Activeworlds 16th Birthday - Community Photograph Part 2

Happy Saturday everyone!  Activeworlds turns 16 on June 28, and we've opened up a week full of festivities with an annual event... the community photograph!  Over 115 users were in AWGate Saturday for the photo.  I was able to take a ton of screenshots before and after the arrival time, and I'm just gonna dump them all into a few posts.  Each post will only contain 10 shots so the loading time for the page isn't miserable.

Activeworlds 16 Birthday Photograph (Part 2)

These photos were taken before the stated arrival time and before I disabled usernames.  Some avatars may not have loaded in some photos because I had the settings reduced when I first arrived.  Click on each image to zoom-in to a wide format (1600 px) image.

Activeworlds 16th Birthday - Community Photograph Part 1

Happy Saturday everyone!  Activeworlds turns 16 on June 28, and we've opened up a week full of festivities with an annual event... the community photograph!  Over 115 users were in AWGate Saturday for the photo.  I was able to take a ton of screenshots before and after the arrival time, and I'm just gonna dump them all into a few posts.  Each post will only contain 10 shots so the loading time for the page isn't miserable.

Activeworlds 16 Birthday Photograph (Part 1)

These photos were taken before the stated arrival time and before I disabled usernames.  Some avatars may not have loaded in some photos because I had the settings reduced when I first arrived.  Click on each image to zoom-in to a wide format (1600 px) image.

Activeworlds 16th Birthday Week Schedule

Hey everyone!  Bach Zhaa has posted the schedule of events for AW's 16th birthday next week, and I'm reposting it here to help get the word out.

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 Activeworlds 16 Birthday

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!

• Saturday, June 25, 2011
• Community Photograph
• AWGate World
• 6:00 p.m. VRT (Party Begins)
• Simply show up and follow the crowd to be part of the AW Community photograph!
• Forum Thread
• Facebook Event 
• Teleport to AWGate

• Sunday, June 26, 2011
• PKToons Celebrates AW Birthday
• AWMix07 World
  
• Noon Sunday through Monday 
• PKToons Events Announcement
• Teleport to AWMix07

• Tuesday, June 28, 2011
• Festival Under the Winter Stars
• Winter World
  
• Starting Midnight VRT
• "As in the past, We gather at the Picturesque Frozen Mountian Lake under the Aurora Lit Sky, for a Full Day & Night of Activities, Great Virlands RiChMeDiA Music & Endless Dancing."
• Forums Announcement Announcement here in the forums
• Teleport to Winter

• Wednesday, June 29, 2011
• Cypress Hollow Parade
• The Parade will be in AWTeen, in the city of Cypress Hollow
• Float Building Site:  ^jump float building

Happy Birthday to AW, and have a good week!

Question: What social features would you like to see in Activeworlds?

There's a discussion going on in the Wishlist forums about a new 'Do Not Disturb' button which is decidedly anti-social... but never the less the potential improvement afforded an opportunity for further 'status' types of suggestions, so I took it. :)  I personally would like to see the option for various statuses (AFK, DND, BRB, Building, etc.) and an associated icon in the exact same way that 'AFK' currently behaves.

While commenting on the thread, it also came to me that AW is pretty lacking on the social side of things.  What was the last big social improvement... being able to see sent telegrams?  Yeesh.

What do you all think should be added?  We tend to talk a lot about the technical and practical side of things here, without ever getting into personal interaction.  Let me know by commenting on the post below. :)

Thanks!

Noticeboard: AD&DRPG Summer Solstice Event (6/17 - 6/21)

AD&DRPG is running an event through the Summer Solstice that doubles player skill experience gains, and quadruples player spell experience gains!  Skill/Spell gains are a factor in obtaining better equipment in the game, so this is certainly good news for players who are working on skills this weekend!

The Summer Solstice (in the northern hemisphere) is on June 21 this year (at 5:16 pm GMT) though I would expect the event will run through the end of the day. ;)

While we're on the topic of AD&DRPG, I may release another video this weekend of my work in the world.  I haven't had much time to build this week because of summer classes, but I get a few hours of break over the weekend. :P

Happy gaming, everyone!

Noticeboard: AWExpo Dates Set

Despite some rocky beginnings this year, AWExpo 2011 will be occuring and the schedule for participants to get involved and set up has been set.  If you manage an AW organization or would like to show what you as an individual have been creating in Activeworlds, this event is for you!  Content Creators and Organizations both are invited to come and present themselves at the Expo.

Pre-Show Schedule

----

• Booth Registration
• Now until August 12
• Register Now: Click here
• Booth Building
• Now until August 22
• Users can build in-world or import a custom booth.
• Guidelines: http://awexpo.in/2011-building-guidelines/
• Custom content: http://upload.awexpo.in/
• AWExpo
• August 26, 27, 28

More info about the upcoming expo can be found at their homepage, http://awexpo.in/.  If you have any further questions, GSK is the man to contact. Hope to see everyone out at the show in August!  We'll be there, and encourage you to be as well!

AD&DRPG Visual Renovations - Traloria and Traloria Sewers

Hey everyone... my work continues in AD&DRPG world and has focused on the large town of Traloria.  I had started on Traloria as of the last photo blog, but really underestimated how long it would take to work on.  I'm still not quite done there, but I've completed several areas, including the popular sewer dungeon.  Take a look:

This isn't actually Traloria, but an unrelated dungeon.  Mostly untouched, I've made simple changes for lighting and effects.

The main square in Traloria has been completely redone.  A fire-lit path leads past interactive characters and shops.

A market now exists in the main square, where players can purchase items and join the Traloria Army.

A chamber within the Traloria Sewers where the various tunnels flow out.  Look out for that dragon!

A safe-haven within the sewers, where players can heal and purchase special equipment.  There are various helpful characters around as well.

Many familiar areas have received mostly cosmetic changes.  I really wanted to eliminate all paper-thin walls.

Some areas, such as this stream next to the path, exist purely for detailing to make the dungeon more interesting.

Classes Begin Today

Hey everyone.  Summer classes begin today and I suspect they'll eat away at much of my time.  Oh well.  :)

I also have a link to share:  a thread containing the changelog of my progress in AD&DRPG world.  You can review it here.  There are also some suggestions from other users posted there that are worth a view.  If you have any ideas, feel free to let me know!

Recent Updates with AD&DRPG and an upcoming break

Hey everyone.  Married life is going well and I'll be starting summer classes here soon, so I'll be cutting back on the posts.  I have a few more in the pipes... but I've cut down on AW projects as well.  Most of my time the past few weeks has been in AD&DRPG world continuing my efforts at renewing some of the older builds.  The updated visuals have gotten a lot of good feedback and I've seen a positive upturn to the amount of people in the world, including a few new players.  My goal with all of this was to help AD&D continue to be a stable gaming destination for AW users, and as more people are playing (a lot of tourists especially!) I can feel comfortable that my goal has been achieved.

If AD&D isn't your thing, you may want to check out AWMyths world... they've seen an upswing in activity as well and there seems to be a lot of good things coming out of the world.

AD&DRPG Visual Renovations - Photo Blog

I don't really want to go into another in-depth explanation of things while I'm away on honeymoon, so I've decided to post a photoblog of my progress so far. :)  The visual renovations span over several areas, and I'm trying to work in the order which places the player would generally experience.

A redesigned town fountain in the entry town of Meriel.  The benches surrounding the fountain are movers that allow the player to lay down and relax, or perhaps take a nice AFK. ;)

The Magic Users guild.  The area in the middle of the room is an anti-gravity zone that lifts players to the next floor, and the cloths in the doorway are cloth objects.  All avatars in the building have sequences applied.

Some new landscaping in the southern part of Merinel.  The knight in the foreground is actually an enemy NPC spawn-point, and I thought it fitting to position them in what seems like an ambush.

A dense scene in Turkel forest that leads players to an important location nearby.  Since players can't fly, the felled trees make a nice transitional barrier from one area to another.

Gro Lahr mansion.  The mansion is plagued by a dark fog, and surrounded by a dying forest.  There has been extensive work on increasing area of this atmosphere outside the immediate area of the mansion, and the trees from Turkel forest now continue into this area.  A sharp gradient occurs where the trees begin to die off.

Turkel forest has been graced with a new mist, low-gravity zones (for good jumping!) and numerous firefly particles.  The low gravity zone makes jumping from trees very enjoyable!

The new appearance of the entrance to Traloria.  Notice the lowered terrain from the original entry as well as the new procession into the city proper.  A lot of detail work has been done in Traloria, though I'm trying to keep with the original vision of the build as much as possible.

A handy newsboard at the ground zero area.  If you click on the postings, they are elaborated upon via the say command in the user's chat.

Docked in Key West

Hey everyone!  If I've scheduled this post correctly, we should be arriving in Key West right about now and I'll be in range of communications again.  If I have some time I'll see if I can post some images from my phone, as I'll surely be itching to get back in touch with the world after getting off the cruise boat. :P

I've heard there are a lot of chickens in Key West, so I'll be on the lookout as I've been known in my time to be somewhat of a Chicken Chaser...

The plan afterward is to the return to the boat and head on to Nassau.  Hopefully it'll be a good time!

Interactive Building - Nougat Cave Hunt and the Key/Door Example

Last Thursday I spent a couple of hours overnight setting up a very simple (as far as game mechanics go) game in the SW City Airpark Pavilion.  The game, called Nougat Cave Hunt, is a simple seek-and-find where the player is prompted to collect and return 10 items (nougats, a creature of the SW City lore) within 120 seconds.

Pesky little critters them.

The mechanics for keeping count of the items and the time elapsed was done with SW City Interactive, but similar applications can developed in Active Worlds using only action commands.  There are certainly some limitations, but creative design can usually overcome them.


The Simple Hunt

When designing a game in AW, my experience has been that its best to think about the game mechanics first, and then work from there.  This is because there are a lot of things that object scripting leaves to be desired, and sometimes you have to tweak your concept a bit to get everything to line up.  In this example, we'll run with the concept of a hunt for an item, but since AW doesn't really do counting instances very well we will switch things up a bit.

CONCEPT: Player has find a hidden key, and click it to open a barred gate.

This is a simple game concept that has been executed in Activeworlds many times, but it is a good place to start because it gets builders thinking and creative and multiple uses of building commands.  With this in mind, lets introduce our objects.

KEY OBJECT ACTION LINE: activate visible no, solid no, move 0 4 0 time=3 wait=10 smooth name=gate

GATE OBJECT ACTION LINE: create name gate

So now we have our two objects.  See?  Simple.  Basically, what happens here is that the activate trigger applied to the key causes it to disappear from the scene (visible no, solid no) and it also causes the gate to rise 4 meters because the move command has a name parameter that is applied to the gate (name=gate, create name gate).

It isn't difficult to expand on the complexity of this interaction and make it into a challenging mini-game.  For example, you could set more keys and more doors, and require the player to pass through the gates before the wait parameter expires.  You could also set a hard time limit using a timer command.

There are many possibilities for hide-and-seek style gaming with object scripting, and if you'd like to share any examples... feel free to post them in the comment section!

Wedding Day

Hey everyone, today's the big day.  This is the first of several automatic posts I should have fired up for the week, and if I scheduled it right then I should be gettin' hitched sometime around when this gets posted. ;)  Anyway, these posts won't be anything too big, just some new content to keep the site alive while I'm away.

I want to thank everyone for supporting Crystal and I... all of the well-wishes have been wonderful.  There was even a nice forum thread started for it. :)  (Finally something that won't cause a flame-war on the forums, amirite!?)  Check out this cool announcement Sidris made up for us:

Thanks guys. :)

We'll finish out the ceremonies today and then head off on honeymoon for a week, down to Florida and the Bahamas.  Hope everyone has a good week!

Out of time!

No more new content after this post :)  I'm making final preparations for my wedding tomorrow, so I'll be out of here.  I won't be around until next Saturday, but I've gotten a few things together and will try to have blogger set up automatic posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday concerning some of my projects from this week.

See ya everyone!

AWG Download - Basic Ground Zero

Basic Ground Zero (2 AWGs)

• Basic Ground Zero
• A small (2x2 coordinate) park that features pathways in the four cardinal directions
• Pathways are centered on edge of coordinate grid for optimal expansion along the cell grid
• Custom signage that demonstrates the parameters of the sign command.
• Landscaped with trees immediately outside the GZ structure (includes a second AWG with no tree objects)

DOWNLOAD: Click here to download HA_groundzero.zip

SEED OBJECT: Centered on AWG.  The ground zero has no preferred direction!

COORDS: AW 7963.516s 1504.395e 2.0a 270

Just save the .zip file to your Activeworlds > Presets folder and you'll be good to use the AWG in Activeworlds.  Good luck!

AD&DRPG Visual Renovations - Title Screen

Hey everyone!  I've spent the past couple of days in AD&DRPG helping to get the world's half-decade old builds back up-to-date.  If you've never been to visit, AD&DRPG is a fantasy-themed role-playing game that uses Dungeons & Dragons gameplay mechanics for character stats, skills, and progression.  If you're a follower of the blog, you'll remember back in March when we reported that AD&DRPG would be open permanently.  Since they're around to stay, I wanted to contribute some of my time to help address the biggest gripe world visitors have had since it returned: the aging visuals.

In addition to the visuals I've also been addressing some navigation issues by making new NPCs that address players via the say command, but overall the chief concern has been to update areas with zones and particle effects, replace really low-res textures, get sequences to avatar objects... things like that.  Anything to help with interaction and immersion is being addressed, and it is really starting to show.

I would like to share all of my progress here on the blog (since this is a building blog, after all) and I think I'll do so in small snippets, to be released while I'm away next week.  I'll set them to be posted at various intervals through the week, so be checking for new posts!

Today, we'll be looking at the new world title screen.  The title screen appears when players drop into Merinel -- the ground zero town -- and is triggered by a simple bump trigger.  You can view it below.

As you can see from the video, there are a few things going on here.  Perhaps most noticeable is the camera switch -- this isn't native third person mode.  The user is forced into this camera position when they hit the bump trigger, and the camera itself is set to a pole object that moves and rotates back and forward.  In the actual view, you see the AD&DRPG logo, a large dragon, and several buttons.  The dragon is simple, and is stationary except for an appropriate flying sequence that has been set to loop. The two buttons on the left link to webpages, and the button on the right sets the camera location to the user -- effectively terminating the title sequence.

Commands used in the title sequence:

• Camera
• Used to begin and end the title sequence.  The 'location' parameter was first set to a named object (the pole) for the title camera, and then set to the user to terminate the title sequence.
• Move
• Used on the camera pole to give the camera the effect of zooming in and out.
• Rotate
• Used on the camera pole to give the camera the effect of zooming in and out.
• Name
• Used for objects that needed to be changed by bump or activate triggers.  In our case, everything that was meant for the title screen had a name assigned to it because when the player clicked 'PLAY,' all of the title screen objects needed to disappear.  'Activate visible <name> no' achieves this.
• Sequence (Seq)
• A flying sequence was applied to the dragon avatar object so that it would remain animated.
• Scale
• Scale is useful for detail work; in this example the dragon and logo were scaled.
• URL
• URL is pretty standard for accessing web-links from Active Worlds.  It is typically accessed via an activate command, and this is true in our example as it is used for interactive signage.
  

Anyway I don't want to go into a detailed explanation of how exactly to make a title screen like the one here, but this should get you started.  There are a lot of ways to go about it; be creative and see what you can do! :)

Noticeboard: Upcoming Build Contest in Yellow

Yellow world will be hosting a build contest in the near future, and they would like your help in choosing the contest theme.  Contest winners will receive V4 rights. They're split between the following themes:

Steampunk -- using physics and such to make fantastic machines and structures a la Victoriana. Haven't heard of steampunk? This ought to be a real winner for AW builders! Go to http://www.steampunktribune.com/2011_02_01_archive.html for some mind blowing stuff that will tickle any good builder's fancy

Building a better mousetrap -- physics and use of objects, action commands, etc.

Elemental theme -- each build would pick one of the basic elements water, fire, earth or air as the inspiration.

If you would like to throw in your two cents, I'm sure Ozman would appreciate the feedback.  Just visit this forum thread to contribute.

AWG Download - Kingmaker Interactive Game

Kingmaker Interactive Game (4 AWGs)

• Kingmaker Interactive Game
• An interactive card game where the player must pick one of three cards; if the card is a king, the player wins.
• Timer sequence includes a card alternator so that the result isn't always the same
• Timer sequence includes a reset for players so they can play as many times as they'd like
• AWG includes a custom logo for Kingmaker
• AWG includes a 2-coordinate wide pavilion for the Kingmaker game

DOWNLOAD: Click here to download HA_kingmaker.zip

SEED OBJECT: Centered on AWG, facing North

COORDS: AW 7950.428s 1492.491e 2.0a 178

Just save the .zip file to your Activeworlds > Presets folder and you'll be good to use the AWG in Activeworlds.  Good luck!

Noticeboard: VR Farm Seeks Modeler

VR Farm Ground Zero Area

VR Farm -- the farming simulation game in Active Worlds -- is looking for a new modeler to assist in continued development of the world.  Potential modelers should expect to be designing new crops and other farm-themed objects.

Prospective modelers should telegram DM Mercury to help, or visit the forums online at http://forums.mercuryonlinegames.com/

Images For Old Friends at Sonic HQ

A blast from the past found its way to me through MSN Messenger tonight, as Vector -- an old friend of mine from the Mobius Forums at Sonic HQ -- sent me a message out of the blue!  We got to catching up and he told me that the Mobius Forums were moving tomorrow, and invited me over to look around.  I've been taking a long trip down memory lane tonight, and as other forumers have been sharing memories from the past... I've been touching up an old location in AWTeen where our community at the Mobius Forums met the community here in Activeworlds.

The Sonic HQ Building Ground Zero - AWTeen 2500s 500e

The Sonic HQ Building was built by myself in 2003 as a virtual representation of our website and our community.  Located on some prime real-estate at AWTeen 2500s 500e, the building is as large as a P-10 world and the surrounding builds and additions over the years make it even larger than that. Upon arrival in the building's central room, the familiar theme of Tidal Tempest begins in the background.  The Sonic HQ Logo greets you from all directions, flanked by several now-outdated coronas that shine under the glass ceiling.

The Sonic HQ Building Hotel.  Some familiar names may be seen.

The building featured a room for every major sub-page, with signs that linked to the site acting as a visual directory. Many of these links are now dead, although you can still navigate to them via archive.sonic-hq.net. In-jokes (scootered daisy-heads) dot the halls between the informative rooms.  There were many rec-rooms, an intricate monorail system, and also a hotel for visitors from the forums to leave their mark in the world.  Some went further and made builds out in AWTeen.

Below are some more pictures of the building and neighboring builds.  I'll also list all of the names of hotel guests and builders... hopefully some are familiar! :)

Dr Penguin's hotel room

Takinshoto
CJTails
RonPrower
Srol
Crystaltoad
Gale
Nuchtos
Duo MP
Archonn

A cave system built by forumers

Acrio teh Phox
Rico
Gray the Kitsune
James Crownfur
Saber Mage
Marty SkyWaLker
Dr Penguin
Sonicolas
Sonikorasu
...and more.  I remember other builds, but I wasn't able to locate them.

A secret tent-city in the cave system pictured above.  Several forumers worked together to build an intricate cave system with a number of secret rooms and passages.

A secret scene hidden behind the waterfall.  One of the builders left a note for anyone who wanted to come along and finish the project!

In-jokes and references abound.  The caption there on the left says "FexusFan Empire of Scootering DaisyHeads," and I think I'll just leave that without any commentary. :)

The Download Gallery.  Each sign in these rooms was clickable, and would take you to the associated subpage on the Sonic HQ site.  Each sub-section of the site had a room like this.

One of the less-believable scenes from the Monorail.  I was 12-13 when I created the Sonic HQ building, and I suppose only the mind of a young teenager could justify a monorail running through a glass tube in a lava room. :P  The monorail was fully automated via the warp command and took visitors across the entire building site.

Enough people wanted to build to justify a home-brewed tutorial room.  Notice the lava floor again... not sure how I thought that fit at all, but can you blame a wee tot for that sort of thing? ;)

This has been an enjoyable trip back for me.  I've cleaned up the entry point and fixed some broken images (the original Sonic HQ domain is down so all of the original links in the building are broken).  If you're from the forums and would like to stop by and visit, just take a quick trip over to Activeworlds and navigate to AWTeen 2500s 500e (the teleport window can be accessed from the top menu bar in the AW browser) and enjoy!