NOCTURNUS

Some rooms seem to have an uncanny ability to immerse in way that seems to transcend the limitations of the medium. Nocturnus is certainly one of those. With its cramped layout and highly detailed build, the room perfectly replicates the atmosphere of a crowded alternative underground club.

Nocturnus is built and hosted by Bonnie Monella. Some might remember Bonnie from her previous endeavour, the highly successful Lxxxury Nightclub. The two venues couldn’t be more different, which sparked our curiosity. Bonnie graciously allowed us an interview.

Nocturnus is quite a departure from the trance traditions of the Lxxxury, how did it come to be?

For over 4 years I hosted the Lxxxury. I had created the room and was a DJ there. I played Trance music and everyone in 3dx knew me for that. The club attracted around 160/180 people a night. After a while though it started to feel like a job and for this reason I decided to close it. People still ask me if I will reopen it one day.

A few years ago I decided to build a totally different club. I wanted it to be small and dirty. And very transgressive. The aim was to open it just for fun with my husband and not for large numbers of people. I wanted a small, dirty, slightly decadent environment to make aggressive music.

I like heavy metal, my husband taught me many bands when we met. He’s a metalhead and for him it was a mission since I was a disco fan.

Did you base the club on a real place?

Oh no, it exists only in my fantasy. A dirty little underground club for crazy people, that was my aim.

You are a prolific builder?

I have many rooms I never opened because I love to build. I also made 2 games outside of 3DX using Unity and Blender. I made them just for fun, I don’t intend to publish these games or do advertising, I develop out of pure passion for developing games. I am not a professional game maker.

Could you tell us a little about your 3DX history?

I had never played multiplayer games before and for me the internet was just YouTube. My husband used to play gta5 but then he stopped and made me play. I met an Italian there and little by little we became close friends. In the game we were known as Bonnie and Clyde.

I often killed him in the game and he told me I was “monella” (monella in Italian is like bratty) so I decided to change my name into Bonnie Monella. One day he told me he found this game game called 3DXChat.

I was struck by this world where we can meet so many people and make so many friends. In a short time I made so many friends it caused friction between us and our relationship began to fray.

When did you get into building?

Initially, there was no editor in the game yet but I had already started building rooms using objects (beds tables lights etc). When the editor arrived I immediately started building rooms.

I heard that some people were using streaming radios to play music in their rooms and I was immediately interested in how I could do the same thing too. Soon I was DJ-ing in my rooms and shortly after I created the Luxxxury Nightclub.

From that moment on everything changed and for everyone I was Bonnie the one from Luxxxury. The desire to create rooms and to DJ has never gone away though and I have always continued to create rooms (Dogging Area, The Seedy Building, The Red Light District etc etc).

The Red Light District

What advice would you give to new builders?

When we build a room we have to keep in mind that many people who come there may be using an old PC. So there is a limit with to respect to the size of a build. I have to give up a lot of details but I want no one to worry about lagging in my rooms. Everyone can play, even using an old and slow PC. Build for people, don’t build just for yourself, that’s the rule.

Nocturnus opens every Friday evening at 11PM CET until 4AM CET. Be sure to check it out if you are in the mood for some transgressive music in an environment to match.

With special thanks to Bonnie Monella.