Below is a short summary of the latest Community Meeting, followed by its chat logs – which have been gently edited for formatting, to put questions and answers in bold for easy skimming, and to omit greetings and farewells and other such asides. Meetings are hosted by Estate owner NeoBokrug Elytis at 2:00 pm on the last Saturday of every month at The Potato Farm in The Wastelands, and the discussion is typically divided into three main topics: Estate, Game, and Roleplay & Events. Everyone is welcome to attend!
BULLET POINTS
LAND:
➳ Occupancy remains consistent as people move in and out.
➳ The Covenant has been updated to allow non-thematic shops in skyboxes – so long as they don’t have excessive script use that compromises region performance.
GAME:
➳ Game Update! Goodbye, sit-teleport cheating, incorrect region messages, and HUD breaks from momentary flying – and hello, swimming (and drowning!)
➳ These updates help shore up the foundations of the all-new version of the HUD Neo is working on.
➳ Submissions are welcome for new region messaging for entrances, exits, and deHUDding while flagged for combat.
➳ October 26th’s War Zone winners will receive a special edition of this year’s Jack-O-Lantern on Halloween!
➳ After the Halloween quest, game development priorities will include the Burnt Oak quest and build, Wild Plants, and aquatic activities.
Halloween Quest:
➳ This year’s Halloween quest will be available from Monday, October 28 through Sunday, November 3rd.
➳ The quest will introduce new items, new locations, new NPCs, and its own minigame quest HUD, and it should take no more than half an hour to complete.
➳ Each run of the quest will require one WL: Pumpkin.
ROLEPLAY & EVENTS:
➳ The Long Night will descend on Thursday, October 31!
➳ The Black Rider will stalk the land intermittently throughout the day, and his sweet-toothed thrall, the Candy Ghoul, may make an appearance in the evening.
➳ The next Mutant Drum Circle is Monday the 28th – and the next RP Drum Circle is will be on Monday, November 4.
➳ November’s Barrelhead Bazaar takes place on the 2nd at 11am.
➳ Foodmas content coming for US Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 28.) Save room for pie!
➳ Possible Gathering of the Tribes in November?
➳ Want to host a recurring or one-off event? Let Neo know, and it’ll be put on the schedule!
➳ Early notice that WL13B, The Wastelands’ 13th Birthday, will take place the weekend of January 17-19, 2020. Want to perform in any way? Get in touch with Neo or Apo!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Okey Dokey! I’m going to do my best to keep this as short as possible, as we have several events to get through today.
NeoBokrug Elytis: As per the usual we discuss the three main aspects of the estate: Land, game, RP & events — with time in between each for questions and comments!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Starting with estate stuff, not much has been going on. Occupancy is roughly the same as last month, going up and down as people move in and out.
NeoBokrug Elytis: The newer shop rules I spoke about last month, are now rolled into the covenant. In summary out of theme shops are now allowed, but only in skyboxes, and only if it’s not detrimental to region performance.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I think that’s about it for estate stuff. Any questions or comments?
BB3000 (bridget.boissel): I have a question
BB3000 (bridget.boissel): is it annoying when popl change parcels a lot?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Nah.
BB3000 (bridget.boissel): ok
BB3000 (bridget.boissel): \0/
Candide LeMay: are you going to start to move around BB?
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): nomad
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Yeah, he’s no mad.
BB3000 (bridget.boissel): not anymore probably not I don’t know maybe
NeoBokrug Elytis: It’s mostly automated at this point, all i gotta do is decorate and resetup the basic stuff. If I see a resident who’s owned land before gets a new parcel, I don’t bug ’em.
BB3000 (bridget.boissel): ok cool
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any other questions about estate operations?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Movin’ on to game stuff!
NeoBokrug Elytis takes a deep breath.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): \o/
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): Swimming!
NeoBokrug Elytis: The HUD saw some more updates, which started out small, and had a lot of creep in terms of reorganizing things and features added.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Basically all the other scripts that I didn’t touch last month, all got an update.
NeoBokrug Elytis: This is a good foundation for the updated HUD I want to make later. I did a nice summary of changes on the press blog, but almost everything was under the hood improvements.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: I just imagine the HUD as one of those sliding puzzles, only code, now.
Dassina Andel: Bugs were found, and squashed.
NeoBokrug Elytis: For instance, the region messages used to be said to you by objects I own on the region, now they’re said to you by the HUD itself.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): That’s kinda spooky
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes, all these changes required quite a bit of fine tuning in the end. Bugs were squashed, found, and squashed again.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Most of it has to do with sit-teleport detection, and folding that into the existing automatic rules the HUD employs. Sit teleport is a bit fickle to code up, but easy to detect.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Basic “swimming” is now a thing. Kind of bobbing up and down in any SL water. You can hold space bar to slowly descend and stay underwater.
Dassina Andel: Can I just say, that very brief accidental flying forgiveness has been a godsend.
NeoBokrug Elytis: All the code that handles all the automatic rules was basically re-written from scratch, and done a different way.
NeoBokrug Elytis: So the accidental flying gets a brief moment to fix it if it happens.
Candide LeMay: for me personally, after the sit teleport changes i’ve completely stopped wearing the hud casually when running around. it’s less of a game and more of an overbearing mother now – “you’re too far!” “wait!” “don’t do that!” etc
Aposiopesis Fullstop: You poor dear.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Well, that’s tough. I mean that in the most sincere way.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Because sit-teleporting was being abused in quests to cheat.
Candide LeMay: nah it’s okay, just giving you feedback
Baalzuni (houndstrikerx6): I take it that was to keep people from clearing distances they shouldn’t quickly like with questing in large areas?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes it initially needed some fine tuning to get it to a sweet spot, and that took a couple days to iron out. But now it hasn’t been a problem for people who play regularly. Just run like everyone else has since day one.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Use your legs.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes, people would enter a region, SPECIFICALLY the junk yard, and sit next to alden.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): Don’t skip leg day
BB3000 (bridget.boissel): the only time I used it was in the caves when a crate was floating in the ceiling and it was helpful. to otherwise not be able to get a rare crate
NeoBokrug Elytis: Plus other regions.
Baalzuni (houndstrikerx6): PFFFT, didnt notice he had a chair by him
NeoBokrug Elytis: So, that seemed far beyond just an innocent thing, and it had always been on my radar of things to fix — I just haven’t had time to work on it until I wanted to add swimming.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Honestly these HUD updates weren’t intended to take beyond a day, but it took a week and a half. One change in one script, breaks changes in another script, which breaks changes in REGION FRIGGING messaging. So I had to re-do all that too.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Speaking of, if you have ideas for new enter/leave/insult messages, shoot me an IM.
Aposiopesis Fullstop cracks her knuckles.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Keep it to 1 sentence, make sure to include _NAME where the avatar name should be.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Region messaging issues that we’ve had forever, should be gone now. That also took 2 attempts, but I don’t forsee it going back to it’s old ways.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Also there’s drowning to go with swimming.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Don’t stay under for more than 30 seconds, or you’ll start taking damage.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): The best thing to go with swimming
CorpseGarden: so don’t fall in.
NeoBokrug Elytis: It won’t immediately kill you, but it’s pretty significant damage.
NeoBokrug Elytis: All you need to do is get to the surface for that timer to reset.
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): so no more dunking suspected witches in JY :(
NeoBokrug Elytis: I thought about playing the panic inducing Sonic Drowning music, but that shit’s copryrighted.
Candide LeMay: i thought all the witches are unsuspected
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): aww
NeoBokrug Elytis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yw5jkAHgME
NeoBokrug Elytis: For the unfamiliar. So much anxiety
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): oh my god
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): hahaha
NeoBokrug Elytis: The swim doesn’t work with traditional swimming AOs, because you’re not flying and that’s how they detect “swimming”
Sommer Dawn (creamysoda): *snickers*
Baalzuni (houndstrikerx6): eh, liked the adventure version of that sound better
NeoBokrug Elytis: So for now I have a super basic swimming animation until I find a better one.
NeoBokrug Elytis: “it works”
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi):
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Hahaha
NeoBokrug Elytis: Last month I said I might re-use a previous Halloween quest for this years halloween quest…
NeoBokrug Elytis: I couldn’t live with myself if I did that.
Mayo von Schrott (myotis.draconia): sharktooth candy
NeoBokrug Elytis: So I have been working very hard on a simple quest for this year. I am trying even harder to not feature creep it and keep it within scope.
NeoBokrug Elytis: The new Halloween items are done, courtesy of Aki Shichiroji, and Makaio Stygian.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Oooo…
NeoBokrug Elytis: The scenes for the quest are done. The NPC is almost done, and the quest HUD is also almost done.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: !!!
NeoBokrug Elytis: NPC”S”
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): I like all of that.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): I do too
Dassina Andel: You had me at new items.
NeoBokrug Elytis: It’s short, and doesn’t require too much effort, but it DOES require a pumpkin at some point in the quest. So keep that in mind. There’s a nice warning on the quest start bit about that.
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): i hope bacon necklace
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Is that the only scrap it’s gonna require?
NeoBokrug Elytis: The winners of todays War Zone will get a special edition of this years Jack-o-lanter, but only on Halloween.
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): oooo
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes, that is the only scrap it requires for the quest.
NeoBokrug Elytis: So make sure you have one before you start.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): Oh wow
NeoBokrug Elytis scrolls back
The Digger (sandusky.kayvon): Don’t use all your pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes, also that.
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): ooo
NeoBokrug Elytis: Going back to automatic rules: in general they’re a bit more flexible if you goof up a little, but they’re also very accurate if you’re breaking a rule now.
Baalzuni (houndstrikerx6): its a dan
CorpseGarden: I am just going to give up for now. I hope I an make it to WZ though.
Dan Buffet (danbuffet): this is neos church
NeoBokrug Elytis: No, it’s Community Meeting Danbuffet
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any questions about game stuff so far?
Candide LeMay: i have a metaquestion
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): Can we have oysters to dive for?
Dan Buffet (danbuffet): ok neo but it is like church to me
Dan Buffet (danbuffet): lol
Candide LeMay: in the grand scheme of things, what is the relation of running the estate vs the game? does the estate exist to support the game? the game to support the estate? something else?
Dan Buffet (danbuffet): hi all and bye all. have a good upcoming week and take care
NeoBokrug Elytis: The game is a fun and free thing the devs do because we like to.
Candide LeMay: bye danevent
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Seeya, Dan
NeoBokrug Elytis: The estate is a place where people live, because they like to
NeoBokrug Elytis: I mean, in all fairness we could charge a lot to run this game on a sim all by itself. It’s very in-depth as far as games in Second Life go.
Wasteland Drifter (wastelanddrifter): Dan Buffet stayed for just two minutes.
Candide LeMay: do you see the game as something that should attract people to rent land etc?
NeoBokrug Elytis: But when I started SL, I visited places and they all had you buy in with expensive weapons and shit. I thought that was garbage, so we made our own thing, and it’s free.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Not really, I try to keep everything separate, which is why I encourage it’s all “Opt-in at your own pace”
Candide LeMay: okay
NeoBokrug Elytis: The game wasn’t a thing until a few months after the estate existed.
NeoBokrug Elytis: That’s not to say we didn’t work on it while we were getting ready.
NeoBokrug Elytis: As far as water related activities: eventually.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): Water sports!
Dassina Andel: Phrasing.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Hah!
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): Spear fishing!
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): pissin!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Right now I wanna get this halloween quest done. Finish my obligations to my current non-wastelands contract, and then I can revisit burnt-oak quest, wild-plants, and other water activites.
Candide LeMay: you’re good at that chav, right?
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): actualy i waited until 2006 to join sl because it hought it was like the sims and yo had to eat and piss and hunt for gold
Angharad Greggan wishes for fishing
Candide LeMay: so you accumulated piss and gold?
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): no you had to wee it out
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): Hmmm, fishing….
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): also i heard you started naked and had to wun clothes
NeoBokrug Elytis: Another thing about game/land relations is, I find that people who come here to buy land just to sell game items and have nothing else to do with the estate at all, don’t last long. I typically try to encourage them to be more involved than just reselling salvage.
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): yeah fishing
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): I think Neo tried fishing once and decided against it
NeoBokrug Elytis: Sure it helps with tier for some people, but I feel their heart is in the wrong place if they come in here like that.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any other questions or comments about game stuff?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: How long do you estimate the Halloween quest will take?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Fishing isn’t entirely off the table either. I really just disliked how I did it back then, and right now it’s not a priority for me.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Maybe a half hour, tops?
NeoBokrug Elytis: The literal most if you take it slow.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Right on!
Wasteland Drifter (wastelanddrifter): Are you still planning on assigning helpers for different races for newcomers?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Oh, and there’s a reason (if the reason interests you) to keep repeating the quest. As for the reason, I cannot divulge that now.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes. I need to finish the visitor center so bad.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I keep picking at it when I can.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): You will presumably need another pumpkin each time you redo the quest?
NeoBokrug Elytis: This year has been less than ideal for me. A lot of meat space things keep me from doing as much as I could be doing.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes
NeoBokrug Elytis: 1 quest == 1 pumpkin
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): Gotcha
NeoBokrug Elytis: Before we move on to RP discussion and events.
NeoBokrug Elytis: The Black Rider will make several appearances on The Long Night (halloween), but keep in mind It’s me, I appear in shifts trying to hit as many of the time zones as I can, and please don’t be mad if I can’t meet up with your availability. I can’t be on 24/7 for something like that. Even if I stay glued to the PC most of the day.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I literally do not plan any other halloween events, and when I’ve had work while operating The Wastelands, i take that day off to host it
NeoBokrug Elytis: The candy ghoul *MAY* make an appearance as well later in the day, but there are no guarantees.
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): dedicated!
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn) claps
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): Neo really cares about us :)
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): we care about him back
Wasteland Drifter (wastelanddrifter): Hooray, someone cares about me.
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): (in our pants)
NeoBokrug Elytis: Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I try to make it count here.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: No questions about the black rider, moving on to RP events and discussion: We’re in the middle of Trigger Treat, and have more events after this. Immediately following this Halloween War Zone in Fort Stygian. After that more music in the Junkyard, and closing out the night is a movie (or two) in Burnt Oak.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Open floor for RP, and events discussion.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Oooh, potential double feature!
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): !
Aposiopesis Fullstop: So I know it sounds WAY FREAKING EARLY, but things go fast at the holidays! WL13B, The Wastelands’ 13th Birthday, is gonna be going down in january!
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): lucky 13
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): are wes older than caledon?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: The 17th through 19th, most likely.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yeah, we’re in Holiday Gauntlet mode so it’s important to plan early for WL13B
NeoBokrug Elytis: Caledon is older than us
NeoBokrug Elytis: Not by much though.
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): We should visit Calendon for some sentimental mischief.
NeoBokrug Elytis: There’s not enough time to plan in December and January, and I know a month is a long time to plan that far out, but I think it’s important to find people who want to commit now, so it’s less of a mess for us to plan.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Unrelated to that the Flickr contest ends on the 31st, and starts up again on November 1st. it is an ongoing contest.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Yeah! And it doesn’t necessarily have to be DJing. There’ve also been combat events, RP events, sporting-type events, talent show type things, readings, and more.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Basically, anything you wanna do for WL13B, is something we can add. It IS a two and a half day celebration after all.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Oh yay, the 17th is a Friday this year!
Aposiopesis Fullstop: (As long what you want to do still keeps your pants on.)
NeoBokrug Elytis: Haha yeah
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): dang
Candide LeMay: does it matter when on the body it keeps the pants?
Candide LeMay: *where
NeoBokrug Elytis: The nether regions.
Sommer Dawn (creamysoda): No WL: Strip-off?
Candide LeMay: dang
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha, WL: Strip Skull Ball. Going down to the skivvies.
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): Spin the Empty Glass Bottle
Sommer Dawn (creamysoda): Grreat idea!
Wasteland Drifter (wastelanddrifter): Topless match!
NeoBokrug Elytis: I guess the remaining special events this year are: Foodmas, and Giftmas. Am I missing anything?
Candide LeMay: when is foodmas?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Gathering of the Tribes is usually in November!
Chav Normalhands (chav.paderborn): chav;s rezday
NeoBokrug Elytis: US Thanksgiving
Candide LeMay: aha
NeoBokrug Elytis: Gathering of the Tribes!
Baalzuni (houndstrikerx6): ooof forgot about that
Aposiopesis Fullstop: But our chief Mutants have a horrible case of the realworlds lately.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Fingers crossed, though…
Cody Tebaldi (dakota.tebaldi): Boooo realworld
NeoBokrug Elytis: Perhaps! It is a fun event.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Next weekend is Barrelhead, and RP Drum Circle?
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): Yeah!
Aposiopesis Fullstop: :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: But this upcoming Drum circle is OOC?
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): That is correct
Aposiopesis Fullstop: The RP one is usually the first Monday of the month, yeah.
NeoBokrug Elytis: And if anyone wants to host an event during the week, even if it’s a one-off, just let me know.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Anyone else got RP things, or event things?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: And if you want some info on how to host or plan for events, I have many years of mistakes under my belt and can hopefully help you not be as terrible as I am! :V
NeoBokrug Elytis: We’re almost at a full week of regular events. 5/7 days
NeoBokrug Elytis: Okay time to get ready for War Zone! I’ll see you in Fort Stygian