Some Updates
Posted by Suzanna Soyinka on June 11 2013 20:32:42
Hey all, been awhile since I did any news so I thought I'd do a few updates to let people know where things stand.
First of all Melanie has CCS 1.0.5 just about fully encrypted, we should have a testing prototype done soon and the next and hopefully final beta should be issued to the beta group within the week barring any major problems.
Secondly, through the process of encryption there has been a lot of script level refinement. CCS should drop to around 1k script memory in total for script and HUD at final release. Which is about 20 times less script memory than CCS 1.0.4 currently uses. Also a lot of how CCS functions has been streamlined and improved, this should help with performance in high volume situations.
In CoLA related news, Chaoss has informed me that they do not wish to invest the time that the CoLA rebuild would take them. They have given me all the resources they've authored in the time we've been working together so I have the resources but the CoLA rebuild is pretty much all on me now so a lot of my time has been taken up with working in 3DSMax and creating new 2D resources for the build in Substance Designer 3. Regardless of the bad news, the rebuild will still be done, its just going to take me a bit of time to do it all myself. Unlike many in the Second Life RP development arena, I can back up everything I do with a certain amount of skill in all the required areas of development (though I do not claim to be an expert at any of them, which is why I like to work with people more talented than I am if I can), just doing this rebuild in mesh alone means its going to take more time...I won't claim to be half as skilled as Chaoss in regards to 3D asset creation for Second Life, but I have no intention to let this bump in the road stop me either. If someone wishes to help they're welcome to contact me, but as I've already committed a fair amount of money behind Chaoss on this rebuild I'm afraid I don't have the money to properly hire on any extra help, and I'd feel a little wrong asking people to do this kind of work for free.....its not exactly simple stuff after all. And it is a lot of the reason why my grid time has dropped severely, I'm having to kick everything up a notch to get up to speed to deliver on what I've promised and SL and 3DSMax don't play very nicely running at the same time. (One of these days I'll get a second computer when I can afford it.)
Regardless of that we all know SL is in a bit of a weird place right now. Despite Rod Humble's optimistic interviews about the state of the grid, you don't have to be a rocket scientist or a psychic to realize that all is not well with Linden Labs at this time. I am hoping for the best but I'm not going to be surprised if we see some major turnovers at Linden Labs soon, or some majorly problematic changes that make the grid we currently know into something a little different. Regardless of that....should the worst scenario come to pass...we do have Avination and Melanie behind us should we need to find a lifeboat in the scenario that the good ship "Second Life" actually scuttles itself and sinks. So...don't worry too much, even though I'm not all that thrilled with the thought of the Second Life having run itself into the ground and I hope that it does not...we do have appropriate back up for our community should it happen to do so...and if we need to use that option...we will. For now though...we're kind of holding our breath along with everyone else that has a vested interest in the health of the Second Life grid...and hoping that everything works out all right.
Please don't take this as any kind of declaration of no confidence in Linden Lab. I have a lot of confidence in Linden Lab and I like a lot of the people that still work there (though admittedly, there are quite a few people that no longer work there that I think probably still should). And I believe that they have a lot of good minds behind the project still and they will find a solution to the issues they are facing. Just like any good company does. All I'm saying is we will have options should the worst come to pass.
In closing, I have been doing a lot of external work as well on a project that probably won't be grid based, but is designed as another path for me to take should everything go banana shaped....I gotta have a hobby after all right? This has always been my dream and I'm not going to let go of it just because things are getting complicated.
So overall, chins up and lets have fun. One way or the other, we will continue to support our community and our users and deliver the best options we can for you all.