#imvuinvictus

[laughingbearstudio-blog]

Invictus: A Decade

IMVU has for many years been a hobby of mine that later evolved into being some more than a hobby and a little bit less than a passion.  I started on IMVU roughly 10 years ago and it was a fluke that I had even heard of it.  A friend of mine in Arizona had stumbled across this site called IMVU which was a 3D chat program with customized avatars and at the time you invited friends to join you would get free credits (the in-game currency).  He sent me an invite and I signed up so that he could get the free credits but I quickly forgot about  it.  It wasn’t until a year later that I revisited it and after playing around with it I quite enjoyed it.  What happened afterwards was an interesting journey fraught with tales of perils and triumphs.

I started out with an account called Maxentius and it was simply for enjoyment.  I quickly learned though that creative talent was what powered the site and it was very inspiring to see so many artists coming together in one place to produce content the entire site could enjoy and I wanted to be part of that.  I created a new account named Invictus with some help from two users I was friends with at the time, Lollirot and MajesticRepublic, and embarked on conquering a brave new world.

What you have to understand about IMVU is that all goods on the site are digital and created by members of the community called creators.  Back then we called them developers but it’s the same thing.  I noticed that many creators started out organically and grew out of chaos and I didn’t think that would be for me at all. I wanted to get off on the right foot and set about drawing up a rough business plan.

To start with I needed a concept.  I knew I wanted to create clothing for male avatars and to me the best bit of clothing a man can ever own is a suit.  So I wrote that down and moved on to a name.  I’ve always been a big fan of Latin and my previous avatar was named Maxentius so I had to think a bit and eventually the word Invictus came to mind.

Invictus is Latin for “unconquered” and I thought that would be perfect because it conveyed a sense of power and awe and that worked with the product I wanted to sell.  Men in suits always convey power and demand respect but that wasn’t enough.  There were two other creators on the site who specialized in creating suits for men, Terrence69 and EddieOrlando, and I knew if I was going to be successful I would have to get on their level and try to “out-do” them in the spirit of competition.  I looked went through their catalogs thoroughly to see how they went about it and I felt I learned enough to know how to compete.  I figured the best way to sell the same product they were selling was to add something extra.  I thought about Karl Lagerfeld who has long been a personal hero and spiritual mentor of mine and how he would approach this.  I reasoned that anyone could purchase suit for whatever reason but why not make one of those reasons prestige?  If you create a brand that is billed out as being a luxury brand then maybe people will want it more than your competitors.  So I jotted that idea down.  I knew the lynch pin to this would be branding.  Most creators at the time didn’t have very solid branding and those that did weren’t very consistent with it but I knew a bit more about branding than most users so I thought I would have an edge.  I was correct!  I opened up Photoshop CS3 (you have to understand that this was a while back) and started working on a logo which ended up being the word INVICTVS written with Trajan Pro and given a metallic look to it.  While I was designing the logo the phrase “unconquered luxury” came to mind and I  knew I had an instant winner.  Now that the branding was completed I set about to creating product to sell and truth be told when it finally came down to it the job was a bit more difficult than anticipated.  

I’ve had the good fortune to know two excellent creators on IMVU, Lollirot and MajesticRepublic, both of whom took me under their wing to help nurture my skills and push me up.  I found a derivable suit product produced by a user named Ryupa (he and I would go on to have a good working relationship for many years) and got to work.  Before I knew it I had completed my first line of suits.  Now all I had to do is wait.  Back then it wasn’t a problem because there weren’t very many creators on the site like there is now so within a week or so a few customers made their first purchase of my products and within a month the name Invictus started to spread.

The rest, as they say, is history.  Invictus became a rising star and an established and well-recognized brand on IMVU.  I won’t fill you in on all the gory details of the last 10 years but let me be clear there were definitely some ups and downs.  I took a 4 year break in 2013 and returned in November 2017.  Now that I’m back at the helm of Invictus I find IMVU to be a completely new place with many changes in the site and the user culture.  Creating and advertising isn’t what it used to be in fact I would say if anything it became more complex and sophisticated than it had been in the “good ol’ days.“  My brand was still recognized, especially by many of the older users, but for the most part it was in shambles.  I figured if Lagerfeld could resurrect Chanel then I could do the same as well and that is were we are now.  

Invictus has undergone a complete re-branding and broken away from much of its tradition but continues to plow forward as a luxury label for men’s clothing on IMVU.  I’m hoping to bring back the label and produce new and innovative products in a proud tradition.  Time will tell.

[laughingbearstudio-blog]

Covenant: A Collection by Invictus.  See the collection here.

[laughingbearstudio-blog]

New home page.  Coding by Stillwater

[laughingbearstudio-blog]

I'm currently at work on a new project that I think is the most ambitious product release that I have ever attempted in my 10 years on IMVU. I wonder if maybe I'm over my head but I'm not sure because I have not tried a large-scale release on this level since the Praxis line so many years ago. Over the years I've acquired the reputation of being the go to "suit dev" which is only fair because 99% of my products are suits for men. From a business perspective I want to diversify my product offering and from the perspective of an artist I want to expand into other areas that will offer me a challenge. Men's suits are my forte and they always will be nothing is going to change that but I think that it's limiting and that I am capable of much more than that and I think my customers deserve much more because my brand is not just about suits it is about style, class and prestige for my customers. I encourage you to check out my blog on Tumblr which you can reach by going to my homepage the link is prominently displayed. I will be posting updates as well as previews and sneak peeks of products as they are created and I encourage you to interact with the post because your feedback is as always greatly appreciated.

[laughingbearstudio-blog]

Covenant: A Collection by Invictus

The Covenant Series has been released in the IMVU Virtual Goods catalog for little over a month now.  I have to say this was one of the most enjoyable collections I’ve ever made.

If it is for certain that I have been a fixture in the IMVU Mafia community, then it is also certain I have been a fixture in the goth community as well, though never as an active graphics contributor.  It’s not that I never wanted to, it was that I felt I had nothing to truly contribute that would mesh well with my catalog.  That was years ago, today it’s much different.  I’ve learned not to take myself so seriously and  to enjoy making virtual goods just as much as much as making and spending credits.  Covenant wasn’t a business decision, it was just pure enjoyment. This collection was based largely on the suit mesh developed originally by zzqmc and though he is gone (or was at the time) several derivables of that suit mesh are still available.  Shoes and accessories were derived from products by SAL who has long been part of the creator community and one of the best and brightest out there.  

It goes without saying that this collection is very much gothic in theme, but elegant, brooding, and with a vampiric flare.  I decided to forgo tradition neck ties entirely, opting for something less conventional.  This of course required to paint the tie directly on the shirt mesh while using opacity settings to remove the default tie from the mesh itself.  I know many people, many of my customers even, have long decried the practice of painting ties on the shirts, but with the vision I had and the elements I wanted to use it was unavoidable.  I think it turned out well and I’ve had nothing but positive reviews and praise for it.  I do need to add that I do not think the collection would have been this successful were it not for my dear friend Macabre who made sure it was advertised through pulse and the Morgue.  Much thanks goes to her.  In fact you might even like the plug she came up with for pulse:

 "Vᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇs ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ sᴘᴀʀᴋʟᴇ.. Vᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇs, ᴏғғɪᴄɪᴀᴛᴇ.." Bᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ʙᴏᴜɴᴅ ʙʏ.. Tʜᴇ Cᴏᴠᴇɴᴀɴᴛ. A ɴᴇᴡ sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴏғ ʜɪɢʜ ǫᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ ᴀᴄᴄᴇssᴏʀɪᴇs, sʜᴏᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴄᴏᴜʀsᴇ.. Sᴜɪᴛs ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ sᴏᴠᴇʀᴇɪɢɴ ʜɪᴍsᴇʟғ. Aʀɪsᴛᴏᴄʀᴀᴛɪᴄ Rᴇᴠᴇɴᴀɴᴛ ᴍᴇᴇᴛs ᴛʜᴇ sᴘʟᴇɴᴅᴏʀ ᴏғ ᴍᴏᴅᴇʀɴɪsᴛɪᴄ "Gᴏᴛʜ". Pᴇʀᴜsᴇ, ʜɪs ᴡᴀʀᴇs.. ʜᴇ ɪs sᴜʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴏ.. ᴅɪsᴀᴘᴘᴏɪɴᴛ.

The collection has actually fared a lot better sales-wise than I thought it would and has been well received by goth community, role-players, and of course long-time customers who have always been so generous with their support.  I encourage you to try the collection yourself, as always feedback is welcome as are product reviews.  If you’re a new subscriber to my blog, an IMVU customer, and willing to leave a review, just shoot me a private message to my IMVU inbox and I’ll be happy to send you a complimentary item from the collection. View the entire collection by clicking here.  I have created an exclusive product from the product bundle as incentive to buy the entire bundle.  It’s the same outfit as seen on the image in this post.  It’s my favorite piece and a must have so you will definitely want the collection bundle which you can get here.

[laughingbearstudio-blog]

An awesome portrait of my IMVU avatar.  His look has not changed much in 10 years.  Always the slicked black hair with the gray on the sides, black suit and ever present shades.  The only real change is higher quality products being used.