Alpha Tribe

Designer Alpha Auer, famed for her brilliant and fanciful avatars, has been busily redesigning her sim, alpha.tribe, which officially reopens today, Thursday, June 11. When I last wrote about the sim just over a year ago (read here), I remarked on the excellence of the various artworks installed throughout the sim, but, as beautiful as the sim was, it lacked an overall visual cohesiveness. Now, alpha.tribe boasts an unmistakable unity, and the quality of textures, materials and creations invite a lengthy exploration. In commemoration of the sim's redesign, Alpha will release two new avatars (one that mirrors the look of the sim should be available tomorrow, with another forthcoming), and has also revamped several of her older classic outfits.

"This new build revolves around the theme of 'fool's gold,'" says Alpha. "Most of what you will encounter is new (and mostly golden): There is an 'Orientalist' pavilion where you can relax, a shipyard where a golden ship is in the process of being built, an airship that is about to take off to distant skies, a pleasure arcade where you can swing on boats, gaze at clockwork creatures, and get many prizes from a grab-a-duck gallery. There are pleasure walks, gardens, and ruins. And, yes, there is of course also the store with lots of new outfits ... This sim also pays homage to one of the greatest builders of Second Life, the urban legend who was once known as Arcadia Asylum, and then came back to delight us as Aley. Many of the prims that you will see on the sim are Aley's creations which I have modified, and re-textured to create 'fool's gold.'"

The material in the sim is mostly new, with, as Alpha points out, gold that glints in the sun, contrasting with black, often in a tight stripes or alternating patterns. The build, featuring buildings, pavilions, flora, underwater scenes, airships, sky spheres featuring special displays (such as one pictured in the first image), and floating geodesic domes filled with plants, animals and machinery, is busy and complex in every direction. Two elements have been carried over, and they fit in perfectly with the new build: a section of Transit't - Imago Anatopism, on display a year ago at LEA10 (read more here), and the fabulous Blueprint City (read more here), which still stands high in the sky over alpha.tribe (lowest image).

Teleporters located throughout the sim are recommended for ensuring a thorough visit, taking visitors to Blueprint City, Esplanade, Curio, GridRuin, Grotto, Pastoral (top image), Seahorsey and the Store (several of these locations being submerged, and several in the air), but there are quite a few other spots explorers will need to find on their own. Also, visitors should be be sure to have your local sounds turned up. Photographers and others are invited to rez for up to 60 minutes — the images here were all taken using the sim's default windlight settings, which are [NB]-MistyDay-4pm on the ground and [TOR] SUNRISE - Cobraring 1 up at Blueprint City, and others will no doubt produce remarkable results. The sim is an exquisite construction and is not to be missed. If you'd like to lend support, the best option would be to make a purchase from the shop, and visitors can there obtain a landmark to the larger alpha.tribe store in the Insilico sim.