SR Systems Three Section Staff

Today I present you my favorite weapon, and possibly my best creation yet. The Three-Section Staff. This weapon has an interesting story to it's creation. It is believed a famous guard, while defending their royalty from bandits, accidentally broke his staff. He put it the two parts back together, but realized the deadly advantage that the flexibility would bring. And this, the staff became a two-section staff. Using this weapon in another battle, the longer part of it broke. The warrior decided to put it back together, and saw a new advantage if he made the parts smaller, but of equal length. Thus was born the Three Section Staff.

Versatility is the key word when describing this weapon. It can be used like a regular staff, a chain whip, or the ends can be held like short sticks used as clubs. My design is made of "flexi" parts, so the ends swing as your avatar executes their attack technique. This is one weapon i hope to learn eventually in RL, but have a very long way to go to reach that level. In the meantime, I can marvel at the professionals and students that are my seniors.

The weapon is compatible with DCS, CCS and WARPS. It can be purchased on xstreetsl at:

Three Section Staff

I leave you with videos of my product, as well as one of my favorite fight scenes ever with a three section staff, from the movie fearless with Jet Li.

SR Systems "Dao" and "Jian" Swords

I finally found some time to update my blog, and today I would like to present to you my first sword creations. Dao is the general of traditional chinese weapons, and is a broadsword. The Jian is the gentleman of chinese weapons and is a double edged blade. The latter of these is popular in chinese Wuxia moves (ancient china kung fu films, such as "crouching tiger, hidden dragon").

As all other weapons, the weapon comes with a draw and sheathing animation, a bow, and four attack animations for each motion key (up, down, left arrow).

The weapons are compatible with DCS, CCS and WARPS combat systems.

They may be purchased at my inworld store, or on xstreetsl at:

Dao
Jian

Finally, I leave you with the videos illustrating the animation:

SR Systems Kung Fu Staff and Spear

Hello again,

Today I'd like to describe to you my Kung Fu Staff (Gwun) and Spear (Qiang). The reason I combined these two items in one post is that they use the same animation set. The weapons are compatible with DCS, CCS and WARPs, and come in push versions as well.

To control the weapons, simply hold down your left mousebutton and use the motion keys (up, down, left, right).





My sifu said the staff is the most basic weapon in kung fu. With knowledge and training on how to use a staff, one can pretty much utilize any long weapon available at their disposal. He couldnt be more right, as you could easily find a broom or a branch from a tree if you found yourself in a fight situation. The animations that I made for this weapon are based on the single headed staff technique - that is, the staff is held more towards one end rather than the middle, and the opposite end is used as the point of impact on your opponent. This technique allows one to use the staff for stabbing as well, and thus, the moves become similar to using a spear. Hence, the same set of animations apply to the spear as well.


1) The Bow/Salute - Upon activating your weapon, you will see the bow. I intend to make this a mark of my weapons: to always activate with the challenge bow. Your avatar holds the staff upright in his right hand, while opening out his left palm towards your opponent, followed by bringing it back in to their side. Ideally, the weapon should be held in your left hand, while the right does the open palm action. However, due to the set up of holding items in second life, I had to reverse the role of the hands.

2) Smack and Stab - The forward attack makes your avatar smacks your opponent with the staff, as they go from the fighting stance to a horse stance, facing sideways to your enemy. Such an attack is intended for the staff to come down as a hammer onto your opponent's head or collar bone. This is conveniently followed by a stab with the front of the gwun, straight into your opponent's solar plexus (convenient because the horse has you low and steady).

3) Turn and Stab - The backwards attack sends your avatar in a clockwise spin, landing on their knee in a low position, followed by a stab to the enemy's belly. This is meant to be an evading attack.

4) Crane and Swing - In the right side attack, your avatar does a sidestep to their right, and lifts themselves up on their right leg like a crane. The left knee is brought up, and the staff is raised above their right shoulder. And then, with rapid speed, the staff comes swinging at an angle as you rotate your hips and hammer the enemy at an angle coming from the shoulder to the opposite waste.

5) Swallow Tail and Low Swing - The left side technique is my personal favorite and perhaps most beautiful. Your avatar executes a swallow tail kick (or butterfly kick) swinging to the left, giving your opponent a taste of two feet. Upon landing, you go into a low crouch and hit them across the waste or knees.

The spear comes with a flexible horse hair tassel at the bottom of the blade, to add tradition and realism to the weapon. It swings around as you swing your weapon. In real battle, the horse hair served to soak up any blood to prevent the staff becoming sticky - as well as to throw off your enemies.

You can buy the weapons at my store or click below for xstreetsl links!
Spear
Staff

Thanks and see you next time!

SR Systems Kung Fu Fighter

So, let us begin putting some meat into this blog, with a description of the first weapon I made - The SR Systems Kung Fu fighter.

I must note that while the name says Kung Fu fighter, all my weapons so far are based on Kung Fu. This one is more specifically an empty hand fighter (i.e. uses no physical objects as weapons). But most people would be confused by that term, and probably wouldnt buy it. The animations are based on my RL training in Jow Ga Kung Fu, and forms a beautiful and effective set in battle.

The fighter works with DCS, CCS and Warps combat meters. The weapon also comes in a push version that will send your opponents flying in push-enabled zones.





Using the fighter is simple, simply hold down your left mouse-button, and use the motion keys (up, down, left, right). Each motion key is a different animation - an offensive technique of kung fu. The different animations that play are:

1) Hoi Jong, or opening and closing bow - This animation plays when you activate or deactivate the fighter. It is a traditional salute to your opponent, and the sequence is based on the Jow Ga style of kung fu (which in turn is a solid hybrid of the southern shaolin styles Hung Ga and Choy Ga, and Northern Shaolin Kung Fu). It features the famous "fist in palm" action that kung fu bows are known for. I realize that when you bring back to your ribs/waste, both hands should be fists - however the nature of second life's animation system is that once you've set a hand position, that's what remains through the animation.

2) Fighting Stance - Following this, your character will enter the - with fists up, elbows protecting your ribs, feet about shoulder with apart and knees slightly bent - ready to attack.

3) Combination Punch and Heart Kick - The first attack animation. This technique uses a left handed jab, followed by a right handed punch, and using the momentum to launch a straight "Through the Heart Kick" with your right heel to your enemy's chest. This is the first and most basic, but also one of the more effective, techniques you learn in kung fu training.

4) Jab, Heart Kick and Gwa Choy - This second attack is composed of three parts. It begins with a left handed jab, and as you twist back into a straight-on stance, you launch a heart kick with your right. However, instead of returning to the fighting stance after the kick, you use the forward momentum to land a gwa choy (back fist hammer) with your right. Your left palm is placed in front of you, below your right elbow to block any knee or kick your opponent might retaliate with.

5) Tornado Kick - A highly effective and deadly kick when executed right, RL or SL. Starting from a fighting stance, your avatar moves forward rotating to his left (counter clockwise). As you're turned away from your opponent, your left knee is raised and your left foot is off the ground. At the same time, your right knee bends as you prepare to spring into the air. As you jump off your right foot, your left knee crosses your opponent and your right follows through landing the inside of your right foot on their face. The rotation and jumping motion combine and channel the force into your kick.

6) Swallow Tail Kick aka Butterfly Kick - My personal favorite attack in this weapon's animation set. It is the evading attack, as you move backwards. This time, you begin by stepping backwards and spinning to your right (clockwise). As you spin, you open your arms in a "ready to fly" position, leaning foward and very low. Upon reaching the point in your turn where your back is at your enemy, you raise your left foot in a backwards heel kick while bending your right leg into a compressed spring mode. Just as your left heel lands a blow, you launch up with your right and land a second blow on your enemy's face with the backwards right-sided heel kick. By the time you complete the spin and kicks, you are back facing your enemy. In the process, your legs have made a butterfly's wings, or swallow's tail, pattern.

Drop by my inworld location to sample these animations, and better yet, why not get them for yourself so you can show those weapon holding sons of guns how a real warrior fights! ;)

It's also availabe on xstreetsl here

SR Systems Weapons Information

Now that I've given you an introduction of myself and SR systems, I would like to describe the weapons I make. While I promise to go into more detail on each weapon in subsequent posts, I wanted to present a general overview in this post.
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(1) The weapons are powered by scripts from Hanzo Blades. Second Life Melee weapon enthusiasts, particularly those interested in Japanese katanas and ninjato blades, will have heard of Hanzo Blades as one of, if not, the best weapons maker out there. My weapons utilize their ever reliable scripts, giving you an effective low lag weapon. The script i have obtained is legal and part of their Prefabrica release - so i guarantee that there is no "funny business" on my end.

(2) The weapons work with the DCS2, CCS and WARPS combat meters. They have been tested successfully by my customers on each of these systems, and I haven't received any complaints yet.

The weapons are known to cause Linden damage, the amount of which is based on the distance you are standing from the opponent, as some satisfied customers have responded back. However, I do not guarantee this, as the scripts are designed for the three meters mentioned above. I could however customize a weapon if a customer is interested.

(3) Almost all animations in the weapons are designed by me and are unique. While I do own the Hanzo Blades animations that come in the prefabrica pack, I decided to put in the hours of effort in creating my own interpretation of attack techniques. Furthermore, I'm a student of Jow Ga Kung Fu in real life, and wanted to express the knowledge and techniques I have developed through my training, in the virtual world. That being said, I have used the draw and sheath animations that come standard with Hanzo blades.

(4) My goal for SR Systems is to make Martial Arts Weapons. Currently, I am focussing on kung fu based weapons, and am in the planning stages to expand to other oriental martial arts systems. I might, down the line, create other fantasy based melee weapons - such as medieval weapons or final fantasy style weapons - but I do not plan on making guns. If I do make ranged weapons, they will be the likes of shuriken, arrows or throwing axes.

(5) I strive for affordability. I have found out the hard way that making weapons in second life is hard work. Starting from making animations - to creating the structure of the weapon, followed by the texturing to make it look acceptable and even beautiful - all the way through to packaging, making a second life weapon takes the effort of many hours, and even money to buy and upload realistic textures. Despite these personal costs (including losing out on time with my close friends), I intend to share my passion at an affordable rate. Thus, you will find SR systems weapons are in the lower price range, despite the quality they provide. I have no intentions to compete with the big names and have the utmost respect for them.

Ofcourse, this *is* a business I am doing, and making money is always a nice reward for the hard work. Seeing people buy and like my products motivates me to make even better items. However, I have no aspirations to fund my real life expenses via this second life project. Instead I would like to make enough money to enjoy my second life and be able to continue my passion by affording the costs to manufacture these items.

Furthermore, I appreciate all my customers and would like to thank them personally. I do my best to IM you all personally, but please forgive me if I missed you - I still want to sincerely thank you as well :)

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And that's all the basic information on my weapons! As simple as that :) In my coming posts, I will start discussing in detail each weapon, along with images and try to explain my philosophy behind the different techniques.

Thank you again and see you next time!

Welcome and General Introduction!

Hello and thank you for viewing this first post of my new blog. A famous line i once heard was "if there's an elephant in the room, then you should introduce it!" So you being kind enough to read my blog, it is only right that I return the favor by introducing myself and my new company, to which this blog pertains.

Firstly, I'm Soren Reinard: an avatar and avid user of Second Life. For those that may not know much about it, in a nutshell, Second Life can be categorized as a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) or a Virtual World. I prefer the latter definition, as role playing and combat games form just a small set of the massive number of things one can do there. The users create their own purposes in this world. There's more info on the link provided.

One feature that I will discuss here is the economics of second life (SL). In this cyber universe, users can create items and services that other users can buy, to enhance their experience. The virtual currency, "linden dollars" or "lindens", can be transformed into real currency and vice versa. Some SL business-people have aspirations for virtual income that supports their real life expenses, and some even achieve this goal succesfully. Others have more modest goals for a virtual income that can support their virtual expenses.

I've developed a small business that is inspired from my personal use of second life. In recent times, I have been "combat roll playing". As the users of second life create their purposes, users with an interest like me decided to come together and form combat simulations. Think of it as being able to go to a chat room, make friends across the world, and be able to play mortal kombat with them. Except, you get to create and design your own character. With this creation process comes the requirement for outfits, health meters and most importantly, weapons.

Thus was born SR Systems. Playing in Japanese and Chinese sims, I decided to try and bring my imagination to virtual life. Being a passionate student of Jow Ga Kung Fu in real life, I decided to bring what I know from real world kung fu into the virtual world. Ofcourse, being realistic does not mean being boring, and so the animations i develop for my weapons are intended to be fun and flashy as well. For those familiar with combat in second life, my weapons work with DCS2, CCS and Warps. And for those simply looking for great animations, they work equally well to impress your friends.

I will detail each of my creations in the coming posts, but please feel free to contact me if you have any questions - either here or inworld. If you'd like to view my weapons feel free to visit my store in world at SR Systems Mainstore or check out my listings on xstreetsl

Thank and see you next time!