Archive for the ‘imvu 2.0’ Category

It’s been a while since I’ve discussed client updates with you. It’s mostly been a bunch of bug fixes and programmer jabber not really worth discussing. But version 422.0 came out yesterday (as did 422.2 which was disabled and now 422.4 to fix some more bugs) and it looks promising.

So what’s new!? Some nifty stuff to make life easier for you while using the 2.0 client. Let’s go through point by point shall we?

New Wishlist Feature

Now you can wishlist products as well as view your wishlist within the client. Unfortunately, it’s a little confusing. In order to view you wishlist, you must be in “shop mode” by having the shopping tab open as shown in the image below.

To add something to your wishlist, you merely click on the silver star under any product you’d like to add as circled in red in the below picture.

Due to performance issues, IMVU has capped the wishlist within the client to 500 items. However, you can add more than 500 and view your entire list via the website.

To make it easier, IMVU has also added a Sign Out link at the upper right-hand corner to the client (was that not there before? I never really noticed). See picture below.

Save Outfit Button

Finally. I’m happy to announce that a Save Outfit button has been added! No more typing *saveOutfit and struggling to type and time your avatar. Now there is a button within the “Dress Up”  and “My Room” tab. DOCers rejoice! Check out the image below.

And finally… collapse the top bar!

You can now do this by pressing F11 thus giving you more space to ake your awesome pictures! To make it come back, press F11 again.

And that’s pretty much it folks. Yay?

There is a new client version available with some features that I am happy about [sorta]. Version 418.20 offers one very distinct change worth mentioning – the introduction of the “blue bar” [which is actually gold now] to the 2.0 client. Now the ever-so-important information we get every day from the blue bars at the top of the IMVU website pages, can now be found in the 2.0 client featured on the home tab as seen in the picture on the left [click for larger image].

Other features and changes include the ability for IMVU to show information regarding short-term promotion links such as their 2-hour sales for their over priced credits and name change tokens. Also on the list is a bunch of client fixes and bug kills. I’ll leave you to look over it in the client download section.

Version 418.22 is also available. Biggest change is the People Finder function which was apparently broken and is now fixed. Hooray.

Such an odd topic to see (in my opinion anyways). IMVU is introducing their own movie series called “Private”. It’s a 10 week web series about “Easton, an exclusive private boarding school in Connecticut, where having the brains and the money to get in doesn’t necessarily mean you have what it takes to survive….”

You can get a sneak peek of the casting call for this series . It’s basically a preview to the actual series that includes interviews with the three finalists chosen to compete for the role of Kiran Hayes. It looks like you can earn 10 credits per episode you watch. Well golly gee.

It appears that in lieu of this new series, IMVU has given us a movie tab within the 2.0 client. This is great for the IMVU users who make their own videos. I know there are some people who make quite a few of them. The tab exists when you download 416.12. Here is a picture of the tab so far.
Is any this really neccesary for the client? In my opinion – no. Why can’t we all just go to YouTube to watch these? I understand that the IMVU videos are at least related to our virtual world, but what on earth does this series about rich kids in Connecticut have to do with us? Oh IMVU, you never cease to amaze and confuse.

Just downloaded version 416.0 for IMVU 2.0 and apparently in the knick of time to catch IMVU just before they announced the new features via Twitter. (In fact, I started writing this and then caught them announcing it! heehee)

So what do we have here? We’ll start off with what I am most happy about – a “More Information” link when shopping. This link leads directly to the product page via website so we finally have a correlation between the 2.0 shopping experience and the “old” way of doing things. It is my understanding that this won’t last forever. There will eventually be an even newer way of shopping in due time that involves everything – including product pages, to be integrated into the 2.0 client.

Next up, we can finally use Triggers in the new dressing room. So you can finally trigger you pose sets and check them out before purchasing or see if your potential buy will clip, interfere or whatever with poses you plan to use. Yay! It’s actually kind of neat as they have added a colored bar (it’s sort of a pastel yellow on my screen) around the icon of the item you are wearing / trying with a list of the triggers above the item. Meaning, you don’t even have to go to the product page website side to find out what they are! Kudos IMVU.

Of course, just after I get done writing a post about the concerns we’re facing in the economy because there are too many credits in the economy, IMVU adds a big section in which to sell their grossly overpriced credits. Just what we need – IMVU pulling credits from thin air to sell to the newbies who conveniently know nothing about resellers because shout outs no longer exist in the client. But hey, that’s another topic entirely. Don’t even get me started!

Here is compact list of the other stuff as posted in the Official IMVU Blog:

Chat Invites
- We’ve added messaging to confirm when your chat invitation has been sent, so you aren’t left guessing.
- When you invite someone to chat from your room, you will now stay in your room (rather than ending up in the person’s room that you invited).

Inbox
- Missed Chats: We’ve added a new tab within the Inbox mode that allows you to find missed chat invitations more easily.

My Room vs. Decorate Room
- We’ve renamed “Decorate Room” to “My Room” to reduce confusion. You’ll still use the My Room mode when you want to edit your room.

Chat Invites
- We’ve added messaging to confirm when your chat invitation has been sent, so you aren’t left guessing.
- When you invite someone to chat from your room, you will now stay in your room (rather than ending up in the person’s room that you invited).

Inbox
- Missed Chats: We’ve added a new tab within the Inbox mode that allows you to find missed chat invitations more easily.

My Room vs. Decorate Room
- We’ve renamed “Decorate Room” to “My Room” to reduce confusion. You’ll still use the My Room mode when you want to edit your room.

Now that we’ve all had time to sink our teeth into 2.0, I feel confident in making this post.

So far, this new version continues to have its ups and downs. It’s great for new people – it must be what with up to 90k accounts logged into the client simultaneously at peek hours. For the good of IMVU as a company, they finally got something right. New people are attracted to IMVU and best of all, they sign up and they stay.

But while I personally enjoy 2.0 and many of the goodies it has to offer, I am a developer first and foremost – and I can more than sympathize with the rest of the developing community. I think I speak for us all when I say “This isn’t working out.”

Sales are at an all time low for most people, including myself. Could it be the summer slump or is it something else? – Like the new in-client catalog. The try it feature in 2.0 is extremely difficult to work with since it’s impossible to change into clothes you already own and try them on within the dressing room without completely exiting that feature, redressing your avatar in the “Me” category and entering the dressing room again. That is insanely complicated. Not only is it a feature we’re accustomed to having – it’s a feature that new people will yearn for. This makes shopping very frustrating and I for one, eventually give up trying to shop.

In order to take proper product pictures, you have to switch back to the old client. There is no getting around it. The product shots with 2.0 look smushed, pixelated and unclear. One of the very first rules you learn as a developer is to make everything on your screen as big as you can so that when you scale it down, it looks flawless. This concept apparently has yet to be taught to IMVU who took away literal inches of space off of our computer screens with their huge, top bar within the 2.0 client.

Once again, it’s survival of the fittest on IMVU. Who can take what we have to work with and use it to the best of their ability and attract customers to their catalog?