First Technical Look at the Second Life Client

An anonymous reader writes "Second Life is a virtual world, maintained through a combination of client software and hosting servers. It has the unusual quality that nearly all of the content is user-provided. It is also unusual in that Linden Labs recently announced the release of its client software as open source. This is something that is rarely, if ever, done in commercial MMO apps. This article introduces the client (or "viewer" in Linden terminology) and explores the Second Life development environment."

Comments

Re:Why wouldn't they open up the client?

[Rei]

Perhaps some contributors to the client, now that it's open source, can make the rendering engine not look late-90s. I'm not talking poly counts or texture detail, which would be constrained by bandwidth. I'm talking about how flat everything is. I don't know what their lighting and texturing models are, but they need first aid. :P