Contents
- Cavern Tours
- Mysterium news
- D’ni Language Classes
- R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
- Fan Ages Touring Club
- Future opening of Chiso Preniv
Cavern Tours
CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to announce the ninth Cavern Tour of 2020, which will be held on Saturday 8 (during Mysterium) 22 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.
The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.
The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his 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 tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!
Mysterium news
Virtual Mysterium is coming on August 7, with a long list of special guests: Eric Anderson, Mike “RIUM+” Ando, Chuck Carter, “Moiety” Jean Fioca, Amy Green, Ryan Green, Eleri Hamilton, Veronica Hamilton, Dan Irish, Michel Kripalani, Tim Larkin, Geneviève Lord, Stephan Martinière, Rand & Robyn Miller, Marty O’Donnell, Mike Perrotto, Katie “Kha’tie” Postma, Phil Saunders, Philip Shane, Bill Slease, Rod Stafford, Jack Wall, Ryan “greydragon” Warzecha.
D’ni Language Classes
Shokhootahn Rehn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.
He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in autumn. Night time classes, however, are unaffected. One more student is working on the final exam. Meanwhile, Tehlrov K’hris completed his final exam and passed the D’ni 101 class! Votahret ah’shem khe-bahrtahtahvteeom!
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); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
- The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, starting at 20:00 or 21:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
- Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at the same stage. Having finished the story arc of the D’ni kings and and learned about the years between king Kerath’s death and the start of the story of the Fall, we are now starting the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana.
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 14:30 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the AGM.
- 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.
Fan Ages Touring Club
Korov’ev then gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. In August, the Touring Club will visit a few more Ages from early 2009: Wianeroy, Soundgarden, and The Maze.
There will be no expeditions on Sunday 9, 16 & 23; the next one will be on Sunday 30, on Botan and Moysenland, by Ametist. Art Farmer will replace Korov’ev on Sunday 16 & 23. A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki.
After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (look for threads that start with “Fan Age expedition”). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
One of the main objectives of the Touring Club, besides getting more explorers to know and appreciate the many Ages created in the last 15 years, is also to give some feedback to the authors, who are very welcome to attend the tours and talk about their works.
Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.
Future opening of Chiso Preniv
Patrick Dulebohn appeared on stage to announce that, after so many years and attempts to bring more Ages to all explorers, the efforts are finally going to pay off! In the next few weeks, a small room in the Cavern housing a new Linking Book will be revealed. For security reasons, the location cannot be divulged yet, but it will soon be obvious.
Once work on the room is complete, a Linking Book to the Age of Chiso Preniv will be unveiled for public access. Chiso was discovered amongst other Books in another library on an Age called Teshafee, and has since housed the vast majority of the work Patrick and others have been doing cataloguing that library’s contents. In time, the hope is also to restore an alternate Nexus system, to accomodate these Ages for easier access and organization.
Any and all explorers who have been restoring their own Ages and Cavern locations – or even Writing their own Ages – are welcome to bring their work to display at this library for all to experience. The DRC and its members are also welcome to return, if they ever choose to do so 
A new era in D’ni will be underway soon!
And that was it for this month.
Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!
The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, September 5 (Leetahr 23, 9676 DE) at 13:00 KIT.
Until then!
]]>Contents
- Cavern Tours
- Korman update released
- State of Minkata
- Fan Ages Touring Club
- D’ni Language Classes
- R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
- Cyan news
- Mysterium news
Cavern Tours
CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to recap the seventh Cavern Tour of 2020, that took place right before the Meeting. The next one will be either on Saturday 1 or 8 (the latter date would be during Mysterium) at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. Stay tuned for the definitive date!
The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.
The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his 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 tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!
Korman update released
Version 0.10 of the Guild of Writers Age creation plugin Korman has been released, with a slew of updates and fixes! In particular, it adds the ability to print dynamic decals, various templates (e.g. linking books), the ability to export the Age and launch Uru directly into the Age from Blender, adds a simplified linking book modifier, and fixes for at least 24 bugs. The release also celebrates the day the first version was released in 2015.
State of Minkata
Rarified gave a quick update about the Minkata testing shard. There is a persistent bug still present – a crash during activities such as seeking markers – he is trying to ger rid of, and a few others that should not have as much of an impact on gameplay.
It has been noted that those issues are not present in fan shards like Gehn. Rarified said the reason is the initially different goals of OpenUru, that was keeping the client closer to the one in use on MOULa. Now that those differences are being ported to MOULa, OpenUru needs to bring in almost ten years of updates from the H’uru client.
On the topic of fan Ages, Rarified stated that the ones on Minkata are ready to be released on MOULa, possibly before August. How they will be released, whether there will be an IC event with DRC members, and how the fan Library will be accessible – currently on Minkata it is a new alcove in the Watcher’s Pub – is still to be decided and agreed upon with Cyan. Rarified said the preferred place to discuss is the OpenUru forum. In any case, it is important that such discussions are kept going and not let unanswered.
Along with fan Ages, modifications to Cyan’s Ages themselves were mentioned, now that they are allowed. The most common are fixes to collisions and improvements to textures. Altered assets will probably be treated the same way as fan Ages.
Fan Ages Touring Club
Korov’ev then gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. In July, the Touring Club will visit Semjay’s new Age, Tovaht!
Then, it will be the turn of Jamey’s Ages, like Tsoidahl Sheegahtee; after that it will be more Ages from early 2009, like Terrati Lab, Hayal, The Maze, Wianeroy, and Soundgarden. A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki.
After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (look for threads that start with “Fan Age expedition”). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
One of the main objectives of the Touring Club, besides getting more explorers to know and appreciate the many Ages created in the last 15 years, is also to give some feedback to the authors, who are very welcome to attend the tours and talk about their works.
Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.
D’ni Language Classes
Shokhootahn Rehn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.
He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in autumn. Night time classes, however, are unaffected. One more student is working on the final exam.
Details 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); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
- The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, starting at 20:00 or 21:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
- Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at the same stage. They will be finishing the story arc of the D’ni kings, and learn about the years between king Kerath’s death and the start of the story of the Fall.
Details 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 14:30 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the AGM.
- 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.
Cyan news
- A recent update about Firmament defined the delivery date of July 2020 as “wildly optimistic”; a more likely date will be sometime in 2022. The update also showcased two concept arts of [REDACTED].
- June ended with a CavFunding of 54% (Cavcon 1.5), a population of 35,478 explorers, and 1210 unique visits. There was no rollover from the last month, so the reserve is now empty. According to Chogon, if every explorer who was online last month donated $1, the Cavern would be funded for over a month.
Mysterium news
- Registration for virtual Mysterium (which will be on August 7–9) is now open! The special guests from last year will all be back – Russell Brower, Chuck Carter, Tim Larkin, Marty O’Donnell, Katie Postma, and Jack Wall – and even more will be announced soon.
And that was it for this month.
Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!
The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, August 1 (Leetahr 1, 9676 DE) at 13:00 KIT.
Until then!
]]>- Mysterium 2021 will be held on July 16–18, at the Westin Alexandria Old Town hotel in Alexandria, VA, at a rate of $100/night.
- The hotel will be cancelling the 2020 bookings in the next couple weeks, so those who reserved a room should not need to do anything.
- If you purchased a registration, you will have the option of rolling it over to 2021, or request a refund.
- There is still time to submit virtual event ideas, but not for long!
- If you have any Cyan related costumes, you can record a pair of videos of yourself before and after putting on the costume, and they will be edited together into a video to be played during the convention.
- The T-shirt store is open for preorders: the T-shirts have the new “
20202021” logo, and designs from Squee (front) and Shoom’lah (back). $2 from every T-shirt sold will be donated to Campaign Zero and Gameheads, equally. If you would like to make your own donations, the Committee has some recommendations. - There will be a virtual Open Mic Night: you can send song parodies, poetry, skits, and anything else you can come up with, until July 20, and they will be strung together and played during the virtual Mysterium.
Young, Gifted & Black
On Monday 15 at 13:00 KIT, Nosila will host a music event; the location will be the Ae’gura plaza, and the stream will be at nosilaradio.caster.fm.
Cavern Tours
CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to announce the sixth Cavern Tour of 2020, on Saturday 13 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.
The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his 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 tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!
Future physics update
A recent update to the MOULa client reportedly included a physics update, stirring the longstanding question of the future of ‘skydiving’ (a.k.a. glitching), the practice of jumping on invisible colliders to reach normally out-of-reach places, stemming from an older practice of jumping off high places. Innumerable marker games have been created to map skydiving paths along the Ages, and more recently a robot-assisted training course.
Skydiving, however, depends on broken physics engine (PhysX) implementation, causing an uneven game experience depending on computer and network characteristics, fixing which has been part of the open source roadmap since the beginning in 2011. Perhaps even more importantly, upgrading the physics engine (to at least version 4) will lift a major obstacle to a truly native macOS and Linux clients.
Hoikas and Doobes therefore agreed to illustrate the developer side of the issue, and clarify a few questions and misconceptions regarding the client update roadmap:
- the latest update did not break the bot functioning itself, but the physics that the marker games dispensed by the bots depend on;
- the ‘physics update’ mentioned in the release notes is a bump from PhysX version 2.6.0 to 2.6.4, the same version used in the Gehn shard in the last six years;
- the entire process of updating the MOULa client happens in the clear, on the Writers’ IRC, on GitHub and on the OpenUru Discord server;
- explorers who create content for the game based on bugs are invited to be active participants in the discussion on how development moves forward, as developers cannot be aware otherwise of them.
As for future options, a ‘skydiving client’ was released years ago by Lyrositor – who in the meantime retired from the community – but an update to the KI functioning made it unusable. The source code, and some guidelines on how it could be brought up to date, are publicly available to any coder willing to take up the challenge. However, the long-term solution to preserve skydiving would be a dedicated skydiving shard.
As an addendum, it was noted that another planned update is the transition from the exceedingly obsolete Python 2.3 to 3.8; for robot makers, this will require checking their code for no longer compatible syntax (e.g. from print "string" to print("string") ).
Ages of Doobes
Doobes’ latest releases – Chiso Preniv, Veelay Tsahvahn and the New GoMe Pub – have been ported to the Minkata shards, where the heavy testing will begin. From then, if all goes well, they will be ported to Cyan’ staging server for the last quick checks, and eventually on MOULa, hopefully very soon.
But the big news was the announcement of another, yet unnamed Age in the works! It will be a competitive puzzle Age, based on the Gahreesehn Wall idea, but as a circular maze with configurable (or randomizable) walls. The player or team that will manage to reach the center of the maze, will win.
There will also be a one-in-four chance to remove the walls to gain an advantage, using a control panel beside each wall; but it may also be a disadvantage, so you will need to make a strategic decision! To make things even more challenging, a timer will also be available. During the Q&A, Theo suggested implementing a command to save and load wall configurations.
As for his other Ages in the work, the next release will likely be Kotsahvosahn, a.k.a. the Waystation, the beginning of the journey of D’ni citizen and Messenger Lothias, so it will be more story-heavy than Doobes’ previous Ages.
After that, Doobes has started a new project with AgeExplorer, which promises to be both story and puzzle-heavy.
To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.
Fan Ages Touring Club
Korov’ev then gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.
- On May 10 the Club adventurers visited TikiBear’s recently updated Ages (Duck Knee Skydiving Club, Sprite Gallery, and Paper Pagodas);
- On May 17 they visited Doobes’ Ages (the New GoMe Pub, Chiso Preniv, and Veelay Tsahvahn), finally released on the shard only a few days before;
- On May 24 they started the 3-part expedition to the Geologica series, by Ametist and Metabasalt, starting in Dragon’s Tooth, but also visiting Ametist’s latest release, Tiam.
In June, the Touring Club will visit Enobmort and Noidrocca by J’Kla, Paah’kweh and Sonavio by Boblishman, and Pre-Swaltu by Tolip Ydop. A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki.
After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (look for threads that start with “Fan Age expedition”). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
One of the main objectives of the Touring Club, besides getting more explorers to know and appreciate the many Ages created in the last 15 years, is also to give some feedback to the authors, who are very welcome to attend the tours and talk about their works.
Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.
The Lost Art
Korov’ev mentioned that Mystitech Productions released Episode 10 of its The Lost Art machinima, on Saturday 30.
Cyan news
- realMyst: Masterpiece Edition has been released on Thursday 21 for the Nintendo Switch.
- After more than three months, a new update was posted in Thursday about Firmament. Among other news, it mentioned the need to improve on the gameplay and setting aspects of the game, and the official hiring of a member of the Starry Expanse team.
- May ended with a CavFunding of 90% (CavCon 1.9), a population of 35,052 explorers, and 1441 unique visits. The reserve covered 29% of the costs and is now empty. The server costs were the same as last month.
See also the News Roundup #4 and #5.
Mysterium news
The convention will be held virtually, with a combination of Twitch and Zoom for presentations, and Discord for live chatting. The convention dates will be the same as planned, August 7–9, with a possible extended weekend. Refunds will be available, but roll-overs to next year’s in-person convention will too.
The deadline for event submissions has been extended to June 30, with the option to submit pre-recorded presentations. The deadline for the Digital Activity Book is also extended to June 30.
The existing T-shirt design will be used for Mysterium 2021, with altered dates. A store page will be opened soon. The 2020 pin designs will also be rolled over into 2021.
D’ni Language Classes
Shokhootahn Rehn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.
He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in autumn. Night time classes, however, are unaffected.
There are currently two students working on lesson 6. Meanwhile, Aqua completed her final exam and passed the D’ni 101 class! Votahret ah’shem khe-bahrtahtahvteeom!
Details 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); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
- The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, starting at 20:00 or 21:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
- Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at the same stage. They are continuing with the story arc of the D’ni kings, and will continue for the next four weeks.
Rehn hinted at a possible special Story Night on the Gehn shard, in a “certain memorial Age”.
Details 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 14:30 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the AGM.
- 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.
And that was it for this month.
Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!
The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, July 4 11, 2020 (Leesahn 2, 9676 DE) at 13:00 KIT.
Until then!
]]>
Music of Mr Jones
On Friday 8 at 13:00 KIT, Nosila will play some music; the location will be the Ae’gura plaza, and the stream will be at nosilaradio.caster.fm.
Cavern Tours
CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to announce the fifth Cavern Tour of 2020, on Saturday 9 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.
The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his 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 tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!
State of Minkata
Rarified gave a quick update about the Minkata testing shard. Throughout April he has been busy archiving all of OpenUru source code from the public repositories on BitBucket, as they are discontinuing support. He is done and has secure copies of all the data.
He was then able to go back to getting fan Ages to be able to be loaded into the Minkata Alpha shard for testing. With help from Hoikas, he picked out a number of fixes that had been waiting for a while – including the Windows 10 mouse fix – to be added to the MOULa client, and integrated them into the Minkata Prime client.
In short, three fan Ages from Doobes (Chiso Preniv, the Guild of Messengers’ New Pub, and Veelay Tsahvahn) are now available on Minkata Alpha!
A number of enthusiastic Age testers on Alpha have ensured that the Ages are ready for wider exposure. Chiso Preniv will be a public instance shared by all explorers, like Kirel, and will hold the books for all the other Ages. Once he gets the procedure for adding a new global Age designed, he will go ahead and add the new Ages to the Minkata Prime shard.
No deadline can yet be set, at this point in time, for porting the fan Ages to MOULa itself.
The updated client has been available on Minkata Alpha for most of April. There have been a few regressions noted from the testers, most significantly troubles walking up stairs, generally due to improper collision models in Cyan’s Ages. Rarified is holding off pushing the new client (needed for the fan Ages) to MOULa until he has either found a fix or discussed it with Chogon, since new explorers may find it uncomfortable.
Rarified and the Guild of Writers are also attempting to update the client to a more recent version of PhysX, which should make the new MOULa client run much more smoothly on Windows 10. An old plan was to switch to Bullet, but since Plasma was designed with PhysX, that would require a lot more work.
To keep up-to-date, check the OpenUru Discord channel. If you plan to join the testers on the Minkata shard (Prime and/or Alpha), be sure to know what to expect from a testing shard.
Fan Ages Touring Club
Korov’ev then gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.
- On April 19 the Club adventurers visited (or tried to) Tunnel Demo, Box Age and Odema, by Nadnerb, plus TINA Testing Area (Valdez), Prad (D’Lanor), and Aerie (Kierra).
- On April 26 they visited Toroolbah, Bimevi, Fens, and Maw, by Whilyam, Ages that could be easily mistaken for Cyan ones.
- On May 3 (and possibly 10) they will visit entries from the Rapid Age Development and Detailed Age Writing contests, small but with plenty to see.
- The following week, they will visit TikiBear’s Ages (Duck Knee Skydiving Club, Sprite Gallery, and Paper Pagodas); then, it will be time for the Geologica series (likely another two-part expedition).
After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (look for threads that start with “Fan Age expedition”). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
One of the main objectives of the Touring Club, besides getting more explorers to know and appreciate the many Ages created in the last 15 years, is also to give some feedback to the authors, who are very welcome to attend the tours and talk about their works.
Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.
Shards door runs
Korov’ev mentioned a suggestion he made on the OpenUru forum, after the successful April 26 event, to hold door runs on shards on rotation, each Sunday at 14:00 KIT.
Cyan news
- The Cyan Store now has a Free Stuff section, which currently has a Myst Desktop Background Pack.
- Indie Megabooth has a long list of games that will be on sale from May 5 to 12, including Obduction, Zed, and over 150 other indie titles.
Mysterium news
Plans are being worked on to make the convention happen, if not in person, at least virtually.
The Triumvirate has opened location bids for editions of the convention outside the official one. The bids will be handled a bit differently, and accepted year-round. For 2022, that means bids will be due by April 1, 2021.
D’ni Language Classes
Shokhootahn Rehn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.
He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in autumn. Night time classes, however, are unaffected.
There are currently two students taking the classes, set to take lesson 6. Meanwhile, Axenna completed her final exam and passed the D’ni 101 class! Votahret ah’shem khe-bahrtahtahvteeom!
Details 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); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
- The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, starting at 20:00 or 21:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
- Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at the same stage. They are continuing with the story arc of the D’ni kings, and will continue for the next ten weeks.
Details 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 14:30 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the meeting.
- 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.
And that was it for this month.
April ended with a CavFunding of 125%, a population of 34,487 explorers, and 1840 unique visits.
Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!
The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, June 6, 2020 (Leebro 9, 9676 DE) at 13:00 KIT.
Until then!
]]>
Mother Earth Day & the D’ni new Year
Minasunda was first, to announce three events for late April:
- Saturday 18, 13:00 KIT, Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira – Nulp Dance Show “Mother Earth” (stream);
- Tuesday 21, 13:00 KIT, Magic Greet Tree Pub – D’ni New Year 9676 light show by Yoda (stream);
- Wednesday 22, 13:00 KIT, Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira – Mother Earth Day Dance Party (stream).
The stage for the Nulp Dance Show will be the water pool in front of the waterfall: please stay on land so as to not disrupt the show.
The Nulp Dance Show will also commemorate the victims of the COVID-19 crisis. Minasunda is collecting KI numbers of explorers who would like to participate: you can send the KI number of the avatar you want to participate with in a KImail (#5667000) or a PM on Facebook or Discord.
To get to the locations, you will need to PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319). To keep up to date with these events, check the Facebook group and the Discord server (or our calendar).
Cavern Tours
CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to announce the fourth Cavern Tour of 2020, on Saturday 11 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.
The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background.
The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!
Radio Free D’ni Remastered
Korov’ev next announced the launch of Radio Free D’ni’s second show, RFD Remastered: on alternate Sundays starting on April 5, they will broadcast reruns of older episodes with new commentary. The new series will run experimentally two hours later than the regular show, at 14:30 KIT.
Music To Make You Smile
On Monday 6 at 13:00 KIT, Nosila will play some happy music; the location will be the Ae’gura plaza, and the stream will be at nosilaradio.caster.fm.
State of Minkata
Rarified gave a quick update about the Minkata testing shard.
January and February had good progress on Minkata-alpha, until he bumped into an Age loading issue with the client. Then March happened, and most of it was diverted to non-Uru stuff.
It will take him a few days to get back up to speed with the deep debugging he needs to do to diagnose the age issue, but that is now at the top of the todo list. So there should soon be some more testing to do in Minkata-alpha.
Rarified also mentioned that he pulled a fix for the Windows 10 mouse bug from the GoW/H’uru source code, to be included in the Minkata pipeline; but he wants to concentrate on the fan Age issue first.
To keep up-to-date, check the OpenUru Discord channel.
Fan Age Touring Club
Korov’ev then gave a quick update on the Fan Age Tours he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.
- On March 29 the club visited Takla Ma’kan: it was a mighty run through the puzzles and they still did not manage to see all of it.
- On April 5 they will be visiting Jo’nae, by Jonnee, and possibly go back to see that last part of Takla they missed.
- April 12 will continue with Jo’nae Hood; the week after that, it will be the turn of a few Ages by Nadnerb.
After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (look for threads that start with “Fan Age expedition”).
One of the main objectives of the Touring Club, besides getting more explorers to know and appreciate the many Ages created in the last 15 years, is also to give some feedback to the authors, who are very welcome to attend the tours and talk about their works.
Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.
Cyan news
- March ended with an excellent CavFunding of 175%. There was a very large donation, but also a 30% increase in the server costs because of the greater data transfer cost (from lots of new explorers!) and SMS text message costs (also from lots of new explorers!).
- Greydragon recently traveled to Boston with Numinous Games to show AREA MAN LIVES at PAX East. A post-show interview with the team about the game and their experience at PAX East was posted on the Cyan website.
- In these times of COVID-19, the Cyantists decided to show off some of their home workspaces.
- Obduction is coming to the Xbox: it will be available on April 10, but you can get a 20% discount if you pre-order it prior to launch.
- They also added a bunch of new Obduction items to the Cyan store: everything is currently 20% off.
- Firmament is still making progress! Cyan wished to give more behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the game, which has been kind of difficult this last month. They have some ideas, and they will share them in the coming weeks.
Explorers memorial
In what has become a grim tradition, Korov’ev had to report the passing of yet another explorer: Daniel Dea “Watashi” Grindle, founder of the URU Skydivers group – in its original meaning of jumping from high spots – and host of the Watashi’s Gira webradio.
Addendum: D’ni Language Classes
Shokhootahn Rehn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.
He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in the spring. Night time classes, however, are unaffected.
There are currently three students taking the classes: one is set to take lesson 4, one for lesson 6, and one working on their final exam.
Details 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); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
- the Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, starting at 20:00 or 21:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule;
- last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
r’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at roughly the same stage. They are continuing with the story arc of the D’ni kings, and will continue for the next weeks.
Details 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 14:30 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the meeting;
- 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.
And that was it for this month.
March ended with a CavFunding of 175%, a population of 33,640 explorers, and 1754 unique visits.
Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!
The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 2, 2020 (Leefo 10, 9676) at 13:00 KIT.
Until then!
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