Temenos Island is Dead! Long Live Temenos Island!

Fine. Sue me for the silly title. But, it's true...the old Temenos shopping area, with all it's stores is going away. because...everything is moving soonish to the new and improved Temenos Island.

Temenos is a year old or so now, and I have watched and learned, listening in carefully to all the customers over the last year as they shopped and complained about things at Temenos. There have been numerous issues and things needing improvement I have learned in this time. I created what I thought was a very simple and intuitive teleporter system...but sadly most people were confused by it, and it rarely was used, and often bitched about. So...that will be totally revamped. When I designed the temple shopping area, it seemed I had soooo much room to expand. But a year later I am so cramped and out of room I have curtailed many new releases just for lack of a place to put them. So...obviously the new store needs to be hugerish than this one. people complained often...usually by shouting while standing in the central lobby...that they couldn't find whatever they came to buy. I will try to make the layout far more user friendly and also add more ways to find information on where things are located. Temenos has always had 5 floors, 4 of them housing shoppes...however, I have found that most people rarely find the stores on the upper floors, which is clearly a problem of both design and information. The new store will be mostly on a single level, so as to eliminate that issue. And those are just a few of the major issues I have noted with the old build.

So...after deciding I surely needed to have a bigger, better designed and simpler store, I decided I just couldn't part with the current build on Temenos. Which meant, I had to buy a 5th island and build the new store there and move everything. This approach has advantages and disadvantages. the big disadvantage...not including costs...is that when moving any store there is a small percentage of customers who may not find you again. In this case, since the new island will be right next door, and share the same keyword in it's name (the old island is simply "Temenos", and the new will be "Temenos Island"), and since the old build will remain with a landmark pointer to the new store...I think this is a minimal concern. hell...you should be able to see the new store from the old...unless your draw distance is set at like 10 or something. The big advantages are...i get to keep the cool old build with Mount Sy'kirra...one of the few volcanos in all Second Life, and not have to disturb the roleplay areas I created around the island, from the pirate cove and neko tree village to the Japanese temple sanctuary. I am too attached to these builds to want to let them go just to expand the store. So they get to stay this way.

Temenos Island will sit right next door to Temenos, and the two landmasses will be connected to form a single island that continues to share the jungle ruins theme. The new store complex will cover much of the new sim and should leave me and the other stores I have invited to have lots of room for future expansion. The overall style of the stores will remain based on the "jungle ruins" look from Temenos, but will be revisioned to be more simplified and easier to navigate.

I have ambitious plans for a detailed scripted directory system that shows where everything is, and can even teleport you to it...assuming I can make my poor scripting skill manage it. LL recently broke my old teleport system that used warpPos anyway...so definately time for a new one.

If you have ever visited or shopped at Temenos, and you have ideas or suggestions, gripes or bitching about what was wrong with the build or what could be improved...I would greatly appreciate your imput, either here at the blog or in SL. I ordered the island last week, and I was shocked to see they delivered it already...but put it in the wrong place. So...as soon as I can get them to move it where it belongs...I shall begin work on the new store complex.

Following the opening of the new Temenos Island stores, I have a whole slew of stuff I plan to release, including the newly revisioned and repainted Neko Skins version 2, and lots lots more.

The old temple store build atop the volcano in Temenos will be converted into a combination roleplay area, and live music club most likely. Yes, I am deaf, but live music seems to be a big thing in SL, and I always wanted to try making a small club that is not a glitz-filled, flashing lagfest of lightshows and scripted 'sploder balls. I have hired a club manager for it, and we are brainstorming ways to make it more of a true social gathering spot without the gimics. If it goes over great...if not, then who knows. But, any ideas or suggestions in that area are also welcome.

So...look soon for more announcements about the coming opening of the all new and improved Temenos Island!