Tag: Kittycats

Bye Bye Bunny…

Bye Bye Bunny…

by Lisa Millar ♥ 4 Comments

You know, what with the recent drama and all it would be very easy to dismiss Ozimals Bunnies as being completely over. The virtual craze of 2010 now replaced by mewing cats and kittens in fact, but hold on. Ozimals may be down, but they’re not out just yet and have managed to retain a core of solid supporters to whom, let’s be frank here, they owe their virtual lives. We’ve all heard about their failings so I feel no need to repeat them again here, but it says a lot about Ozimals perseverance that at a time of crisis they are opting to ride out the tide of controversy and dissent by releasing new products to tempt and tease the faithfully bunny-addicted. They’ve just done it again, with the promise of new Elite bunnies, more on that later, but also they’ve played a blinder in the PR stakes by generously handing out a years supply of bunny food to a small band of early adopters. That’s pretty amazing, don’t you think?

I confess, I very nearly placed all my remaining bunnies in my inventory and just walked away from the whole deal. I know many people who have done just that actually; they’ve been so dismayed by various events that they’ve given up on the hoppers completely. At one point I had..gulp..over a hundred rabbits that I bred and adored. I’ve reduced that number gradually; allowing each bunny to retire into my inventory once they’ve attained elder status. I can’t even tell you how many Elders Of Euphoria there are in my inventory, a lot I think, but there they must remain. It’s not cheap to rear breedables, as many people realised when the market madness overtook them and bunnies began to take over the grid in reams.But back to my point, I didn’t give up on bunnies entirely and the reason was simple, I hadn’t attained the goals that I had set for myself. I wanted to create gem-eyed versions of certain breeds, and once I had done that I then wanted to breed the same, but with lop ears. For me this was a great hobby and I was creating my ideal bunnies. By the time I finally did get my stunning Silver Martin Black with Peridot eyes and lop ears the bunny market had practically evaporated, but by then I was beyond breeding for a small profit, but for pleasure. For me there’s just something rather special about a gem-eyed, lop eared bunny, and once the Twilight, Moonlight and Sunlight shades appeared I was again in bunny heaven. But even this was a brief respite, and sadly I’ve come to realise that there will be a parting of the ways between myself and Ozimals in the very near future, purely because I don’t like the new shades or eyes. I haven’t had an Acorn shade bunny yet, but the brownish tinge it offers leaves me feeling cold.

The Sunrise and Sparrow eye shades don’t have the sparkle or the fire that the gem eyes had, and not only that, but the gem eyes were always rather stunning to behold as far as texture and colour went, whereas by contrast the sunrise eyes look, well, I’m sorry to say it, but they look dead to me. I’m not a fan, and the bunnies that I have bred which feature these attributes I’ve sold because they just don’t appeal to me. I’ve held out though, only to see Hydrangea and Iris shades become the next big thing, but sadly not for me. I don’t think it’s a lack of ideas on Ozimals part by the way, it’s obvious that they do have ideas aplenty, but they just don’t work for me as a breeder.

I confess that all this disillusionment on my part has left me out of the bunny loop. Once an active poster on the official Ozimals forum, I’ve left it behind to become more involved with the cat breedables, being a beta tester for both Wildwoods and Kittycats, and somewhat poignantly, I haven’t missed spending time in my barn with my bunnies at all. I’ve still held by my non-bunnyburying values (but then again I don’t see the point of doing that anyway because as far as I’m aware bunnybury is still not live) choosing instead to place all my retired bunnies gently into a ‘Sleeping Bunnies’ folder that resides in my inventory.

It leaves me feeling sad moving them there; even though these aren’t fluffy balls of fur but just a bunch of pixels on a screen. The emotions that I have attached to them are very real.

Last night I was moving another bunch of newly retired bunnies into this folder, when my friend Vere pinged to tell me about the latest round of Ozimals Elites (special bunnies that can only be bred within a specific timescale and are by no means guaranteed) Vere is a complete breedable addict, and completely demented about her bunnies, and horses, and cats..and, well you get the picture. To be honest, I wasn’t madly enthused about what she was telling me because every single time I’ve tried for an elite in the past I have never gotten one, so what would be the point of trying now? That said, I did have an especially nice nest that I was going to kindle to sell, a Rhinelander Blue lop with Peridot eyes in fact, so there was no pressure on me either way. If I got one it would be a bonus, if I didn’t no worries. I’d still have a great bunny with which to hopefully make a few Lindens. I clicked the nest to kindle, then got back to the task in hand – reducing my flock with a heavy heart.

And then an hour later I noticed a tiny scarecrow with bunny ears was hopping round my barn….(click to enlarge)

Oh it’s hard NOT lo love Ozimals when they get it right, and they really have gotten it right with the styling of these special bunnies. Credit where it is due then, because, one of their successes has always been their Elite hoppers and as this Scarecrow bunny proves they still make the right decisions with regards to texture choices. I’m totally in love with this little ‘Worzeletta’ as I have named her, but will I be keeping her? No. I need the Lindens and I’ve already decided upon the bunnies I will continue to keep as pets once my breeding programme finally comes to an end.But here’s a point to ponder, am I the only one looking to a future without the bunnies? Obviously there’s the whole Amaretto Vs Ozimals court-case looming in the middle-distance, but what about Ozimals themselves?

The reason that I ask this question is due to a photograph posted on the Official Ozimals website, under a post called ‘The Other Side Of The Yellow Brick Road’.

It’s an intriguing photograph, featuring a creature surrounded by fungi in the foreground, looking skyward as various constellations shine down. It’s hard to determine what the creature is; it has an almost Pikachu-like quality to it but one thing is for sure it has large ears, so large in fact that this particular critter’s tabs seem to be sporting icicles! Go and take a look and see what you think. I think it looks like some sort of fox, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be some sort of fantasy-type breedable of which we’ll see many more appear on the grid during 2011.

I must warn you now however that a new breedable venture from Ozimals will not be warmly received by everyone upon the grid. The hardline bunny enthusiasts, of which there are many more than you may think, will no doubt use the posting of the photograph as further evidence that the priorities of Ozimals have shifted perhaps resulting in promised developments being shelved. But look at the bigger picture. It all comes down to the profits of course, and if Ozimals aren’t making the dollars they used to with the bunnies then of course they’re going to move onto a different breedable creation. They’ve proved they’re capable of delivering the product and let’s be fair to all concerned here, the bunnies are an incredible breedable game. The issue that Ozimals MUST address in future is how they relate to their audience, and in future they must take care that they are more cautious in their approach when it comes to making promises, that for whatever reason, they cannot keep. For some reason most avatars have the memories of elephants, and couple this chat logs aplenty and you have more than enough headaches for Candy and everyone at Ozimals HQ to deal with, so effective PR is a must for 2011. We’ve already seen them taking steps towards this (see the first paragraph to this article) which is a good thing in the long-term, and I am pretty sure that they are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that they don’t fall into the same traps that they did during 2010.

But when it comes to the bunnies they are without a doubt one of the most endearing things to ever come out of Second Life, and for that alone they should be proud. Alas, for me the time is fast approaching when I will be bidding a fond “Adieu” to my floppy-tabbed furballs.

120 bunnies at my peak. Now down to 12.

Many of these are on their final generations as well, so by this time next week that number will be reduced even more. Once all my bunnies are retired, I plan to resurrect a few particular favourites from my inventory to keep as pets because a life without virtual bunnies would be a sad one.

But I am resolute in my decision to move on. That said, I have enjoyed every minute of my Ozimals adventure, and even though I’ve gone as far as I can with it, I know there are still more avatars out there on the grid who are persevering with the hoppers and hoping for great things.

To those concerned I wish you all the very best of luck, and can say that even though I am bidding a gradual but final farewell to these beautiful virtual objects, I will always be grateful to Ozimals for bringing them to Second Life and allowing me the chance to attain some amazing virtual goals via these wonderful creations.

Note to readers: I am accepting offers for the following bunny:

Elite: Scarecrow Bunneh 2010
Fur: Rhinelander Blue
Eyes: Peridot
Ears: Lop Ears
Shade: Classic
Elite: Scarecrow Bunneh 2010

Please IM in world with offer if interested! ( Bear in mind this is a Rhinelander!)

The Kittycats are here!

The Kittycats are here!

by Lisa Millar ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It would seem like breedables, especially of the feline kind, are like buses. You wait around for ages, and then FOUR come along, seemingly all at once! Of course, that’s not the case, but the latest cat to be released in Second Life has just started beta phase and I was lucky enough to be invited to participate. Having beta-tested Krazy Kitties and Wildwoods previously I’d like to think I know a wee bit about what makes for a great breedable cat product in Second Life, so hopefully my observations will assist the creators in their goal to launch even more moggies onto the grid. (Perhaps Second Life should be re-named Second Cat?)
Before I progress I have to point out that although I am a totally committed Wildwood cat breeder ( cut me and I bleed Wildwood blood) I am pretty good at retaining my objectivity when it comes to products such as these, so I intend to be pretty unbiased in my verdict. You also need to know that I’m a Virgo who just adores beautiful packaging as much as the products inside, so when I saw the Kittycats beta package I started to get a warm fuzzy glow that made me think that we could be onto a good thing here…
I always say that when someone takes the trouble to make the box look good you can be pretty much assured the products inside will be just as good. We all know Wildwood make fantastically packaged products, and I’m happy to say that it looks as though Kittycats will be too. As you can see I received a wee sack with an ickle paw protruding out of it, as though beckoning me over to reveal the goodies inside! Great huh? (For a fleeting moment I confess my brain did make the grim association between cats in sacks and fast-moving water and I did feel tempted to start singing ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ by The Verve, but fortunately that urge rapidly subsided!) Inside were cardboard boxes, instructions and foodstuffs for the kits…I set out my grub and started the birth-ball rolling. It took an hour but that was OK, I busied myself with my bunnies and horses (remember those?) whilst I waited.
So, these Kittycats..what are they like? Well, I’m just getting used to them and so far I am really liking what I see. First up I have to say that these cats are textured beautifully. How best to put this; they’re as beautiful as the Wildwoods, but in a different way, if you see what I mean? The quality just shines through, you can tell that hours have been spent working out the shading on the coats and you can even see individual hairs as you zoom in. The coats that I have seen thus far are real show stoppers; for example the change in colour gradient on the paws and faces of the point breeds is lovely. The coat work is just divine, no two ways about it. But better still are the eyes-holy moly, these are a sight to see! The eyes are just totally breathtaking, no exaggeration. They have a depth and a sparkle that make them especially attractive, and teamed with the slow blink animation that these cats perform makes for a winning combination.

Yes, you read that correctly-these cats SLOW BLINK. In fact, all the animations that I have observed so far have been pretty much made of win. Reader, these cats wash, which means that they stick out an ickle pink tongue and it is so saccharine sweet that it may make you gag! ( Which is often what my cats do after they’ve had a wash, furry beasts that they are. That’s usually followed up by a enormous fur-ball, but don’t expect such common behaviour with these Kittycats, these are cats with class) The head positioning and the transition between animations works very well and there’s one particular, slight tilted-head pose that made me physically exclaim in real life because it is pure cat. At this juncture I want to mention that beloved passed me and also commented on how amazing the cats were..coming from someone who doesn’t populate Second Life very often (well, practically never if I’m honest) that’s high praise indeed.
There are of course differences in coats, eyes, tails and ears, as you would expect. Please don’t be thinking this is because they are copying any of the cat breedables that are already out there on the grid, because that would be a rather daft assumption to make. The creators are merely replicating the many breed traits that exist in real life, so therefore it’s fair to assume that we’ll see bobtails, curl and fold ears and features that you would see in any regular ‘Spotters Guide To Cats’ Already I’ve observed two tail shapes in the betas that I am rearing.
The actual shape of the cat is very different to Wildwood. Wildwood cats are quite lean, which makes them appear a tad more masculine than these cats, who have more girth, longer bodies and more defined feet. If I’m being brutally honest here I’m going to say that I’m not mad about the body and foot shape, BUT it’s pretty unfair of me to focus on those fixtures at the moment because these are Beta cats so are subject to change. I’ve also not mentioned menus or further specifics in case they change. Suffice to say I like the menu-styling and I also really rate the symbols used in hover-text above each cat, but of all the things that may be subject to change then these are usually t he most likely, so not much point dwelling on them at present) Oh, by the way, these cats have necks, which may seem an odd point to make but such an addition means that you’ll be able to accessorise them with collars in future. (Seeing as the promo pics featured diamanté collars it’s fair to assume that’s why the neck was built into the body shape) And this leads me right on to my next point. If the Wildwood Cats and the Kittycats were in Rome, then the Wildwoods would live in the Colosseum, whereas the Kittycats would probably be sat licking their paws in the windows of the newly opened Versace boutique.
In fact, even though it’s early days I can honestly see both these breedable products co-existing nicely because they cater to slightly different markets, which in the current breedable climate is a darn good thing. Of course Wildwoods are stunning and fashionable in their own right, but they aren’t so overtly feminine that they exclude male breeders. Kittycats by contrast won’t seek to alienate male breeders, but their very design and decoration lends them more feminine appeal.
In fact I’d say that Kittycats are aiming to be a more sophisticated, fashionista-orientated brand, and such a manoeuvre, in my humble opinion, is no bad thing. It means (hopefully) that both of these fabulous felines can co-exist happily on the grid, which is what I’d like to see happen. But we’re a long way off from that, with the Beta cats very much still a work-in-progress, but in my mind at least I’m already forming the opinion that Kittycats have been built on such solid foundations that they are sure to be a success.
What this means for Brightpet Cats and Krazy Kitties is unclear, but in all honesty I can only see two breeds dominating the market share, and it’s neither Brightpet nor Krazy. I shall keep you updated on these pages about the progression of the Kittycats through their beta testing but so far it truly does look very promising indeed.