Lockwood’s New Kingdom
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
I am a masked thief.
I am a beautiful princess.
I am flying through the air collecting jewels on a magic carpet. I am relaxing beside a babbling fountain surrounded by exotic beasts and bird song in an ancient palace that is floating in the air amongst a slew of floating islands. I am walking through decadent halls and opulent rooms that are crumbling yet still beautiful. I am talking to a massive genie who towers over me, shaking his chains as he roars with anger at his captivity, yet bows in deference when I approach. Where else could I be but Home?
In Home you can be anything you want. There is so much to choose from here it boggles the mind. Lockwood Publishing knows this, and they consistently add to our imaginations with their innovative and clever content.
When Lockwood brought out their Jewel of the Skies personal space, they opened up a whole new world for all of us here in Home. It has all the markings of a trip through the world of Scheherazade and the Arabian Nights stories I grew up reading as a child. A palace in the sky with my own personal genie right out of Aladdin, along with flying carpets and areas to unlock. What more could my inner child want?
Ready for a swim?
Their new public area – the Kingdom of the Skies – looks incredible, just as all of Lockwood’s content does. They have an amazing team of artists and coders working for them, with a real vision for what they want to do in Home and how they want to expand that vision. This is obvious in what they do here.
There is a catch to Kingdom of the Skies though, in order to have full access to the genie and his reward giving quests you have to own the personal space. You can fly about and collect gems here to add to the community stash chest that resides to the left of the main area on another island, though. The last time they had this feature in the personal space, the community reward was a nice white tiger companion for everyone. This one is still available to those who visit a friends space. This time however, it is a tiger to actually ride as a locomotion.
Wonderful tiered maze
Everyone’s first stop is the Crystal Ball in the center of the main area. If you own the Jewel of the Skies, you will be able to roam freely and use the Genie, pool and the labyrinth maze and quests there. There are two scrolls hidden in the maze with clues and a free sword at the top of it if you find your way up. That is also where you will find the exclusive gold haloed store to buy unique items like the Golden Monkey, Almas the tiger locomotion, and the sword fighting locomotion to go with the sword you just received. Though the quests here are fairly easy, it will be interesting to see if Lockwood updates here on a regular basis. This would be a true incentive for people who are reward hunters and the marketing ploy they have used here might actually pan out.
The Genie hands out a variety of jewel collecting tasks, they are handled the same as those found in the personal space. You can do three a day and obtain many very nice rewards there. I got my first three today, they range from a trailing symbol or rainbow for your flying carpet to actual furniture and concept art from the space for your wall. They are nice rewards, as you would expect from Lockwood.
There is a slew of new clothing and other content related to Kingdom of the Skies released along with this including sword fighting animations, belly dancing animations, Almas the tiger locomotion and Kidogo the elephant. The spaces, locomotions and animation packs are available in the store. Some additional clothing and Kidogo the elephant will be made available in the gift machine.
The genie awaits
As time goes on, I think that they will continue to grow this new universe just as they have done with their Dream Universe personal spaces and public area. The difference here is you won’t have to own one to enjoy at least part of the public space. The game is accessible, as is the chest to stash your jewels, which gives even those who don’t have the Jewel of the Skies something to gain through their efforts. And it’s a lot of fun, too.
Though I am sure that many people will be upset that they can’t access all of the area, Lockwood has to make their money somewhere, and I don’t blame them for using this wonderful space to try and promote their older personal space at all. I love the Jewel of the Skies and I wish they would update there as well to keep it fresh.
I hope to see more here in the coming months, but that, as always, depends on the communities reaction to the space and their willingness to pay for the updates and the pleasure of this experience.
- Incredible scenery
- Details everywhere
- Fun game and rewards
- Community reward
- Many will not like red rope treatment
July 11th, 2013 by Burbie52 | 3 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
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I agree, I like the step Lockwood is taking with this “Arabian Night’s” style world. The Jewel of the Skies is my favorite personal space. That being said, right now the Carpet game is extremely buggy and very difficult to play without getting booted off. I have had to reloud the Space several times just to collect enough crystals to get a wish. Very frustrating!
Indeed. The public space needs some bug ironed out, I had to jump spaces so many times to jigger the game I lost count. It’d always happen just as I was collecting the few final jewels I needed, or as I was on my way back to the genie lamp…
Other than these bugs though, I finally took the plunge for all this stuff yesterday, clubhouse and personal. I’ve always had a soft spot for Persian, Indian and Middle Eastern design and as it looks, these spaces don’t disappoint.
LKWD, you have the look and feel of spaces nailed, you just gotta focus on the technical and the function now.
I’m torn,
This is a very well done space and the flying is a blast but this velvet rope concept is something I don’t like.
However, I think Lockwood must have listened to us after the Dream Velvet Rope space, because this is a far better compromise.
I had fun hanging with you here Burbie.