from ColeMarie Soleil on her return to Second Life.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Kess Crystal in-world or email kess@madpeagames.com.

The Early Birds

NAME: AngelicWarrior Commander

ACTIVITIES IN SPARE TIME: Role-playing, doing hunts,

member of Blood Lines Vampire family.

HOW SHE GOT EARLY ENTRY: Responding to a question
asked on an online interview.

Hey, remember all those early entrance and free HUDs that went out before the official start of Buried? Did you wonder whatever happened to those people and what it was like to get an early entrance?

Yeah, me too. So I talked to them to see what their experience was like, if they thought it was worth it and all that and well ... their responses really weren't too surprising.

Clearly, if you're trying to win a free HUD and early entry into a MadPea game, it's because you already have an idea of how fun the games are. I'm speaking now not just as staff writer, but as a person who has played the games and always been in love with MadPea events.

If you lost track, there were 10 early entrant winners, and I had the privilege of talking to eight of them to see who they are, how they did, and what they thought about getting into the game ahead of the crowd.

NAME: Asa Vordun
ACTIVITIES IN SPARE TIME: Tweaking landscaping at
her home, photography and editing those photos she takes.
HOW SHE GOT EARLY ENTRY: Responded to a FaceBook
ad about a photo competition for Buried, and won!

As you might guess, because of the random nature of how these prizes were awarded, we had a wide spectrum of winners.  In their spare time, the winners enjoy doing everything from finding other hunts, shopping, clubbing, landscaping, some build and even do photography professionally.

The one thing they all seemed to have in common, is why they were so glad that they got to start Buried early: Less lag!

NAME: Jessy Cinderflame
ACTIVITIES IN SPARE TIME: Building, creating, sim-
hopping, or hunting. Enjoys spending time with family and
friends.
HOW SHE GOT EARLY ENTRY: Entering and winning
the second raffle.

As Asa Vordun put it: "As the start of the game took place at Homestead the early access guaranteed stress free surroundings for the kick start of the game... no lag, no frustrating hitting of the TP button.You know, all the stuff."

She did add, though, that it was nice to start the early access at the same time as the other early entrance winners. "What was great too, all the people who were there at that time, were great - happy, excited and chatty," she explained.

"Having that advantage saved my blood pressure from rising!" said Raina Jewell.

NAME: Kara Trapdoor
ACTIVITIES IN SPARE TIME: Exploring, listening to live
music, blogging about various aspects about SL including
machinima, decor, shopping and more.
HOW SHE GOT EARLY ENTRY: Entered and won the
photo contest put on by MadPeas.

The early entrance held some additional advantages for Jessy Cinderflame, too. "My computer is not very good on over-crowded sims so it was great being there without having to fight for every step I took," she said.

Whether it was because of the advantages that early access brought to them, or because of the nature of the game, all of the Peas who got early access finished the game in relatively

short time -- usually in just a few hours.

Now that they've played, I asked them what they thought of the game (and don't worry, I avoided spoilers for those of you who haven't had a chance to play yet, hehe).

Of course, players enjoyed the interactive nature of Buried, with players becoming immersed in the search for Lily, using the "C-me" app on the "Lilypad" HUD, going on a virtual geocaching adventure.

Being Raina's first-time adventures with MadPea, she said she felt like she was on a Mission Impossible style adventure.

Others enjoyed the island, of course: "I enjoyed exploring the islands, looking for something or information to use elsewhere in order to get what you needed to progress," said Kara Trapdoor.

NAME: Vivena Resident
ACTIVITIES IN SPARE TIME: Photography, studio owner,
landscape photography, exploring.
HOW SHE GOT EARLY ENTRY: Entered and won the
MadPea photo contest

Vivena, who also appreciated the island, added

that she enjoyed the use of logic to try to solve the problem at hand. "I love the interacting parts of Madpea hunts and using logic to achieve things," she said.

Marina agreed, saying that finding the objects "gave her a great feeling" because in order to do so, she had to figure out the maps on the HUD.

AngelicWarrior Commander specifically mentioned the social aspect of playing such an interactive game with a group of Peas.

NAME: Koosh Lilliehook
ACTIVITIES IN SPARE TIME: RP, building, creating,
spending time with friends
HOW SHE GOT EARLY ENTRY: Entered and won the
raffle contest.

"My favorite part of BURIED was the new friends that I met along the way," she said. "Rushing to the finish line and ignoring the people around you in a fun interactive game like this is a mistake.  I often run into friends I met on previous games, and even though we haven't talked since the last Mad Peas game it is just as if we had never been apart."

And of course, there's the whole story of Buried, too.

Koosh Lilliehook said she enjoyed "seeing how the story played out as things were found
over time."

So as Buried continues on until the end of March, these early-access winners will return to their clubbing, building, photographing, RP-ing lifestyles until the next hunt that MadPea puts together.

Can we expect to see these players at the next adventure?

Their answer was a resounding, unanimous: YES!

A Little Light At The End Of The Hunt?

Etrone (right) and Jayci (left) enjoy a quiet moment
at the secret garden at their home.
[Photo by RaffiGirl Koffenbaum]

Gather 'round all you Peas, I have a little Valentine fairy tale to tell.

Once upon a time, at a grisly murder scene in a bathroom, a prince and a princess fell in love ... Neither expected to find the love of their lives there, but there they were.

 All kidding aside, this is how one Second Life couple first met, fell in love, and found a beautiful partnership that now extends into their real life.

In the middle of a murder mystery adventure might not be where you expect to find romance, but that's just what happened to Jayci and Etrone during MadPea Productions' Blood Letters adventure game.

"To be honest, meeting somebody was the last thing on my mind," Jayci admitted.

"And on mine as well," agreed Etrone.

Both were at the Animated Living/Blue Balls store, looking for a piece of the game's puzzle, when they encountered each other.

Being on the shy side of things, Jayci admits that hadn't Etrone spoken to her first, they most likely would never have met.

The couple observed that, during hunts, even on a sim full of fellow hunters, it is unfortunate that

Jayci (right) and Etrone (left) during their wedding ceremony.
[Photo by Saga-Deckard] 

more people don't just stop to talk to each other.

"I love the hunts," said Jayci. "But I think it's kinda sad people on the same sim don't help each other enough. ... I was really lucky Etrone spoke to me ... because I would have let him walk right on by."

This first tentative meeting quickly grew into a friendship as the hunt went on. Over the course of what remained of the hunt, Jayci and Etrone kept in touch, and did a lot of the game together. 

"I remember finishing the final step we had and being like 'oh no'," said Jayci. "At that point I was aware [that] I liked him and wanted to spend more time hanging out."

Even their first kiss tied in with aspects of the Blood Letters game. It was while they were sitting and talking about going out to track down some of the fortune cookies that were a sidepiece to the game, that it happened.

"But we were both too comfortable to move," said Jayci. "I said something like 'You could just give them [the fortunes] to me,' because they were copy and transferable."

Etrone apparently liked that idea, saying that it would save time, and took advantage of that extra time to sneak in a romantic kiss.

"And we've been kissing ever since," added Etrone.

As with many couples in SL, the virtual game helps bridge a physical distance that would otherwise be difficult to overcome. Etrone lives in the United States and Jayci lives in the United Kingdom. While Second Life and Blood Letters gave them their meeting place, the couple also takes advantage of apps like Kik and  Lumayia to help them keep in touch outside of the game.

 

In SL, the couple has recently become partnered, and accordingly had a lovely wedding ceremony. They now own a home that includes a secret garden, as requested by Jayci and therefore built by Etrone.

While some might imagine that the time difference might be difficult to overcome, it all happens to work out for Jayci and Etrone.

Jayci (right) and Etrone (left).
[Photo by Saga-Deckard]

"I have a pretty regular 9 to 5 job," explained Jayci. "But Etrone has an odd shift rota."

"And my schedule can be erratic but I often have my afternoons off," Etrone continued.

Another twist of fate signaling that they are meant to be? Perhaps.

Nowadays, Jayci and Etrone are quietly enjoying their new lives as a couple at their lovely home, where they also had their small, intimate wedding ceremony. Etrone spends his time tweaking the landscaping, while Jayci is organizing a book club. (Which, if anyone is interested in joining, they are welcome to send her an IM! I know I'm planning to join!) 

An early Valentine's gift? Early access to the Buried hunt that Etrone won through the auction held by MadPea, which he then gave to Jayci. Their other plans for the romantic holiday remain *ahem* private.

As the couple enjoys their quiet times ahead of them, they do have some thoughts for any lonely hearts out there as they go through Buried and future

hunts:

"Don't be afraid to say hello," said Jayci emphatically. "I was really lucky Etrone spoke to me."

"Be open to possibilities," added Etrone. "Needless to say, I feel like the luckiest hunter alive."

MadPea Sponsors One Billion Rising - Revolution

MadPea is a proud sponsor of 

One Billion Rising in SL 2015

Again this year, Prim Perfect is helping to organize a 24-hour event in Second Life as part of One Billion Rising, a global campaign to combat violence against women and girls.*

The event will take place February 14, along with thousands of physical-world events that same day. Here in SL, we are planning 24 hours of music, dance, art installations, poetry slams and informational exhibits across four sims - including (new this year) live performances. 

“ [Why “One Billion”]  One in three woman on the planet will be raped  or beaten.  That is ONE BILLION WOMEN.  In 2013 & 2014, one billion women and men shook the earth through dance and a call for justice and an end violence against women and girls.  This year, on or around 14 February 2015 we are calling on women and men everywhere to harness their power and imagination to RISE FOR REVOLUTION.”

UNIA - A dream that almost turned into a nightmare

It all started as a Dream.. 

In November 2012 I wrote the first draft of the plan. UNIA would be groundbreaking. UNIA would be our first fully interactive and immersive adventure with 1st person shooter elements. UNIA would be delivered in stages pushing the limitations of Second Life and showing game designers what is possible to do in this virtual world. 

In January 2015 I was wondering if I had tried to bite off more than one could chew. 

The project that was supposed to be the biggest and the best of MadPea ever, went through so many setbacks that there were times I seriously thought of just quitting. I had to dig deep within myself to find the strenght to carry on and keep pushing forward. 

Our first setback was when our sponsor left Second Life. Having a land sponsor was the only reason I thought this project could be possible in the first place. We were suddenly left to pay 740USD/monthly for the islands during the development phase. If you do the maths, this game has already become so expensive that there is no way we could ever get the money invested in it back. Thinking of the amount of man hours and money spent on UNIA makes me very uneasy at times. 

Yet - I have not given up.

At early stages we allowed bloggers and photographers in to the islands to show people what we were doing. I was not prepared for the insane buzz it brought. Interviews, interest from real life publishers and the amount of people who wanted to come in and help out. After this experience I'm not keen on taking anyone in to any project to 'help out'. We work on a level that requires talented and dedicated people who can take responsibility of their work, be able to respect deadlines and respect their team members. 

Suddenly the dynamics within the team went catastrophic. We had a massive team with many new people who were not prepared to actually work. Sure the visibility we get is nice, but we have to earn that, just like everyone else. We are working harder than many even realize. So people started to drop out.. not finishing their work. It's incredibly exhausting to bring in a new person to the team, explain them your vision, get all the paperwork done (yes we have NDAs, we have documents, we work as professionals here), introduce them to the team, take the time to get to know them personally and try to support them. They are excited, they start the work and you start trusting them and BOOM one moment they say 'I'm sorry, I just don't have the time for this anymore'. That is the nature of Second Life. Losing a member of the team is for me like a break up in a relationship. It hurts. You wonder what did you do wrong? Could there have been something to save it? It simply sucks and it takes a while again to regroup and in most cases - having to redo the work of the quitter. Naming no names during UNIA we have had ELEVEN people who came and left and each time a small part of my dream died. 

The biggest setback however was when our lead developer announced in November that he wanted out. I don't blame him, please don't you blame him either. He gave his all. To keep up with the island payments we were forced to do small hunts and events to raise money and it became a tiring vicious circle. When he left I felt so sick that I wanted to give up completely. I needed to get away and think. 

How could we get it done?

I stepped back a moment and left our Creative Director and close friend, Harter Fall in charge of the management and Indigo Lucerne in charge of the scripting. I couldn't even look at my dream, my baby, anymore without feeling physically sick. Harter knew the plans and I trusted him on how to manage the team. I needed to get back to the sources of my creativity and think of something else. I knew that we would be set back yet another few months and we had ran out of money. 

I thought about all the people who donated to us, all the people who encouraged us, the possibilities of UNIA and the dream that I had, and realized that I still had a strong, dedicated and determined core team that would would never give up with me and still believed in this project. We have had amazing artists creating scenes for UNIA. There are exclusive works from Bryn Oh, Rebeca Bashly, Fuschia Nightfire and Jaimy Hancroft just to name a few.  We have exclusive mo-cap animations ready from Abranimations. We still had a chance, it would just take a little bit longer and I would have to find a way to gather enough funds to keep the islands going.

Instead of thinking events that are an instant income, I had a strong urge to bring out a new game. A shared story that was built with my partner, Axiomatic Clarity. While the majority of the team was working on UNIA, Ax and I focused on creating the island for BURIED. I was thinking that IF it all fails now, then at least I have given it my all. The storyline, the builds and the atmosphere were born from a lot of love, passion and emotions. I believed that our loyal community would appreciate it and support us. 

Despite of the creator of the Numbakulla adventure and my former 'idol' Caliandris Pendragon taking the time to write a blog post about BURIED being the MOST BORING GAME IN THE SL UNIVERSE (I'm still waiting for the trophy, Caliandris), BURIED has actually been our most successful game compared to anything that we did in 2014. Within a week we have raised enough money to pay for the UNIA islands one more month. I hope that we will raise enough for two months more. 

After getting off the rollercoaster of emotions each launch causes to me, I went back to check on UNIA. The amazing team had made massive progress. According to them we are ready to test it all within TWO MONTHS. 

The dream is finally becoming a reality. None of that would be possible without a team that supports each other through thick and thin. I am lucky and proud. 

Thank you all for your support with BURIED. Bloggers, photographers and players. Your support means the world to us. 

Stay tuned as we will start to promote UNIA soon.. and please, check out the most boring game ever, BURIED. 

With love, 

Kiana 

Director of MadPea Productions

Check out this video of scenes from UNIA with the theme tune

BURIED Vendors at Play

OWNER: 2WAT Michigan
CO-OWNER: Jiovi Michigan
DETAILS: In business for around six years. Provies furniture,
furniture, cars, boats, bikes, houses, prefabs and more.

Whether you call them "adventures" or "hunts," it's fairly clear that  MadPea Production puts on more than a "drop into the sim, find the prize, and hop out" kind of event.

The vendors who offer some of the rewards during these adventures also tend to become part of the story line. Without giving anything away for those who haven't yet played BURIED, in this latest MadPea adventure, some vendors have gotten into the spirit of things. Some have even added special features to their sims to add to the mood for players. For those of us who enjoy an adventure and a story, this helps make the game great fun.

MiChIGaN's ShAcK! owner 2WAT Michigan explains that for this particular game, she made additions to her sim to play into BURIED's theme.

"We so looked forward to BURIED we took the theme and ran with it,  building a huge mountain on the roof of one side of our store with a labyrinth of caves, tunnels, waterfalls etc, just specifically to 'enhance' the BURIED journey for the players," explained 2WAT.

The six-year-old business which concentrates on the creation and sale of furniture (but also offers cars, boats, landscaping items and much more) has been a part of MadPea games in the past including Praying Mary and Blood Letters.

OWNER: Bluesean Yiyuan
CO-OWNER/CO-BUILDER: Silex Zapedzki
DETAILS: In business for four years, provides old buildings,
holiday items, haunted objects, furniture and more.

It seems other vendors would concur. Bluesean Yiyuan, owner and creator for the shop Never Totally Dead, has also participated in past games, and has even built parts of previous adventures.

"We built a large part of Mad City and the Silent Peacock Hotel for the room 326," said Bluesean, who co-owns the business with Silex Zapedzki.

Now, what could be a vendor's motivation to participate in an event such as this? Many would assume increased traffic would benefit business, as would offering a free sample of their talents. While one could argue both sides of this, it quickly becomes quite clear that vendors have a different motivating factor as well: an interest in the story.

When Cheeky Pea owner Isla Gealach (who has also participated in several previous MadPea events) was asked why she takes part in these events, she makes her position quite clear.

"The HUD based games seem incredibly fun. I remember doing hunts and it was always TP in, search, get, leave," said Isla. "The story grabbed me. I very rarely participate in hunts these days, but this just seems fun! There needs to be more things like this available, and supporting great

organizations like Mad Pea keeps fun going on the grid."

OWNER: Isla Gealach
MANAGER: Valena
DETAILS: Store has been in SL for 6 years, but Isla has been
creating in SL for 8 years. Offers home and garden decor items
that are both aesthetic and functional.

Not only that, but Isla finds creating to a theme enjoyable -- it helps her art. "I think it's fun to create to a theme in general, and a mystery is especially fun," she explained. "It's a way to flex design and keep things new and interesting."

2WAT seems to concur that getting to participate in the story is as much part of the decision to participate in BURIED as anything else.

"It has brought many people through the store so very successful in that respect," said 2WAT. "However, that was secondary compared to the fun we have had taking part."

Now, you might wonder, how do these lovely vendors know so much about the games? Well, they're not only vendors, but they are also players.

"[I've played] many," said Bluesean. "Played Labyrinth, Inca, and others." He also describes collaborating with MadPea as being "great" and "awesome."

"This is my third. I've also done the Blood Letters Hunt and Scrumptious Sweets," said Isla.

"I always love taking a break from 'SL Work' to go and enjoy whichever adventure MadPea is currently running," laughed 2WAT.

So, while you're solving this mystery and trying to save Lily's life, keep an eye open. You might catch a glimpse of some of those who support these games by offering their sims, prims, and creations!

The Prizes!

Here it is - the fabulous prize line up for BURIED!