Lutra City Mysteries

My friend Celeste (celestedarkstar) saw my blog post about Cael Ystafell and mentioned that she has an art gallery just a few sims away, in a sim that offers adventure games. And so, I wandered up Route 5 in Heterocera to Lutra City.  According to owner Ilithios Liebknecht, "I designed Lutra City to bring full-featured adventure games into Second Life, something that to my knowledge has not been fully done before. There were a very small handful of games that came close, some very well made, but even those lacked things you would expect from a full-featured adventure game like variety of interaction and a progressive story. I always thought SL was very well suited to adventure games and am surprised more people haven't tried to make them. As far as I know my games are the only really full-featured point and click adventure games in Second Life."

Interestingly, due to some twists and turns of the tracks, Lutra City is located between Route 5 and the Second Life Railroad (SLRR), just like Cael Ystafell. There is a rail station, pictured below, where adventurers can enter the city. Located on a steep hill, the city is divided into upper and lower sections, and as you can tell from the picture, some of the structures are actual buildings, and some are just 2-D facades, as if you were visiting the set of an old movie.

According to the notecard you will receive upon arrival, "to get started, go to the detective agency (pictured below) and choose a game on the cases board. There is a free tutorial game called The New Detective available that will teach you how to play and show you what to expect from the games. The full games are much longer and more complex than the tutorial game of course!" In addition, near the city park outside of the detective agency you'll find a sign (first picture, above left) that gives you a Catch a Crook HUD. You'll need to wander around the city wearing the HUD, and there are prizes if you are the first to catch the crook. Also near the city park is a bus station. According to Celeste, "the bus stops are items that you click on and they take you to other places that have the signs displayed. You don't have a choice; it's random. They take you to other places to explore - sometimes it is a store, other times a park, and here it is a city full of adventure."

Celeste has a small art gallery in Lutra City, pictured below, called Darkstar Studios. She remarked, "I chose to locate my gallery here based on the adventure aspect. I can walk out of my gallery and have choices as to what I want to do. Plus the rent is very reasonable," she laughed. "Lutra City is a place for adventure, whether it is riding the rails, driving down the adjacent highway, catching a bus to a random location, taking a portal to other adventure games, catching crooks, solving the mysteries at the Detective Agency, or just exploring the cityy. You'll always find something to do here."