Z&A Christmas decorations

Hello all! Yes, I'm still here, still around, Z&A still exists, etc... In terms of all things SL this year has been a bit of a quiet year for me, with RL being in charge, as such I've not been around to build and make new stuff. I did start a new project, but had to put it on hold and perhaps it'll turn into something next year.

All that aside, given that it's a couple or so years since I've formally done it, I thought it was time to drag the Z&A Christmas decorations back out:

As is often the case with Christmas decorations, they're a bit old and dusty now, but they should bring a smile. So if you've never grabbed a copy before, please do head over to the main store and come grab a copy. They are all copy-permission so you can decorate your home or hangout with festive RLV silliness as much as you want.

Two new cells in the main store

Today I've released two new cells into the main store, and onto the Second Life marketplace. For those of you who visited the shop during the Z&A 10th anniversary, you've already seen these products. For those of you who missed out: the cells are now for sale.

The first is a padded latex vault, which comes in both a copy/no-trans and no-copy/trans version:

Externally it's mostly seamless padded latex, save for a visible hinge on the door. Internally it is also padded and lined with lights to keep the inmates nice and alert.

The latex comes in six colour options, all of which can be chosen from the owner/admin menu.

The internal lights can be set to one of a selection of nine colours. This should allow for a nice range of mix and match options.

The second cell extends the range of sci-fi cells, adding what I've called a "light fence" cell. It too comes in copy/no-trans and no-copy/trans versions:

As the name might imply, the cell is designed as a fence that encloses an area with bars of light that can't be passed through.

The owner/admin menu provides an option for selecting the colour of the light field, with seven colour options available, plus the "By Avatar" option that you can find in some of my other sci-fi cells (where the colour changes depending on the last inmate to show up).

Both of the cells are now available on the Second Life marketplace (just click on the vendor board images above to go to their listings), and can also be found for purchase in the main store:

Do please feel free to pop over and have a play. While you're visiting, don't forget that you can pick up your "staying at home" gift box, and there's also a revamped playground and detention centre to make full use of too.

Some more renovations

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been renovating the main store, making use of some extra land I've picked up over the last few months; and as also mentioned yesterday, I was considering moving the detention centre over to be part of the RLV playground.

Today I made that move.

What used to be the door to my home is now the door to an RLV playroom, filled with an assortment of Z&A hold-and-display devices.

A door in the playroom leads to the new location of the detention centre. The layout is pretty much the same as before, with a good collection of cells that you're more than welcome to store your captives in.

Please do feel free to make use of these spaces. While they do serve the purpose of letting people properly sample my work, they will hopefully give people another space in which to play and explore how much fun RLV can be.

Some renovations

It's well over a year now since I moved the in-world store from its old location on Raven Park, and onto the mainland region of Geomort. While I was generally happy with the idea of having a smaller store on the mainland, concentrating more on the marketplace while RL carried on being busy, it was hard to resist expanding a little, as land around the store became available. First there was the addition of the detention centre, and later on last year the addition of a small RLV playground.

As more and more space has become available around the store, I've added to my owned land. It's been handy just to have more prim allowance to play with, and now I've got to the point where I feel I need to do something with all the extra space.

So, over the past couple of weeks, I've been working on expanding the shop itself again. I've knocked out walls, increased the footprint, and have made enough space to have far more vendor boards out, and more products to test.

While the shop isn't like the one that lived on Raven Park, in that I don't have every single device rezzed to try out, I have done my best to provide a good selection of items to play with. Of course, if there's a particular one you feel you really need to try out before you buy, you should never hesitate to drop me a line and ask for it to be put out.

With this change I've been able to do away with the multi-product vendor boards and have finally returned to one-product-one-vendor. When it comes to RLV hold-and-display products, cells, vehicles and restraints, if I sell it there is a single vendor in the shop for it (unless I messed up and managed to miss one or two -- hopefully not, I have comprehensive check lists!).

Seeing what I have available should now be a simple case of taking a stroll around the shop.

Also, because the ground floor has expanded a bit, there's even more space to try out the range of Z&A vehicles without the need to leave the shop.

The extra space has also allowed me to do something I've being meaning to do for a while now, and that's knock a door through from the shop to the playground. Hopefully this will make both locations easier to discover.

I'm still tinkering, so expect some more changes over the next few weeks. For example, I'm considering the idea of moving the detention centre over to the other side of the shop, to make it part of the RLV playground. On the one hand I'm liking how the shop expansion has been a bit rambling, has evolved as space has become available, but on the other hand I think it's getting to the point where it makes sense to group the "selling stuff" and the "play with stuff" areas together in a more sensible way.

Thankfully all of this should be done with minimal disruption, any changes I make will be about moving around or expanding existing areas, nothing will change in a way that anything is lost.

So, if you fancy checking out the changes so far, do please come over to the main store and explore. And if you've not done so yet, don't forget to pick up your copy of the "Staying at Home Gift Set".

A little something that I hope will help

Given the current situation around the world, many of us are needing to stay home, stay indoors, isolate and find other ways of keeping ourselves engaged and active. Over the past couple of weeks I've watched as people have used their own talents and interests to amuse themselves, distract themselves, and in doing so have shared this to help others.

I'm sure some of us in SL's RLV/kink communities will be leaning on SL more as a distraction, as a way to escape from time to time. So, with this in mind, I'm offering a little package of Z&A products that might help fill your time in SL.

It's not much, but it's offered in the hope that these things will bring a smile, allow virtual connection, let people form and reinforce bonds in the sort of way only SL allows.

You'll find the giver box next to the "Need Help?" doll near the landing point of the main store.

Stay home. Stay safe. Stay informed.

Ten years of Z&A

I've told the story of the birth of Z&A a few times, even here on this blog, so forgive me if you've read parts of this before. But, as I start to write this (back on the 15th of February), 10 years previously I was well into build mode, starting to make things based around some scripting I'd being playing with by way of learning the RLV API.

The earliest script I have in my inventory, where I was doing something with the RLV API, is dated January 7th 2010. The oldest script I have in my inventory that is me testing out talking to an RLV relay from a prim you sit on dates from February 8th 2010. The prims for the first actual device I made show February 8th 2010 as the creation date too.

This consisted of 13 prims, a single texture roughly thrown on, and nothing lined up terribly well, now I look back at it. But it was a start. From this, along with some prim-flinging on the part of Zardia, the start of the original product lineup grew.

The idea of actually opening a shop and selling the result of all of this building was Zardia's. I wasn't initially too keen on the idea. But, she pushed and prodded and persuaded and found a likely shop and... well, I ended up being convinced.

You can read more about those early days, and how things grew from a small rented unit to the shop being on the region that would become Shackles, in this blog post from back at the end of 2010.

Since then it's been a hell of a journey. Z&A has seen quite a view changes to Second Life (the introduction of mesh probably being the biggest), and has changed quite a bit itself over the years too. In those 10 years I've re-made all of the original hold-and-display furniture. I've made and then re-made a full range of cells. I've made and then re-made a full range of RLV vehicles. I've made, re-made and expanded a range of gags and hoods and other restraints. And that's not everything.

Z&A wasn't just about creating RLV products either. We were also responsible for creating what became Raven Park: a femdom-themed BDSM-friendly RLV hangout which hosted many a fun themed party. And, of course, we created and managed The Femdom Hunt, a very popular grid-wide hunt that took place seven times between 2011 and 2017 and which enjoyed the support of a very enthusiastic community of creators, hangout-owners and hunters.

There's so much I could write about and document; there are so many photos I could post; there are so many highs, and a good few lows, that made for lasting memories. Mostly though, what matters is that Z&A happened, gave me a lot of enjoyment, had my life intertwine with some very important people, and also helped me make it though some pretty tough times out in RL. Being a content-creator in Second Life was easily the most important form of stability I've had in the past decade.

I have to admit that the time and need to create has tailed off a little. I'm not done. I'm not finished. But I don't spend anywhere near as much time building in SL as I used to. This is more down to RL having lots of (very nice) distractions. That being said, given that we're coming up to Z&A's official 10th anniversary, I couldn't let that go without tinkering and making a gift or four, could I?

So, starting today (Saturday 22nd February), running through the anniversary of the opening of the first shop (Monday 24th February), and most likely until the following Saturday, I've got 4 gifts out for everyone in the Z&A shop, the detention centre, and the playground. Feel free to TP over to Z&A and explore a little and, as you do, grab yourself a gift. They're not hard to find.

In case you're wondering what the gifts are... I won't spoil all the surprises, but two of them are a third re-working of two my my first proper RLV builds (so you got a good hint from the start of this post), complete with more materials work (the last re-working was done before everyone was comfortable with ALM!) and texture options. They're a full and complete experiment in how I might refresh my main line of products over the next year or so, if time allows.

All four gifts are filled with RLV goodness, all are copy-permission so you can fill your homes and playgrounds with them, and all are built with the same love and enthusiasm as my first ever builds. And they're all made available with huge gratitude to everyone who has ever visited a Z&A location, shopped with Z&A, taken part in a Z&A event, offered support and encouragement to Z&A or has been part of my journey.

Thank you. Thank you all. It's been a wonderful and enriching decade of kinky building, kinky laughs, kinky community-building and kinky friendship-making. I hope these little gifts add to your kinky contribution to the grid.