Tag: Minkata

  • October 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    October 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 174th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. OpenUru
    3. Events in the Cavern
    4. Event Host: skyisblu
    5. Event Host: Babbel
    6. D’ni Language Classes
    7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    8. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Event submissions for Mysterium 2025 are now open, until April 30. Pins and shirts are open until February 26.

    ☛ The 2024 Puzzle and Coloring Packets are available for download at the Mysterium website.

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for September–October is “Falling” (anything that involves falling), the deadline is October 31st. Entries for the “Revelation” prompt for August were from Calum Traveler, Kefrith, TomatoesTalashar, Redwoodrroad, Laughingpineapple, ZeTomato.

    ☛ The 2024 Mysterium shirts in MOULa will be included in the upcoming update. How these will be made available is still undecided, possibly via a magic instance.

    OpenUru

    Rarified mentioned how this year many of those who have been doing restoration work in the Cavern had to tend to family or other personal matters. This has delayed the testing and deployment of a few updates.

    They have now found the time to finish, so after some testing on the Minkata shards for another week or so, and barring any additional issues, they will send the update to Cyan for another week or two of final checking.

    On request by Minasunda, to avoid problems with the Nulps dancing event, they will wait until after Halloween, so the update will likely be released by Thanksgiving (November 28).

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced the upcoming Halloween party, on October 31 at 13:00 KIT, in Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Naybree at the fire pit. Note that the party will fall on the confusing week where countries in Europe have switched back to standard time, but the US has not; so the event will start on 20:00 CET.

    To get there quickly, you can PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319). Seeker will provide the music, starting exactly at 12:47 😉

    Attendees will be asked to leave the inside of the circle of chairs free for the Nulp dancers, who will be performing as spooky ghosts. The ghostly show lasts about 20 minutes and will be repeated at 14:00 KIT for latecomers. In between and after the repeat there will be Halloween music to dance to.

    Attendees will also be asked to not use any magic commands, at least until the end of the dance repeat, to avoid messing up the special effects.

    IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 18 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be “Myst games“. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    IwonK is also making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    Ereshkigal is currently visiting India. Her Ancient Stories event will begin again on Tuesday 22 at 11:30 KIT, in Fahets Highgarden as usual.

    ☛ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    Event Host: skyisblu

    skyisblu, who is the chef at a French crêpe restaurant in a suburb of Montréal, Canada, got started in MOULa in March 2021, after rediscovering the Myst games. With her background in cooking, it seemed a natural progression to host a cooking stream, inspired by IwonK’s drawing streams.

    ☛ Since 2022, she hosts a monthly live stream called Cooking with Sky, where she chooses a recipe, usually something in theme with the season but sometimes based on events happening in the Cavern. She cooks the recipe at least once before the live stream, to test the quantities, cooking times, or changes she might make, including a second batch to speed things up, if needed.

    ☛ She holds her event on the first Monday of the month, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood.

    ☛ The day of the event she sets up the kitchen ‘studio’, preps the ingredients and select the dishware. Stage fright still kicks every time she goes live! But the reassuring greetings of her friends get her over that initial hurdle.

    ☛ The October 7 stream was, of course, themed after Halloween: candy corn cookies. If you missed any of the previous sessions, all of the recipes and accompanying videos are available on her weblog.

    Event Host: Babbel

    Babbel, who is from a small village in the north of the Netherlands, first learned about MOULa from PodHopper’s website, but it took years before she completed all the Ages.

    ☛ She hosts a monthly event called Classic With Babbel, where she broadcasts classical music with a theme. She started hosting this event in October 2022.

    ☛ The inspiration came from noticing a lack of classical music programs in the Cavern. After the first broadcast, she decided to make it a monthly event.

    ☛ She holds her event on the third Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, in the Hall of Kings.

    ☛ She plans her event by picking a theme, based on things around her or the time of the year, then looking for information in books, on the Internet, and from other explorers’ suggestions.

    ☛ This month, Monday 21, will be the second anniversary of her program! She is working on a light program with some popular classical elements in it.

    ☛ Discussions and more info can be found on her Discord server, or on the Urutunes forum section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (KI# 80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on MondayTuesdayThursday and Friday, at 10:0011:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on MondayTuesdayThursday and Friday, at 20:0021:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will next retell the story of the 14th king, Naygen. The rest of the month they will cover Hinahsh, Needrah and Rahkeree. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channelBe careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉 The channel is current through February 20, 2021.

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary 😉

    More about the Story Nights
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In October, the Fan Age Expeditions in Deep Island will explore the deep Age of Elodea by Dulcamara, from the Upperworld to the Underworld, along the Tunnel Passage and into the Treasure Vaults, trying to solve its puzzles and find the lost treasures.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, November 2 (Leevofo 11) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • April 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    April 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 168th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    ☛ Mysterium 2024 will be held at the Alt Hotel Quartier Dix30 in Brossard. Single and double queen rooms are available and can be booked directly through the hotel. The deadline for booking is June 11. After that date, the hotel may release unsold rooms to the general public. For more info on the hotel, pricing, parking, and booking, see the locations page.

    Event submissions are still open until May 12, while writing and artwork table submissions are open until June 30.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for April is still “Memories”: the prompts are now bi-monthly, so the deadline is now April 30th. Entries for the “Ice” prompt for February were from, Calum Traveler, Redwoodrroad, and Talashar.

    Events in the Cavern

    Skyisblu presented her recipe to make eggs Benedict in a simple, more accessible way at home; she also shared her recipe for English muffin loaf, a seriously delicious discovery.

    The Cooking Sessions are on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

    ☛ Sunday 21 is D’ni New Year 9680! To celebrate, the Nulp Dance Group will host a show on Monday 22 at 13:00 KIT, introducing Sestra and AKAA as new dancers in their first performance!

    To get to the event location, PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot (#32319); pictures will be posted on Facebook and Discord, marking the area for the audience. Seeker will provide the music stream, starting with some pre-show music at 12:35 KIT.

    After the show, there will be a dance party; Magic Bot will be there, so you will be able to use the “minadance[1–7] [name]” command to dance with a partner of your choice.

    IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 19 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be “male protagonists in video games“. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    IwonK is also making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    ☛ Every Tuesday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 12:00 KIT in Kalamee, reading (via stream) folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction, and also a collection of D’ni fairytales Ereshkigal wrote as a kickoff event.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 15 at 12:00 KIT. The theme this month is “Barock or Baroque“.

    ☛ For many years, the weekly Karaoke event with DonahooDJ (#7501) was held at 16:00, but it has now been moved to 11:00 KIT, every Saturday in the Ae’gura Guild of Messengers Pub. The event is also held in Second Life, with a different location each evening.

    The stream has a cap on the number of people who can listen; if that’s exceeded, Seeker will host the backup stream. To participate, submit a Karaoke card on the event forum (you’ll need to be registered).

    ☛ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    OpenUru

    Rarified mentioned that, after a somewhat spirited discussion last month, they are going to hold off on new content for this quarter. There may be a couple of small updates to memorials and the like, but nothing more than that.

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Jo gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 80428), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • There will be no daytime openings for the next two months and no evening openings for all of April, as r’Tayrtahn is moving and his hours are spent packing;
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 12:0013:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday to Friday, at 20:0021:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Starting April 20, Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will begin the special, five-part chapter play “Jae’s Journey“, written by explorer Janai and posted to the Mystonline.com forums in 2008; if anyone is still in contact with her, please let her know that her story is about to be performed, and that she is welcome to attend.

    After that will be the story of the third, human explorer-driven restoration of the Cavern. Then, finally, the bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour! And after that, the Stories will restart from the beginning.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message!), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channelBe careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ The Spring 2024 issue of The Cavern Today podcast is out, featuring Riven remake news and hype, a TCT year-in-review, a Preafter Deep Dive, and more. In addition to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other services, The Cavern Today is now also available on YouTube Music (which is replacing Google Podcasts).

    ☛ In April, the Fan Age Expeditions in Deep Island will visit an assortment of Ages from 2009 and 2010. They will start with a few Ahra Pahts shells, including #111, the Black Fortress. They will then visit Hayal by Corvus & Race, Ahrkane by Ekimmai, Chamassa and Aquh by Brattin; but also smaller Ages like Pakin by Race, or Cass and Fahets (Basin) by Tweek.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 4 (Leefo 12, 9680) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • January 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    January 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 165th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    ☛ The venue and the precise date for Mysterium 2024, which will be held in Montreal, Canada, have not been fixed yet. Various trade-offs for dates and costs are being weighted; you can help the Committee make a decision by taking a brief survey.

    ☛ Another policy update, related to AI generated art, has been announced:

    “Submissions generated by Artificial Intelligence tools are not permitted. AI may be used for brainstorming but the final product must be your own original work. This applies to all submission types including both visual and written works.”

    ☛ The creativity prompt for January is “Horizons”; the deadline is the 31st. Entries for the “Refuge” prompt for December were from Calum Traveler, Salvo Ludus, Talashar, Redwoodrroad, and Tomatoes.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Claidi commended the people staffing the Guild of Greeters Hood from Monday to Saturday, 13:45–14:15 KIT. Other community members are often there as well, providing information and assistance to those unfamiliar with the Cavern or who just want to learn more.

    IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 12 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be Racing games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    IwonK is also making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    OpenUru

    Semjay has submitted the Explorers’ Emporium for testing on the Minkata alpha shard, and should be uploaded very soon. That means testers will be needed!

    Anyone with an eye for details, and willing to take detailed notes of what works and what not, is welcome to sign up for an account on Minkata and on the OpenUru Discord server.

    (Editor’s note: the shards and the OpenUru website appear to not work at the time of this post. The situation is temporary, and should be fixed soon.)

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.

    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. A student finished the 101 lessons and is working on the final exam.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 80428), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:0013:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday to Thursday, at 20:0021:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night have just started telling the story of Yeesha’s journey. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channelBe careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In January, the Fan Age Expeditions in Deep Island will explore the works of Whilyam: Toroolbah, Bimevi, Fens, Maw. After that, they will visit the entries of the 3rd Rapid Age Development (RAD) and the Detailed Age WritiNg (DAWN) contests. To round up the first month of 2024, they will try to get their bearings in the cubic labyrinth of Enobmort, by J’Kla.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    December ended with the CavFunding at 72% (CavCon 2.7) and the reserve at 620%, with no extra expenses.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, February 3, 2024 (Leevosahn 26) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • November 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    November 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 163rd All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    ☛ In Addition to co-chairing this year, Annacat is once again managing the Writing & Artwork Table submissions. The Committee has decided to add a limit of five pages for any printouts to save trees and wallets. If your piece is longer you may wish to direct people to a website or other location where they can read the full text.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for November is “Found Family”; the deadline is November 30. Entries for the “Noir” prompt for October were from Angelmyst, Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Talashar, Diranda, Tomatoes.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ For November’s Cooking Sessions with Sky, on Monday 6 at 12:00 KIT in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood, Skyisblu will try her hand at homemade pierogi, Polish dumplings filled with a mix of mashed potatoes and cheese, boiled and fried, sometimes topped with sour cream.

    Every month is something new and different, a lot of times inspired by what is coming from Skyisblu’s garden, or what is in season in her corner of the world. She also tries to answer any questions regarding the recipe she is cooking, other dishes or cuisines, and takes suggestions for future sessions.

    You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

    IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 17 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be horror games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    IwonK also made some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    ☛ Babbel will host her classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura on Monday 20 at 12:00 KIT.

    OpenUru

    Rarified gave a brief comment about the update schedule for MOULa. The Q2/Q3 2023 update has passed testing! On Monday 6 an announcement should be posted in the Cyan Discord server (probably #moula-announcements), with more info about the date of the update. Many items are included in this update: most fan Ages have received some tweaks, and many technical glitches, including very old ones, have been fixed. One new area will eventually be open for exploration (more info below).

    Rarified has now started to tackle a task that has been put off for years: the merger of the existing MOULa client with the modern H’uru client that the Guild of Writers team has been working on for a decade. They will start with an entirely new Minkata shard, which probably will not go live before 3–4 weeks from now.

    The new shard will likely only have a duplicate of the H’uru client, where contributors can begin to explore how their materials interact with the new client. Behind the scenes, Rarified has a list of changes he thinks are needed for more casual users to access MOULa with the same ease.

    They will also start working on a single Uru installation that can be used to access most (MOUL-based) shards, without a separate installation for each. That will of course depend on shard operators agreeing that the client can and will be used, but the capability will be there to select a shard at the time you launch Uru. At start it will likely be MOULa and the Minkata shards. Deep Island is very unlikely to be included, being based on the offline game, and neither will be The Open Cave, which is currently unmaintained and requires a specific set of older game files to work.

    Editor’s note: there have been a few attempts at a “multishard” client in the past, most notably Untìl Uru had a unified launcher for the various independent shards. More recently but less successfully, the Atlantis shard made an attempt at unifying the MOUL-based shard login.

    Christopher Therburg announced that the Fall of D’ni Memorial Island (Bahn’tefoonet in D’ni) is finally ready. There will be an opening ceremony in Chiso Preniv, soon after the release of the update. He, and possibly Tweek, will give a tour of the island; after that, a minute of silence will be observed to commemorate the D’ni who died at the hand of A’gaeris.

    Christopher has further plans to make some small changes to the island and the memorial itself so that it will be preserved and being in a good shape for a long time. He will soon add telescopes near the docks at a later date, for closer views of certain D’ni islands and Ae’gura itself.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.

    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. The Guild of Instructors has lost one of their own: Guild Master shokhootahn shen, aka shenendoah or Kathleen, passed away late last month.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 80428), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session.
    • There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:0013:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday to Friday, at 20:0021:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story from Myst III: Exile. After that, they will begin the story from Myst IV: Revelation. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channelBe careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In November, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will conclude the exploration of Takla Ma’kan by the German group H’Uru. Next, they will explore Paah’kweh and Sonavio by BobLishman, and visit the entries from the first Rapid Age Development contest. To round up the month, they will explore a few Ages made in 2008: Aerie, TINA Testing Area, Kahntinoy, Fena Barel.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    October ended with the CavFunding at 177% (CavCon 4.8) and the reserve at 652%, with 5% extra expenses. Population was at 49,489 (⇑259), with 1047 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 2 (Leevobro 5) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • September 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    September 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 161st All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. Fall of D’ni Memorial Island
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    ☛ Next year’s Mysterium will be held in Canada, in Montreal, QC, so you may want to look up any immigration requirements. There are some pointers at the Location page on the convention’s website.

    If you do not have a passport it would be a good idea to look into it soon, since it can take a few months for the application to be processed.

    Most importantly, rely on official sources for immigration information. The convention offers those links for convenience, but do not rely on advice from Discord or any other unofficial source.

    ☛ The theme for 2024 will be Serenia, since it will be the 20th anniversary of Myst IV: Revelation.

    Submissions for T-shirt designs are open, and will be accepted until February 25. Details are available on the design page; in general, the committee will look favorably upon designs that incorporate both the year’s theme and the host city.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for September is “Back to School”; the deadline is September 30. Entries for the “Blazing” prompt for June were from Calum Traveler, KellyC, TrissTalashar, IwonK, Salvo Ludus, Laughingpineapple, and Floydman.

    Events in the Cavern

    September is a month of many anniversaries:

    • Sunday 10 is the 19th anniversary of the release of Myst IV: Revelation, and the 16th of the Gametap episode “Deception”;
    • Monday 18 is the 9th of the Great Crash, when everyone had to reset their KI;
    • Tuesday 19 is the 18th anniversary of Myst V: End of Ages, and is also Talk Like a Pirate day;
    • Sunday 24 is the day the historical Guild of Writers was founded, and more importantly the 30th anniversary of (the original) Myst; and
    • Thursday 28 marks the historical Arrival of the Great King.

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 15 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be non-human characters in games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    OpenUru

    Rarified gave a brief comment about schedules and the pipeline into MOULa. They have started to choose what will go into the next update. That means that serious development will stop for a month, and a testing schedule will be announced for the Minkata shards, on the OpenUru Discord server (channel #test).

    If all goes well, they should be able to send Cyan the new material for the end of September, with a possible release date for mid-October. There are updates to several ages, and at least one new Age.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.

    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Fall of D’ni Memorial Island

    Christopher Therburg said a few words about his Fall of D’ni Memorial Island project, or Bahn’tefoonet (lit. “island-memorial”) in D’ni. The restoration and conversion is finally complete, and the island should be ready to open with the next update.

    Christopher also gave a few bits about the history of the island, which is thought to have been a small D’ni park before the Fall. The memorial is connected to water pipes for filling up the basin; these pipes used to serve a fountain that was found so badly damaged that it was impossible to restore. The island itself was covered in debris when first surveyed. The restoration progress will be detailed in a journal available for reading.

    There will be an opening ceremony in Chiso Preniv, and a minute of silence once on the island.

    Christopher also briefly talked about the new Age he found a few months ago, somewhere in a house in the Cavern. The name of the Age is Ahnogahlpo (“water-cave”), and it seems to be a garden Age set in an ocean or huge lake, with some islands with holes and caves. The sands of the islands beaches glow strangely at night.

    The age is still in the earliest stages of restoration and not yet fully mapped, so it is still a llong way from being safe for public access.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 80428), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:0013:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Tuesday to Friday, at 20:0021:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of Myst: The Book of D’ni, as told in the novel. After that they will begin the story from Myst III: Exile. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channelBe careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In September, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will begin their third cycle! They will start again from the very beginning of fan age building, with creations from 2005.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    August ended with the CavFunding at 83% (CavCon 2.8) and the reserve at 587%, with no extra expenses.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, October 7 (Leevot 19) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • April 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    April 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 156th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. Ages of Doobes
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Early bird registration and shirt orders are now closed; regular registration (slightly more expensive) will be open until June 16, and other swag items may still be purchased until June 3.

    The prompt for February is “You Fool!”; the deadline is April 30. Entries for the “Idle Hands” prompt for March were Kefrith, Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Talashar, and Laughingpineapple.

    ☛ For the latest info and more details, check the official website of the Mysterium Convention.

    Events in the Cavern

    IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 14 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic is male protagonists in video games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    April 21 is Leefo 1st in the D’ni calendar, the first day of D’ni year 9679. Hahr rahm gah shoraht!

    OpenUru

    ☛ The Q1 update is on its final leg of testing before release, sometime next week. Briggs and Hazado have worked hard to restore the old DRC stage by the Tokotah plaza tent: its intended use will be for things like the story Town Halls or for speaking or music events.

    There will be two versions for it: one is the full DRC build with microphone, which will be reserved for Cyan if they will ever wants to use it; it will have a fully blocked off collision wall. The other, public version will be a generic stage with reduced collisions, letting people get onto the stage and not getting in the way of tent climbing activities 😉

    Eder Bahvahnter, by Ametist, will be available immediately after the update; the book will be found in Elonin, and it will be a public instance available from all versions of that neighborhood.

    ☛ Another surprise Age will also be included in the update. Details are kept under secret; Doobes stated to be very impressed with it.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.

    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Ages of Doobes

    Doobes announced that phase one of the Descent expansion is likely to be completed in the very near future! If all goes well, he will be able to submit it for the Q2 update testing, and if no major bugs show up, this first phase will be ready in time for Mysterium.

    Phase one consists mostly of the tract from the surface to the bottom of the Great Shaft you may be familiar with from Myst V or the Dirt demo. The biggest difference is that spiral path of the Shaft has been fully repaired, and you will be able to walk up and down the entirety of it (about two hours of continuous running). The elevators will still be there, and you could also try to just jump down if you dare!

    There is a lot of stuff in this build that has never been tested for multiplay, so that is going to be a key item to test when the time comes. Doobes has also worked on a more realistic lighting of the location, while still keeping the mood of the scene.

    Ultimately the goal is to open the full path from the surface to D’ni. Cyan has provided just enough with the Intangibles content for a phase two, but it still needs all the rough edges sanded down, so Doobes opted for a release in stages to keep up interest. Beyond phase two no concept art is available, so unless Cyan will have specific features they want included, the design of the path up to the Cavern will be open to suggestions.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of Atrus as told in the book Myst: The Book of Atrus. After that they will begin the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    There will be no Story Night on April 8, due to it being Easter weekend and because r’Tay will be traveling.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In April, the Fan Ages Expeditions will complete the expedition to Elsewhere by Denost. It is a huge Age, with a lot of swimming, running and many puzzles, so they have not finished it yet! After that, they will begin the exploration of Alabaster by Dulcamara.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    March ended with the CavFunding at 85% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 691%, with 20% extra expenses. Population was at 47,581 (⇑252), with 1174 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 6 (Leefo 13, 9679) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • March 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    March 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 155th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. International Women’s Week
    2. Mysterium
    3. OpenUru
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    International Women’s Week

    Skyisblu presented the schedule for the International Women’s Week celebrations starting on Monday 6 (see our dedicated post). A thank goes to Nosila for organizing and sorting it all out, and to everyone who planned the events.

    Mysterium

    Enamel pins and button sets have been added to the Mysterium website for preorder. Designs for the pins are by Katherine “Squeefruit” White, Kelly “Rayne” Coston, redwoodroad, and Avior. Designs for the buttons are by Designs for the and Designs for the . Riven daggers are covered by the lanyard charms.

    Unfortunately, there is no option to ship internationally; the last time that was attempted, it took months to get everything sorted out. An option is to ask someone you know will attend to pick up swag for you and mail it to you afterward.

    Social buttons will be available for free to attendees, staff, and guests. A green “Yes” button implies that you are comfortable with people approaching you and engaging in conversation; a yellow “Ask” button implies that you would prefer people to ask before engaging in conversation; a red “No” button implies simply that you would like some space and to be left alone.
    The buttons must be returned at the end of the convention so that they can be sanitized and used again next year.

    The prompt for February is “Idle Hands”; the deadline is March 31. Entries for the “Heart” prompt for February were Rahshahth (featuring pixel art by Kefrith), Calum Traveler, and Talashar.

    ☛ For the latest info and more details, check the official website of the Mysterium Convention.

    OpenUru

    ☛ The restoration of Eder Bahvahnter, by Ametist, is complete and waiting the final phase 5 reviews. The book to Bahvahnter will be found in Elonin when it will be released, sometime at the end of March or early April.

    ☛ For Eder Naybree, some latency and lag issues have been hammered down, this quarter’s update should bring a significant reduction in load on some lower end machines. This is primarily the reason the beach side has been delayed.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings on weekdays at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday through Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. After that they will begin the story from Myst: The Book of Atrus, followed by the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In March, the Fan Ages Expeditions will visit Elsewhere by Denost. It is a huge Age, with a lot of swimming, running and many puzzles; it will keep the explorers busy the whole month!


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, April 1st (Leenovoo 14) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • February 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    February 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 154th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. Doobes
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    The Committee, always striving to make the convention as welcoming and accessible to as many people as possible, has released an accessibility survey to solicit feedback and ideas. The survey is short and all questions are optional.

    The big news was of course that registrations are now open! The Committee is using a new registration software for this year, and possibly into the future: you will need to open an account, and through that you will be able to access the shop section to purchase tickets and swag.

    Speaking of swag, there will be plenty this year, such as lanyard charms (Riven dagger, Gehn crest, quab, watermelon), Myst series timeline coffee mugs, and a poster print with awesome artwork! More will be added at future dates as things like pins get settled and finalised.

    As for the Covid-19 policy, it will be mostly the same as last year: full vaccination is required (including a bivalent booster) by June 23, and masks (N95 or equivalent) will be required and enforced.
    At Cyan’s headquarters the policy will be different and a bit more lax: special guests and Cyan staff will be allowed to remove their masks while presenting or taking part in a panel, and may not be guaranteed to be fully vaccinated.

    Hotel registration is also open; pricing is a bit higher than usual, because many unrelated events will be hosted at Spokane at around the same time, and the convention is just before US Independence Day.

    A few submission deadlines are still open:

    • pin designs are open until February 12;
    • events are open until April 29 (if you require special seating arrangements or equipment, you will need to inform the Committee in the submission).

    The prompt for February is “Heart”; the deadline is February 28. Entries for the “Beginnings” prompt for January were Calum Traveler, Redwoodrroad, Kefrith, and Talashar.

    ☛ For the latest info and more details, check the official website of the Mysterium Convention.

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda presented the schedule for the XIII MOULa Anniversary Celebration Week (see our dedicated post). This year is also the 30th anniversary of the original Myst game, and the 20th anniversary of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst!

    If Mir-o-Bot is present for an event, please use it solely for traveling, respect the events and do not use bot commands. Minasunda will release videos of the events some time (13 events will take a while to process!) after the anniversary week, in her YouTube channel.

    Dah’mpa presented the Wall competitions. Both will take place at Wally’mpa’s Gahreesen; the meeting point will be the Watcher’s Pub. If Wally’mpa (Dah’mpa’s doppelgänger) is unresponsive, please wait until he gets back to you: entry will be put on hold during matches to minimize chances of bugs.

    Player can participate in either or both sessions. The goal is to give players (and spectators) more opportunities to participate. There will be only individual competitions (1 vs 1). This is because in team competitions bugs show up pretty quickly. Devs and testers are working hard to get rid of these issues, but for now it is safer to stick with the simpler mode.

    Participants can register until February 4 at midnight, 24:00 KIT, in order to better plan the format of each competition. Only players that really know how to play the game can sign up. That is because explaining how the Wall works during the competition would take too long and is very hard to do without drawings.

    IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 17 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic is cooking games. Feel free to suggest more interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    OpenUru

    The first quarter update testing is underway on Minkata Alpha. Testers are asked to to be discrete about a certain project they can find there until it will be ready to be released, and only report issues on the OpenUru Discord. This quarter has a wide gamut of contributions, from fixing old cold bugs in existing Ages, to (maybe) a couple of new Ages.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Doobes

    Doobes gave a few updates. First, he will be attending Mysterium to do a presentation: he will demonstrate Blender for Korman, to show in real time how to build a basic Age, and the ZLZ Age Importer, to show the process of converting Cyan Ages into usable Blender files. If you will not be able to attend, the event will be streamed live and archived to Mysterium’s YouTube channel sometime after.

    Next, he is back to work on Descent. The main focus has been relighting the section already available, just beyond the bottom of the Shaft. The current lighting is a bit unrealistic and too bright. The plan is to give this area a more natural and atmospheric lighting. After that, he will tackle the mechanics of the Great Shaft and all the wiring they will require.

    If all goes well, a new version of Descent should be uploaded to Minkata before the end of Q1, with a tentative release after the Q2 update, possibly in time for Mysterium. All this hinges on who difficult the wiring will turn out to be, so as always temper expectations!

    A change that should be coming this quarter will be the ability to delete fan Age books via Chiso Preniv. This will be possible due to coding from Hazado and graphical assets provided by Tweek.

    Doobes also mentioned Hazado has also been working on squashing more bugs with the Gahreesen Wall, so as many testers as possible are needed at the Minkata shard to give things a proper stress test.

    Finally he mentioned the release of Blender for Korman 0.14 (see our dedicated post).

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings on weekdays at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. After that they will begin the story from Myst: The Book of Atrus, followed by the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    On February 11 there will be no Story Night, as it would clash with the anniversary celebrations.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In February, the Fan Ages Expeditions will visit Lonirvan, the second chapter in the ‘Secret of the Rainbow’ journey by John J. Jaguar.
    They will then complete the exploration of the Maintainers Gateway by Melvin.
    Next will be the Cathedral by DenDwaler; the month will conclude with the first few steps (and swims) in Elsewhere by Denost.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    January ended with the CavFunding at 240% (CavCon 4.14) and the reserve at 715%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 47,027 (⇑324), with 1220 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, March 4 (Leevotahr 21) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • January 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    January 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 153rd All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. OpenUru
    3. Storytellers
    4. Events in the Cavern
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Submission deadlines for the 2023 convention are getting closer:

    • shirt designs closed on January 7;
    • pin designs are open until February 12;
    • events are open until April 29 (note that if you require special seating arrangements or equipment, you will need to inform the Committee in the submission).

    A few policy changes were also announced, regarding privacy and a few other points.

    The prompt for January is “Beginnings”; the deadline is January 31. Entries for the “Endings” prompt for December were Calum Traveler, Redwoodrroad, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    OpenUru

    Issues have been reported with some shirts going invisible at odd distances or reappearing at further ones; the fan devs plan to fix these in the coming quarter.

    The Q1-23 update testing is underway on Minkata Alpha. Testers are asked to to be discrete about a certain project they can find there until it will be ready to be released, and only report issues on the OpenUru Discord. Eder Naybree may have its beach expansion locked down in this quarter too.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Storytellers

    Calum thanked the participants to the event in Eder Naybree for making it successful. The storytellers will try to telegraph some events a bit more obviously going forwards, but they still want to keep the free-form on-the-moment events. Transcripts are available on the IC discussion forum.

    Events in the Cavern

    IwonK’s first stream for the year will be about racing games. To attend, tune in to her Twitch channel on January 13 at 15:00 KIT. There will be cookies, as always!

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings on weekdays at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. After that they will begin the story from Myst: The Book of Atrus, followed by the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In January, the Fan Ages Expeditions will conclude the exploration of Elodea Schatzkammern by Dulcamara. Then they will examine two new TikiBear restorations, along with Greenwood Cottage, originally by Kierra and salvaged by Melvin. Next they will explore the mysteries of The Maintainers Gateway by Melvin, and conclude the month in Shorah Pahts, the beginning of the ‘Secret of the Rainbow’ journey by Jhon J. Jaguar.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    December ended with the CavFunding at 143% (CavCon 4.4) and the reserve at 579%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 46,703 (⇑290), with 1250 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, February 4 (Leevosahn 27) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • November 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    November 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 151st All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Riven
    3. Town Hall
    4. OpenUru
    5. Events in the Cavern
    6. D’ni Language Classes
    7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    8. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Mysterium 2023 will be held in Spokane, WA from June 30 to July 2. Earlier than usual, because Spokane will be busy with events in late July–early August, and hotels are booked solid for July and August. No details on the specific hotel are available yet, but prices will likely be higher than usual too.

    2023 marks the Myst franchise’s 30th anniversary, so the theme of next year’s Mysterium will be: “The Evolution of Myst”. The world and the franchise have evolved over the years, and the convention will showcase this evolution.

    Submissions also started opening. First is the T-shirt artwork: every year the community is invited to create the artwork, and a lot of cool directions could be taken with 2023’s theme. The deadline is January 7, 2023. As always, the creators of the winning designs will each receive a free T-shirt. And, similarly to the past couple of years, the shirt design will be added to the wardrobe in MOULa.

    Next are event submissions: projects you want to show off, deep dives into D’ni culture, awesome group activities, and more are all welcome. The deadline is April 29, 2023.

    The community Discord server has recently gone through some minor housekeeping. Most importantly, they have revised and clarified the rules: most of it was codifying what was already enforced, but please check out the #rules and #announcements channels when you have a chance. The server is also now verified, which means it got a custom (and easier to remember) invite link.

    The Mysterium prompt for November is “Fall” (not necessarily Autumn); the deadline is November 30. Winners of the “Spooky” prompt for October were Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, IwonK, Talashar and Delcolux.

    Riven

    On October 31 Cyan released a teaser video showcasing the Riven logo, confirming they are indeed working on a modern remake of Myst’s sequel. No release date has yet been revealed. For more details, check our dedicated post.

    Town Hall

    The Rei’schu expedition was held over the Discord. There are transcripts available on the story forums. In the next MOULa update, the first draft of these transcripts will be added to Eder Naybree, until their permanent resting place is ready.

    OpenUru

    The team of artists, programmers, and janitors were quite weary after last summer’s update, so they took things easy this time and combined the time of the third and fourth quarters. There are new Ages, new places to poke at, and fixes (including a possible fix to cull the lag in Eder Naybree on older machines).

    Contributions for the next release have been frozen, and testing has started on the Minkata shard. The more people testing the better, so please join if you can (details at the bottom of this section). Testing will continue until late November; if all is well, they will deliver the update to Cyan, to be tested on Staging for about two weeks, then deployed early–mid December.

    For the Descent shaft, a very preliminary set of areas are already being tested on the Minkata alpha test shard, but development has mostly been put on the back burner until more effort can be dedicated to it, probably some time in 2023.

    Rarified is committed to bringing the backlog of improvements to the game client from the Guild of Writers’ H’uru codebase (including the transition from PhysX 2 to PhysX 4) to MOULa. An early ‘draft’ of the new client on yet another Minkata shard may be released the first quarter of next year, to start the migration process.

    Backward compatibility came up. While the GoW codebase only supports current versions of Windows, Rarified is going to try to continue building MOULa clients to be as backward compatibile as possible; but there will be a time when Win 7 and older will not be able to run it.

    Editor’s note: it should be noted that Windows backward compatibility and a native client on macOS and Linux are conflicting objectives, and developing for the latter involves changes that may overall improve the client’s performance and security. Also, while users of older versions of Windows have been penalized only in recent years, macOS and especially Linux users always had to go through hoops to be in the Cavern.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Events in the Cavern

    Tehlrov K’hris announced an Unwritten campaign, “Read Between the Lights”, hosted by Zekh, with three players/characters:

    • Pritika Chatterjee, a well read teacher with an eye for solving mysteries, played by Ereshkigal;
    • Mikito “Mike” Takahashi, a curious nomadic encyclopedia with a heart, played by Tehlrov Kh’ris; and
    • Carmen Durand, an eclectic art school dropout, played by Belle.

    The first session will be held on November 19 at 12:00 KIT and will last about three hours. The campaign is expected to last 4–5 sessions, and will be streamed live on Tehlrov Kh’ris’ Twitch channel.

    The in-Cavern location will be a secret, but if you find them, please refrain from text or voice chat as they will need both to play the game.

    IwonK announced her Wonky Talk on Friday, November 18 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood, by the ahyoheek table. This month’s topic is spooky and horror games. If you have ideas for interesting games she could talk about (and draw), feel free to contact her.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Daytime openings are currently on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT;
    • evening openings are on weekdays at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. This is a multi-part story that will last for about three more months.

    R’Tayrtahn is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In November, the Fan Ages Expeditions will look for Gary’s whereabouts in Iceworld by Denost, part of a larger Age that also includes Somewhere and Elsewhere, inhabited by the Jhibis and the Guardian. Then, they will begin the exploration of Elodea by Dulcamara.


    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    October ended with the CavFunding at 99% (CavCon 3) and the reserve at 519%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 46,130 (⇑374), with 1344 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 3 (Leevobro 6) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!