What a difference a couple of years makes...

Following on from my last post, I couldn't resist the idea of making a gif of the evolution of what was "Shackles Femdom" into "Raven Park". This is a fairly big gif, so give it a while to load.

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out.

Each frame is about a month apart, except for a couple of moments where I've done a couple of consecutive days as big changes happened (mainly the first couple of rental buildings going up on Raven Park rentals and then the rezzing of the new shop this weekend).

Some more changes

Following on from yesterday's blog post, we've made the first of a handful of changes we're intending to make surrounding Shackles, Raven Park and Z&A Productions. We've retired the name of "Shackles Femdom" and have transferred ownership of the old Shackles Femdom plot from the "Shackled" group to "Z&A Productions". What was Shackles Femdom is now called Raven Park and, from now on, it is offered as a Femdom-themed BDSM hangout and playground that is provided by Z&A Productions.

I won't go into too many details here given that much of it is explained over on the Z&A blog. Simply put though: this change makes the rest of our part of the sim a better fit with Z&A.

More changes are to come over the next few days and weeks but these will mostly revolve around our private residences. When these changes are made they'll be announced via the Friends of Z&A group and I'll also mention them here.

Some changes

Miss Vila and I started to explore the BDSM/Femdom world of Second Life, together, in early 2010. As most who know me personally know, we explored and experienced this in two fairly different ways. The person behind Miss Vila is also the person behind Zardia. We explored and learnt so much about D/s as Miss Vila and Antony and, likewise, we explored and learnt so much about building in Second Life as Z&A. The two have, of course, over the last two years, fed back into each other. As our BDSM tastes and interests (as Miss and I) grew and evolved it drove or tastes for what to build (as Zardia and I). Likewise, building and evolving Z&A fed back into what Miss and I explored.

Unfortunately, however, the time available for those different roles has decreased over the past few months. So, by mutual agreement, Miss Vila is releasing me. I won't go into any more details about the how and why because, obviously, it's a very private matter, but I wanted to mention it here for a few reasons. First, and foremost, anyone who pays attention to profiles will see some changes in mine. This blog post will go some way to explain those changes. Also, while we're not sure exactly what we'll be doing yet, we imagine there will be some changes with Raven Park and Shackles. Z&A Productions stays as is, we're not going anywhere and we've got big plans for our second birthday. However, we'll likely change the form and function of Raven Park and Shackles will probably have a bit of an update too (I'll write more about that when we decide).

With all that aside, I also wanted to write a heartfelt thank you to Miss Vila. While we have, obviously, had our ups and downs over the past couple of years, it's been a very real honour to share that journey with her. The person behind the avatar has been and remains my most trusted friend, the one person I've been confident enough to share this part of me with.

With Miss Vila's guidance, I've learnt so much, gained so much confidence, and have found a name and a place for that part of me which, these days, I still express and explore as Antony. Saying thank you doesn't even come close to expressing the gratitude I feel for that. I will miss her company. I will miss her protection. I will miss causing her to sigh, roll her eyes, and quietly grin when I'm not looking. ;)

Thank you Miss Vila. Thank you.

New Workshop

The Z&A workshop is an important place for me in Second Life. Unsurprisingly I spend a fair bit of time there and, through its various incarnations, I've had some of my most favourite times in Second Life in it.

The most recent incarnation, which replaced the MkII workshop, was built when Shackles was first created. It's served us well for a year, even surviving being moved across the sim earlier this year, around the time that Z&A expanded.

But it did start to get a little crowded when we got into building cells -- cells are so much bigger than our normal builds and take up so much more floor space. So, when that happened, I created an extra basement as something that was tacked on the bottom. On top of that the roof was getting filled with ad-hoc created photo booths. Oh, and there was the link/unlink accident that I won't detail or Zardia might get annoyed with me. ;-)

So, anyway, yesterday, I cracked and started to throw together some prims and, before I knew it, the MkIV workshop was born. This one has 3.5 floors (three full floors and a mezzanine). The very bottom floor is still the cell building basement and the top floor is now a proper photo studio for shooting our products (one half our "traditional" background and the other half a plain black background that we're now using for some products).

The whole thing looks huge though!

It was fun to build. Normally Miss Vila is the one who throws around the big prims so this made a nice change for me.

Not long now...

...until The Femdom Hunt II kicks off.

And that's not the only thing happening. There's something else about to happen at Z&A...

Nervous and Excited

I'm rather nervous and excited about this week. There's a fair bit going on. The main thing, of course, is that The Femdom Hunt II kicks off this Friday. The first hunt was a massive success, it turned into a much bigger even than we'd hoped for or dared imagine. Following that up is a little daunting. Will it end up being smaller? The same? Bigger? Does it even matter?

What I do know is that the builds I've seen so far from vendors look great. I've already seen some that I can't wait to get my hands on.

And then there's our build, the Z&A build (we're also doing a Shackles build too, of course). The thing we've made is quite a departure for us and it's something we've been working on quite hard for the past couple of weeks -- I've been in a scripting frenzy since late on last month. It started as a crude experiment and has ended up, not only with our hunt gift, but also a new line of products.

Which, all being well, we'll be launching at the end of this week too. (Shhhh! You didn't hear that from me).

And that's why I'm nervous. Releasing a new product, a new body of code, to our customers... always a big deal for me. I want to get it right, I want people to enjoy the work, I want them to have fun, and I want it to work well for them.

I'm sure it will. We've been testing as much as we can. But, still...

Okay, I'll stop waffling now. :-)

New Sun deck

Earlier today Miss Vila and myself put out a new Sun deck on the edge of the bay at the northern end of Raven Park. We've had a deck out there for quite some time but it had been a temporary build until we either made, or found, something more suitable.

Here's what we now have:

We've equipped with with a two seats. One the Z&A Productions Outdoor Chair:

the other the Sun Lounge Cage. Both the chair and the lounge have tables (which a sub can hold for you), one of which has been equipped with the all-important tray of drinks.

You'll also find a Shackles/Raven Park leash post on the deck, should you need to stop a sub, slave or pony from wandering off.

Sea of Yellow

The original co-owners of the sim known as Shackles have had to move on, meaning that half the sim is now up for rent. It looks odd, seeing Shackles, Raven Park and Z&A up against that sea of yellow:

If you know anyone who fancies living nextdoor to a friendly Femdom/BDSM hangout, do let them know. We make very good neighbours. And Z&A will be right on your doorstep. ;-)