Merry Christmas, Everyone

Do Ut Des

Merry Christmas, everyone.  I hope the day has found you well and in good health.  I'm taking the time to rest up... currently a bit under the weather.

I should have some posts up in the following days. 

Finals Week

...ugh.

;)

Southern Highlands - Photo Blog

Did some work in the Southern Highlands tonight with Cactus Jack... also toggled on my visibility to 500m, so I decided to take some screenshots.  Some areas are new, some are old... check it out. :D

Teleport: Teleport to Southern Highlands

Overview of our work tonight. A new bridge spans a valley
to allow access to Cactus Jack's train that runs all through SW City
and the surrounding towns.

A close-up of the bridge.

A rocky outcrop.

A waterfall into Highridge Fjord, which outlets into the Irenic Ocean.

Ferruccio's Mobius House overlooks much of Rising Glen Retreat

The same area from a different perspective, this time looking
up to the high cliffs overlooking Rising Glen Retreat.

The Emerald Strand -- the area nearest to the Irenic Ocean.

Further to the right.

Overlooking the peninsula north of Obsidian Cove.
  Very secluded, almost entirely woodland.

CAV Shop to be released next month

Stacee posted an update on the AW Forums today concerning the upcoming CAV Shop and the current state of 5.2:

I wanted to start a thread to help clear up some of the confusion and open up the stage for some constructive input.

First off, the release of 5.2 is in two parts. It was released this month, minus the CAV Shop Items buying system, so that we could test the new boost engine and all the other additions like global chat channels and various new settings and tweaks and clean up any bugs that have been missed in the initial beta testing. You have all been doing a tremendous job, already spotting several bugs that can be addressed and really breaking in the new AW release.

What about the CAV Shop Items buying system? That will begin next month. It's the reason many things you came to use and love were taken out in this initial CAVtemplate. We needed to make a simpler layout for testing purposes and we needed to have items for you to test buying that we know should work. This will all make it easier to test that the buying system is working correctly without having to work out bugs that the artists created (yes, we have our own bugs we create).

You've already noticed some changes in how the CAV window works. We realized how confusing the separation of clothing from their textures was in the older CAV window. The new system tries to group similar items together, so things like eyes, lips, cheeks, etc no longer are on their own, but are now grouped under the head with all their attached textures. Same for clothing. You'll no longer have to put on a shirt and then scroll down looking for the texture that applies to what you just put on. The options will appear right underneath (+/-). Hair has also been gloriously simplified in that fashion. You'll also notice that there are now two "type" categories: human and anime. Because of the buying system, it will be possible not only to buy clothing for these categories, but also to buy more "types" as they become available. It's going to open up alot of opportunity for individuality and style.

That being said, the older items that you loved will make a return appearance. In fact, you may even see some items that got lost from the first CAV system finally resurface. (This is actually the third CAV redo, for those keeping track)

The past few months I've gained alot of experience on creating CAV pieces and learning the new CAV layout and the Shop Item entry system. It's been an eye-opener for sure. This is where I want to open up the floor for ideas: what would you like to see that is new or different in the CAV system? I've already created new items that will hit the stores eventually, but I welcome more ideas. Pictures would be incredibly helpful to me, so if you have them, share. While I can't guarantee an idea will make it into the CAV system, it may inspire something similar. What would be cool for the future?

I've got some strong opinions on the micro-transactions (particularly how to make them successful) and our place concerning them... I may write up a bit of a rant on that later.  For now, let's just wait and see where this goes... glad to see they're going forward with it. :)

AW 5.2 Released Today

Hey everyone!  Activeworlds 5.2 was released today and comes with a few new, very noticable features.

The toolbars now exist as a HUD on the display. 

• Several toolbars are now transparent and have moved to new locations in the browser.
• Global chat has been integrated to the browser!  Each world has 5 channels.  Most public worlds currently have local and global enabled.
• Gaming commands are now a preset as specified in Options > Configure Controls
• CAV updates; existing cavs have been wiped and will need to be remade.
• Bots will not need to be recompiled but their aw.dll files should be brought up to the latest SDK build.
• View a full list of changes on the ActiveWiki

Overall I'm pretty content with many of the changes made... and there are, of course, bugs to be worked out on patch day.  As usual, though, my biggest complaint is that they haven't gone quite far enough.  Perhaps the most embarrassing example of this is the half-implementation of the browser HUDs. Though the toolbars are installed (as you can see in the screencap), the chat, tabs, and web windows are still in their familiar blocky formats.  I wouldn't disgrace your vision with a screenshot of those up together... it reminds me of a poorly formatted, 90's website.

It can't be helped, I guess.  As a bit of an aside, 5.2 has been completed by Chrispeg for about 6-7 weeks, and he's already begun work on 5.3.  Word of getting some more of these transparencies up is spreading.  An Ogre AW Viewer was also mentioned in a town hall meeting a few weeks ago... we'll see about that. :)  That would certainly be an exciting time, as I think Renderware has about had it.

Anyway, more later.  I've got finals stuff to be working on.

Masen Keep Commons - Photo Blog

Hey everyone... just stopping by to offer some interior shots of the recent updates at Fort Masen.  If you didn't catch the blog from a few days ago, there's some new content there... including quests and new digsites.

Christmas Millionaire - Photo Blog

Noticeboard: GZModels Holiday Sale

From the AW Forums:

GZModels is pleased to announce its Holiday Sale. Starting Nov 26th through 11:59 pm January 2nd, 2012, all models in GZModels world will be 25% off. While you are there don't forget to check out out latest arrival, Hibiscus Bushes. These gorgeous plants have just arrived from the tropical regions of VR to grace your world with beauty and color. Fifteen varieties to choose from in a wide range of colors. GZModels! Where the magic of modeling come to life. We believe it's the little details that breathe life into a world. ;o)

Teleport: GZModels World

SW City Interactive November Updates

Hey everyone!  I've been hard at work on SW City Interactive this week, and I have some updates I'd like to share.

November Changelog
QUESTS: (4)
'Coaxing Spirits'

• Descritpion: A large Hotep idol is blocking your path to progress deeper into the Keep, and you have been tasked to find out what happened.
• Prereq: Completed 'Opening the Gate'
• Find the spirit within the Masen Keep Commons to begin!

'Unearthing Statuettes'
'Unearthing the Bronze Statue'
'Unearthing Cannons'

• Description: An unlikely friend within the Historical Society is working with the Hyokos to protect their culture, while simultaneously recovering Imperial artifacts to appease the society's patrons.
• Prereq: Completed 'Opening the Gate'
• These 3 quests are repeatable
• Speak with the Gray in the Fort Masen Historical Society to begin!

DIGSITES: (2)
Masen Keep Commons

    * Just beyond the foreboding doors of Masen Keep lies the Commons, an open space that was once used for trade and commerce.  After the siege, the space was converted into a hall of reverence and worship... focused on a massive idol that was placed in front of an old passageway.  Many artifacts and personal items of the inhabitants still remain.

• 20 digging nodes
• Two collectible sets, and a handful of other valuable items
• ~20 new items to collect and trade with other players!

Masen Keep Cannons

• The interior cannons were once Fort Masen's last line of defense, which ultimately proved futile during the Siege.  The damaged remains were left as a testament to the Imperial Army's might, and have been long forgotten on the ledges and rafters that loom over the Commons.
•  6 digging nodes -- each node takes a large amount of time credits and stamina
• One collectible set

BUGFIXES:

    * Players who completed 'Opening the Gate' before November will need to speak with the Gatekeeper at his location in the Commons.  Their version of the digging permit was bugged and he will swap them.
    * A profile icon is available in the digsite -- it was previously in the digging loot table, but that proved to be problematic so it is now a stand-alone, hidden item in the area.
    * Several new NPCs were missing an NPC image, and this has been corrected since they went live.
    * (Thanks to Comit for helping with many of the bugs, some of which weren't so much bugs as they were me being dum )

There's not really a ton left to do in order to get this done... so I may work on this again over Christmas.  Until then, this should be plenty to occupy anyone who happens to come across it.

More on Fort Masen: http://www.swcity.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=SWC.FortMasen

Event - Airship Tours to Visit Off World

TenYearsGone's Airship Tours continue this weekend, visiting Off World in Alphaworld.  Off World moved to Pata world and also America world some time in 2007 so I'm not sure if the tour will continue there or not, but the Alphaworld site should offer plenty to see!

Here's the tour announcement from the AWForums:

This week, Airship Tours is going to Off World. You will want to have your sounds on for this one, because this build is a feast for your ears as well as your eyes. Motion is everywhere, from traffic in the street to aircraft in the sky. The futuristic theme is consistant throughout, reminding me a bit of Blade Runner. I am particularly fond of one build , clearly inspired by Buckmister Fuller ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller ). The work with primatives is incredible.

The tour will take place Saturday November 12th, at 8pm, VRT.

Gather at http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-...4.00E_0.1a_180

Off World has a rich background lore and if you're planning on attending, I would encourage you to visit their storyline blog and immerse yourself in their universe.  The blog offers a fictional background on many of the builds that you will visit, and this knowledge will certainly enhance the quality of your visit!

Related Links

• Off World in Active Worlds - Story Blog
• ActiveWiki - Off World
• Teleport - Off World in Alphaworld

Noticeboard: Pelican3D Citizenship Promotion

Pelican3D is making a generous offer for AW users that are actively recruiting new citizens...

For ANYONE who recruits 3 NEW people to become cttizens between Dec. 1st 2011 and Mar 1st 2012, they will receive a $100.00 gift certificate to pelican3d models (standard terms of agreement apply). No deceptions allowed. Citizenship must be from a tourist who hasnt been a citizen before. Citizenships will be authenticated thru AWI.

The offer certainly sounds generous, as $100 can get you quite a few nice objects and even some very complete sets!

As an aside, these are the sorts of promotions that AWI would stand to benefit from if they took the initiative to reach out to their supporters.  AW benefits from the citizenship referrals, Pelican benefits from good publicity and increased exposure, and the people actively participating in a market in AW increases. What's not to like?

From my Teleports List: Seiya's Orchard Home

BuildCity - Verdant Valley - Seiya's Orchard Home (Plot #24)

Builder: Seiya

Teleport: BuildCity 6.212n 28.272e 0.3a 0

Jump Point: ^jump Seiya's Home

While I was performing maintenance on BuildCity last week, one of my goals was to memorialize Seiya's work in the world.  Following her passing, many of her builds were visited and highlighted by the community, and I expect this one may not have gotten much attention due to its location.

Seiya was among the first set of builders in BuildCity's first (and only) competitive session during the Virtual Game Festival 2010.  BuildCity challengers players to create a build within a themed community, and the builder is assigned specific tasks to guide the themes and motifs of the build, or otherwise add to the challenge of creating the build.  Seiya picked an especially challenging plot, where the task given was to build a two-story home within an orchard... in 3 hours.

When I was generating tasks for the plots in Verdant Valley, I expected this plot to be filled by a simple wood home and some terrible sprite trees.  Seiya took that thought and turned it on its head, and then crafted a building under it.  In something of a poetic gesture, Seiya wasn't satisfied with the house and the orchard being two separate components.  Why couldn't the orchard BE the house?

And so it was -- in three hours, a metallic outcropping appeared on the site, covered by the canopy of many small trees on the roof.  The build is then bisected near its midpoint, and a secondary hill offers some geometric contrast at an angle.  Seiya's design is brilliant not simply in its quick conception, but as well as its execution, and to me the exhibition of this particular piece is not the piece itself, but rather the designer.  Seiya's sharp "design wit" in the face of challenge, combined with the masterful crafting of geometry, worked with an intense ethic in a small window of time to produce an intriguing concept and execute it with extreme clarity.

A metallic outcropping terminates the hill.

The Orchard Home is a good example of the intrigue of her work -- her ideas, that they were executed in her builds and that you could clearly see what she was going for in the builds themselves.  Take some time to sample more of her work, and you'll notice this trend.  Her ideas, concepts, motivations, and even humor can be found in the carefully sculpted geometries that she made, and they take on a different identity because of that.  They are expressive of Seiya's personality, and since the time of her passing this is all the more apparent in her work.  We may never share another conversation, but in the Orchard Home, I can see her ideas.  Her brilliance.

A back staircase offers access to the orchard above.

In that sense, perhaps 'memorialize' was not quite the correct term earlier, because even though Seiya may be gone... what she left behind is more characteristic of who she was than any monument or obituary could hope to be. And so it is, I've decided to write this today instead of making a marker in BuildCity, and whenever I visit the Orchard Home, I will be able to enjoy the beautiful expression that my friend left behind.

So What Happened to the Cy Awards?

The Cy Awards are under new management this year, and some promotional material came out in September, but since then I don't think there's been a public peep about the ceremony.  The awards were set for this Fall, which is all well and good, but we're starting to run out of Fall.  Soon after, we'll run out of 2011.

Anyone know anything new? :)

Gaming - BuildCity Updates

Hey everyone, if you've followed me for a while you'll know that I manage the BuildCity Gaming World in AW.  I've been meaning to get things in order there for a while (meaning that they'll mostly manage themselves) so I took some time this weekend to do some maintenance.  Here's what's new:

• Off-season play rules are still in-effect.
• Abandoned/Incomplete plots have been maintenance and are available to new builders.
• Tourist building has been disabled.
• The global bot is ONLINE 24/7... this grants access to global chat and jump points for ease of reference. It will also save your last in-world location so you don't start in the tutorial when you enter the world.
• Players can earn Airpark Achievements for completing certain tasks, such as completing their first build or earning a certain amount of credits. Check the signs in-world for more info on that.

I am still maintaining the world so telegram me if you want to play, but expect a 1-3 day turnaround time as I'm not active daily anymore. Alternatively, you may reply to this thread and receive a quicker response as I am active daily on the forums.

Halloween Millionaire - Photo Blog

A crowd assembling before the event begins.  The studio was dark and reserved before the show, and users were arriving at least a half an hour before the event began.

The studio flares to life in an animated introduction sequence as the show begins, filled with lights and sounds.  The game then randomly selects a player from the audience, and the fun begins.

A colorful board describes the player's progress with animations and effects.  The lower buttons describe current earnings, and the 3 buttons at the top describe lifelines -- the red x describes a lifeline that has already been used.

A look back towards the ~20 user crowd.  According to GSK, this weekend was one of the most successful turnouts for the Millionaire event.  Several users from a Millionaire fan forum were present as well.

The color differences in the studio reflected the mood and actions of the game's progress.  Colors change in response to questions and actions by the player.

A shot at the main screen as a question is being asked.  The question is asked in chat, as well as on the main screen.  Players can choose to answer the question, use a lifeline for help, or walk away with their current earnings.

The millionaire studio inbetween games.  The purple and yellow colors reflect the Halloween theme for this weekend.

A look at one of the contestants.  Contestants play from the center stage as GSK operates the game from the hidden control room.

Noticeboard: Millionaire in 30 minutes @ Airpark

Millionaire event will be starting in 30 minutes at Airpark in ActiveWorlds for any interested.  They're usually a good bit of fun.

Users already showing up for the event, 30 mins prior

GSK has gotten a new HUD set up in the world and people are already showing up.  Looks like it will be a nice event, and its certainly nice to see things going on!  Come on in for fun and prizes!

AIRPARK: http://network.airpark3d.com/
TELEPORT: http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?airpark

I've Been a Bad User

Hey, I don't recognize that world?

That must have taken *ages* to align correctly...

I never want to say AW is in dire straits, but, well, it's been pretty quiet lately.  We've had a hard year in AW -- Tom left and two of our prominent citizens have passed away -- and I think its taken its toll on people.  Even stalwart users have been showing up less often, and I personally have begun looking to expand my horizons...

Here's hoping AW 5.3 will have some strong offerings.  I don't know about you guys, but I look at my long past with AW and when I see all the content and effort I've put into a reputation, it's a bit disheartening.  As I become a better programmer I imagine I'll have more open doors, but I do still enjoy building and the screencaps above are some of my first forays into building within Second Life.  If you've ever used Google SketchUp, I find the building operations and manipulations to be very similar, with the exception that the surfaces and lines are replaced by primitive, solid objects.  The building system there was very intuitive to me as I've used 3D modelers before, and I was building in under an hour.

If you've spent time here developing skills, I think you'll find that many of them can easily translate into projects beyond AW.  Perhaps not the building interface itself, but certainly the design sense you pick up in a community like this, and the intuitive geometric relations that you can recognize while working with modular objects.


Anyway, that's it for now.  I'm probably going to continue laying low, until AW 5.3 comes out.  Later guys.

Too little, too late?

Hey guys, just wanted to drop in to share an update to AW that hasn't been applied to the release notes for whatever reason.

• The Contacts List has been reordered
• Sorted by ONLINE and OFFLINE users
• AFK users are denoted by a yellow check
• After X minutes, users can be automatically toggled AFK by the browser.

I like the yellow checkmarks as they offer some visual consistency to the notifications in the contacts list.  Hopefully someone will get some use out of it... I came in today to check it out and I didn't have very many friends online. :(

Noticeboard: AW User Conducting Survey

Hey everyone!  A fellow AW user -- Absolute Monarch -- is conducting a survey through his university and I'd like to help get the word out.

Quote: "I'm conducting some research on video games and would love it if you could help. You don't need to be a player of games to participate; you can have never played a video game in your life and I would still need your help. All you have to do is click the link below and complete the survey. It will take you 20-30 minutes."

Link: https://anupsych.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0ARwEhz5Pyc0r2Y

Noticeboard: JAM Logo Contest

The JAMs are holding a contest for a new logo, and offering a nice prize (~$20) for the 1st and 2nd place winners.  It sounds like anything is fair game, as long as it is at least 480 pixels wide and features JAM or Just Ask Me in the image.

Entries can be submitted to the JAM blog on the AW Forums.

Good luck!

The 2011 Cy Awards Are Coming...

Noticeboard: New models from Susan 3D

Hey everyone, we don't get too much news about new models available these days, so I like to share it as I come across it.

Susan 3D released an "Antique French Sink, Cabinet, and Mirror Set" this week, available for $8.00 USD.  The modeler's description: "The cabinet features a painted black finish with gilt trim, white porcelain bowl with an elegant gold design, marble top, and gold faucets. The mirror/picture object is a separate model for versatility."

It looks like a fine and elegant piece (specifically the trim on the cabinet itself) and hopefully is agreeable to those of you who purchase objects.

Fixed: AWExpo Login Bug

Hey everyone, the 'AWExpo' page has been removed from the 'What's new in AW?' sidebar feature, because it was causing a login box to appear on each page.  This should fix the problem and free up your viewing.  Just wanted to pop in and let you know! :)

Noticeboard: Airship Tours Update

TenYearsGone's Ship Tours will resume on Saturday, September 3rd at 7pm VRT.

Locations to be visited:

• Old Ground Zero Station
• Teleport: http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_586.44N_479.38E_0.05a_180
• Ground Ten
• Teleport: http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_1441.0N_1441.0E_0.05a_0
• Cyberville
• Forest Heights
• Birdscatter Park

More information can be found on the forums.

Reddit for Virtual Reality

Hey everyone.  Apologies for the infrequent posts... I'm in a bit of a lull as far as Activeworlds goes (it happens).  Anyway, I'm still around on other parts of the net and I've acquired the r/virtualreality space on reddit to foster a commonground between various VR platforms.

For the uninitiated, Reddit is a social content site where users can submit links that other users can vote up and down on, and the highest-ranked content gets more exposure.  Reddit goes beyond other sites of this nature by allowing users to take control of reddits/subreddits (such as r/virtualreality), make their own rules, and manipulate their design.

I've spent the weekend preparing r/virtualreality, and I think its ready for others to join me now.  If you'd like to visit, just go to http://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/.  If you register a Reddit account, you can participate in the conversation by voting, commenting, and submitting.  It'd be really great to have a diverse crowd from many platforms, and I'd love to have some other AW users lurking around!

Commands in the Wild - Color

'Commands in the Wild' is an AWBuilder Tutorial series that features common usages of building commands.  This series assumes the builder is familiar with basic building and offers specific usages and techniques related to specific commands.

Quick Links:
ActiveWiki - Object Scripting
ActiveWiki - Color

----------

Use color to make seamless curves in low-lighting conditions

Example 1: Curved Surfaces
Location: Obsidian Drive-In Theater in Alphaworld
Anyone who has ever built in Activeworlds is aware of the struggle between textures when they are occupying the same space.  This is called zbuffer, and there are several ways to deal with it when doing precision building.  When building curved surfaces, object collision is often unavoidable without considerable effort.  One of the ways to overcome the visual mess of z-buffering is to not texture the surface, but to instead color it.

With no direct light applied by nearby objects in a scene, colliding objects with the color command applied will not appear to be zbuffering.  As a technical note... they still are, but the pure color is similar enough for the collision to not be a visual issue.  This is why objects designed in this way should not be near light sources, because they will effect the colors brightness and induce enough difference for the zbuffering effect to be noticable.

Use color to easily create painted lines on surfaces by sinking the object

Example 2: Painted Lines
Location: Obsidian Cove Athletic Park in Alphaworld
Perhaps the most common usage of the color command is to represent painted lines that commonly appear outdoors on roads and grass.  Color is ideal in this situation, because it is clean and the objects it is applied to are often thin and can be sunk into other objects to create a unique condition. 

In the case of creating roads, better-quality roads are often created by using rectangular objects as 'road paint', which are then sunk into flat surfaces and repeated over the distance of the road.  This solution is also versatile, because the builder can simply manipulate the road paint to change which sort of intersection or exchange they would like to create.

Use color to provide additional details in the scene

Example 3: Expanding upon existing objects
Location: Southern Highlands in Alphaworld
A very helpful usage of the color command is to add component pieces to existing objects for the purpose of making that particular instance the object unique.  In the screenshot, the t_awhedge01.rwx object has been made unique by the addition of numerous red berries.

Other common examples of this are to add colored buttons to rectangular panels, colored decal to vehicles, and colored windows to building frames.