Main Page
From SYW
Welcome to Scripting Your World: The Official Guide to Second Life Scripting.
Scripting Your World is the complete scripting introduction for anyone who wants to learn how to make their Second Life objects move, interact, and change. This book, written by an expert team of programmers, covers every aspect of LSL, from the basics of avatar movement and communication to physics and special effects to interacting with the world outside of Second Life. This thorough reference and tutorial features detailed walk-throughs and step-by-steps that teach the "why" of scripting while explaining core LSL conventions. It includes more than 50 exclusive, brand-new custom scripts that you can use and modify right now. Make doors open automatically, put a message in a bottle and watch it float out to sea, create a tip jar, and start a storm complete with loud thunderclaps and flashing lightning.
- Understand the Linden Scripting Language: Master every aspect of Second Life's programming language
- Automate with scripts: Greet visitors by name, teleport around the world, and dance with a partner
- Learn physics and vehicles: Create a jet pack, a magic carpet, and a machine gun
- Use environmental controls: Create moving shadows, make water splash, and have bees flit from flower to flower
- Integrate multimedia: Dazzle residents with streaming TV and ambient soundscapes
- Incorporate the outside world: Build a live news ticker and send e-mail
Note: Online extras are always available in the sidebar to the left as Bonus Material and Notes.
If you are here after downloading a scanned copy, please also buy a physical copy: It just isn't that expensive, and we're still a long long way from breaking even. The publishers will never ask us to write another book, or even update this one with new material unless they have a good financial reason to!
Contents |
Classes and Groups
SYW HQ Events
We periodically run contests, classes, and other in-world activities. You can always visit our in-world location at SYW HQ (Hennepin <38,138,108>), or check our Current events page for information.
Formal Education
Happy Hippo Education Classes on content creation in SL. Their scripting classes use SYW as a textbook. Visit Kinetix <175,69,22> to get started.
University of Washington Extension has an excellent certificate program on Virtual Worlds with an extensive in-world presence.
In-world Groups and regions
Builder's Brewery has near-daily formal classes on content creation, including scripting.
Scripting Your World Special Content
- Bonus Material includes addenda to chapters, a series of online-only in-depth projects, and extra reference material.
- There are five special projects: Dance, Bowling, Combat, Traffic (textures), and Articulation
- Notes has any annotations, clarifications, and corrections on the print and PDF documents.
- There is also a forum to share scripts and resources. This is where you will find scripts from the web-chapters, plus scripts and resources shared by other readers. All of the scripts from the print edition of SYW are available in-world or from XStreetSL
- Photographoria has information about the photos in the book, including locations and other tidbits.
- Scripting Your World Blog is a blog-style series of articles by the authors (see BlogMeta for meta-information on our blog).
- Event081101 for resources, slides, and transcripts of the 1 November 2008 in-world kickoff. We demonstrated how to make a digital picture frame.
- SYW.Fabulo.us (You are here!)
On the Web
- Wiley has a set of book support pages here.
- The Second Life Wiki
- The LSL Portal
- The Video Tutorials
- The LSL Wiki at lslwiki.net
- The LSL Wiki at rpgstats.com
Reviews & Buying the book
Scripting Your World has can be ordered from
Amazon (US);
Amazon (Canada);
Amazon (UK);
Amazon (France);
Amazon (Germany);
Barnes and Noble;
Powells;
Borders;
Wiley;
Chapters; and, of course, from your local Real Life bookstore.
Note: As Scripting Your World is not self-published, we have no control over electronic versions of the text or translations: please contact the publisher directly through support.wiley.com. Amazon also has a link on their pages for requesting that SYW be made available for download to Kindle: just go to the US Amazon.com page and click "I'd like to read this book on Kindle" on the left hand side underneath the photograph of the reader.
Here's a place to put Reviews -- we promise not to edit them. :)
People, Atomic and Digital
Authors
Dana Moore, aka ElectricSheep Expedition
Michael Thome, aka Vex Streeter:
(Twitter) (blog)
Dr. Karen Zita Haigh, aka Karzita Zabaleta
Others
Minimal Ballyhoo is a shared avatar that handles finances, vendors, contests and such for Scripting Your World.

