Tag: NaNoWriMo

  • December 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    December 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 164th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. Magic Ages
    4. H’uru macOS client
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    ☛ There have been some minor changes to the Mysterium policies, mainly:

    • heckling and shouting out during presentations will be taken more seriously: reactions and cheering are fine, but repeatedly interrupting presenters is not;
    • attempts at circumventing the refund policies via charge dispute may result in a permanent ban from future events.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for December is “Refuge”; the deadline is the 31st. Entries for the “Found Family” prompt for November were from Tomatoes, Calum Traveler, redwoodrroad, Talashar and Rahshahth.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ For December’s Cooking Sessions with Sky, on Monday 4 at 12:00 KIT in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood, Skyisblu will be making whipped shortbread, and show some easy ways to transform them into really beautiful gifts for family and friends.

    Every month is something new and different, often inspired by what is in season. 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 15 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be Christmas 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 18 at 13:00 KIT.

    Minasunda outlined a few, upcoming special events:

    • December 15 at 13:00 KIT: Game Music Session in the New Messengers Pub with Karel, with the theme “Music from Fortnite”; the pre-show will start at 12:45 KIT.
    • December 24 at 13:00 KIT: Magic Christmas Eve;
    • December 31 at 13:00 KIT: Magic New Year’s Eve. Location and details for both will be announced later, so keep an eye on the usual channels on Discord and Facebook!
    • January 8 at 13:00 KIT: on the occasion of Elvis’ birthday, Eternal Seeker will play Elvis songs for two hours in the large hall in Eder Bahvahnter.
    • February 10 at 12:00 KIT: the Nulp Dance Group will play on a new show, which will take place in Eder Naybree on the beach.
    • February 5–10: the 14th MOULa Anniversary is coming soon, so if you have any idea for an event, it is a good time to start planning! You can contact Minasunda at any time to schedule time.

    Diranda, on behalf of the Guild of Authors and Artists, announced the theme of this month’s writing workshop: “Creative Prompts”. The workshop will be held on December 13 at 15:00 KIT in the New Guild of Messengers Pub. You can find more info and take part in the discussion on their website and their Discord.

    ☛ There will be no Town Hall in December, due to the holidays. Meanwhile, the Rei’schu Diplomacy Discord is going on its next adventure. To catch up on and read it in real time, check the #to-naybrees-mountain-ic channel; the start is in the pinned posts. The contents of the adventure will be added to a journal or series of journals here in MOULa sometime after the conclusion.

    Magic Ages

    Mister Magic is back with all his magical bots:

    • MagicBot and MimiBot, who allow to perform magical movements and guide you in magical games specially created to have fun in the cave;
    • the Fabulous Magic Treasure bots Game MasterMagic Treasure and Mimi Treasure, who will accompany you in the ten episodes of this adventure game with many hours of thought, puzzles and research to restore light to the City of Ae’gura;
    • the Hidden Treasures, where you will play the role of a private detective, searching for Miss Smith’s stolen jewelry; and
    • the Magic High School of Skydiving, introducing any explorer to Aerobatics with the help of Magic Skydiver and Mimi Skydiver, who will guide you on the invisible walls of the Ages in a progressive manner.

    The skydiving bots took the most time, because the physics effects worked a little differently a few years ago. There are currently 46 missions and 5 certificates, plus some special missions performed by instructor skydivers. The new Ages added since 2020 will also be the subject of new skydiving missions.

    More informations and all the commands of the bots can be found on the Mystpedia forum, which has an English and a French section. The magic bots also have their own channel on the MOULa Events Discord.

    H’uru macOS client

    Darryl Pogue gave an update on some of the recent development work happening from the H’uru team.

    Firstly, thanks to some contributions from IntelSpark on the OpenUru Discord, the PlasmaMax Age creation plugin for 3DS Max now supports 3DS Max 2023 and 2024. PlasmaMax is the 3DS Max plugin written by Cyan for the creation of all their Uru content, and is available as an alternative to Blender and Korman for Age builders. You can download the PlasmaMax plugin for all versions of 3DS Max from 7 all the way to 2024.

    On the macOS front, the Metal rendering system for macOS was merged in to the H’uru client earlier this week. That means it is now possible to compile and run an Uru client on macOS, for both Intel and Apple Silicon processors!

    A huge thanks goes to Maccodemonkey, who spent the past two years single-handedly implementing the Metal rendering system and trying to make it match how the game looks with DirectX on Windows.

    There is still some more work that has to be done before a macOS client is ready to be tested, but getting the Metal renderer merged was one of the biggest pieces and means that people can compile a mostly-working client to use for their own local testing on their own local shard (not on MOULa).

    Some of the remaining macOS work is technical (handling display resolutions, handling patching) and some of it is logistical (handling Apple Developer accounts for code signing). The client is not ready yet for a beta test. Stay tuned for future announcements!

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Currently there are are two students taking the classes, at various stages of completion.

    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, Tuesday and 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 are currently telling 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 😉

    There will be no Story Night on December 23 as R’Tayrtahn will be traveling for the holiday; but there may be one on the 30th.

    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

    TikiBear and Ametist will soon submit the Age of Mirtahm for testing on the Minkata shard. Time for testing!

    ☛ In December, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will explore some more Ages from 2008–09: Tunnel Demo (by Nadnerb), Wianeroy (Perlenstern), ERC Age (Jennifer P., Robert The Rebuilder, Ametist, Corvus), Torilacha (Mystpedia forum); two more, Box Age (Nadnerb) and Odema (Nadnerb, concept by Yali) will have to be skipped because of a bug.

    Then they will explore the works by the late Andy Legate, including Serene. After that, it will be time for the second RAD Contest entries, all Ahra Pahts shells. The month (skipping the 31st) will conclude with a few works by Whilyam.


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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, January 6, 2024 (Leevosahn 4) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • Nanowrimo 2023 Workshop

    On Wednesday, November 15 at 15:00 KI (3 pm) The Guild of Authors and Artists are hosting a Writing Workshop at the New Guild of Messengers’ Pub.

    This is our mid NaNoWriMo event workshop, for authors, artists and other creative people.  We will discuss what we’ve been working on, share our progress for the NaNoWriMo event as well as other creative projects we are working on this November. We may also do a Writing Sprint Marker Game!

  • October 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    October 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 162nd All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

    Submissions for pins are now open, until March 31, Pins are not required to follow the Mysterium 2024 theme of Serenia, and/or the host city of Montreal. Shirt submissions are also open, until February 25.

    ☛ A new COVID vaccine has been made available for the latest variants of the virus. The Committee recommends everyone to get it as soon as possible. Also, there have been reports of pharmacies no longer updating or providing vaccine cards; if you are looking for an updated proof of vaccine, it is advisable to specifically request a card, or look into electronic vaccine records if available.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for October is “Noir”; the deadline is October 31. Entries for the “Back to School” prompt for September were from Calum Traveler, TalasharRedwoodrroad, Salvo Ludus.

    Events in the Cavern

    October 31 is the 26th anniversary of the release of Riven: the Sequel to Myst! Cyan is still at work on the VR remake, some glimpses of which were shown and discussed at this year’s Mysterium.

    Skyisblu hosts “Cooking Sessions with Sky” (on her Twitch channel) every month on the first Monday at 12:00 KIT in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood; recently she made okonomiyaki. The recipes are explained in both English and French.

    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 13 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be robots in video games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    ☛ Karel will host a Music Session in the Ae’gura Messengers Pub on Friday, October 13 at 13:00 KIT; the theme will be “Game Music over the Years“.

    Diranda, on behalf of the Guild of Authors and Artists, invited everyone to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2023. They will hold workshops, write-ins, writing sprints and other NaNo-related gatherings in the Cavern as well as on their Discord server.

    Event dates will be posted soon; they will try to accomodate schedules as best as possible, so if you are interested, you should get in contact to help plan the events. They plan to have a concurrent event for artists as well as other creative types, including Age writers, to join in the fun. Suggestions for concurrent activities are definitely welcome.

    If you would like an invite to the Guild’s Discord, or for more info and questions about NaNoWriMo events, you should contact Diranda. For more about National Novel Writing Month, you can visit the official website.

    Magic Ages

    Mister Magic is back in the Cavern! He has now restored all of his Magic Ages, including the fireworks, and the numerous Magic Games are playable again. Mister Magic is currently working on making the Fabulous Magic Treasure (FMT) available to players again.

    To get help with the magic commands in the game, send “help” in PM to one of the bots with and they will send you a KI-mail with all the commands:

    • Magic Bot #27527,
    • Mimi Bot #71459,
    • Magic Treasure #26224,
    • Magic-Treasure #24891,
    • Mimi Treasure #21190.

    You can ask questions regarding the Magic Ages and everything that goes with them on the dedicated channel on the MOULa Events Discord, or on the dedicated thread on the Mystpedia forums.

    To celebrate the return of the Magic Bots (and as a thank you to Mir-o-Bot for remaining loyal despite all the difficulties), there will be a party, on Saturday, October 14 at 11:30 KIT, in Mir-o-Bot’s Kalamee (to get there, PM “to kalamee” to Mir-o-Bot, #32319).

    Eternal Seeker will provide the music, and the Nulp Dance Group will open the evening with a short but cool performance. In order to see all the effects, it is important not to use an internal client. Please come to the party with the vanilla MOULa client. After the performance, the dance floor will be open.

    Dances

    There will be no ‘guided dance’, but you can dance with a partner of your choice, with the help of Magic-Bot. There are different dances for this:

    • dancewith [name] [x]
      • abbreviated: dcw [name] [x]
    • slowdancewith [name] [x]
      • abbreviated: sldw [name] [x]

    where [name] is the avatar name of your desired dance partner, and [x] is the number of repetitions (max 3). All the seven dances that were available with the ‘guided dances’ are also available:

    • minadance [x] [name]

    Odd numbers are slightly faster dances, even numbers are slightly slower. Be polite and ask your desired dance partner to dance beforehand 😉

    Note that after calling the command, you will automatically be teleported to your dance partner and take a step backwards to assume the correct position. Make sure that your dance partner is not looking into an abyss, otherwise you would fall!

    If you need a KI note with a recap of the commands, you can ask Minasunda to send you one when you are in the Cavern.

    OpenUru

    Calum Traveler mentioned an upcoming fix to a long standing issue: in 2007 the DRC locked open the doors to the Library and Museum in Ae’gura, due to technical issues with the automatic sensors that were causing the doors to close in peoples faces, or stay shut when they should have opened.

    After almost 17 years, thanks to the hard work of Hazado, the functioning of these doors will be restored to proper functionality, opening and closing for a person coming close to their sensor regions, but staying open if multiple people are close by and not closing again until all people have transited. If someone links out while inside the sensor region, the doors will not close again until another person has gone through.

    Rarified gave a brief comment about the update schedule for MOULa. If all goes well, they should be able to send Cyan the new material later this month, with a possible release date for mid-November.

    TikiBear announced the restoration of the Age of Mirtahm, by Ametist and himself. There is no set date yet for when the Age will be made available.

    Mirtahm was found by Rebus and his friends, and is apparently deserted, after a cataclysmic flood that leaves much under water. There are structures remaining above the water that they have been restoring.

    From what they have found, the D’ni rescued and evacuated the original inhabitants. They then stayed for some time, with a small crew, to excavate a mineral. Now, after some cleanup, the Age is peaceful, if moody. There will be plenty of swimming and diving, though there will be fauna to contend with.

    Semjay is still working on refurbishing the Explorers’ Emporium (currently available on Deep Island); she is hoping to have it ready for testing by Christmas.

    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. Another student has finished the 101 lessons and is working on their 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.
    • 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.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In October, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will explore Jo’nae and Jo’nae Hood by Jonnee (from the book room in Janga, if possible), Takla Ma’kan by the German group H’Uru (not to be confused with the Writers’ developers group), and Paah’kweh by BobLishman.


    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 4 (Leevofo 12) at 13:00 KIT (20:00 CET).

    Until then!