News and Updates

Bloodlines Blog Launch

October 5th, 2008 by Lyle Maeterlinck

Hi everyone, we’re excited to announce the launch of the official The Thirst: Bloodlines blog. We created this blog to be the official source of information for all things Bloodlines.  There have been some fraudulent in-world communications distributed by griefers claiming to be us. From this point forward, any note card distributed in-world claiming to be from Liquid Designs, Lyle Maeterlinck, Mars Bracken, or Curse Aszkenaze is not from us, even if one of us is listed as the notecard creator. Modifiable notecards created by all of us have gotten loose, so anyone could edit them and pass them around. Now that you know where to come for official Bloodlines updates, we’ve got lots of exciting news for you.

Announcement #1: New Region at Liquid South!

Liquid Designs has just opened a new region south of Liquid Designs called Liquid South. This region currently holds the Blood: Halloween store, Halloween products from guest artists, and the Bloodlines: Werewolves contest (see below).

Announcement #2: Bloodlines: Werewolves

The Bloodlines: Werewolves system is currently under development. While we’re working hard on it over at Liquid Labs, we’re holding a contest to see who can choose the best name for the system. If we like your name the best, you’ll get the system FREE for yourself and 5 friends!

Announcement #3: Important updates to The Thirst

Today we released The Thirst 2.6. This version includes some important security updates, and includes the much-requested clan management system. Now you can remove a minion, ban/unban a minion, or view your minion ban list. Be aware that the settings menus have been shuffled a bit.

Announcement #4: Bloodlines now has commission-paying catalog vendors!

We’ve set up vendors at the main Bloodlines store where you can get your own set of Bloodlines catalog vendors for only 1 Linden! No more waiting list for Bloodlines vendors, and now you’ll earn 3% on every purchase made from your vendors.

Announcement #5: (yes, there’s more) Bloodlines Profile Updates

We’ve made a few updates to the Bloodlines profiles: everyone now has a cask / tank page that will show you the level of blood in all of your tanks and casks at any given time. If you own casks or tanks, just click on the new profile icons to get to your Blood Cellar page!

Announcement #6: New products.

A while ago, we announced that a new set of products were going to be released “soon”, but unfortunately we’ve been spending a lot of time dealing with griefers, hackers, and counterfeiters. However, we’ve put the majority of that behind us, and we hope to have the new products out before Halloween.

Setting the Record Straight

We know that there are some people out there that claim to have worked for us in order to explain their possession of our open-perms items, and that there are claims that open perms items cannot be obtained through Second Life exploits. Both of these claims are false. There are only two employees of Liquid Designs that are authorized to have open perms Bloodlines items: Lyle Maeterlinck and Mars Bracken. No one else has ever at any point been given open perms items. Also, it is a fact that it has been possible to view no-mod scripts and to modify the permissions on items by using modified viewers that exploit Second Life security vulnerabilities. In the release notes of Second Life server code 1.24.7, it states that the updates include three security fixes. It was confirmed to us through the Second Life JIRA that one of these fixes was for the UpdateTaskInventory exploit, which allowed permissions to be illegally modified. There was an additional exploit performed in late July that allowed hackers to open our items and obtain our scripts. The Lindens have assured us that the exploits used so far against us have been closed, and we’ve updated our items and our application to block communication from the scripts that were compromised.

Meanwhile, the Bloodlines system is still supporting communities of thousands of vampires, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure Bloodlines continues to grow and prosper. Thanks for all of your encouragement!

20 Responses to “Bloodlines Blog Launch”

  1. Vitto Lednev Says:

    Excellent! With a blog now we will have a nice channel of comunication and news! Congrats for the great work!

  2. Rob1972 Burt Says:

    Glad to see this new application in this fantastic game. Congrats Mars,Lyle and Curse, you all are doing a great job.
    Like to say Hi to all my fellow Vampires, and especially to my Big Family in the Nightwish Darksouls. Greetz to you all, and a big Kiss and Hugg to my Lovely…?? yes she will know. O bite me it`s fun!! LOL. Succes my dear NDS family and have a nice and nutricious Hunt(lol), my King,and Princess and all others.
    Ihr seid gegrussed, Greetz,
    Rob1972 Burt

  3. Pimpampel Magic Says:

    Strike. First one to leave a comment.
    Mars and Lyle, Both of you are the BEST. Every question to you is answered so fast and you really do a great job to improve our second life experience. In german there is a saying which could be applied to you….. Lindens could cut a slice of you…. means if Lindens were as good as you there wouldn’t be any problem in sl.
    Vampiric kisses to both of you
    Pimpaampel Magic

  4. chrisalis Morgenstern Says:

    Great work,Mars Lyle and Curse…I wish to all Vampirs good bite and good hunting.Hello to all members of Nightwish Darksouls Clan my familly.
    “Fröhliches beissen an alle”
    chrisalis Morgenstern

  5. Windsweptgold Says:

    I am wondering why cant the HUD be made like the combat ones and only be able to be used inset sims. I am not a vampire and am finding it very annoying to be spamed when i am in SL no matter where i am. Several sim owners have also commented how annoying it is but the only way they can stop i is to stop scripts which cant be done.
    Surly if the vamps cant stay in vampire style theme areas they at least ask before sending the invite because getting 20 invites in 40 mins is a real pain when am talking and or shopping. Please dont tell me to be bit once to stop it as i do not see why i should agree to something i am not into. Good hunting yes but come on guys hunting on a beach in broad daylight?

  6. Tonks Carter Says:

    Hey Mars, I already submited my suggestion for the name, can’t wait to see the new HUD come out.

    As for my opinion of Windsweptgold’s question, This is a RP game, not a combat simulation. Also there are some vampires out there, who give us all a bad name. Not all of us go around randomly biting, and harrasing.So you shouldn’t all bunch us in a group together like that.There are lots of us who do RP..and do ask. Yes I agree, which im sure others will aswell, that i’d do anything to put a stop to ‘those’ vampires and their ways, but in every system theres always someone out to cheat it. Giving this HUD means to be a weapon won’t make a difference..

    -The Queen & Mother of the Darkened Phoenix..

  7. Fulvia Milena Says:

    RE: Announcement #4
    Do those of us using vendors already need to upgrade our present vendor to the new ones available at the store in order to take advantage of the new 3% commission on sales? Also, thank you guys for giving us this commission… Now when I or my clan members buy someone new a HUD to get started or a reward to a clan member doing a good job, I am going to smile just a bit… but not too much.. I have my dignity to think of after all.

  8. Lyle Maeterlinck Says:

    Hi Fulvia, yes, in order to get the 3% commission, you will need to replace your current vendor with the new catalogue vendor. You can just return the vendor that you currently have, and pick up the new one at Liquid East.

  9. Bell Teardrop Says:

    Lyle and Mars, I think you guys rock! I’m extremely happy that there is now a way of communication and I am so glad you are working on all the issues that have recently come up! Can’t wait for that lycan hud to come out but can you consider more lycans than just werewolf?

    Bell

  10. Windsweptgold Says:

    I have been reporting those that send the bite invite to Curse each time i get them but still they come. Maybe since those who get a lot of blood are listed in the website maybe a page can be set up to shame those who send the invite when not in vamp RP sims and without asking. Something needs to be done because why should people who are not into this kind of thing have to put up with it over and over.

  11. insomnis Moonites Says:

    Congratulations on the new updates and improvements, its great to see Bloodlines getting more advanced each day advancing to become the most comprehensive and tasteful RP system in SL

    A few questions and suggestions, hope the response comments will also be helpful:

    1) Werewolves: I don’t know if the werewolf system will also depend on blood for survival but it would be nice if it does and also interacts with the Thirst. So we can further revive the “Werewolf vs Vampire” concept in our RPs and perhaps unite the vampire clans against a common enemy.

    2) Commmission Vendors: Would it be possible to give some mod abilities to the new affiliate vendors? The ability I am referring to is “stretching” them so we can make them larger, I personally found them pretty small and would like to be able to make mine larger at where I placed it.

    Another issue is the inability to gift items with them and referral to bloodlines mainstore in order to do that. I think this is against the principle of having a commission vendor if it directs customers to another location where commission is not received. Gifting bloodlines items is a common practice whether it be for a new member or boyfriend/girlfriend/just friend. Giving several items the “trans” right would be a quick solution to this but might also negatively effect future sales of Liquid Designs. I don’t know a lot about scripting but I would appreciate it if the “gifting” option can somehow be restored to the commission vendors.

    Thanks !

  12. gilda Says:

    I agree with Windsweptgold, it would be nice to teleport to areas around sl and not be offered an unsolicited bite as soon as you get there.

  13. Acer Dratman Says:

    Very well said Tonks! The role play is the actual fun, and indiscriminate biting does not fill the need. I like to look at both sides of every issue however… So with that in mind, I must say that when a “bite request” is sent, it is a request. This could serve as the “asking” at which time the recipient can approve or deny the request. I get more notices and cards sent to me from just entering certian sites, but I just close them out and move on my merry way. Remember folks…….It’s just a game 🙂 Have fun

  14. Windsweptgold Says:

    Acer I dont agree that spamming ( that is what the HUD does ) is “asking” I a now on some list so i dont get the offers but friends still are. the vamps who send the spam do not RP they are not interested in RPing i got more bite requests than notices and calling card, and trust me if they spam me they get informed that they will be reported to the sim owner for trying to take business.
    “It’s just a game 🙂 Have fun” well Acer to me its a 3d chat program cause after all a game is “a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.’ SL to me is not a game but if you wish to see it as a game then the vamps who spam are trying to force us into playing a ‘game” we do not want to.
    When i started SL it was the goreans who were trying to take over now it seems its the vamps.
    Come on guys how about some respect you stay in your back yard and ill stay in mine

  15. gilda Says:

    Well done for bloodlines bringout the garlic necklace.

    Four unsolicited requests for bites already today.

    I’m of for mine now, yay!

  16. Deadcat Says:

    I’d like to know when did they decide to remove Humans from the game and why no change was announced.

  17. Mars Bracken Says:

    @ Bell Teardrop – Yes, we’re attempting to make the system so that it can be used with various animal/fur avatars. More details to come on that.

    @ Insomnis Moonites – The limitations of the Catalogue Vendors are imposed on us by the Hippotech company, which is the system we use. I’ve asked Andy Enfield (the vendor creator) to add Gifting to them, as well as make the Update Kiosks transferrable so that we can hand them out; as soon as we have solutions on that we’ll post here about it. As for the sizing – I’ll be releasing a v2.0 of the Catalogue Vendors soon (provided by Hippotech) which will have a few sizes included, as well as perform better on laggy sims, and give less “security error” type failed deliveries.

  18. Rob1972 Burt Says:

    Great work guys, Mars, Lyle, Curse. Again Congratz, for this great RP experience. I am sure everyone loves what he does in sl. Therefore two questions:
    1. With all the nationalities we have into clans and sl!?!; shouldn’t it be possible to get a multilingual site (at least the info), so more players will understand all the info given???.
    Now i sometimes translate info for like italian or german Vampires.(and quote into the notecard it is still under Copyright: hope that is ok?) More and more countries join SL and this wonderfull game. Not evryone, knows English!
    2. The set liege option is for many people to difficult, when they not focus, they type it wrong for like 2 hours,lol. No problem, but for both, new minion and Liege it can be frustrating.
    Is there no option to make set liege a personal face to face acction, in where (as in bite request mode..) the new to become vampire gets a name pop up screen, and selects the name of the choosen liege? After that the new to be liege of that Vampire has to confirm and DONE. Saves time and irritation. I had some minions that thought they were silly (no need to,lol)
    I hope Lyle, Mars and Curse will do something with it?
    Greetz Rob1972 Burt

  19. Fulvia Milena Says:

    I have just recently noticed that a minion with no souls, and one whom I don’t own the soul of is not showing in my total. Did I miss something? I thought it used to show those people. Is our status indicator only showing souls collected, but not those who have lieged to us and who’s soul is owned by someone else?

    regarding the message above this one… i too believe that there should be a face to face way to set liege for these multi lingual situations.

  20. Mars Bracken Says:

    @ Fulvia – In fact no, the soul totals have never added the soul of a Minion, if it is owned by someone else. And yes, we’re discussing methods to make the liege-setting process easier, as well as get some translations going.