The Person Who Doesn't Finish

That'd be me. ;)  A shame too... plenty of excellent, excellent builds in the EBTS this year, though, and good luck to all fellow builders!

I've actually stepped away from AW for the past few days and expect that I'll have a diminished presence for at least the next week.  I've got an important test coming up soon and as many of you know, I'm also gettin' hitched next month.  Lots of planning involved with that, and between the two I'm pretty busy in RL.

I should be back later in the week for a blog, and I'll throw up some 'noticeboard' news updates when I've got a free moment.

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?

Submissions for April Newsletter

So long as I'm blogging, I may as well contribute my articles to our monthly newsletter!  I'd like to try to submit two each month for as long as I'm keeping AWBuilder up and running -- one commentary and one tutorial.  Right now, I'm leaning towards "From an era gone by..." as the commentary and "Tutorial - Navigating the ActiveWiki" as the tutorial.  I think those are both pretty solid articles and would be good for the context of the newsletter.

If you guys have any suggestions or other articles you'd like to see go up, let me know!  Otherwise, it'll probably be these two. :)

From my Teleports List: AirSpeed

Alphaworld - SW City - AirSpeed

Builder: SW Chris

Teleport: AW 2417.74S 3444.94E 22.70a 263

Jump Point: ^jump AirSpeed

How to Play: http://www.swcity.net/users/chris/airspeed/index.html

AirSpeed debuted during AWReunion 2010 last year to tremendous reception and has since... well, what exactly happened to it, anyway? Nobody talks about it anymore.  The same goes for the GameFest games... even the hit Weir City from the GameFest doesn't garner much traffic, and it won a Cy Award!

I'm not sure what it is about games in Activeworlds that causes them to meet relative obscurity, but I'd like to do my part here to at least tell you all about AirSpeed!  AirSpeed is a wonderful presentation that uses v4 objects to maximum effect, lifting the player off their feet and into a high-flying obstacle course!  Players sail through the sky dodging objects and collecting bonuses that can remove obstacles further ahead.  The game has been masterfully divided into three 'stages' that become increasingly more difficult. Because of the game's design, the backdrop can provide as much of a challenge to deal with as the obstacles directly in front of you -- I want to catch all of the action!! :)

Anyway, upon completing AirSpeed SW City Interactive players can receive a small reward for their troubles.  The game is a fun distraction and certainly worth sharing with others.  Give it a try!

Saturday Night Project

I did a bit of idle building tonight, and I'm working on a project now that I'd like to share my progress on.  I don't think that I can actually say too much about it yet, but I can show you what I've built. :)

For this project, I wanted to set up two buildings that oppose each other across a street.  My conceptual goal is to use the structural frame of the building to imply that the buildings are actually two halves of a whole, and that they've been pulled apart.

"The Right Building"

"The Left Building"

I don't think you can see the beginnings of that concept so well in this picture, but it's there.  There's also some work I'd like to do with the ground, but this is where I'm at for tonight.

The whole shebang

This is the overview shot from above.  I think the far walls do a better job conceptually than the forward walls, but I wanted to get a draft done for the project tonight because I'm not sure that I'd have time to continue working on it with everything else that I'm doing these days.

Anyway, I just wanted to share. :)  Catch you all later!

'Facebook Questions' Released

Facebook Questions was released today as a new update option on Facebook profiles.  Similar to status updates or link sharing, users with 'Questions' enabled can quickly select the option and begin creating a poll that other users can respond or even contribute to.  Questions hasn't been enabled for all-users yet, and as of this writing is an opt-in program that you can join by visiting facebook.com/questions.

A couple of our Activeworlds related Facebook Pages have wasted no time in getting set up for this new feature.  Check them out!



Official Activeworlds Page

How did you find out about events in Activeworlds?

SW City Page

Who would win in a fight?

I'm sure there's a lot more to come, but so far it seems like a good start.  The questions themselves aren't any more intrusive to your wall than other updates that people make, so hopefully it won't cause too much of a stir.  The @tagging that you can make in status updates can also be made in poll options, which is a really cool feature and I can see some uses for getting the word out that way.  Feel free to visit the links above and give it a try!

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

Tutorial - Navigating the ActiveWiki

Over at the ActiveWiki we get a lot of questions from folks who aren't used to wiki software, and consequently have difficulties both navigating and editing the Wiki.  I've offered to teach a class on the subject before and have even taught individuals directly.  As a followup to that, I feel that a quick tutorial may help ease a lot of the confusion in getting around.

Vintage Logo

Before I begin with the details, you should think of the wiki as an outline.  The navigation throughout the entire wiki is formatted as an outline, where important or general topics link to sub-topics that are elaborated on.  You won't find pages on the ActiveWiki that are titled "How to Build," but you will find very detailed lists of the building commands and very intricate examples of how each one works.  The key to successfully navigating the ActiveWiki -- or any wiki, really -- is to know what you're looking for, and then to pursue that as a topic.

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

KnowledgeLand - My First Experience in Virtual Reality

While growing up I had the great fortune to be given the (now classic) JumpStart game series.  The games occupied a good deal of my time when I was younger... I think I played them out of order but I really enjoyed them.  Anyway, through this series I was introduced to KnowledgeLand -- an early online game that incorporated many of the JumpStart properties into a virtual world where you could interact with other players and collect trading cards to upgrade your 'character' -- or avatar.  Here's an image of the back of the cover:

Windows 95!?  Get lost, we don't serve your kind here.

Quite the throwback, isn't it!?  To my great dismay, I lost the KnowledgeLand disc when my family moved when I was 10 and I never recovered it.  A few years after I had discovered Active Worlds a few people I spoke with remembered the program, and I wanted to find it again.  A quick google search reveals that details about KnowledgeLand on the internet are pretty scarce -- as of this writing, it doesn't even have a Wikipedia article!

Frustrated, I gave up the search until very recently, when I found a lone YouTube video from another nostalgic user who -- by chance -- still had a copy of the game.  I've included it below:  it's a 10-minute long demo of some of the game's basic functions.  Mostly character creation, dealing with the trading cards, and some areas that I have very vivid memories of.

As far as I can tell, KnowledgeLand was released in 1996 and I was playing it when I was still in elementary school... which is about at that same time.  You may also note that this is contemporary with the early years of Active Worlds.  KnowledgeLand was quite different from Active Worlds -- or perhaps AlphaWorld if we're going back in time far enough.  There was no built environment, and the game is quite obviously marketed towards children, though I'm sure there was a fair mix of interested adults as well.

Though I was still a very young child, this was my first experience into the virtual world and I'm sure some of you may have had similar experiences in other such worlds.  As far as I can tell, the internet was wide open for these sorts of developments in the late 90's -- there's quite a comprehensive list in the book Avatars!, by Bruce Damer, which features Active Worlds and Alphaworld.  Some names that I recognize include WorldsChat and The Palace.

So I'll leave you all with a question: what was your first experience into virtual worlds, or maybe just online game environments in general?  Was it Active Worlds, or another virtual reality environment?  Was it an MMORPG?  Let me know by leaving a comment! :)

Noticeboard: AWTours Meeting TODAY at 6pm VRT

Hey everyone!  Bach Zhaa will be hosting a meeting to get volunteers together for a new effort in AWTours world today @ 6pm VRT.

Alternatively, if you cannot make this meeting, you can post your opinions in this forum thread.  I myself cannot make the meeting, so that's what I will be doing. :)  I'll probably CC those thoughts over here as well later tonight, that will all depend on how much free time I have before my next class.

Later!

From an era gone by...

Rest Area - AWTeen 2557.556s 1160.247e 0.4a 269

As a caretaker in AWTeen world, I spent a good chunk of my time in 2006 designing and holding events to keep the world population entertained.  It was fun work and with a steady -- though small -- stream of new users coming into the world it was usually satisfying as well.  One handy device I quickly learned of after taking the helm with events was that older builds can be great fun to explore, and ended up making that my focus for a while.

At about the same time, pcnate of historicbridges.org was still active in AWTeen world.  In AWTeen, pcnate is infamous for his AWTeen Interway -- a massive undertaking that criss-crossed AWTeen with very well designed roadways.  The network focuses around controlled-access freeways that exit onto smaller roads as they approach points of interest.  The Interway was invaluable for builders during the cities boom in the mid-2000's, as it was a literal networking of our cities.  Back then, you hadn't really 'made it' until a roadway connected your town to the rest of the world.

Noticeboard: AWPromotions

Hey everyone!  Got busy towards the end of the week so I've not been posting, but I'd like to share an excellent new site by Urbane Chaos.  AWPromotions is a wiki-styled website that comprehensively displays sights to see in our Universe.  The front page offers an explanation of what the Active Worlds software is, and then -- in a clear style -- the sidebar offers a tour through our universe from the comfort of the 2D browser.

There are also some informative pages that will certainly be helpful for new users and should be distributed.

For anyone with some spare time and interest in learning about our virtual space, this would be a great place to direct them!  I encourage everyone else to check it out as well. :)

Tuesday Updates in Arklay

Hey guys, I've done some more building in Arklay world and I'll be posting photos up here each day that I make progress.  We're working in Arklay world to build up a map to test Droog's upcoming paintball bot.  In addition to this, Droog is working on the paintball bot tonight and I'm eager to hear of his progress. 

Remember, Droog is interested in feedback and ideas from the community.  You can reply to his request in this thread.

World Overview, facing southeast.

The empty interior of a warehouse in the southern part of the world.

A yard of shipping crates in the northern part of the world.

Along with these locations I've built, I've also worked some secret paths through the surrounding cliffs and across the rooftops.  Ideally, I would like players to have access to many areas of the world and use their environment to their advantage.   Hopefully I'll have some more done tomorrow!

Noticeboard: Pelican3D Sales to Support Japan Recovery

Link: http://forums.activeworlds.com/showthread.php?t=15052



Yesterday Pelican of Pelican3d.com announced that through April 1, 100% of model sales will be going to support the tragedy in Japan.  Donations will be sent through the Japanese Red Cross Society.  He also noted that you could donate directly by telephone at 1-800-733-2767 or you can text REDCROSS to 90999 for a $10 donation.

I'm sure by now that we've all seen video of the earthquake, tsunami, and now a potential nuclear crisis.  The human toll in this is enormous, and it's extremely encouraging to see people stepping up to organize and assist in the recovery.  Please help where you can, because even a few dollars adds up to quite a lot if everyone pitches in. :)

Building - Basic Terrain Manipulation

For private world owners, manipulating the terrain is very simple and can go a long way to adding character to virtual landscapes and scenes.  Terrain editing used to be a caretaker-only right, but as of Active Worlds 4.2 Build 1015 can be given to users through the World Rights list. Public worlds also have limited terrain editing abilities, and rely on bots such as Demeter to allow builders to manipulate terrain on their property.

This tutorial explains simple terrain editing for users who can edit terrain directly.  Terrain in Active Worlds is manipulated at the intersection of coordinate grids.  You can view the coordinate grid by pressing F10 in Active Worlds.  This is the easiest visual way to distinguish between different areas terrain, especially if they have the same terrain texture or are on the same elevation.

A Scene from AWGate...

This is what I like to see!!!

If you follow the blog here regularly, you have probably read my rant regarding the lack of use of some of the more obvious visual cues, such as this GateKeepers help desk.  After dropping into AWGate today, I just had to take a picture of this, because this is exactly what I like to see.  Not only is someone hanging out by the desk... but someone sitting there, legs crossed, just waiting to help a new user. The R2-D2 is a nice touch too. ;)

Nice, guys.  Keep it up! :P

(Also, I'll be posting some more ideas tonight about AWGate after a productive conversation last night at the AW Town Hall Meeting.)

Progress in Arklay World

Hey everyone! Thanks on all of the comments for the new utility! I'll update it again tonight with your feedback. :)

Droog began in-world testing for his new paintball bot in Arklay World last night. If you'll recall from the forums, Droog posted a thread about creating a new bot and people were overwhelmingly interested in Paintball. After some discussion I saved the current world -- the Besieged Map -- as a propdump and wiped the world clean, and now I'm in the process of building a desert-themed map suited to paintball. The map is based in a gorge, and will have two bases -- one on some cliffs and one on the opposing side in some caves. In between this will be a valley that features some rundown industrial buildings. I used to build paintball maps in AWTeen and the work for the Beseiged Map gave me a lot of ideas for building insular areas.

Building - Object Properties Box Tutorial

Hey everyone! Below is a flash tutorial I made this weekend for users interested in learning more about the object properties tutorial box. I might add more to it later, but for now... I like where it's at.

Give it a try and let me know what you think! All you have to do to use it is hover over the different parts of the box, and it'll highlight it and tell you how it all works! :)

Spring Break is here!

Hey everyone, and welcome to Anthony's Spring Break 2011! ;)

I don't really have any personal plans for this upcoming week, so I guess that means that we'll be seeing a more active period here on the blog.  There are a few goals here and in the universe as well that I'd like to accomplish, and I'll list them off here:

• Arklay World:  I'm working on a game project in Arklay world, and although the game part of it may be a while yet coming, I'd like to finish the world environment for visitors.  I'll post updates of my progress as I complete it, because the world makes for a really great game map!
• Instructional Videos: I've been talking about these for a couple of weeks now, and I would have plenty of time to get this started.  I'm not quite sure how I'll get this started yet because the AW video tool only captures the 3d screen, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. :)
• Toolbar: I'd like to set up widget along the top of this blog that links directly to helpful or interesting articles I've written here.  The only reason I haven't done this yet is because I don't feel like I've written enough content to justify it yet.
• The Black Sun: I've got some prime real estate in EBTS4 world that I'd like to work on sometime soon.  The Black Sun is a virtual bar/club that is a setting in Snow Crash, and I'd like to bring a true representation of it into the virtual space.  The Black Sun as described in Snow Crash isn't very visually interesting, so I'm going to focus on very visual scenes and interactions with the user to make the build engaging and interesting.  It's an awkward project, and hopefully I can get it done. :D

That's whats up at my end.  I'll post again tomorrow, probably continuing in my line of thought regarding architecture.  If you ever want me to discuss a specific topic, feel free to leave a comment on a post or on the chat box in our side bar.

Later!