Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Miracle Grow

The tree growth problems I mentioned in my blog entry here continued to plague me for weeks. It seemed there was nothing that could be done to purify the tree of the poison that had been introduced which caused it to grow rapidly overnight! The staff were able to pinpoint the problem, but they stumbled when it came to finding a solution. Even the great Spiritus told me cleansing the tree at this point would be an impossible undertaking!


Yes, the situation was grave, indeed. It seemed all my hard work was for nothing and the treehouse would have to be disassembled. Then, suddenly, an idea! The problematic tree could be bypassed completely! A substitute was selected and, after much deliberation and careful mathematical calculation, the blueprints were drawn up. On paper, at least, it was structurally sound! Next came the miniature scale testing as proof of concept. It might actually work! Then, the life-size models and the ballistic gel test dummies were created. Several gratuitous explosions later, the building permit was acquired and I got straight to work! A little adjustment here, a few nails there, abracadabra!






Jon Quixote was There!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Beta Water! (And Other Stuff)

Beta 2.30 Part 2 was last night! This beta brought us real moving water, complete with waves! Oh, yeah, there were some other changes, including the ones from the first 2.30 beta but who cares about that stuff. No more blue concrete!! Eye candy follows. Click to enlarge:


The beta got off to a bit of a shaky start. My inventory had some serious issues loading initially. Here's a shot of me standing still on my textureless flutterbug while hovering up in the air:


I couldn't take it any longer! I dove in and went for a swim in our brand new ocean! It was great!! Except for the drowning bit. Yeah, it took a little time to teach my avie just exactly how to swim, but I managed after a good deal of trial and error. Hey, give him a break! He had never even seen water before the beta!




It wasn't long, though, before he figured it all out and, from then on, it was smooth sailing! Er, swimming.


Buggies still make with the zoom zoom when navigating the oceans, and hoverboards actually hover above the surface of the water! The numerous reefs and cracks in the blue concrete still exist as reefs and cracks on the ocean floor, only now they're not blue anymore:




And the drain! Just look!


It would appear the drain has been clogged! Who would do such a thing?! All the water seems to have spilled over and re-flooded the oceans of Theria! Wohooo!


Under some of the more unique skies in There, the water looked absolutely stunning:




Up in Northern Cangrejo, however, the water was looking kinda funky at a distance. And what's with the square shape?



Water was not the only thing being tested in this beta. We also had lab zones! Developer sandboxes, of sorts. You dropped a zone and a test object, then you were able to apply any texture or model you desired to that object and view the change immediately in-world!




Those lab zones weren't without their own little quirks, though.


Everything was going fairly smoothly right up until the--


Screenshot, crash dump, There.log, dxdiag.txt, zip 'em up and mail 'em off. But nothing was quite the same after that seg vio. Strange things began happening. At first, I just couldn't leave my lab zone. So I picked it up. Sounded like a good plan at the time. Then, I suddenly found myself rubberbanding back to the same point. So I relogged. Then, well... my avie sorta got lost in the infamous abyss.


Hello? Anybody out there? Hellooooo! (echo echo echo)


Oh well, it was still a lot of fun. The water was definitely a highlight--One of the biggest changes to happen on Theria in quite some time! I can't wait to see it in production!


See you There! Until then, I leave you with this mysterious image from the beta:


Jon Quixote was There!

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Bigger and Better

For those of you who have known me long enough: I've finally rebuilt it!! Bigger and better than ever, just like I always said I would!

For the rest of you: Get with the times, already! In my third blog post ever, while I was recounting the noteworthy events that had occurred prior to starting this blog, I mentioned the creation of a treehouse back in February '05. I used a 50x50 paz with all of 50 lousy drops in it and managed to create something unique. So unique, in fact, that it was frequently destroyed by paz quakes and falling skies and solar winds and quantum singularities and whatever other excuses Julian could find to smother my hard work. 'cough ...What? O:)

Well, it's back and better than it was before! New and improved, my Treehouse on the Horizon v2.0 features a twenty drop expansion that allows for increased space and improved living conditions for all inhabitants! Its decks have a dust-repellent, fire-retardant, non-slip coating and all wooden surfaces have been treated with a special termite-repellent compound! And, even with all these fabulous improvements, it still costs less than the original! It's the biggest and bestest treehouse evah!!**

**Shipping not included, some assembly required. Children under 12 require adult supervision at all times.

And now I present to you a visual tour of my treehouse! Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. Removing your super bunny slippers will greatly aid in navigation. Please extinguish all open flames before proceeding. I remind you that smoking is strictly prohibited while you are in my treehouse. Thank you and enjoy the tour! Click to enlarge:


























This new version of the treehouse has its own little quirks though. Ever see the roots of a There tree before? Somebody seems to think it'd be a funny practical joke to pour Miracle Grow in one of them! Just look what they did!






And what ever became of the original 50x50 paz, anyways? Well, I still have it in my pocket, thanks to There's patented Inter-Dimensional Microsingularity Storage Pocket Technology. But I wonder what happens when I pull it out?







Well, everyone, this concludes the tour of my Treehouse on the Horizon! Please remain seated until the ride comes to a complete stop. Thank you for choosing JQ tours! Please come by and visit me again soon here on Northern Cangrejo!


Jon Quixote was There!