Squee!!
As those of you know who read this blog regularly, I am a huge MadPea fan. They just finished “Buried.” Coming up on April 20th is Unia. I cannot wait!!
(p.s. I hope you realized that Wednesday’s Post was an April Fool’s joke by Linden Lab. 🙂 )
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZoHa Islands Blogger/Social Media
Today, February 1st at Noon, MadPea’s latest interactive and immersive grid-wide point and click adventure game began!
This highly-anticipated event had the writers and creators working feverishly to put the finishing touches on the game in order to be ready for their opening at noon. Once opened, MadPea gamers, or “Peas” as they like to be called, began flooding the sim. I have been a huge MadPea fan for several years now, and I always wait with baited breath for the newest event. Sometimes a hunt, sometimes a game, but one thing that you can always count on — it will stretch your imagination and tax your deductive skills, sometimes even frustrate you beyond belief — but you always know that with MadPea, you expect the unexpected.
Not only do participants in these events have a grand adventure, but they end up with some amazing prizes at the end.
As the minutes ticked by towards Noon slt, you could almost see the Peas at the door, hands flat on the glass, eyes fever bright in anticipation, breath fogging up the glass. Excitement sends a frisson down the sim when you see the group notice come through — “We are proud and excited to open our first game of the year – BURIED!” I immediately TP’d over and bought my game hud for $300L.
This is the welcome message:
“Welcome to BURIED the game by MadPea Productions.
You have landed on an island that a few decades ago was used frequently by campers. The islands you see ahead of you are privately owned by Lily and Joshua Morano. It’s the end of June and Lily has been missing for two weeks. The police hasn’t found any clues about her whereabouts and Joshua is getting desperate. He would do anything to have his loving wife back and has offered a $500 000 reward for the person who finds Lily. That massive reward is the reason you (and hundreds of others) are here for.”
When you wear your HUD, you get this message:
BURIED HUD v0.9:
“You are equipped only with your tablet. Additional accessories to get immersed into the story with can be purchased from the store at the landing point. Start the game by exploring the island and finding clues about Lily and what could have happened to her. We recommend that you take the boat, it’s a long way to swim and the waves are unpredictable. Good luck, Player! If you should require any help, you can always ask in MadPeas’ group chat. The map icon takes you always back to the landing point.”
As always, MadPea continues to outdo itself with each event.
I was able to explore the first couple of islands, but then had to log to real life for awhile. Now, the sims are full and I cannot get on. I am not quite sure what I’m looking for, but I know the theme of this game is about a missing woman who was writing a book on geocaching. It should be fabulous!
To start the game, purchase your hud at the store by clicking this link: Buried by MadPea
For more information, click on the link here to go to their blog: MadPea Blog
The best thing about MadPea is the community. The Peas are all ready, willing, and able to give hints to anyone who wishes a helping hand. Just join the group, and ask in group chat and someone will IM you. Everyone is friendly, kind and helpful.
Here are some pics I took today:
Enjoy!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZI Social Media
Where was I…. Oh yes! I’d just teleported from the dark and rainy urban grunge (landing point here) to a gorgeous, forest area, with tiny little Dwarfins running around (most of them were bots; as I discovered when I accidentally stepped on one, and apologized to it. Imagine my embarrassment when a Dwarfin avi nearby wanted to know if I was talking to him. When I told him I’d apologized to the other gentleman for stepping on him, he chuckled and told me it was a bot. I was quite embarrassed).
As soon as you step out into the beautiful forested sim, I discover that my map has now changed, as you can see in these pictures, to include a thing that looks like a funny shaped cribbage board. I am next to a mine entrance, and I cannot open the door. Local chat tells me that I must collect these items and come back when I’ve found them all, in order to gain entrance to the mine.
As I step out onto the sim, my faithful assistant starts telling me that there are no dirt piles nearby. I am to look for dirt piles and sift through them for these crystal-like items. As I wander the sim, my assistant tells me when I’m nearby a dirt pile, and I collect these items exactly like the map pieces, while wandering around this beautifully detailed Dwarfin sim. And, just like the map pieces, other people nearby can collect the dirt piles right from underneath you! (Quite frankly, the dirt piles looked more like cow pies, but I digress!)
This was a lot of fun, as the dirt piles were hidden but not so hidden that you grew frustrated trying to find them, although I do have to admit that there were a couple of places that my assistant told me “OOOOH! You’re soooo close! It should be right nearby you (less than 5m)” but there were no dirt piles in sight. None. Absolutely none. I looked over and over. One was by the bridge; another by the koi pond. There was a third place, in the dining room, that was quite challenging to find. But the one by the bridge and the one by the pond did not exist.
No matter, because I found others and continued to find dirt piles until I’d filled in the cribbage board-like thing on my map. I didn’t have to worry about picking up other dirt piles I’d found before. I had to log out a couple of times during this part, and when I came back, I could find the same dirt piles, collect them and add the item to my pegboard. It was really amazing to see the detail in this Dwarfin land.
When I’d filled in my pegboard, I found my way back to the mine entrance, and since I’d completed part 2, I clicked on the door and it invited me in….
Stay tuned; Part 3 of MadPea’s Lost Mine Hunt is coming up — and this was the most convoluted part of all!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers
ZI Social Media Manager
I am not normally a huge fan of hunts, because they are simply a gratuitous attempt to get people to come into stores. It’s a great advertising gimmick, but I find the hunts frustrating as people crowd into a sim, pushing and shoving to try to get the prize. It reminds me of the basement sales at Macy’s and crazy women grabbing the same sweater and fighting over it. Not that I’ve ever done that. *Ahem*
However, one of the organizations in SL that takes hunts to the next level and is consistently and unfailingly over the top is MadPea Productions. I first stumbled across MadPea Productions a few years ago when I was between relationships and bored in SL and trying to find something to do. These diabolical and intricately woven, highly detailed games are way more than just a simple hunt. The point of these hunts is to showcase products by the game’s sponsors; of course. But the game is what the players come for. The rewards at the end are just icing on the cake.
MadPea Productions spends months on their productions. And productions is certainly what they are. They carefully craft a back story, and create the convoluted and fascinating journey through whatever trails led by the clues you collect along the way. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, it takes a twist and you are not quite through! I always feel a sense of exhilaration when I finish, along with a sense of disappointment that it’s over, because it is so exciting and intellectually challenging.
The Lost Mine Hunt is no exception, and it did not disappoint. At first, however, I was a bit concerned that it was not going to live up to previously held high expectations. Then, as I got deeper into the game, I realized that it was much more than the deceptively simple beginning.
The game is divided into three parts. When you first land at the landing point, you are required to invest $150L in the HUD. The hours of entertainment you will derive from this investment is well worth the $150L, believe me. This time, you also can opt in to purchase the collecting pouch (more for show than anything) and new to this game, was an “assistant”, which, they readily admit, allows you a “huge advantage” in the game. This “assistant” (a cute round ball with arms and legs and big eyes — mine was pink) susses out where the clues are and tells you in local chat (that only you can see, so you don’t spoil it for others on the hunt who don’t want to do it with a cheat) when you’re getting close.
Here I am with my faithful assistant by my side:
The instructions you are given is that you are to find pieces of the map to the mine, which have been torn up, crumpled, and scattered throughout the town. Normally, I wouldn’t use a “cheat” such as the assistant in the hunt, but I was low on time as I had a blog deadline to keep, so I attached my assistant and off we went. At first, with the assistant telling me “No objects close by within 20 meters” every few seconds, I wandered the sim, waiting for my assistant to sound the alarm, which she did and I could zero in on the object with her instructions until she finally said “OOOH! You’re sooo close! It should be right next to you! (less than 5m).” At which point I would look around nearby until I found the crumpled paper. When I clicked on the pieces, my avi would bend down, swoop up the piece of paper and stuff it in her pouch. And a piece of the map would fill in on my HUD.
Sounds simple, right? Especially with the assistant telling you where to zero in on. But no, not with MadPea. First of all, the sim is dark and rainy (don’t cheat and change your windlight settings!). Secondly, other people are out hunting nearby, and if they swoop in and pick up the piece of paper you just found before you do, then you’re out of luck! It disappears. My recommendation is try to go when fewer people are there, and if there are other hunters nearby, find a different area and hunt by yourself. I found myself frustrated over and over again as others picked up papers I’d just zeroed in on. (But don’t worry; come back in a few minutes and it will have reappeared).
When I picked up all the map pieces, my map transformed into a solid map, and I thought to myself, “Ahh then I must be done. The map will take me to the treasure, where I’ll pick up my prizes from the sponsors. Hmm kind of short and disappointing, but still fun,” I thought to myself.
But alas! I was hardly done. In fact, I’d just finished just part one, and little did I know that Part 2 and Part 3 were coming! When the map was finished, it said in local chat to click on the map and it would teleport me. I clicked on it, expecting to come to the end, and instead I stepped out into this beautiful forest setting, where Dwarfins live.
Stay tuned — Part 2 of 3 of MadPea’s Lost Mine Hunt!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZI Social Media Manager