Life In Blue Mars

Hey everyone! It's your friendly neighborhood blogger Zetsumei! Today was the big Meet and Greet in Caledonia! For those of you who have either been living under a rock or are brand new to Blue Mars, Caledonia is one of two new cities owned by Desmond Shang, the same person who owns Caledon in SL. A little while back I had interviewed Desmond about Caledonia (Link: http://lifeinbluemars.blogspot.com/2009/12/interview-with-desmond-shang-of.html ) and today we all got to get together in Caledonia and have a great time too!

There was a huge turnout! Atleast 20-30 people showed up! Of the ARI staff unfortunately Glenn was not able to make this Meet and Greet due to some network troubles but Tiffany, Mark, and Masa were able to make it. As you can tell from the screenshots ive posted below in my usual jam-packed flickr slideshow, there was alot of chatting, alot of people making friends and getting to know each other, and a hugfest started by myself =P You'll see a few people getting huggled tightly in those pics hehe. Caledonia was running as smoothly as ever with this many people in it, and all was well. Desmond arrived just intime, and kindly answered whatever questions people had about Caledonia.

Well thats about all for now guys! Enjoy the thick slideshow ive psoted with a whopping 15 photo's of the meet and greet!

Hey everyone, just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Hope your day goes extremely well!

Some things to expect in the future from me are more entries into the Creator Showcase series with interviews from many other city devs, articles about Pavonis, Caledonia, new events coming in Gridrock City and more!

Hello there everyone! Its your friendly neighborhood blogger extraodinaire~ Zetsumei Ieyashi. Today to begin my Creator Showcase series, I've got an interview with Desmond Shang of Caledon in SL and Caledonia in Blue Mars!

From Life In Blue Mars

Hello there Desmond, thank you for letting me interview you today, I've got a few questions I'd love for us to go over.

Zetsu: What first attracted you to Blue Mars?

Desmond: A couple things. First, the Cryengine and its incredible capabilities, and second, I think the economic model is going to be the 'engine' that creates great content, supports small businesses and sustains a generally well~rounded and healthy community.

Zetsu: How long has Caledonia been in production?

Desmond: Since April 2009. Yes, I kept it quiet for about eight months, as did a good number of freelance designers giving me a hand with it. Amazing it stayed quiet! But it did!

Zetsu: Do you have any plans for the future of Caledonia?

Desmond: YES!!! It's going to be mainly a cooperative plan, though, as the Caledonia community is going to build out their vision, I just unleash it ~ but I've got a few surprises planned in there also :) Caledonia will be anything but static!

Zetsu: What are your going rates at the moment for blocks/shops/apartments?

Desmond: Right now, a starter deal of 20 USD/month of BLU, for a city parcel. I've got a fair number of takers already, it's going nicely!

Zetsu: Is it / do you think it will be difficult managing both your Second Life continent and now your Blue Mars continent?

Desmond: Nah. Anyone could do this, really! Work is easy, if you love doing it! Sure I get busy, but I'd rather be busy at something I like, than calmly doing something I hated... I hope that makes sense?

Zetsu: Is Caledonia connected to your Second Life Continent in any manner?

Desmond: Quite so ~ Caledonia is a colony in the New World, socially and historically connected to Caledon. Think of it as a ridiculously rich and storied backstory! That said, Blue Martians won't be beholden to Victoria City, and we'll no doubt build a complex, rich but slightly different society on Blue Mars.

Zetsu: What is your dream vision of Caledonia becoming for users in Blue Mars? Lets say a projection into the future a year from now.

Desmond: Oh, a year from now we'll still be in the early days! By that time I expect to see major group projects nearing completion, not just shops and houses... the technology base maturing, and uniquely native traditions arising. And expect surprises! As can be observed from our launch, sometimes major things spring up when least expected. More fun that way! Count on me being "up to something" always... grin


That's all for today's issue of Life In Blue Mars! In the coming days expect articles on both Pavnois and Caledonia, including many pictures as i know you all like!

Hey everyone! Its your friendly neighborhood blogger extraordinaire~ Zetsumei!

HUGE UPDATE TODAY!

-Biggest one ever released!-

This blog post is going to be massive and is only the first of several as I will be dedicating new blog posts to some of the new content as time goes on!

First of all, THE NEW BLUE MARS WEBPAGE IS AMAZING!!

I dont even know where to start there is so much to say! So heres a few screenshots, as we all know pictures say more than words do.

From Life In Blue Mars

From Life In Blue Mars

www.bluemars.com - New domain name for the website

www.bluemarsonline.com - The old domain name still works too though

The new Blue Mars website is absolutely amazing and such an improvement from the beta website only hours ago! Kudos out to the whole team at Avatar Reality for their amazing work!

User Interface Updates -

Wow! The new updates for the user interface absolutely awesome! Very sleek, modern and suiting for Blue Mars' style, below are some photos of the changes ^__^

From Life In Blue Mars

From Life In Blue Mars

From Life In Blue Mars

From Life In Blue Mars

City Updates -

With this update comes two brand new cities and an update from Gridrock City (full update details on GRC are detailed later in this article)

From Life In Blue Mars

- Caledonia!
With this release comes an amazing development from the people who bring you Caledon, a victorian steam punk continent in second life! Desmond Shang, the owner (of whom I will be interviewing at a later date, so expect that post!) has explained on his website ( http://sites.google.com/site/caledoniamars/home ) as well as on the Blue Mars Dev Forums, that he has actually been working on developing Caledonia quietly behind the scenes since April of this year. This would explain how he can basically come out of the blue with an amazing city just waiting to be enjoyed by all!

- Pavonis!
(Not much on this one yet, but from Glenn's News post)A lush tropical island archipelago where you can create and share your dreams. Pavonis is also created by the people who have brought you Caledonia

(Expect many pictures of these cities soon! I will be dedicating a blog post to each new city, as well as the interview with Desmond Shang)


Gridrock City Update -

From Life In Blue Mars

For starters, Gridrock City's upates in this new release ARE AMAZING! Let me spell that out for you A-MA-ZING. Aside from my joining the team and leading up these Author's Guild, all of the additions to city itself are absolutely beautiful. As I'm sure you will be able to tell form the snapshots I have provided below in my usual jam packed flickr slideshow!

Here is a list of just a few things that have been added to the city:

- A comprehensive set of teleporting orbs that whisk you away to a number of amazing destinations such as.
- Amazingly architectured caves.
- A beautifully rendered harbour with an irresistable vacation feel to it.
- Club Nebula West and a nice cafe area by the water(Author's Guild territory! Theres an easter egg here too, wonder who can find it?)
- An amazing biodome type area full of beautiful foliage such as trees, bushes and the dome itself which was rendered amazingly in the CryEngine.
- A big 'top of the mountain' view over the entirety of Gridrock City. (This one is especially amazing, be sure to enable the High graphics setting here if your computer can handle it)
- And some others you'll just have to find yourself!

Alot of improvements were added to the apartment areas as more have been added and they have been made to look absolutely amazing! I'm only scratching the surface here of all of the amazing things that have been added to the city. Another of the amazing updates is the beautiful architecture that has been added to the general entrance area, with the huge grid-arch towering over one of the nearby platforms.

I hope you all enjoy the city and know that the team has worked very hard to bring it to life for everyone!

Heres the update GRC slideshow!



Other City Updates:

-Beach City now has a new Golf Area

-Beach City now has a new Bowling Area


Real Estate -

According to a news post by Glenn, developers will soon be able to use a real estate page to find and rent blocks in Blue Mars with BLU$



Developer Tools / Developer MyPage Updates -

The Developer Tools are now all available for download through the Developer mypage! (Including the city editor!)

Big functionality addition to Blue Mars!

Flash 10 functionality within world!

- ARFlashEntity, a new entity that allows one to place Flash easily win world

A how to for this function is at the wiki: http://www.bluemarsdev.com/wiki/index.php/BlueMars_City_Developer_AR_Tools

Several updates have been made to the developer mypage!

City Developers now have the ability to :

Upload a City PAK file to the Avatar Reality servers through FTP.

Set their prices for block sale.

And

Upload block PAK files from Block Developers


Block Developers now have the ability to:

Upload their PAK files to their City Developer


Item Developers now have the ability to:

Upload their items and set their prices. (Items uploaded go through QA at AR only to make sure they function properly, AR does not judge content quality)



Member Mypage Update -

From Life In Blue Mars

Absolutely great news! The Member Mypage that the community has been hearing about for so long is finally released! The features that the Mypage has are as follows:

The ability to edit your name! (Finally!) I know alot of us will be happy to finally get this all straightened out since tehy switched to Usernames for the nametags.

Account Options: The ability to now change your password as well as your email address assigned to your account!

Create your personal Blue Mars Profile!: Martian's now have the ability to fill out their profile! And according to news from Glenn, in an upcoming MyPage update you'll also be able to upload a picture for your avatar!

User Inventory!: Through this you will have a list of everything you have purchased with Blue Mars!

Blue Mars Friends List: You will now have a list of your friends on this site, and according to news from Glenn you will be able to instant message from here in the future!

BLU$ Purchases: According to Glenn, this system is not done yet but once everything is straightened out you will be able to purchase BLU$ from here!.

This is all absolutely wonderful news!


Phew! What a big update! I believe thats all for tonight my fellow readers and followers, but expect more posts to come as more information is released as well as when i get the time to take a sufficient amount of photos for the new cities!

Hello there everyone!

Today I am announcing the beginning of my Creator Showcase series of interviews.

Over the next several months I will be interviewing several city developers and showcasing a new city developer perhaps every week or so (or just about whenever I have the chance to interview someone, this will also be affected by the overall number of city devs available at the moment, so as of now there may not be too many at first, but I assure you that this series will be going on straight through public release and forwards.)

In these interviews I will be asking questions such as,

"What inspired you to start working with Blue Mars?"

"What is the theme of your city, and tell me a little about the storyline?"

"What are plans you have for your city?"

and questions similar to those. I hope to over time build a comprehensive list of city developers and a good several articles of interviews.

Here is a sneak preview of city developers I hope to interview as time goes on:

Desmond Shang of Caledonia

Corey Evans of Grid Rock City

Gus of WildWestGames

Rock Vacirca of Valles Marineris and Arabian Nights

Takuan Daikon

and many more as time goes on.

I am hoping to showcase atleast one of these developers before the week's end so keep checking back for more news!

(PS: If you are interested in being showcased please message me on the beta forums, the dev forums, or leave a comment here. If you are a content developer, but not a city developer, dont feel left out! I will happily interview you as well. I am also contactable by skype, my SN there is metthias- )

Just wanted to say thank you to my followers, and all of my readers! I wouldn't and couldn't do this without you guys, and just wanted to show my respect!

Expect some big blog posts coming soon, the word around is that theres some big updates on the way!

Hihi everyone! I'm pleased to announce that I have recently taken the spot as the Author's Guild leader in Gridrock City! Yaaaay!

Recently I have joined the Gridrock City team and I will be playing a large part in helping out with it's storyline as well as quests, events etc. I also have put together a first draft of what the Author's Guild will be offering as services to those who come to Gridrock City and just in general. I will be posting the thread below, and it can also be discussed on the original thread at the GRC forum: http://grcguilds.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=6&comments_parentId=7

[-As posted on the GRC forum-]

Hey everyone! Its your friendly neighborhood blogger and resident uber forum poster / volunteer Zetsu! Today there was a great turnout at the meet and greet! Had some devs stop by, some staff from Avatar Reality stop by, and a good amount of people! Alot of questions were answered in todays Meet and Greet, and I had the opportunity to snap many pictures! Just check out the slide show below with a whopping 17 photos.

Progress Report:

Volunteer Shirts: I had a chance to speak with Tiffany Nahinu (Summer Studio, AKA Tnahinu on the forums) about the volunteer shirts that are being developed at the moment, and she told me that they are coming along great and that next week she will be exporting them from 3DSMax. No date on just when we will actually get the shirts, but it is good to know that progress is being made.

Member MyPage: I had a chance to ask about the Member Mypage, and although progress may seem to be going slow to us on the outside, testing and feature implimentation is going on behind closed doors for this feature. No release date as of yet, but we can be sure that it is being actively worked on.

Editors: I had the chance to speak with Soeda, one of the engineers working on the editors for the Devs and they are currently working on the Animation editor, which is coming along well, and a few people had asked about the vehicle editor but there wasnt much detail given on that subject, just that it is complicated. I dont know if we will be getting it or not although at previous times I was told that there may be support for it in the future.

Instant Messaging: I had the chance to ask about Instant Messaging, and Tiffany mentioned it would either be coming in the next update or early next year. December or January she was able to project for me.

Developer Newsletter!: To all those who are signed up as developers, Glenn is working on a newsletter to be sent out next month especially for us! Hopefully this will be a regular thing, so that we can keep tabs on whats going on.

Well thats all for this update! Look forward to future updates including the Beach City video, the big post about what people are asking for in blue mars, and updates about coming patches etc!

Enjoy the slideshow! :D

Hey there everyone, after a little while of hush hush around the forums and blue mars in general lately, it seems that there are things indeed happening behind closed doors hehe!

http://www.bluemarsonline.com/forum/download/file.php?id=99

http://www.bluemarsonline.com/forum/download/file.php?id=98

http://www.bluemarsonline.com/forum/download/file.php?id=97

http://www.bluemarsonline.com/forum/download/file.php?id=95

As you can see from those photos there it seems that the name Martian Mentor has won the volunteer naming poll! This is a great day, as it marks the beginning of the recognition for all those who have helped and will continue to help out new users in Blue Mars. As a volunteer I cant express my excitedness enough, but it could just be because there are some awesome new shirts coming out =P Not to mention that the Volunteer apartments are almost done hehe! Well thats about it for this update, I wish all of my fellow Volunteers and readers a good day and a pleasant night.

As always, love you guys <3

Zetsumei Ieyashi

Hey everyone, moved the survey to the polldaddy service, a very nice and free service.

The link is over at http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/CB1326A5386E3AE0/

Watch out for the future post I'll be writing with this data, as well as another one that will come before it showing off a little bit of fun in the City Editor

Hi there everyone! I'm going to be working on a new blog post soon but in order to complete it I have written up a short survey I would like anyone who is interested to fill out and PM back to me(Zetsumeii on the beta forums or metthias- in skype). The information provided to me will be used together as a whole to help produce the article, and anonymity will be assured as I do not intend on directly quoting anyone, or mentioning anyone's name directly unless they wish it to be or insist on it. If interested, I can include a list of the people who have helped with the post through answering the survey questions, if you are interested in being on this list please say so in the message.

Feel free to answer as many or as little of these questions as you like, and be as detailed or as simple as you wish. Any information at all is appreciated. ^__^

Player Questions:

What are some features you wish to see implemented into or changed in Blue Mars?

How would you rate the current experience provided in Blue Mars(while still considering that Blue Mars is in beta status)?

What are your thoughts on the current features available in Blue Mars?

When the economy is up and running, what do you think is a good ratio of BLU to USD or your currency of choice?

What products will you be most interested in upon the opening of the economy and the uploading of products by developers?

Developer Questions:

As a Developer what are your opinions of the currently available SDK?

What are some features / additions you would like to see implemented into the SDK?

As a developer what products are you interested in creating?

What you consider a good BLU price be for your items? (This question can accompany the BLU question in the player category)

Booo....! It's Halloween everyone! Happy Halloween! I hope you all are having a wonderful day thus far, and when you get the chance you should definitely download the Halloween Patch provided by Avatar Reality! I spent a little while taking the opportunity to take some great photo's in the new halloween'd up welcome area! I took some time earlier this morning to put together a nice set of pictures for a flickr slideshow and I hope you all will enjoy them ^__^ Once again, happy Halloween everyone!

Hey again everyone! Today ill be writing a review about the first user created city, Gridrock City. As the first user city to be allowed in, coming with the October 19th update of the Blue Mars client, Gridrock City has gotten a fair amount of attention already. Two meet and greets were held there, one tour during the first meet and greet there and alot of attention brought on by the interesting style and storyline they have in place. As a science fiction fan myself (Tertius Prime is a good example of that hehe) I really can appreciate the storyline in place at Gridrock city. Exploring a Tesla related storyline is a very unique and interesting take and I expect there to be alot of buzz about in this city especially when it comes to roleplaying. However, the storyline is only one aspect of Gridrock City's presence in Blue Mars. The architecture and modeling present within the city is very nice and provides an intriguing environment for all to explore. I've included a Flickr slideshow with this article, to show off some of the great shots within Gridrock.Overall my experience within Gridrock was very pleasant and I am excited to see it grow and develop in the future. It is surely to become one of the popular areas within Blue Mars.

Hi everyone! The past couple of weeks here I've been plotting and planning about how I would go about creating a city and what it would be about if I was able to get one. Ive been going at it double time ever since I was accepted on the NDA and received the SDK. So as I've neared my first acceptable draft of the plan I figured I would like to share it with you all and see what interest there was out there for a city of this type. Keep in mind that this is only a plan, but if everything turns out nicely I may be able to produce it. Another of my hopes through this post is that I will be attracting people who would be interested in joining a team to help me produce this. As of now I don't have much of a team, and hope to be able to build one soon. More details can be had if you contact me at metthias- on skype or Zetsumei on the beta forums.

I put together a ning to hold the idea and discussion/organization of it for now.

It is located at: http://tertiusprime.ning.com/forum/topics/tertius-prime-city-plan

Hello there everyone, as this is a very important topic to myself as well as many others I am going to try and spread this idea of mine, and I hope to get feedback from all who read it. A response from AR would be great as well. Not much to say here in this update, besides go check the thread out over @ http://www.bluemarsonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=525

Hey everyone! Tonight was the 4th meet and greet within Blue Mars @ the new Gridrock City! It was an amazing success! At peak time I believe there was at least 30-40 people who had joined us. The exact numbers of the people who were at the MnG waxed and waned for most of the event, but by the time it has ended there was about 10 of us left for a good solid 10-15 mins until everyone decided to go their own ways. Or at least most people did, probably a few people still left there hehe. Most of the meeting was spent discussing various things such as features that are currently in the works (the Mypage feature is almost ready to be released.) and the discussion about volunteer outfits and what their title should be (I voted for Martian Pro). There was definitely some talk about cities that were being developed. The scenery within Gridrock City provided me with the chance for some amazing photo's to be taken. I have provided another of my flickr slideshows below!

Until next time, Love you guys.

-Zetsumei Ieyashi

Hey everybody! This is just a small update but I thought you all might get a kick out of it. Today there was a bot test or bot upload of some kind within Blue Mars and bots could be seen everywhere! Talking to each other, displaying information and everything. Beach city was full of em, welcome area was full of em, so I thought id put together a short compilation of photos, a little joke to lighten to mood of everyone.

So for your viewing pleasure. Heres, When Bots Invade!

Hello everyone! I cant even begin to explain how excited I am, and how mutually excited the entire Blue Mars community must be to finally see this amazing development put into play! First of all, the most important thing that I should announce is the new preferences panel that allows you to change your preferences in world to High or Low quality as well as now supporting different resolutions from directly within the client. No more messing with config files my friends! From here on its smooth sailing. Not to mention! I have a big boost in FPS with this update when I switch to low, which makes me unbelievably happy.

Moving onto the next feature addition would be the option to modify the change of your face. I personally love this feature, not only because the interface for using it is intuitive, but because it's just one more step closer to having fully customizable avatars. A concise mix of facial modifications with this new feature, and the facial painting system that was introduced at the beginning of beta could lead to some very interesting and unique combinations. Especially considering the number of people that have already decided to take advantage of the facial painting feature and have created some amazing appearances.

Another interesting feature worth mentioning is when you right click on someone, you now see two extra clickable options. One is their username, the other is their display name. They are indeed clickable, but as of yet nothing happens when you do so. Nametags were also implemented within this release! Myself and many other people in the beta community were hoping this one would be coming soon and we have been pleased by them coming in this release. They are very simple, minimalistic in design and I think are a perfect addition into Blue Mars. Of course, I cant forget about the biggest additions, the new cities! Ill be reviewing each new city separately in different blog posts to be sure I get all of the important technical information out in this blog, but GridRock City and the Soswaewon Garden are sure be two of the hottest places in Blue Mars for a while as brand new content. Especially GridRock city, with which the next Meet and Greet will be held at!

Although this release is not without it's share of bugs, as I have encountered them most can be fixed simply with a relog or a change of setting. An example of, well I dont think this qualifies as a bug but more of an 'issue', would be that although the nametags are an amazing addition it seems that we have forgone our display names for our registered usernames. Although as mentioned before, your display name still exists somewhere because it is shown on the right click menu, it isn't in the nametag which is really the whole reason for having the nametags in the first place. However, as we are in beta still, in due time these things shall be fixed and as testers our jobs are to find these bugs and report them so the good workers over at AR can take care of them :D. Overall, this patch has been very helpful if only for the neat new preferences tab included in this release. With the addition of new cities, I think it would be safe to project more cities coming into existence soon and the economy to be kickstarted soon as well. Let's all hope for content uploads and such as soon as possible! :D

As always, love my followers and my readers and don't hesitate to tell your friends about my blog or follow me on twitter for smaller updates and news.

Until next time, take care all.

- Zetsumei Ieyashi, your friendly neighborhood blogger :D

Edit: Just finished organizing the new shots I took especially for this blog post! Here is a brand new slide show everyone. Please note i sized it up a bit to accommodate the UI shots. Enjoy!

http://www.bluemarsonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=475&p=3529#p3529

Hey guys, just learned that the new patch is on the way and will be here very soon! Just wanted to alert all of those following me that may not know this, also expect a detailed report on the new patch and all of its features coming from yours truly!

[-4:42-} HI there everyone! Its your local friendly blogger Zetsumei, reporting live (kinda) from yet another amazing sight that has been spotted within Blue Mars. Another Meet and Greet! The idea that Marlii had to set up some sort of Meet and Greet apparently has caught on at Avatar Reality headquarters, causing Glenn and the other staff members to organize many more for the future, perhaps even Weekly or Bi Weekly. So far this event has gone off without a hitch! Not to mention topping at least 40 avatars at one point, answers from Glenn, several staff have also decided to stop by. Andrei, Summer, Glenn, and i believe some others i saw with a custom set of clothes which would deem that they are some sort of staff have also been great. Its been a whirlwind of chat bubbles and awesome questions, a great opportunity to meet the community as well. Many of us Devs have been discussing the possibilities of the Blue Mars platform and sharing our ideas and project progress as well! As you can tell I've been pretty busy with taking photos and talking to people, but I will be continuing to update this blog throughout the entire event!

[-Same disclaimer as the last time, basically no one had any lag and the FPS here is just my old PC ^__^-]

[-Checkout this awesome slideshow full of pictures from the event!-]

Hi there everyone! This is a subject I've been wanting to write about for a while now not only because I think it is an interesting topic but because I have personally experienced this in my volunteering in Blue Mars since i got into the beta. It has come to my attention lately that although a vast majority of those who are signing up for Blue Mars are from Second Life and other virtual worlds, looking to take advantage of the future Blue Mars economy with their products and name brands, that there seems to be a group of people that when coming into Blue Mars are already expecting everything to be finished, ready, and operational. Ive encountered several people that have entered Blue Mars, noticed that it is at a basic level of production and then leave (most of the time with snotty remarks like 'this sucks'). Beta testing means that you encounter a game during its production stages, help find bugs and report them to help the production of the game along. For some it is exciting knowing that they had a part in a games early history which lead it to become successful, and others just enjoy helping out. Although I, and several others belong to the group of helping people in Blue Mars and enjoy helping the Beta along, it seems that many people have either forgotten what Beta Testing is about, or some don't know what it is and sign up expecting a full game. A forum post recently, (as well as in world I have talked to this person) has suggested several things that the welcome area could use to further assist players coming into the world. To quote directly from Nocifer's thread at http://www.bluemarsonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=451

" 1. Big Sign To Remind Newcomers That Blue Mars is in Beta.

And therefore the interface, the avatars, and the existing cities, are essentially demo models, proofs of concept, a taste of things to come. Yes, there are limited options, bugs, and other inadequecies, but many of these are being developed and/or will be added in the near future. That's why it's called Beta. That's why we're here. To beta-test the buggery out of it.


2. A Roadmap Of Future Updates/Releases/Patches

So newcomers have an idea what to expect next. This also creates a sense of anticipation in members, and confidence in the developers. There is an awful lot of information out there, all over the place, so we need something that is immediately obvious - like a timetable of projected updates or list of what is presently being worked on that everyone can refer to, rather than third-hand hearsay that such-and-such will be introduced next week. "

I think that these two suggestions should be in high demand and very high up on the workload list over at AR for the new welcome center, or atleast a quick signboard for the current one that we are utilizing. This type of sign would not only re-instill the fact that Blue Mars is still beta, but for those who are unsure of what beta is or what to expect coming out of Blue Mars currently they could rely on this board to welcome them into the game with that specific knowledge.

Seeing as how Blue Mars has the potential to draw in crowds not only from the currently successful Second Life, but from other mediums that Second LIfe has failed in attracting, take the extra steps to assure the new members what they are going into and what to expect upfront I think would be a very smart idea.

Thanks for reading guys.

Lots of love, Zetsumei Ieyashi

PS: I want that new patch! Grrr! Lol.

Hey hey everyone! Just put in a new poll, be sure to participate in it! Would love to see what you all think, and please spread the word to your friends if you enjoy this blog! :D

-Love ya guys, Zetsumei Ieyashi

As soon as you come into Blue Mars, one of the first things that you will notice are the several boards ahead of you that upon clicking them will allow you to travel tot he currently available regions, amongst those boards are two games. The Waterfall Game which involves riding a ship through rings, and Golf of which's name is self explanatory. The later of which I will be reviewing right now.

I like the golf simulation presented to us by Blue Mars because it is a testament to the possibilities present within the platform. With the ability to play both single and multi player matches, as well as a choice of playing one hole matches or three hole matches, Golf in Blue Mars is a very competent rendition of this popular sport.Playing golf in blue mars is just like playing golf but in HD quality brought to us by the CryEngine. I bet the folks over at Crytek never thought golf would be played with such a powerful engine eh? Although when I had played the game, upon striking the ball and making my first hole, it was not as refined as lets say, a PlayStation game would be, but it was indeed comparable to such on a lower detailed scale in functions. To those on lower end machines(and possibly higher grade machines) that can still play Blue Mars, i experienced that the ball looks slightly off from where you hit it, but being that this is a beta and the options given are pretty much only to display the possibilities of the platform, i would still give golf in blue mars a very high rating. For those who are looking for a good pass time in Blue Mars I would recommend that you give golf a try. Out of 10, i would rate it a 6 mostly because of its success in displaying how useful this platform really will be for developers in the future, but also because it is indeed some fun. Below I have posted a flickr slide show of some nice shots within the golf simulator for your enjoyment ^__^

Until next time, take care all, and love my followers!

-Zetsumei Ieyashi

Edit: Added the new flickr ^__^

Content creation within Blue Mars seems to be a very hot topic right now, what with one of my previous posts showing that it is being grossly misrepresented in other blogging venue's as well. However, as a fellow BM member said to me on a thread, "Don't Feed The Troll." and I have to agree. I got my word out on their first article i was shown, and everyone else seems to have taken care of the second one (which is just as bad). The issue that seems to be on a few minds is the fact that creation is entirely out of game. Ive met some SL creators that rue this idea so much they feel it is necessary for them to forget they ever heard about Blue Mars in the first place. That extent of disapproval for the system seems to be wholly unnecessary. What is one thing people have been bothering LL about for since the beginning of SL? A backup of your own personal assets. People have done just about anything (some even illegally) to get their own objects out of world which has lead to both a set of good tools like Second Inventory and the other spectrum with software like CryoLife, CopyBot and a number of other things that threaten product safety, although provide a means of exporting objects if you only take advantage of it legally. What so many creators should be GLAD about when talking about BM's creation system is that all of your own content is stored on YOUR own hard drive, and not shoddy LL's unstable network. This means no more loss of content, as well as already having the original on your PC, backups are unnecessary unless you wish to copy your 3DS files or your Maya files and so on and so forth. Another issue that many people seem to be latching onto is pricing for the modeling programs available. Now some people would make you believe (PixPol) that since 3DS and Maya and other rather expensive programs are supported by BM that they are the only programs supported by BM. And this is wholly and categorically untrue. Blender, which some would argue is just as powerful as 3DS or Maya, and even in some cases possibly more powerful. Blender is free, highly documented, and anyone with the time and dedication can pick up this amazingly flexible platform and create amazing content. Google Sketchup, another free option has an amazing user interface, some very interesting tool sets and ontop of that has many good tutorials, access to the google warehouse (thousands of objects) and is equally supported by BM for creation. Ive personally used Google Sketchup (as well as 3Ds Max) and i can ensure you that they are indeed supported. So where as some people may be worried that Blue Mars is headed down a corporate restricted path, all I would ask of those people is to take the time to thoroughly research Blue Mars' wiki, Blue Mars' Forums (beta and dev.) and even further more go in world and TALK to the many INDIVIDUAL creators that are so excited to get to work.

Until next time, love you guys.

-Zetsumei Ieyashi

So after some fudging around a few sites and toying around with a few options i found a better suiting theme for the blog as well as deciding that i should get a twitter feed as most people seem to be using them these days. You can plan on me keeping you all up to date either on this blog or on my twitter account, which hopefully will get followers soon enough :D

Take care guys, would love to hear from you.

To my four current followers, and anyone who is paying attention to this blog either from seeing me in world, seeing my or rocks thread about this issue needs to immediately go over to this blog post and show them how insanely wrong they are about their assumptions and wildly misconstrued notions about Blue Mars.

This is the link to the blog and if i were you I would go there and give them a piece of my mind, of which i already did.

http://www.pixelsandpolicy.com/pixels_and_policy/2009/10/blue-mars-content-monopoly.html

My comment being:

" PixPol please locate the solid facts in quote that state according to your recollection of " content creation for individual users is officially discouraged" Ive been VERY active within the community, spoken with many AR employees, one in specific who is working on the tools to ALLOW INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS to upload into blue mars. Your claims here are so outrageous that they could almost be considered slanderous or libelous just in their assumptions. I am an independent developer, as are a large part of BM residents who are nowhere near a corporation or company of any size and especially no where near what you are suggesting here. Companies will be able to have a high profile existance in BM but in the same manner that an independant city developer will be able to. I completely agree with Rock here, and in my own opinion this is a horrible piece that has misconstrued any currently known news to the worst that it could be twisted to.

Misrepresentation at this length makes me sick, you wouldnt by any chance be a politician too would you? "

Sickening. Lets be sure this person sees the truth.

Adult Content In Blue Mars (My Opinion)

Well now. This is a subject Ive been wanting to tackle for quite a while, there is a topic on it already in the beta forums but it is fairly crowded and i would love to just get my opinion off of my chest here on my blog and then see what other people think about it. Lately in this thread i have been seeing people who are comparing SL to BM in the terms of how adult content is or should be handled. There are those that are for adult content and those that are against adult content as there always is in debates like this no matter the world that it is in. Those who are against adult content are defending the many other ways that BM could be enjoyed without the adult content aspect added into the game, and those who are for adult content are explaining about how even though many people are not interested in the adult content, it is indeed a very big market to consider not only for AR's sake to boost BM's economy, but for how they wish to take it on in the form of users experiencing it through their platform. There are good arguments on both sides, reading the threads on the official beta forums will point that out, but personally i think this could be handled very easily and avoid tragedies like what LL has recently brought into play for second life. In my opinion I believe that before BM gets too wrapped up in this subject and trying to figure out how to deal with it, there is a very simple approach that should be taken. AR should leave the handling of adult content to the discretion of the paying city owners. This alleviates AR from any legal bounds to be jumped or problems to be dealt with outside of their own personally owned areas. Doing this would be an extremely smart move in AR's case, the 'adult' community / market would then come into BM and give the economy its blessing ( xD ) , as well as allowing those who don't wish to experience it a way of knowing that "Hey some places do have it, but I can just go to the other areas that don't and still enjoy myself." .I don't think it is fair or wise for AR to block out adult content because there may be users who wish to experience the adult side, as well as the possible influx of cash it could provide the economy.

Anyways, it's been great and that's my opinion on this subject. Would love to hear from people on it.

Wow what to say to you guys! I logged on today to see that i got my first three followers! Yaaay! Thanks guys, just wanted to show my appreciation for the support of this blog. I hope to provide you all with genuine good news and reviews about Blue Mars as well as any projects that I may be involved in. Thanks to all who either commented on my blog or told me in world that they enjoyed my reporting of the first meet and greet!

In the future i might be holding promotions or events that may bring in BLU's or an exclusive piece of art from yours truely.

Thanks again all, and dont forget to tell your friends!

The Meet and Greet in Shade City!

[-5:18 PM-] Wow! This event is truly amazing. The first time that so many people had gathered together in one city! So many conversations going on at once, so many people sitting in the chairs and standing around the area. The chat bubbles were clogging up the screen a bit as you will see in the pictures but it was indeed truly amazing. Ive taken many screenshots so people can see just how epic this event is. AS I had speculated in my Shade City review, this city is indeed the perfect place for a social event! I added the flicker album to the bottom of this post for all to read! The event is still going on and just might go on for a few more hours, ill edit this post with anymore news on it. Lets see if Glenn makes an appearance!

[-5:54-] The Event has been a great success, things are calming down a little bit. Unfortunately Summer Studio (Tiffany Nahinu from AR) had stated that since AR's building was closed over the weekends that there wont be logs officially until Monday, but either way it was an amazing day! Will have to hear from Glenn and the others later on. Thanks all who read this and spread the word! ^__^

[-6:34-] The event is over, and was awesome. everyone is winded down, cept for a few stragglers left, there will be hangovers in the morning, but it was fun and worth it. xD Take care guys, until the next time i blog.

[Please note that the FPS is just my old computer, people at the event were very vocal about the event being lagless and not hurting FPS much at all. Simply amazing for the amount of people there]

Two words can easily sum up Venezia. Absolutely Beautiful. Although this city may be a bit harder on the graphics card than other cities are, its definitely worth the visit. Venezia is the most beautiful and most interactive city available at the current moment (besides Beach City) . Venezia' special 'ESC' key travelling system is one of its biggest attractions. Destinations 1-9 on the number pad will take any willing explorer throughout the amazing (and still under construction) city of Venezia. And boy is it a sight to be seen, the modeling is top notch on the buildings, the view is absolutely amazing and in certain parts the features are quite fun and to be enjoyed. Venezia really is a prime example for the possibilities that the Blue Mars platform offers. Venezia will be especially popular considering the promotion that they will be offering for storefronts to be rented with no upfront cost and only a percentage taken from sales to support the rent. There are many exciting areas to view in Venezia even considering that it is under construction. The entrance area is absolutely beautiful, i could see some romantic pictures being taken on the bridge straightforward from the entrance point. And beyond that is another area that has terminals in it, one of which will teleport you to different points in the city, as well as signs advertising it's attractions such as the up and coming Tomb and the shopfronts. A little more exploring around will lead you to areas that hopefully soon will be explorable. Such as a bar, several places that could be used as social areas and even a Marina that allows you to boat around the cities waterways. Not to mention the unfinished Boccie courts that I imagine will be great fun. For those who are keen for adventure, they could explore the area trying to find various treasure orbs of which will tell you that mysterious prizes may be coming in the future for them, the telescope game which involves you looking around the city for spots it details for you to find for points is also a fun minigame provided to tourists. Those wishing to be less bound to the beaten trail can use the 'ESC' key to fly around and have an unprecedented look throughout the city unrestricted by where the avatar can physically walk. Depending on how far you choose to go, you will run into the unfinished areas of the city which if you got that far will show you how big Venezia plans to be. I do believe i saw hints of a Monorail or Train system as well. All in all, Venezia upon finished product will be perhaps one of the most amazingly detailed and interactive cities available, no doubt being a popular destination for Blue Mars residents new and old. It is indeed a must see destination within Blue Mars.

Coming Soon: Pictures!

Beach City!

Wow. Just where to start when talking about Beach City? Beach City is perhaps the most expansive city currently able to be explored and is one that definitely should be explored because of the features that it boasts which give you a preview into the future of Blue Mars. First of all, upon entering Beach City it becomes obvious that the devs who worked on this city took the time to take detail into account. The area is very well built and I can tell that it will be a popular spot once Blue Mars is live. It is an absolute must for anyone who is coming into Beach City to head over to the hotel to check out the demo apartment that has been set up there. The Apartment that is on display within the hotel gives users a chance to experience what owning an apartment would be like and a chance to use the tools provided to you within one. The functionality within the apartment was very smooth and even the most inexperienced users will be able to grasp it. Although future functionality of the apartments is unknown, if scripted items are allowed to be used I could forsee a lively set of functions that one would be able to do within their apartments. Especially with the HUD being flash based, playing games within BM in ones own apartment may not be so farfetched. Another feature that one must check out is the shop that is open in Beach City. Although still apparently in beta form the functionality that is provided by the shop is going to be excellent when made a reality. Shops in Blue Mars will completely blow shops in any other virtual world out of the water. The ability to preview what you are buying in three dimensions before you decide to buy it is a great idea and something that will assist the consumer in picking the right product for them. All in all, the experience that I had within Beach City was very pleasant and only left me wishing that the next patches would come out faster! Beach City is a must-see destination within Blue Mars.

Coming Soon: Pictures!

The first place that I will be writing about in this brand-spanking-new blog will be Shade City!.

First things first. Shade City is a unique city with a nice feel to it. This becomes apparent when you first poof into the big entrance building. The unique style of the entrance building and the area within it surely strikes me as a place I would hang out in even in real life. One gets an amazing look at the ocean once they begin to walk around and take in the scenery. An interesting feature that I really enjoyed was the fact that when you walked up to the second level of the building the sun set and turned into a beautiful night sky. This feature I believe will be an amazing asset, useful to many city owners who want to have dynamic environments. I can just see a space station city, with an elevator that take you into space and as soon as you get there the lighting changes and the sky becomes the majestic far reaches of space. Curious as to if there were any places other than the All in all Shade City although limited in its places outside of the center building, was an enjoyable experience and is a place that would be perfect for social events.

Coming Soon: Pictures!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my humble abode! Through this blog I will be documenting my life in Blue Mars and my experiences through all of it's cities and wondrous areas. Consider this a journal of sorts, although I do hope to have the occasional interviews and reviews I hope you all enjoy the reads that I will be providing here soon, and dont forget to tell your friends!