AlphaMapper Progress Continues

Hey everyone!  I'm still on break through the end of this week, but I'd like to share a couple of things so it's not totally dead around here...

AlphaMapper Progress Continues


Byte has returned to work on the AlphaMapper and it's gettin ever-closer to being able to produce maps.  I understand the long wait-time may be frustrating to some Alphaworld builders, but I've been keeping up with Byte through the whole process and I can vouch that he's really taking the long, arduous road -- making all of the components himself -- so that when the product is finally done, the new AlphaMapper can be much more versatile than a simple mapper.  I think a lot of his recent promo videos and screenshots can attest to that.  One such video is below, where we see that he's got avatars and masks up and running.



Byte keeps a blog about AlphaMapper progress, which you can find in our 'What's new in AW?' sidebar links.  If anything new hits, you'll be sure to find it there!

Town Hall Meeting


This week's Town Hall Meeting will be today in AWSchool (Click to Teleport) at 6pm VRT.  From the looks of things there are a lot of big ideas floating around that need some dedicated volunteers.  If you've got the time and are up to it, feel free to step out and lend a hand.  :)


Annnnd that's it for me.  I'll try to get a new poll up this week, but I'm heading into finals so there's no guarantee.  Later!

Happy April Fools Day!

Hey everyone, happy April Fools!  Hopefully you haven't been trolled too hard... it seems that Activeworlds has managed to dodge a bullet as far as that's concerned!  Well, unless you could the AlphaMopper. :)

I came across an interesting post today while combing through some Second Life blogs about someone who visited AW very briefly, but was immediately turned off by the camera controls and never made it out of AWGate because of that.  If you use any other 3D programs besides Activeworlds you have probably noted the frustration of AW's camera control system, as compared with 3d modeling programs, games, or even other virtual worlds like Second Life.

Anyway, you can read that post here.  I'm interested in doing a write-up on this soon, but I don't have the time for it tonight.  In it's stead, I'll leave you all with a question: What do you think about AW's camera controls?

Weekend - Events for the Weekend of 3/25/11

Hey everyone!  There will be a lot of events in Activeworlds this weekend, so I'd like to throw up some links for you guys to keep track of everything!  I think I'll start doing this on busy weekends to help 'direct traffic' in regards to events. :)

Note:  If you're looking for events or looking to advertise your event, I recommend that you register with AWPortals, because you will have access to view and create events on the AWPortals Events Calendar and you will also receive a weekend newsletter.

Events for the Weekend of 3/25/11
Events are listed by order of occurrence. VRT time is GMT (-2)
Please leave a comment if you know of events that have not been posted, and I will add them!

• Ongoing
• Extreme Builder Talent Show 4
• Ongoing until April 5
• Participants can win v4 rights for public worlds in this contest!

• Friday, March 25, 2011
• Futuristic Creations Building Contest ENDS
• Prizes: Citizenship Extensions
• 1:00 a.m. VRT - Contest ends!!
• AWTeen 29.024s 3243.996w 1.3a 84
• Millionaire - Season 3 Premiere
• 7:00 p.m. VRT - 9:00 p.m. VRT
• Flagg03 World - ^jump wwtbam
• AWForums: Link

• Saturday, March 26, 2011
• AlphaMapper Facebook/Twitter Contest
• Prizes: 1-month citizenship
• Sometime after 12:01 VRT
• Facebook: Link
• Twitter: Link
• AWBingo7
• Prizes: 1-month citizenship, p-10 worlds, +1 bot limit increases
• 4:30 p.m. VRT - (Sunday) 2:00 a.m. VRT
• AWBingo7 World
• AWSchool Spring Fashion Show
• Designs by Mace and Ridley
• 10:00 p.m. VRT - (Sunday) 3:00 a.m. VRT
• AWSchool 71N 140W 1.0a 0

• Sunday, March 27, 2011
• Active Worlds Town Hall Meeting
• 6:00 p.m. VRT - 8:00 p.m. VRT
• Location TBA
• CitBing0
• Prizes: Citizenships, Cit extensions, and donated objects
• 8:00 p.m. VRT - 11:55 p.m. VRT
• CitBing0 World
• Website: Link

Noticeboard: AlphaMapper Facebook Contest!

Clear out your schedule for this upcoming Saturday, because you'll need the free time for a new contest coming to the AlphaMapper Facebook Page!

Sometime after 12:01 VRT on Saturday, an image will be posted on that Facebook page.  The image will be a screen capture from AlphaMapper itself... and once it is up, the game is on!  It will be up to fans of the page to scramble to find exactly what part of Alphaworld that the image came from!  If you're unfamiliar with AlphaMapper, it is a great utility that you can use to see 'satellite images' of Alphaworld.  The utility allows you to find coordinates in the world and save a web link that you can use to visit the location again on the map!  These web links will be used in the contest -- when you find the correct coordinates, just navigate to the top of AlphaMapper and click 'Link to Location.'  A link will appear, and you can submit that link to win the contest!

The winner of this contest will recieve a one month citizenship.

You have to be a fan of the AlphaMapper Facebook Page to participate in the contest, so get to it!  Byte keeps the page updated often, and he's made some really exciting progress towards the next update of the AlphaMapper!  So as I said, get to it, and good luck everyone! :)

UPDATE: You no longer have to be a fan of the Facebook page to participate, and Byte has added Twitter to the mix as well!  This forum thread has all of the details -- submission will be handled by e-mail now, and the content will only be posted to the Facebook or Twitter pages.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/AlphaMapper/159877450713342
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlphaMapper