--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted) Dec. 17, 2009 -- Updated Dec. 18.
Flash in Blue Mars
Today we are announcing a breakthrough in virtual worlds – the world’s first system for rendering fully interactive Adobe Flash 10™ content in a high definition massively multiplayer 3D environment. Developers can now create immersive 3D worlds in which thousands of users can experience and interact with Flash™ content simultaneously in any given world.
Full press release here. Technical details are on the AR Tools page of the wiki.
Blue Mars Client
Talk about new features and content! First the content. There are two new Cities, and an update to GridRock City. Below are some screenshots to give you a preview of these new spaces.
- Caledonia has expanded to from Second Life into Blue Mars, bringing gracious living and their 19th-century style to the new world, with some adventurous developers and Caledonians.
- Pavonis comes to Blue Mars, a lush tropical island archipelago where you can create and share your dreams. Created by Desmond Shang and his talented Caledonian creators. http://sites.google.com/site/caledoniamars/
- GridRock City has been updated with new buildings and a new look. Check it out!
New features in the Blue Mars client: - The new client software is smaller! About 500MB now.
- New Places Browser that lists cities already on your local computer, as well as cities that are available on the server.
- Clicking on a city in the Places Browser will download it to your computer in the background.
- Caledonia and in2Orbit have twitter widgets. Check them out!
- Improved Communication Panel.
- Purchased items go into inventory.
- Clicking on a location no longer makes a sound.
- A new Bowling minigame is accessible from Beach City.
User MyPage
Announcing the new member MyPage! This is an early version, but it has several useful features.
Edit your Avatar name: Yes, it’s true! You can now finally edit your avatar name. I know a number of “anonymous” or “nil” avatars out there who will be delighted to at last have a fitting moniker.
User Admin: You can edit your email address, password too.
Create your online profile: On the “Top” page you can edit your profile description. In an upcoming version of MyPage you’ll be able to upload an avatar image too.
Inventory list: Get a full list of all the items you have bought. This will be more useful once we finish the ecommerce system and item uploads for developers. Coming soon!
Friends list: Get a full list of all your friends here. In the future, we plan to enable IM messaging from here.
Buy BLU: It’s not working quite yet. Just a few more system components to finish first. But once the system is finished, you’ll be able to buy Blue Mars BLU currency from your MyPage.
Dev Tools
What’s new for Blue Mars developers in this release? More tools and functionality for developers.
Blue Mars City Editor
Big news! The Blue Mars City Editor is now available to everyone though the Dev MyPage!
With the City Editor, City developers can load block layer files and export PAK files. They can upload a CTY pak file to Avatar Reality through FTP.
Blue Mars Block Editor
City devs can use the City Editor to define a block. Block devs can use Flowgraph, and can use AR/Common/ARInteriorTester to test interiors.
Blue Mars Shop Editor
Shop Owners can create custom a Shop interior and set Shelves for leased Shop through the Dev MyPage.
Blue Mars Furniture Editor
Developers can create furniture items and upload them for QA approval through MyPage, in the same way as in Item and Cloth Editors. The QA process tests for technical errors, and does not evaluate content. Real Estate Page Developers can use our new Real Estate page to buy a Block with BLU.
Developer MyPage The updated developer MyPage
adds several components to the Blue Mars development platform.
City devs can: - upload a City PAK
- set a price for a Block
- upload a Block PAK for Block Developers
Block Devs can upload Block Pak to City Developer.
Item Developers can upload Item and set price.
All developers can buy BLU currency.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted): Feb. 04, 2010 |
The Blue Mars network of interconnected virtual worlds is filled with content, environments and games that are created by and for the global community. So it's no surprise that members of the Blue Mars family are creating fansites and blogs about Blue Mars. Here are the ones we know about. We encourage you to visit them and help spread the word by blogging, tweeting and posting about these awesome sites.
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Fan Sites and Blogs |
:: Updated: Feb. 10, 2010 :: |
Flickr Groups
Official Blue Mars group
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluemarsonline/
Flickr Fan Groups
http://www.flickr.com/groups/blue_mars/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bluemars/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1238508@N23/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/blue_mars_video/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1180650@N25/
Videos and Machinima
Danienravennest Videos http://www.vimeo.com/user2856298/videos New!
Post additional links and discuss this on the Fan Sites and Blogs topic of the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted)Nov. 20, 2009
The Oct 21 poll results showed Martian Mentor as the most popular name for volunteers, closely followed by Blue Mentor; with Mars Mentor coming up last. Now Tiffany is finishing up the Martian Mentor designs for our special volunteer T-shirts. So look for them in an upcoming Blue Mars release!
We will be handing out the first T-shirts to the volunteers we see in world each week. The free Beach City apartments for volunteers have been tested and are almost ready to go too.
So, although we've been somewhat quiet recently, it's because we've been preparing rewards and a Training Guide for volunteers. Stay tuned, Martians. Lots more to come!
Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted) Oct. 21, 2009
Update: Nov. 20 -- The poll results showed Martian Mentor as the most popular name, closely followed by Blue Mentor, with Mars Mentor coming up last. So Tiffany is finishing up the Martian Mentor designs for our special volunteer T-shirts right now. Look for them in an upcoming Blue Mars release!
We will be handing out the first T-shirts to the volunteers we see in world each week. The free Beach City apartments for volunteers are almost ready to go too. So, although we've somewhat quiet recently, it's just because we have been preparing rewards and a Training Guide for volunteers. Stay tuned. Lots more to come!
Update: Nov. 4 -- We've made a new poll with the top 3 most popular names for volunteers. Which is your favorite?
Oct 21 -- As we gear up for the Blue Mars volunteer program, we're designing a special T-shirt for our beloved volunteers.
This naturally leads to the design for the shirt. What name should we use for the volunteers?
Tiffany and I brainstormed a number of names like:
Dr. Blue Mars,
Dr. Blue,
Dr. Mars,
Doc Mars,
Blue Mars Mentor,
Blue Mars Geek,
Blue Geeks,
Blue Geek Squad,
Blue Guide,
Blue Mars Guide,
Blue Pro,
Mars Pro,
Mars Pros,
Martian Pro,
Blue Mars Coach,
Coach Blue,
Coach Mars...
But we need your input so we don't end up choosing a really silly name that no one likes.
So, take a second to click the survey and let us know your fav name.
By the way, over 200 members have written us to volunteer their time and expertise, helping to welcome new members, show them around and answer questions. Fantastic! Thanks to all of you.
We're in the process of setting up some free apartments in Beach City for the volunteers. The most active mentors will get first dibbs...
To become an esteemed volunteer, visit our volunteers page!
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Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted)Oct. 20, 2009
Amateurs... Hmm....
This blog is in response to this post on the member forum.
A couple of points that may help clarify things. But first read my post about Blue Mars being a platform.
Avatar Reality doesn't prohbit content based on some arbitrary quality bar. The community can decide for itself what it likes and what it doesn't.
Our goal is thousands of developers happily creating an amazing array of content, and being successful in whatever way they measure success. And millions of members enjoying that content, and sharing it with their friends in Blue Mars.
Right now, hundreds of independent Blue Mars developers are creating cities, blocks, shops, residences, museums, vehicles, animations, skins, hair, clothing, games, schools, gardens, clubs, concert centers, movie theatres, and more.
Any platform that lets people explore their own creativity and experiment with new ideas is bound to have a wide variety in both quality and style of the creations coming from our 3rd-party developers. Nowadays, the members of the online community decide what they like. And individually, each person chooses to visit and support the content that matches their style and tastes.
So, yes, there may be some content that doesn't turn you on. Well, try another destination. If you don't see one you like, then make one yourself.
That's the great thing about our platform. You can DIY. Lets see you do better. I dare yah. ;)
The bottom line is that Blue Mars is a network of virtual worlds
created by 3rd-party developers. They use the Blue Mars platform and tools to bring their visions to life. These visions will be as varied as the talented and imaginative people who create them. And we wouldn't have it any other way. |
Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted)Sept. 1, 2009
New Blue Mars Feature #1: Chat History
Scrolling chat history. Helps you keep track of the conversation and avatar names! The chat history window shows the avatar name and what they typed.
By the way,
I suggested the limit be 1000 messages. So that's what it's set to right now. If you think it should be longer, post about it on our forum.
I'll be posting more features and screenshots here, after i tweet about them.
So be sure to follow http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline and get all the news before it goes live here on the blog!
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New Blue Mars Feature #2: Menu Tray
Our designer created a Menu tray with animated icons. This provides an intuitive way to find what you need. And you can move the Camera icon anywhere you like.
The Camera icon lets you select from 4 cam zoom settings: 3rd person, half body view, head and shouders, and 1st person.
What features do you want to see? Post about it in our forum.
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New Blue Mars Feature #3: Log out button
We added Logout button to the bottom right corner of the screen. Use this to log out correctly. Then the server will know you're gone. This would let you log right back in if you need.
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New Blue Mars Feature #4: Friends Request
Right-click an avatar and choose Friend Request from the menu. This sends an invitation to the avatar. If they click Accept, they are added to your friends list.
Can you guess what feature is next? |
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New Blue Mars Feature #5: Friends List
When you click the Friends icon in the Menu Tray, the program will display your friends list at the bottom of your screen. Click the Friends icon again, to turn off the friends list.
This list shows your friends names and their online status.A green dot means Online. A gray dot means they are offline. This is an interim design that will change in the next version. |
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New Blue Mars Feature #6: Home Button
There is a new Home button in the top left of the screen. Click this to return to the staging area. From there you can click one of the 5 signs to visit another destination. |
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New Blue Mars Feature #7: New Bikini for Fem Avatars
Female avatars will thrilled when you open your clothing inventory and find a new string bikini. I can see your avatar smiling already.
Now you have a new bikini that you can wear at the beach, or lounging in the sun as your avatar gets a nice tan!
What kind of clothes would you like to see in Blue Mars? Post your thoughts on our forum. There are many clothing creators who would love to hear what you like.
Become a Blue Mars developer!
If you create clothing, we invite you to register to become a Blue Mars developer at www.bluemars.com. It is fast, free and easy. |
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New Blue Mars Feature #8: Sample Apartment
After you arrive in Beach City, go across the street into the hotel.
Inside the hotel, on your right you will see a door that is highlighted when you put your mouse over it.
Click the door to enter the apartment.
There is a tutorial video on the wall to the left of the bookshelves. The video shows how to move things around.
Right-click an object to move or delete it.
In the final version, your deleted items will appear in your inventory.
You can do anything you want in there, because it is a sample apartment, so everything resets after you leave.
Click the large door to return to the hotel.
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Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted) Aug. 25, 2009
Update 2009-09-01:
Thanks for your input to our poll! The poll is closed, but the results are shown below. We will take your suggestions to heart (including "Other") and brainstorm about the best word to use.
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Okay, the first poll was a good start with 97 votes, including numerous suggestions for "Other".. I created a new poll with the most popular choices from the first one, plus some of the "Other" suggestions. Yes, you CAN vote again, so let us know which name you like!
Do you think of yourself as a "colonist" of Blue Mars. Or do you prefer the word "martian"... Oh, what about the word "mariner"...?
From this shortlist of names in the poll, how do you want to refer to Blue Mars members?
You can choose more than one. But please limit your votes to 2 or 3 choices.
Note: If you click "Other" please type in a suggestion in the gray box. And please, don't try to spoof the results by entering your word multiple times. I can see it in the results report. :P
Update (2009-08-26): "Other" names suggested so far include: Spacer, Beamer, Blues, Marsian, Bavatar
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Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted) Aug. 24, 2009
The first poll is closed. See the blog above for the new poll based on the results of the first one.
Do you consider yourself to be a "colonist" of Blue Mars. Or do you prefer the word "denizen"... Hmm, what about the word "native"...?
Here we are, making choices that will impact every Blue Mars visitor forevermore. What should we call our members?
We need a term that would work for everyone, from RPGers to scientists to fashionistas to artists to educators. We would love to hear your idea. So vote now and help us to make this historic decision!
Thanks for voting in the first poll! Here are the results: |
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These are the "Other" names that were suggested: |
Other |
35 |
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Mariner |
Colonist |
18 |
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BMP (Blue Mars Person) |
Resident |
14 |
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Customer |
Martian |
14 |
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BluMer / BluMers |
Settler |
4 |
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enlightened |
Native |
3 |
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living-blues |
Dweller |
3 |
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Citizen |
Denizen |
2 |
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blook (blue bloke) |
Player |
2 |
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Patrician |
Mariner |
2 |
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Blue Martians |
Total |
97 |
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Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted) Aug. 7, 2009
Lets clear up some confusion surrounding Blue Mars. Imagine if you will that I'm being inverviewed by Joe Netizen. Joe has read a many comments about Blue Mars, and he wonders what's really going on. So he asks some fairly pointed questions, to which I respond with great equinamity and perspicacity...
Joe: I heard that Blue Mars is only for Windows. Do you guys hate Mac users?
Glenn: Blue Mars is built on the CryEngine2 from Crytek. Currently, the CryEngine is only available for use on Windows computers. Lots of our Avatar Reality developers use Macs at work and at home. We love 'em! (Macs, as well as Mac users)
Joe: Come on, really? Or maybe it's like one guy said, you're secretly connected with Microsoft?... Right?
Lol, that's a good one Joe! But seriously, before we started developing Blue Mars, we looked at many game engines. The CryEngine was the clear choice when we looked at all of the factors we wanted in a graphics engine. These include visual beauty, ability to smoothly render thousands of objects and textures in a scene, scalability, infrastructure costs, maintenance, and viability as a platform for our users to create cities, content, games, and to incorporate multimedia and Web content in-world.
I hate to dash your hopes for a nice, juicy conspiracy, but there were no sinister considerations, or connections with other companies. Just common sense in choosing the best software to match our needs.
Joe: How does Blue Mars work, anyway? What kind of developers are there? How would I create and add content?
Glenn: There are three basic types of developers for Blue Mars. "City Developers" can create and terraform a region in Blue Mars. They can either build all the content for their region and set up their own open spaces, blocks, and shops, or they can rent space out to "Block Developers."
Block devs can build on the section of land that they lease from the City dev. These Block devs can then create shops, residences, or other types of open spaces or other types of buildings.
"Content Developers" can create all sorts of objects. Then they can rent shop space and sell their content. They can also provide services in-world or online.
Joe: Ok, another thing I heard is that there will be little content in Blue Mars because only certain developers will be able to create things. In some other virtual worlds, anyone can create things. That adds to the variety and makes things interesting. Won't the variety of things in Blue Mars be very limited?
Glenn: Content Developers can create pretty much anything they can imagine, including 3D objects, clothing, vehicles, animations, 2D and 3D Flash objects and applications, full-featured video games, Web applications and streaming content of all types. And the cool thing is that anyone can create content for Blue Mars.
Joe: Yah, yah. But won't all of the cities look alike with little variety among them? Don't you guys exert some sort of heavy-handed "corporate" control over all the cities and content that is uploaded to Blue Mars?
Glenn: Blue Mars is a platform technology that enables developers to create to their hearts content. Our Beach City is just an example level that gives developers an idea how to create and script many types of content. The design and content of each city is up to the City, Block and Content developers. If the cities being developed right now are any indication, you can expect a wide variety among the regions.
For example the cities being developed right now represent a wide range of concepts and designs including:
- Futuristic space cities with sparkling chrome
- Virtual Venice with flowing fountains
- Cities based on various historical eras and countries
Players will be able to explore, live, and work in a beautiful, compelling and immersive world full of variety.
Joe: Hmm... I hear that people need a really expensive computer and software to create things for Blue Mars. Is that true?
Glenn: If you were buying a pc today to run Blue Mars, you could put together a fantastic machine for under $600. Most $100 graphics cards on the market today like the ATI 4770 run Blue Mars very well. The performance of the Blue Mars client will scale based on the hardware you have but you shouldn’t expect miracles from hardware that wasn’t build for 3D.
Regarding expensive software, all our tools are free and work well in concert with other free digital content creation tools like Blender and SketchUp.
Joe: Sure, you rich guys can afford new computers. But what about Joe the Plumber (my cousin) who has a cheap old computer? Is there anything he can do to rev up his machine to run Blue Mars?
Glenn: There are a couple of things your cousin can do. If he has a free slot for a video card, he can buy a recent video card from Nvidia or ATI. He can also add more memory (RAM) to his system. Before he spends the money to do this, he should understand that it won't guarantee that he can run Blue Mars. We will publish more specific minimum system specifications in the near future. A good rule of thumb is that you’ll need a dual core cpu and a video card that supports DirectX9 with dedicated video memory for the best Blue Mars experience.
Joe: Ok, ok. But what about the rumor that only rich, professional developers can create content for Blue Mars? Is it a closed system?
Glenn: Ah, that's an easy one. Pretty much any 3D or animation tool can be used to create content for Blue Mars. For example, developers can use the free SketchUp from Google or the free program called Blender. Of course developers can use 3DS Max or Maya to create content for Blue Mars.
The great thing is that developers can use professional tools to create their own mesh, textures, animations, etc. And then import them into Blue Mars. This gives them complete control over the process and the look of their finished product. It also allows them to give full expression to their creativity instead of spending most of their time trying to figure out how to create quality content with a less than optimal system.
Joe: But someone said that only rich ppl can afford to have space in Blue Mars and upload content. What do you say to that?
Glenn: We don't set prices for block or shop space. That pricing will be set by the City Developer. However, we expect the shop rental cost to be about the same as the monthly cost of a typical MMO membership.
Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
--Glenn Sanders, Community Director
--(Originally Posted) Aug. 6, 2009
Welcome the first Blue Mars Blog! We'll post blogs whenever the inspiration hits us. Watch for vlogs about Blue Mars and our team, information about special events, updates, and more. So stay tuned. We're just getting started.
The Net is abuzz with the possibilities offered by Blue Mars. But to be honest, we've been so focused on developing the technology, we neglected the blogosphere. But no more! I jumped at the opportunity to join Avatar Reality and reach out to the community, the world, and the solar system (...well, at least Mars).
I moved 3000 miles to Hawaii to work at Avatar Reality for several reasons. First and foremost is the Avatar Reality team. I did some consulting here before i joined full time, and got to know most of the team. They made me feel right at home, and at the same time impressed me with their skill, intelligence and dedication to bringing Blue Mars to life.
Then there is the technology. I sometimes play the Crysis video game with my sons, so I was already familiar with the CryEngine from Crytek, and am in love with the platform. Having been a Second Life member off and on since 2005, I am intimately familiar with the wonders as well as the pitfalls of virtual worlds. In my opinion, the CryEngine is by far the best platform for creating a virtual world, and including Flash, web content, and full-featured multiplayer games in-world.
Finally, I embrace the vision for Blue Mars that began with our founders Henk Rogers and Kazuyuki "Kaz" Hashimoto. They want to create a next-generation virtual world platform dedicated to bringing people together on a massive global scale. Henk challenges us to create the platform that the developers and members would build if they could design it themselves. That's a vision I can support. Now Jim Sink, our new CEO is helping to bring that vision to life.
Let us know what you think on the Blue Mars Forum.
Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/bluemarsonline |
Friend us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluemarsfb
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