It all started as a Dream.

In November 2012 I wrote the first draft of the plan. UNIA would be groundbreaking. UNIA would be our first fully interactive and immersive adventure with 1st person shooter elements. UNIA would be delivered in stages pushing the limitations of Second Life and showing game designers what is possible to do in this virtual world.

In January 2015 I was wondering if I had tried to bite off more than one could chew.

Thus Kiana Writer, head of MadPea Productions frankly opened a blog post in February 2015. In it, she outlined some of the trials an tribulations that she and the MadPea team have encountered in trying to bring UNIA, an immersive games that is huge in scope.

The downs have been many – but so has the overall up; so much so that the launch date has been set – UNIA opens its doors to Second Life residents on Monday April 20th.

To prepare for the launch, and over on MadPea’s brand new blog (make sure you update any bookmarks if you haven’t already), Kiana provides a prologue to the main story. It’s written from the perspective of a main character – Emily – who, having departed a wedding, awakes to find herself strangely dressed, feeling physically, in a barn somewhere with a dead body …

“You must come with me right now!” someone yells and when I look into the direction of the voice I notice a rope ladder dropping down right in front of me. “Drop that hand and climb up, you must hurry!” the voice continues. For some reason I do as I’m told and take a last look at the body on the floor before putting my bare foot on the ladder and starting to climb.

At the top I face a tall, heavyset black man in his 40s, all dressed in military gear. I haven’t said a word to him and it seems as if I don’t have to. He knows what I’m going through.

…And thus the player is launched into a world that is both nightmare and terrifyingly real, and with a secret lying at its heart…

A year ago, I was one of a number of people privileged to be taken on a personal tour of the UNIA sets and puzzles within UNIA, with Kiana and another of the MadPea talents, RAG Randt. What I saw back then was mind-bogglingly good, and the team have since had almost a year to improve, tweak, update and enhance. Thus, I have little doubt that UNIA is going to live up to expectations in its depth of immersion, its content, and it engagement with players.

As a part of the run-up to the launch, MadPea are running a special challenge, which is introduced thus:

We’re getting closer and closer to release, and as that time draws near, what are you up to? How are you passing the time? Are you preparing, buffing up your muscles, working out your brains? Are you eating a lot of pastries? Are you snoozin’ all day to rest up for your marathon play session?

On offer is the chance to receive the UNIA Gold Package when the adventure opens on April 20th. This includes the game HUD, triple shield, uniform (generously donated by Damien Fate from FATEplay) in three colours, and a gold lock pick for a pistol.

To be in with a chance to be awarded the Package, all you have to do is:

Take a photo of yourself in-world as you wait for UNIA arrive, using the notes above as possible guidelines).

Add the snapshot to a note card entitled “Preparing for UNIA! – [Your Avatar Name]” – please make sure you give you avatar full legacy name – not your display name

Include a brief description of your snapshot in the note card – no more than 144 characters!

Send the completed card to RaffiGirl Koffenbaum in-world. Favourites from those received will be posted on the MadPea blog on alternate days, like this one. Refer to the challenge blog post for the criteria the MadPea team are looking for in submissions in order to select their favourite, who will be awarded the Gold Pass.

You can also get ready for UNIA by helping the MadPea team and Draxtor Despres film a brand new promotional trailer for the game.

If you’re willing to have video footage of your physical self included in the new promo video, and are lucky enough to be selected, you could also be rewarded with the UNIA Gold Package. See the MadPea video promo blog post for more information on what’s required.

Finally, you can also get yourself ready by watching the current trailer for UNIA, and by keeping an eye on the new MadPea blog for upcoming news and information on the game.

“UNIA has been a game more than two years in the making,” Kiana confided in me as we talked about the upcoming launch. “And one thing we’re aware of is because of that, some of the locations might seem a little dated in setting. Cornfields, for example seem to be everywhere in Second Life today, when two years ago, you could count the number in SL on the fingers of one hand! 😀 .”

Well, cornfields may have multiplied in SL since the start of 2013, but there is still only one UNIA. As such, I don’t think Kiana has anything to worry about on that score; from April 20th, people are going to be too immersed in the story and game play to think about the number of fields or any kind they’ve seen in Second Life!