Chant Newall Development Group (CNDG) is a Second Life Gold Solution Provider offering a full range of design, build, and consulting services to businesses interested in a presence in the Virtual Reality Metaverse and Second Life.  CNDG has a long history of experience building campuses in Second Life to exacting specifications and providing scripted and interactive content to complement the setting and to enable effective meeting and training spaces.

In order to bring your organization into Second Life effectively, or increase the effectiveness of your Second Life presence, we can facilitate and manage all aspects of your Second Life experience, including: 

• Land acquisition
• Design and build of facilities and private islands
• Creation of and outfitting of avatars in Second Life
• Business consultation in every aspect of the Second Life environment

Our experienced team of designers and builders in Second Life can provide a full range of business and personal consulting, including:

• Marketing
• Positioning and interactive content development
• Private estate design and building for individuals and corporate campuses

CNDG specializes in the crafting and constructing of entire regions (private islands) in Second Life to exacting client details, including the creation of both photo-realistic builds of actual real life sites, and imaginative builds showcasing Second Life’s ability to build “beyond the limitations of physics”. Our core team of artists and engineers will create a design for you from the starting sketch to the final implementation.

Stages of development of projects in SL

Companies and individuals come to Second Life with a variety of backgrounds and experience in the Metaverse.  In order to help you get the very most from your SL investment that you can, we begin by assessing “where you are”, and then working to take you step by step into the Virtual World.

This step by step process includes three discrete phases.  These phases begin with a very minimal financial investment in a SL presence, and progress to building and maintaining a permanent SL corporate or individual presence.

Options and Stages for SL Development for Companies and Businesses

Phase 1 - Internal Familiarity and Training Meetings in SL

As a first step, we suggest that you form an internal SL Working Group made up of your project leaders, to guide and develop the project within your organization.  These can include but not be limited to

• A project manager
• Members of your technology services
• Managers and Directors or Faculty responsible for planning and policy or training development in your current activities and for the development of your SL presence
• Any key participants in this project who are already familiar with the virtual world of SL
• Key education or policy leaders not yet familiar with virtual worlds

Once the internal working group has been identified, we provide you with a rental of a conference center in Second Life on one of our private islands outfitted for a private meeting of your project leadership team. For this meeting, we provide you with one or more trainers who can instruct your team in Second Life navigation, including the following competencies.

• Second Life avatar creation and outfitting, including clothing and skins.
• Second Life navigation - sitting, standing, flying, teleporting and using the browser tools, including search, map and inventory.
• Second Life interaction with others, including how to hold conversations, show videos, and engage in open chat and private chat (Instant Messaging) and text versus voice techniques.
• Capture of Second Life interactive logs, capturing conversations and storing records of conversations.
• Logging in and logging out, updating browser software and finding online help in Second Life.

Phase 2 – Expanded Internal or Public Event in Second Life

Once your leadership team is comfortable with Second Life, we begin the process of helping you to design and implement an online Second Life event of your choice, either private or public.  The audience and participants for this event can be a selected group of your clients, the general public, or an internal working group.  Preparations for this phase can take up to 6 weeks, and include all consulting needed to familiarize your organization with virtual meetings and virtual learning.  The event will include:

• Rental of a complete private island with ability to host up to 40 participants during which your organization can host an interactive event.
• Two technical support facilitators from CNDG to be present at the event to make adjustments and provide assistance as needed.
• All preliminary meetings in Second Life and in person to assist in developing whatever special constructions may be required.
• Training and assistance in developing media streams and preliminary introductory materials which can be delivered to participants in world or via the internet prior to the event.
• Development of in Second Life materials, including note cards, information stations and branded objects.

Phase 3 - Establishing a Virtual Headquarters in Second Life

Once your organization has made the decision to establish a longer and more individualized presence in Second Life, we will assist you in building your own unique headquarters or campus space.  This phase includes the design and construction of a business centre, headquarters, business campus or conference centre to your specifications, and placement on a private island landscaped for your exclusive use either on a month to month basis or owned by you. Preparations for this phase of your Second Life experience include:

• Design of a private conference centre to your specifications, including terraforming of the land and landscaping, development of buildings as needed, and interior furnishings for spaces as detailed by you.
• Construction of your Second Life campus or headquarters to your specifications.
• Ongoing maintenance service of the private island.
• Ongoing technical support for maintenance of your project and facility.
• Ongoing consultation and support for promotion of your organization’s activities and businesses in Second Life as requested.

The cost for design and building of a unique private island or estate depends upon the complexity of the final design and the complexity of the build, as well as the required terraforming and landscaping. We will work with you to arrive at decisions about the use of a pre-existing build of ours, or a new design of your own, as well as providing help in purchasing land or in rental of land from us.

Cost of land purchase in Second Life from Linden Labs

A “full load” private island in SL (called a “region” or a “SIM”) costs $1,000.00 (one thousand dollars US currency) to buy. A private island has a monthly maintenance fee to Linden Labs called “tier” which is currently $295.00 (two hundred, ninety-five dollars) per month. This price and fee is charged by Linden Labs and not by CNDG.  This is the basic cost of empty land purchase and monthly maintenance.

A full load SIM is 65,000 virtual square meters in size, and can hold a maximum of 15,000 “prims” – the basic building blocks of Second Life construction.  While the theoretical limit of simultaneous avatar logins to a SIM is 100, practically speaking a SIM can effectively host up to 40 avatars interacting with each other at a time before simulator performance begins to degrade. By arranging SIMs in a “quad” or square pattern, a given event can host up to 160 avatars in sight of each other and able to communicate easily.

Conditions of purchased land from Linden Labs:

A private island is purchased “empty” with a standard landform and no structures, landscaping or special features. Private islands require Terraforming (land forming), landscaping of detailing (plantings and features), and buildings and facilities made to your specifications.  A fully built Private Island can be delivered with either a pre-existing design we have already created, or with a custom design of your own, built to your specification.

Options for Developing Private Islands

Option 1: using a pre-existing design of ours:

You can use a pre-existing design of ours (including buildings and land formation and landscaping), which we will brand to you with your logo and colors. Costs include buying a private island from Linden labs, placement of a pre-existing design of ours branded to your use on that island, and creating the materials and furnishing needed to make the island work for your purposes.  Project costs depend upon the complexity of the design, number of buildings, amount of terraforming of the land and landscaping of the site, and the interior furnishings requested.

CNDG provides ongoing concierge service for your project including on demand assistance with Linden Labs (land issues, region maintenance, assistance with the use of Second Life), basic support services including in-world assistance and event support, and a discount for building services to modify your island and the construction and fabrication of items for specific events.

Option 2: building to your own unique design:

We can design and build a custom site on a private island to your specifications.  Our team of inworld architects and craftspersons will work with you to imagine, and then build, exactly the setting you wish for your corporate campus, headquarters, or estate.  Costs for custom builds depend upon the complexity of the build, number of buildings, land formation and landscaping and interior spaces, as well as interactive areas and scripting required.

Option 3: land and facilities rental:

If your organization is not ready to make a purchase and investment in SL, you may wish to rent land and buildings from us on a month-to-month basis.  CNDG has an extensive estate, and can rent you a full private island, with all buildings, landscaping and furnishings, using our own structures, with branding to your organization.  You can rent a facility for as long a period or short a period as you require, from a single event to a longer-term presence in the Virtual World.