Signs of Things to Come
// February 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // News, Updates // News, Updates
The Long Awaited Roadmap Is Finally Here
Since nearly the beginning of the Blue Mars beta, developers and users alike have been asking for a roadmap to better gauge the underlying direction and development process of Blue Mars. Community director Glenn Sanders answered the much requested information today in a post on the official Blue Mars blog. In it, he highlights many features that have been asked for quite vocally, such as improved avatar movement, enhanced camera movement and controls, clickable hyperlinks in the Chat box, new and improved avatar meshes, Avatar attachments and animation rigs, and the ability to import custom avatar shapes and skins, as well as many other features which can be perused through here.
While the latest post lightly refers to this list as a roadmap, it isn’t exactly a proper roadmap. The main elephant in the room is the exclusion of any kind of tentative dates as to when these features might make it to the end users, as well as the exclusion of any kind of priorities list. Depending on where one stands in the Blue Mars universe one could assumed that a few key features will come before the others, though there is nothing whatsoever to give even a hint (users could be more interested in avatar customization as well as camera controls and chat functions, whereas developers could be more keen on the new mesh features and SDK installer).
This is not to say that this list isn’t welcome (it’s very welcome) just that it could use some clarifying points and more detailed information as to how this roadmap will be implemented. Also, this is hardly the last word on this matter, and it’s totally possible for there to be another update on the roadmap that gives more concrete information in the near future.
Caledonia: Latest Step in Storied Community
// January 5th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Cities // Cities
A Great Place to Live and Visit
White sand beaches, a boardwalk, a village square, quiet country cottages; all these and more are what one would expect from a lazy beach town in which to vacation in. The cozy village setting is just perfect for mid-afternoon strolls and curling up in a window seat to read that novel everyone’s been talking about. Seagulls caw in the distance, and the majestic mountains make an impressive backdrop to this idyllic locale. Where do you book you next flight to, you ask? Nowhere of course, because all this is contained in Caledonia, one of the latest cities to spring up in Blue Mars.
Caledonia is an idyllic, quiet country village, and while it is new, it already has a rich history. If the village square and charming postcard neighborhoods get old, there are plenty of pathways to explore that snake all over the continent; there’s even a small desert for those of you who get sick of all the greenery.
Welcome to Caledonia!
Even though Caledonia is new to Blue Mars, it isn’t entirely new per se. Caledonia springs from the prolific and established community of Caledon in Second Life. Headed up by Desmond Shang, this community is more like a small nation, with it’s own history, traditions and government. The land mass of Caledon in Second Life is impressive, being around 40 sims that are all devoted to the same vision. What’s even more impressive is that Caledonia’s land mass is about a third larger than Caledon. With around 800 regular members of this fascinating community, there’s a very real presence and passion attached to this project which was started around four years ago. The citizenry of Caledon has been noted for being a rather creative lot, and they have spent countless hours creating, expanding and cultivating the Independent State of Caledon. Continue Reading
A Short Note
// January 5th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // News, Updates // News, Updates
Dear readers,
Blue-News.com was started in order to chronicle happenings and activities within the Blue Mars universe. The past month and a half was a difficult time for all of us here at Blue-News (Job loss, major computer problems, health issues), but thankfully things have quickly turned around and we are excited about this new year to come. We sincerely apologize for the long silence during the last half of November and the whole month of December and look forward to interacting with you in the near future!
Sincerely,
The Blue-News Team
Let Your Voice Be Heard
// November 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Rumors // Rumors
Are you tired of the current camera system used in Blue Mars? Do you have an opinion about what should stay and what should go? Do you think there are no problems with it and would like it to stay as is?
If any of these questions strike a chord with you, head on over to this thread on the forums, cast your vote and let your voice be heard and seen by AR staff.
Happy Halloween!
// October 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Updates // Updates
Zombies Greet Any and All Who Have the Patch!
Blue-News would like to wish you all a safe and happy Halloween, whether you’re out trick or treating, at a party, or in Blue Mars being attacked by the zombies!
In order to enjoy this last minute surprise, you’ll need to download a small patch to take part in the festivities. You’ll be greeted by the zombie bots in a darker, murkier environment than the usual welcome area. Some of the pumpkins float up and down, while some of the obelisks fall over and right themselves.
Atmosphere: Something Sometimes Lacking in Blue Mars
We did notice on a pumpkin or two that the stem was untextured, but we’re willing to look past that since the update is just for fun and a welcome change from the drab and boring welcome area we’ve all grown accustomed to.
First Look: Soswaewon Garden
// October 30th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Cities // Cities
Soswaewon Garden
Soswaewon Garden is another new “city” in Blue Mars, yet it’s not exactly a city. Apart from the masses of trees in the surrounding landscape, Soswaewon isn’t exactly a garden either; there aren’t any flowers or ornamental shrubs; the garden landscaping is somewhat lackluster (no gardening going on here!). If anything, it most resembles a Japanese garden, though there aren’t any of the typical garden furniture or garden statues associated with those types of gardens.
Soswaewon is more like a museum for sculptures, an art gallery of sorts, but there are no paintings here, just a sculpture or two and some architecture. The garden sculptures are all loosely grouped in the arrival area, and the architecture is in a somewhat typical traditional Asian style. Of course, the artwork on display isn’t traditional at all; it would better classify as abstract art, maybe even modern art.
One thing about Soswaewon Garden is that the garden design is a little difficult for the uninitiated to navigate; the landscaping definitely needs work in order to enable an easier and smoother way of viewing the artists work. However, considering the short amount of time the space was created in (six weeks) and the creators themselves (students unfamiliar with the Blue Mars workflow) it’s actually an early testament to the power and accessibility of the Blue Mars platform.
First Look: Gridrock City
// October 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Cities // Cities
View of Gridrock City from Mountains
Gridrock City has been accessible for about a week now, giving everyone a fair chance to explore and have fun checking out the various places around the Gridrock City valley. While it’s in an early stage, it’s still a good place to check out with many easy to remember landmarks to help guid friends to your secret meeting place.
The theme of Gridrock City is based on a colony created by descendants of Nikola Tesla. Though you won’t see any stray bolts of raw electricity anywhere in the city, it still has an interesting, science-y feel about it, and the tower above the city proper resembles a Tesla coil.
Blue Mars Down for Several Hours, Update Coming
// October 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // News // News
As we expected, the next patch will be released tomorrow. The news was announced in the forums earlier this morning explaining that Blue Mars would be down for several hours in preparation for tomorrows major update. All that has been said is that “new content and new features” are coming, so we can’t confirm everything we’ve been expecting.
Next Patch Coming Next Week
// October 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // Rumors // Rumors
The long awaited patch is coming next week! Though not much has been confirmed, we do know that there will at least be a new city to explore; Gridrock City. It was announced on the forum that there will be two more meet and greets next Wednesday and Thursday in Gridrock City.
Given that at present the only method to get more cities in world for everyone to enjoy is through patches, it’s certain that the next patch may be even coming by next Tuesday, or even Monday.
We’re still counting on all the other goodies we speculated about in our last post about this upcoming patch, such as individual profiles and more robust messaging, the banishment of the dreaded chat bubbles, the introduction of the official in world currency (the BLU) and maybe a few more surprises!
We’re also convinced that there will be other cities introduced with this coming patch, notably the Qin Tomb being developed by VSE in partnership with National Geographic.
Meet & Greet: Beach City
// October 14th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Rumors // Rumors
Hey everyone, just a friendly reminder about todays meet & greet in Beach City! If you missed the last one, this is a great opportunity to get connected with other people in the Blue Mars community, hang out and just have fun! If you’d like to go, be sure to be there in one hour (9:30 HST, 19:30 UTC). The last one lasted about an hour/hour and a half, so plan on staying a while and help build the strength of the Blue Mars community!
Insight: Bettina Tizzy
// October 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // News // News
If you’d like to read a great article about Blue Mars and how it’s evolving into a more fascinating and wonderful virtual world, Bettina Tizzy has written an excellent in depth article with some fascinating insight and thoughts about this new, emerging platform. Throughout her post, Bettina does a great job of pointing out that it doesn’t matter what virtual world or platform one decides to use and admire; what matters is that there are more and more options every day to enjoy the wonderful places we call virtual worlds.
Bettina’s article can be found here.
Showcase: Wild West Games
// October 13th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Showcase // Showcase
Next stop: Blue Mars!
Blue Mars is shaping up to be a gateway to many avenues of creative expression in their new virtual frontier. Though the name has the word “mars” in it, it can be anything, really. Wild West Games happens to be in the process of developing a city with a wild west theme, which would host a space for western role play and an historically accurate exploratory space. The core group that makes up Wild West Games has been in Second Life for quite some time, where they supply historical western themed items and land for all the western enthusiasts in Second Life.
Gus Castaneda is heading up their development team and is still looking for fellow developers to add to the Wild West Games developer team. They’re already cranking out content, but still would appreciate some more help, as their project is quite large. Here’s a taste of what they’re making for Blue Mars:
They’ve also been so gracious to give us some sneak peeks on some other content they’re developing, such as this bank, bakery, and night stand with detailed picture frame:
If you’re interested in hopping on board with the development team over at Wild West Games, send them a message here. They also have their own forum that you can check out over here.
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