Yuki No Yume—A Dream of Snow

Recently, sim designer Jac Mornington handed me a landmark to his new sim, "Yuki No Yume".. A Dream of Snow.., but I hadn't had time to visit until a couple days ago. Evocative of winter in a hilly, rural Japanese setting, the sim has had a steady stream of photographers, bloggers and wanderers. Visitors arrive at the high point of the terrain, a rocky outcrop that's home to the ruins of a temple, its fallen bell now silently resting on stone. Wandering through the old style gate and down a steep, curving path, we enter the snow-covered valley, where a path leads us toward a furo (a Japanese bath house, which looks inviting in this cold place) and two structures furnished for living.

Surrounding these three buildings is a natural wilderness, with snow covered grounds through which icy streams flow, fed by a tall waterfall. A group of Japanese snow monkeys warm themselves in thermal pond, cranes populate the frozen surface of a lake, and seals congregate at the nearby mouth of a bay. Further inland, a trio of deer have discovered upturned create of apples. Inside the homes, warmed by fires, things look comparatively cozy, and I've often seen couple snuggling together on available poses. (Using the prescribed windlight setting with advanced lighting model on (shown here in these three images) produces some wintery feeling scenes in person, but photos tend to look a little washed out, so you may want to explore other options if you're there to shoot images.)