Life In Blue Mars

Before we start, I would like to apologize for my absence from the scene in recent days, as life over her eon my side has gotten a bit hectic and has prevented me from being as involved as I would have liked to have been over the past few months. But moving on from that, wow! Just look at this update. The Blue Mars Marketplace has opened, which allows developers to list their shops for sale and their blocks for sale. Blue Mars got voice, using the excellent Vivox service (which also provides Second Life with their voice). Users are now able to preview items before they buy them, and it is now possible to upload shapes and skins! Quite alot has happened in my absence, but I am coming back full force! One of the things that I will be focusing on in my return, is volunteering. When I first signed up for Blue Mars, I had also applied to become a volunteer because I had been a Mentor in the past in SL and always had a great experience with that venture. Although I unfortunately missed Monday's meeting, I will certainly be at thursdays, so if any of my fellow volunteers are reading this, I'll see you there! Also expect to see some city reviews and more updates from me as I make my rounds to new cities and new places.

As always, love my readers and i'll keep you updated!

Till next time,
Your friendly neighborhood blogger Zetsu.

Hey everyone! Its your friendly neighborhood blogger Zetsumei! We've got a big update for Blue Mars that came to us late at night on the 18th/19th of February. Both the client and the developer tools got updated this time around.

Here are the release notes for the developer SDK update:

Changes since the 0.0.7366.0 (Feb. 11, 2010) build:

All Editors
• Developer tools and client now identify themselves as "developer build" as opposed to "city_developer build".
• Materials created by bmImport and bmImportCmd properly assign a default Surface Type ("mat_blank" for a physicalized/proxy sub-material, otherwise no Surface Type assignment).

[NEW] Body Editor
• Import custom shapes.
• Import custom skins.
• Test custom shapes, skin, clothing, and animations.
• Upload custom body data (coming soon).

Shop Editor
• Clone instances of decorations.
• Control for camera speed.
• Enable saving of work in progress.


As I'm sure its obvious to anyone reading this right now, the biggest part of this update was the new Body Editor! The body editor is the very first stepping stone towards character customization in Blue Mars. Like several other things in Blue Mars, documentation is a bit light at the moment but if you are interested in what the Body Editor can offer you at the beginning stages of development, please dont hesitate to check out the developer forums at http://dev.bluemars.com/forum/index.php myself and a few other developers have asked some questions, started some threads and there is some good information going around about what we can do so far with the Body Editor. Also, this coming Tuesday there is going to be a developer Q&A with Andrei, the genius programmer that has been creating all of the editors for us. Check out this thread for more informatoin http://dev.bluemars.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=959

Moving on, the release notes for the client that we also recieved are a bit to long to post here, so you can find those here: http://www.bluemars.com/BetaClientDownload/readme.html

Some notable highlights however are:

Shade City by eFrontier now has a Shop! Purchasable T-shirts will be available on the second floor of Shade City.
Welcome Area 2010 has been added.
The old welcome area has been retired.
AR_Shelter has been added. This is a minimalist level to be used as a meeting area in case there are problems with the new welcome area.
VSE_TERC has been added.
Avatar names are now displayed above the avatar instead of the avatar ID.
If you change your Avatar Name display option in the User MyPage, it will now be reflected in the overhead avatar name display as well as the chat box.
New and updated City data can now be downloaded directly from the Places Browser--no need to install City patches.
User interface update
New look for the Places Browser!
Preferences Menu update
New Click Sound option in the Settings menu will let you turn the pointer sound on or off (default: Off).Refresh button in the Places Browser allows you to enter your downloaded City (except New Venice) without having to close and reopen Blue Mars.
New Display Name option will let you hide the overhead Avatar Name display of your avatar and the avatars around you.

Many more and more detailed pictures and details can be found by following the link above.

Well thats all for this update guys, Ill be doing some further updates after this with some pictures and reviews of the latest additions to Blue Mars, and hope you all have a great day!

Hi everyone! Its your friendly neighborhood blogger Zetsumei!

Today i posted on the dev forums a thread about alot of the features that i believe would be amazingly helpful and useful for both users and developers.

For those who do not go to that forum, i will post it here. Original Thread @ http://www.bluemarsdev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=809

Comprehensive Feature and General Improvements Request:

Inworld Profiles

Inworld communication such as Instant Messages

Groups and Group chat similar to those of Second Life

Friends Lists that not only let you know if your friends are online, but the ability to click on the names to initiate an instant message, send a teleport, and find where they are (if they have not enabled a privacy thing that disables that feature.).

A city rating system that denotes what types of content you may run across (PG, G, R, PG13) With this could even been an Age Verification System like Second Life has to prove you are 18+ and then you can access the mature content. I will emphasize strongly that mature content be allowed in the future. This is a very large market, and if it is not allowed it could attribute to the loss of many potential users.

The ability to sell packages in shops like you can in Second Life. Selling one item at a time is an extremely bad idea because many products that developers will be looking to sell will involve several pieces. Having to sell each piece individually is entirely too tedious and is quite counter intuitive considering the level of technology we are at right now.

The ability for developers to be able to give out their products if they wish without having to have a shop.

Have it so that when a developer's items get uploaded that they automatically get a copy of their own stuff in their inventory. Any other way (such as making them buy their own stuff) is completely counter intuitive and in this day of technology we have the tools and the resources to make things smooth and easily accessable for everyone.

Changable avatar movement systems! The current avatar movement system is absolutely unacceptable. Point and click is so 20th century. Controls like Second Life utilizes (and several other games utilize, hell what CRYSIS utilizes are better than the movement system right now in Blue Mars). If you MUST keep this system in, atleast have the option for a better movement system and the ability to map keysets to it.

Having a camera system across the board that is more free like the Second Life cam would be great, the source code to it should also be available so that cities who do not wish to have that in their city can modify it to work for them how they want it to.

Many attachments points on the body for those who wish to create avatar acessories and changes (for example, a robotic arm that replaces your normal arm, or an entire android avatar that replaces most of your body parts) Attachment points on the hands is a must for weapon usage and holding things.

Support for the flowgraph system from the original sandbox2 editor, there are many modules out there that would improve Blue Mars functionality by many many fold. I believe it would be wise to try and impliment this technology for Blue Mars. .

Microsoft Silverlight functionality (i've seen this requested on the forum, and i also believe it would be a good thing to have as well, but only if flash and silverlight can be optimized well enough to run together and not tax the computer more than necessary)

Will add more to this thread when more comes to mind.

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!

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- )

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 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.