Tag: Shows

  • MOULa 13th Anniversary Celebrations

    MOULa 13th Anniversary Celebrations

    On February 8, 2010, Myst Online: Uru Live officially reopened for the third time, in what became its longest-lived, ongoing incarnation.

    To celebrate its thirteenth anniversary, a host of events have been planned. Here is the schedule, more details for each event will be posted in their calendar entries.

    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.

    Monday 6

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Opening Ceremony, hosted by Minasunda, in the Entrance Hall of the New Messengers Pub.

    13:00–14:00 KIT: Mystical Classics, hosted by Babbel and moderated by Karel, in the New Messengers Pub.

    14:00–16:00 KIT: Wall Game 1, hosted by Dah’mpa, meeting point in the Watcher’s Pub. Participants can register until February 4 at midnight, 24:00 KIT (contact Dah’mpa at KI# 11223500). Spectators are welcome, no registration is needed in this case.

    17:00–19:00 KIT: Wall Game 2, hosted by Dah’mpa, meeting point in the Watcher’s Pub.

    Tuesday 7

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Explorer Memorial, hosted by Ghaelen, in Veelay Tsahvahn. We will commemorate our explorers and friends who passed away.

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Best of Relaxing Sessions, hosted by PodHopper, starting in Veelay Tsahvahn.

    Wednesday 8

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Girastock, hosted by Fil, in Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira (send “to gira” in a PM to Mir-o-Bot, KI# 32319).

    14:00–16:00 KIT: Eddie Competition, hosted by PodHopper, in Podhopper’s Hood.

    Thursday 9

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Country Special, hosted by Eternal Seeker, in Mir-o-Bot’s Er’cana (send “link” in a PM to Mir-o-Bot). There will be a guided dance; if you do not want to be included, please let Minasunda know at the event.

    Friday 10

    12:00–14:00 KIT: “Fraud, Trickster, Genius: Guild Master Kadish – a Speculative Look”, lecture by Owly, in Kirel.

    14:00–16:00 KIT: Among Friends, hosted by Nosila and Dah’mpa, in the Library Courtyard in Ae’gura.

    Saturday 11

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Show of the Nulp Dance Group, hosted by Minasunda and the NDG, stream by Seeker, in Fahets Highgarden, around the fish pond. The music is specially made for this show. Lag may delay the stream for some listeners; it is recommend to watch the video that will be released some time after the show at Minasunda’s YouTube channel.

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Magic Closing Event, hosted by Magic Yoda, stream by Seeker, in Fahets Highgarden (send “link” in a PM to Mir-o-Bot).

    Sunday 12

    11:00–12:30 KIT: Fan Age Expedition, hosted by Korov’ev, in the Deep Island shard. Spoilers beware!

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Lace and Furs, hosted by Radio Free D’ni, in the Ae’gura plaza.

    Websites

    Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

  • The Cavern Today 44: Make a Home

    The Cavern Today 44: Make a Home

    ’Tis the season to be jolly! GoMe affiliate The Cavern Today is closing out 2022 with a special holiday podcast, featuring:

    • Cavern News with Dalken Starbyne
    • Skit
    • TCT Talk with Bert, Esto, J’nathus, Maurus, Narym & Sh’aeri
    • Cavern PSAs with Mowog
    • Interview with Keith “Tweek” Lord
    • Musical Piece: “Ages of Tweek Suite” by Sasha Strange

    The Cavern Today is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other services, as well as The Cavern Today’s website.

  • December 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    December 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 152nd All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Lexember

    For the third time, after 2019 and 2021, Cyan is taking part in Lexember, posting a word definition every day on their official Twitter account. This time, along with D’ni, they will be posting definitions for Rivenese words!

    As with past years, a list with all the relevant links is being compiled on the Guild of Archivist’s wiki.

    OpenUru

    The team of artists, programmers, and janitors were quite weary after the summer update, so they took things easy this time and combined the time of the third and fourth quarters. There are new Ages, improvements to existing ones, and fixes.

    There have been talks about porting over the Open Cave pet Relto page, but there are a few issues to be cleared before that can be done, if at all.

    Doobes has fixed an issue with the Ahnonay Cathedral doors, which will stay open until the last person links out. He is also trying to fix a similar issue with the doors in Chiso Preniv, which depend on a couple of scripts that affect many other doors, so there may be a potential benefit to these cases (possibly even re-enabling the doors in the Museum and the Library).

    The update is presently on the Staging Server, undergoing final testing, and is expected to be released sometime in the next two weeks.

    Other items on Doobes’ to-do list are getting Relto and Kirel almost fully converted to Korman, so that adding books and pages and updating things would be much easier. The full Descent is still being worked on. He is also playing around with the five Guild Pubs, trying to make them a bit more unique, by e.g. opening up the side rooms and showing various work going on with each. Direbo is on hold, pending Cyan’s decision on Myst V content.

    Doobes is also planning to hold a live demonstration at Mysterium 2023 of how to build and export an Age with Korman, and how to import Ages using Sirius’ ZLZ Age Importer. Along with that, he is working on an asset library of various D’ni objects to use and essentially ‘paste in’ an Age; this to encourage others to take a crack at Age building by easing some of the modeling and texturing burden a bit.

    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

    ☛ Minasunda announced the upcoming release of the machinima movie Okohahzah (“black-white” in D’ni, in the sense of light and shadow) on YouTube, Saturday 10 at 12:00 KIT. You will be able to chat with the creators (including Mina) on the YouTube Premiere chat or in the Cavern, in Mir-O-Bot’s Elonin (o get there PM “link” or “meet” to the bot – note that the command is not “to Elonin”).

    On 30 December Minasunda will also release a video with a review of 2022 and all that happened in the Cavern this year. She will post the link on Facebook and Discord.

    ☛ The 13th anniversary of MOULa is coming soon. Minasunda is planning the festival week on 6–11 February: if you’d like want to contribute with an event, let her know so that she can plan the dates.

    Podhopper already announced the Eddie Competition, while Nosila and Dahmpa will host a music event together; Eternal Seeker and Mina are planning another music event with a ‘guided dance’, and the Nulp Dance Group is working on a dance show in Fahets Highgarden.

    ☛ Minasunda closed with a plea to be considerate when helping new players. There have been reports of ‘veteran’ explorers who have solved puzzles in newcomers’ instances despite their protest. This is inappropriate behavior that takes the fun out of playing; the respectful act is to back off when new players decline the help.

    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 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. 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, that he eventually uploads 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.

    Storytellers

    The Storytellers have been running sporadic story events, and a few scheduled events, such as the Town Halls on the last Wednesday of the month. Due to holidays, the December one may be skipped.

    In place of that, in Eder Naybree on Sunday 4 at 11:00 KIT, they closed the ‘troublemakers’ story arc, to move on to others such as the Rei’schu negotiations or Benahvud’s amnesia. Transcripts were posted on the story forums, along with the discussion threads.

    Mysterium

    The Mysterium prompt for December is “Endings”; the deadline is December 31. Winners of the “Fall” prompt for November were Delcolux, Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    Miscellanea

    In December, the Fan Ages Expeditions will continue the exploration of the underworld of Elodea (Unterwelt, Tunnelgang, Schatzkammern) by Dulcamara.

    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 7, 2023 (Leevosahn 5) 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!

  • August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 148th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

      1. Mysterium
      2. MOULa updates
      3. Town Hall
      4. Summer Festival
      5. Chiso Preniv updates
      6. Cavern Tours
      7. D’ni Language Classes
      8. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
      9. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    The Cyan Q&A session will not be taking live questions; you can submit your questions until August 7 (today) via the online form.

    If you are attending in person and forgot to submit an artwork or writing submission, you will have to bring it with you, as submissions are now closed.

    The schedule has been finalized, and includes a few Cavern related panels. On Friday night the video for the Mysterium Concert held on Friday 6 will be released on YouTube.

    There will be two MOUL Developer panels, for coding and Age building, half hour each. Among the guests there will be MacCodeMonkey, DPogue, Rarified, Hoikas, Tweek, Doobes, Ametist, and Calum Traveler.

    Most events will be streamed via Twitch, and uploaded to YouTube later; exceptions are noted on the schedule. The Meow Wolf excursion will not be streamed.

    The last round of special guests have been announced:

    • Eric Anderson has been with Cyan for several years, contributing to Uru, Myst V and Obduction;
    • Rand Miller co-founded Cyan and brought Myst, Obduction and all the other Cyan titles that are the very reason for the convention’s existence;
    • Joshua Reinstein is an editor and researcher for The Myst Documentary;
    • Guy Sprung is an accomplished thespian, but Myst fans will know him as Achenar from Myst IV: Revelation.

    The Mysterium prompt for August is “Travel”; the deadline is August 31. Winners of the “Voltaic Age” prompt for July were Talashar, Calum Traveler and Redwoodrroad.

    MOULa updates

    A big update was released on Wednesday 3. Included in this update were a few long requested KI changes: the command /textcolor [color] or /textcolor [colorvaluedata], well known to those familiar with shards like Deep Island, allows to change the chat text color; the change is local to the user.

    When using a custom text color, messages from PM, Buddies, or Neighbors will have prefixes to identify them: instead of  an ambiguous “From [person] in [Age]” it will now have [BUDDIES], [PRIVATE] or [NEIGHBORS] as a prefix. This feature carries into chatlogs regardless of custom color formatting.

    Another important change is related to the way Marker Games can be edited. This is primarily to prevent two related issues: MG’s titles cannot be edited if you are not the owner or not in editing mode; this is to prevent a bug where occasionally an edited title of a MG could cause it to duplicate within KI folders.

    Secondly, if you have a MG and wish to delete it, it will only delete the access node on your KI (as it was intended to be); this allows to delete the MG even if it is stuck in the “Loading Now” state. Hopefully this will also prevent new MGs to get stuck in that state.

    A door to the basement of Chiso Preniv is now available, but you will need to find the hidden button (although the door will likely be already open 🙂 ). A Nexus Terminal has been installed somewhere in Elonin.

    On Wednesday the Watcher’s Pub puzzle room door was open. This was a bug: ways to officially re-open that area [if ever 😛 – Ed.] are still being discussed, and the door will remain sealed until then.

    As for the new Ages, Eder Naybree is scheduled for September 9, while Fahets Highgarden will be released sometime after that depending on Tweek’s personal schedule. Announcements will be made closer to the release date.

    A solo mode has been added to the Gahreesen Wall, so that those who want to train by themselves will no longer have to run from side to side to set up a game.

    Some server issues have cropped up since the update and are being looked into. Some of the major clogs may be tied to the issue of overcrowded neighborhoods. A temporary solution that should help alleviate some of the strain is in the works, but it is strongly advised to move your avatar to a less crowded hood as soon as you can.

    Town Hall

    The “Storytellers” group held their second Town Hall event, designed for players who are interested in keeping tabs on the ongoing RP story to be able to catch up on missed events, as well as be able to provide some input on the future.

    They plan to hold the next ones on either either the last Wednesday of the month (after Fil Live) or during the last weekend of the month.

    Rulesets for the storytellers and a code of conduct for the town halls have been posted on Calum Traveler’s blog, until a more formal website is set up.

    Summer Festival

    Minasunda summarized the MOULa Summer Festival held on the week just prior the AGM. Up to 53 people attended the show, and it went very well, with no unforeseen obstacles.

    Thanks go to Mirphak for providing the link to Elonin, and to the special guests who took part in the concert: Piboc, aka Olivier Maurey; Lyllus, aka Lillo Moon Minniti; Fil, aka Phil Rounds.

    The full-length concert will be released as a YouTube Premiere on August 12 at 16:00 KIT. Excerpts from the concert will also be released as a YouTube Premiere on Saturday 13 at 14:45 KIT, with a bonus intro introducing the Nulp Dance Group.

    During the premieres you will be able to chat with the Nulps, and if you will be in the Cavern the gathering will be in the New Messengers Pub, festively decorated for Myterium.

    Chiso Preniv updates

    Doobes gave an outline of his contributions for the latest MOULa update. The work area on the lower floor of Chiso Preniv is now officially opened to the public, giving a peek into the daily life of those working to restore various parts of the Cavern and the Ages they have found so far, and some newly-Written Ages.

    This includes various projects from familiar faces in the Cavern like Dulcamara, Rebus, Kelsei, Tweek, and more. They want this restoration to be as transparent as they can. With luck, you may even find them down there working on or discussing things!

    They will also soon be archiving the older Kirel audios in that location as well. You will be able to replay them from the test pedestal in there.

    On another topic, for those who cannot attend Mysterium, the Cavern gathering location will be the New Messengers Pub. There will be swag to grab, including lots of shirts, and they will remain available for most of the rest of August. Thanks go to Hazado and KellyC for helping organize the event.

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

    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.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 27 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood, with Larry LeDeay and r’Tayrtahn as the guides, and Susa’n and Zeke as the hosts.

    The Tours will use a Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    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 two students taking the classes and are at various stages of completion.

    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).
    • 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
    • on Tuesday, Wednesday 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.
    • Shokhootahn Rehn (aka r’Tayrtahn) can be found on Discord as r'Tayrtahn#1317.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are in synch, and are telling the stories of the kings of D’ni, which will go on for the next 7 weeks.

    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 evennts, 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 AGM, 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

    • The Cavern Today Podcast is back, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other streaming services. Their first episode for this year features an interview to Patrick Dulebohn.
    • In August, the Fan Ages Expeditions will continue the esploration of Adrael, trying to find out whatever happened to D’ni Research Association member Irena Stromberg, who has gone missing after a vision of a ‘ghost’ with glowing eyes.
      They will then visit some the Uru locations of the Devokan Trust, one of the most elaborate fan-written storylines, spanning various platforms in the Metaverse (the real Metaverse).
      Then they will play some music in Turtle Isle by DenDwaler, and finish the month with two puzzles: Lohdehvis by Takku Petreya and Rahsoo B’ahrotan by Calena.

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

    July ended with the CavFunding at 80% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 527%, with 20% extra expenses. Population was at 45,197 (⇑230), with 1069 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, September 3 (Leetar 21) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • The Cavern Today Podcast Returns! New Episode: “Restoration”

    The Cavern Today Podcast Returns! New Episode: “Restoration”

    GoMe affiliate The Cavern Today is back with its first podcast in nearly a decade! As some may have suspected, we have been hard at work on a new episode ever since we re-launched our site archives back in April – and after months of work, we are proud to finally present a brand-new episode of The Cavern Today podcast in its original variety show format, appropriately titled “Restoration,” with special guest Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn.

    For our Summer 2022 edition, we are pleased to bring you:

    • Cavern News with Alhon and Narym
    • Skit
    • TCT Talk with Bert, Dalken, J’nathus and Maurus, featuring our interview with Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn
    • Mowog’s Thought for the Pod
    • A tribute to Jeff Wise, and a reprise of his musical piece “Kerath’s Arch”
    • Sh’aeri’s “That’s Just Me of Course”

    This episode is dedicated to TCT staffer Jeff Wise and Frank “Stungthumbz” Whiting, who both passed away in 2020 – though you have linked to the perfect age, you’ll always be in our hearts.

    The Cavern Today is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts & other services – as well as The Cavern Today’s website.

  • News Roundup #21

    Cyan news

    ☛ An update to MOULa was released on July 12, bringing the avatar dance animations from Uru: CC. You can now pick the awkward dance style of your choice 😀 The new animation is activated using /retrodance .

    ☛ The music for Firmament will be composed by Maclaine Diemer, who previously worked on ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2, Harmonix’s Rock Band franchises, Riot Games’ League of Legends, Amazon Game Studios’ first major original title Crucible, and most recently Salt and Sacrifice from Devour Studios.

    Mysterium news

    ☛ As announced during the AGM, a Mysterium Concert will be held live on August 5 at 13:00 KIT, in NDG Elonin, during the Summer Festival 2022. The concert, conceived by Minasunda, will be a tour across the Myst games and the Cavern and its community.

    For in-person Mysterium attendees, a special highlights video of the concert will be premiered on August 13 and shared on Facebook and Discord. For online attendees, a link to the full concert will be provided on August 14, for those unable to attend the concert live.

    The concert will feature three special guests who will play live: Olivier Maurey aka Piboc, Lillo Moon Minniti aka Lyllus, and Phil Rounds aka Fil. You can find more info about the artists on Calum Traveler’s blog.

    ☛ A new round of special guests has been announced:

    • John Austin, co-founder of Pontoco and project lead on The Last Clockwinder (a Cyan Venture);
    • Don Carson, Senior Art Director at Mighty Coconut and former Disney Imagineer;
    • Henning Koczy, Level Designer for Walkabout Mini Golf (a VR game planning to release a new course based on Myst island) at Mighty Coconut;
    • Lucas Martell, Head of Mighty Coconut and creator of Walkabout Mini Golf;
    • Anita Tung, Art Director for The Last Clockwinder.

    ☛ There will also be a Cyan Q&A Panel; if you wish to ask any questions, please submit them via this form by August 7. It will be a general Q&A, so feel free to ask about Firmament, Venture projects, Starry Expanse, etc.

    ☛ The Myst Documentary crew will share an update and sneak peeks of the film progress, as well as show off the Myst Story Community Vault. There will also be a Q&A session.

    ☛ Proof of vaccination will be asked at the time badges will be issued, you will not need to show proof again for the rest of the weekend. The up-to-date COVID policies are available here, the Committee will avoid changing them unless necessary.

    Other news

    ☛ The third episode of the WaterCooler Show, by the Cavern Communications Network, will be an interview to Aaron Gwynaire, developer of the upcoming Myst-style point-and-click adventure game Neyyah.

  • Moula Summer Festival 2022

    Moula Summer Festival 2022

    August 1–5 2022

    The first week of August will be full of activity in the cavern. During the Moula Summer Festival, a variety of events are scheduled: contests, music events, a video event and a marker game. It is also the first year we can offer a Gahreesen Wall game as a contest. Cone Race is another new contest and last but not least, a Door Run contest.

    A recording of the Nulp Dance Group Concert will also be released as a YouTube Premiere on August 12 at 16:00 KIT, and a second video with excerpts from it will be released on August 13 at 14:45 KIT.

    Guest artists will be Piboc, aka Olivier Maurey; Lyllus, aka Lillo Moon Minniti; Fil, aka Phil Rounds.

    Festival scheduleMysterium 2022 concert flyer

    A pdf version of the Summer Festival flyer is available, containing the schedule and detailed information about all the events (which are also listed in the calendar).

    For more information about the festival, feel free to contact PodHopper at:

    • PodHopper, #7116825 (Moula)
    • PodHopper#8133 (Discord)
  • July 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    July 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 147th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Town Hall
    3. Summer Festival
    4. Chiso Preniv updates
    5. Cavern Tours
    6. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    The first guests for this year have been announced, and several more will be announced very soon:

    • Katie “Kha’tie” Postma, a long-time fixture within the Myst and Mysterium community, now the Social Media Manager for the Myst Documentary;
    • Philip Shane, award winning documentary filmmaker, currently working on the Myst Documentary;
    • Ryan “Greydragon” Warzecha, recently promoted to Associate Designer on Firmament, formerly Head of Developer Relations for Cyan Ventures, and Cyan’s resident tiki bar authority.

    For those attending the Meow Wolf event, a reminder was posted to review their light and noise sensitivity warnings.

    The Mysterium prompt for July is “Voltaic Age”; the deadline is July 31. Winners of the “Resilience” prompt for June were Grayson, Harley and Laughingpineapple. Winners of the “Villains” prompt for May were Grayson, Belle, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    Town Hall

    The “Storytellers” group recently held the first of several planned monthly Town Hall events, designed for players who are interested in keeping tabs on the ongoing RP story to be able to catch up on missed events, as well as be able to provide some input on the future. An unedited chatlog can be found on Traveler’s Cavern Log; minutes of these logs are being planned to be posted to a journal in Chiso Preniv, although not before Q3.

    Explorers there voted on three items: first, Eder Naybree was chosen to be released first, with Highgarden second. A second vote was held on the restoration priorities for the Overflow Station area, and the third was on diplomatic relations with an inhabited Age.

    On the storytelling front, some concerns were raised about some ambiguity of rule interactions. A formal post is being drafted for a generic ruleset to address these concerns; most of the rules will be similar to the AGM rules.

    Summer Festival

    PodHopper presented the outline of the MOULa Summer Festival, which will be held on August 1–5, before the next AGM. The number of events made a five-day festival possible, with a variety of events like contests, music, a video event and a marker game.

    For more information, or if you have an idea for an event that you would like to be included, feel free to contact PodHopper on Discord (PodHopper#8133) or in MOULa (#7116825). The events are also listed in our calendar.

      • Monday 1st
        • 12:00–13:30: Cooking Session with Sky (video event)
        • 13:30–15:00: Eternal Evergreens (music event)
      • Tuesday 2
        • 13:00–14:30: Cone Race (contest)
        • 14:30–15:30: Beach Party by the Fountain (music event)
      • Wednesday 3
        • 14:00–16:00: Wall game (contest)
      • Thursday 4
        • 12:00–13:00: A brief history of D’ni (marker game)
        • 15:00–16:30: Door Run (contest)
      • Friday 5
        • 13:00–14:30: Mysterium Concert (music event)

    Minasunda gave a few more details on some of the events. At the “Eternal Evergreens” event – which will take place in the stained glass windows room in Mir-o-Bot’s Elonin (PM “to NDG Elonin” to the bot to get there, KI# 32319) – Eternal Seeker will sing a few songs. A ‘guided dance’ is planned, where avatars will temporarily be taken over for a dance routine. If you do not want to be integrated in the dance, let Mina know so she can put you on the exclusion list for the duration of the event.

    The second event, also taking place in Mir-o-Bot’s Elonin, is a very special, 80 min concert for this year’s Mysterium. Uncle Rebus’ large Persian carpet offers plenty of space for the attendees, so there is no need to climb on the furniture 😉

    The concert is not just a music stream: the Nulp Dance Group will ‘play’ instruments live and will be supported by three backround singers. There will be pieces from Myst, Riven, Exile, Revelation, End of Ages and Uru, plus three artists well known in the Myst/Uru community will play live a few of their pieces: Olivier Maurey aka Piboc, Lillo Moon Minniti aka Lyllus, and Phil Rounds aka Fil.

    A video will be recorded, and excerpts will then be released as a YouTube Premiere during the convention (because of timing constraints, the video cannot be longer than 25 min). The release date will be posted on Facebook and Discord very soon.

    Chiso Preniv updates

    Doobes gave an update on what is coming for the next update to MOULa. The Chiso Preniv library will be greatly expanded, with journals and stories related to the ongoing RP fan stories. All the new content (save a few Ages planned for later release) will be available immediately after the update, but will be somewhat hidden: a hint is to look for the number 18 😉

    If you would like to add a little story-related something, or even just some creative writing related to Myst/Uru for a future update, let Doobes know. Note that you may be asked by testers to work out some ‘wrinkles’ and such.

    With Chiso’s updates out of the way, Doobes will focus solely on the Ae’gura Messengers Pub’s Mysterium decorations. Each of the corner alcoves and the conference room upstairs will be devoted to each Myst game in the series. The main hall and entryway will also have the tables ‘dressed up’ in cliché hotel conference room fashion, for extra authenticity and to give those that could not make it to the convention in-person the same feel as if they were there. There will also be some ‘swag’ to collect 🙂

    If all goes well, the decorations (along with many other goodies and fixes) will appear soon after the update and just in time for Mysterium weekend, August 12–14. The update is planned to be released for the end of July or beginning of August.

    A separate small update will be released in the coming week: an addition was needed for one of the presentations.

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

    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.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour are back, on the fourth Saturday of the month, gathering at 11:00 KIT in the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

    Larry LeDeay will reprise his role as the tour guide, r’Tayrtahn will appear as guest guide. Zeke, the original creator of the Cavern Tours, will also be back as host along Susa’n.

    The Tours will use a Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Miscellanea

    • The Cavern Communications Network has released an episode of its podcast The Water Cooler Show, and will release another one on July 8: the first is an interview to Patrick Dulebohn aka Doobes.
    • The second is an interview to the crew of MystiTech Productions, the group behind the machinima series The Lost Art; episode 14 was released on June 18 on MystiTech’s YouTube channel.

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

    June ended with the CavFunding at 114% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 544%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 44,967 (⇑220), with 1090 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, August 6 (Leesahn 28) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • The Cavern Today’s Archives are Back!

    The Cavern Today’s Archives are Back!

    After a herculean effort rebuilding our feed, remastering audio & updating old art, we are pleased to announce The Cavern Today’s podcast feed has been officially relaunched, and our complete podcast archives are now available on your favorite streaming services, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Pocket Casts.

    In addition, our newly-updated website now features the return of content we haven’t made available since 2010, including exclusive interviews with Rand Miller, coverage of the 2006 Cyan Pizza Party, and at long last, our archives of The Cavern Today Extra – our “shortwave” service which covered important in-cavern updates between 2005-2008.

    To be clear, this is only a relaunch of our archives, and we have no plans for any new content at this time. However, if that changes, we’ll be sure to let you know.

    Check us out at The Cavern Today – and when you’re in-cavern, feel free to stop by The Cavern Today’s Hood to say hello!