Blue Mars BETA 2.0 Client and New SDK Go Live!

--Jasmine Spearing, Marketing Associate

It’s release day again in Blue Mars! We’ve been making improvements and adding new features on a regular development schedule for the last few months, but this is not just another release. This is our biggest release yet! This is Blue Mars Beta 2.0. Our new Client has features like

• a free camera
• major improvements to the movement control options
• Blinks (hyperlinks for Blue Mars destinations)
• and other great things you are going to love!


We appreciate your feedback and suggestions, the input of our devs and our Blue Mars community helps us determine where we need to work to improve the experience for our users and the capabilities of our developers!

We have a lot to celebrate this weekend, so check out our Halloween Events and come party on Mars with us while you experience our latest and greatest improvements! Keep reading to learn about our new Beta 2.0 Client software!

• New default avatar controls!
o Avatar movement control has been dramatically improved. Now you can move and turn by pressing both mouse buttons. See HERE for details.

• New camera controls!
o Activate this camera mode using the Alt key with your mouse for enhanced camera controls. NOTE: Tap the Esc key to exit the camera mode. See HERE for details.

• Blinks!
Blinks provide direct hyperlink teleport links from any web page to Cities in Blue Mars. If you have Blue Mars installed, clicking on a Blink will automatically teleport you to that City in-world, or prompt you to download that City. Learn more about Blinks here.

• Residences!
Residences have been available for experimentation by developers in the editor since our last update. Now they will be available for rent! Our Blue Mars users can finally have a place to call their own, to decorate, to share with friends, and a place to enjoy a virtual getaway from real life. Learn more about residences here.

• Avatar right-click menu!
Right Clicking on another avatar will bring up their avatar menu, nowhere you can:
o view their profile
o interact with them using the interactions list including hug, poke, etc.
o private message the user
o add them as a friend
o mute the user
o report the user via the HelpDesk web page


If you right-click on yourself to bring up your avatar menu, you will be able to:
o go to your favorite city
o buy BLU$
o view our events calendar on our web site
o residences- pay your rent, terminate your lease, add roommates, lock your residence
o view and edit your profile, including your mood
o report a bug


• Some bugs related to chat and movement have been fixed


• You can now move and collapse the Tool Bar


• Change your avatar chat bubble color

o Open the Options window (Ctrl+O or the Wrench icon in the menu tray), go to Options > Chat Bubble > Bubble Color and select the color you want from the color bar.
o Note: This chat bubble color change is also visible to other avatars.


• When you click the Logout icon or the "X" button on the top right corner of the Client window, the Logout dialogue box will appear immediately now.
o When you click on the "X" button on the top right corner of the Client window when the Places Browser is open, the Places Browser will disappear and the Logout dialogue will appear.


• The Purchase window now shows a description of the item

• The voice chat range has been extended to 15m, with fade starting at 12m from the speaker.

• Auto-patch feature: Now, the client software will check to see if you have the latest version. If a patch is available, it will prompt you to download and install the patch rather than take you to the client download page of our website.

• Options menu: Fullscreen option has been added to the screen resolution list.
o If you go into fullscreen mode from this Options menu instead of the Alt+Enter shortcut key, the original window size will be saved. Once you are in fullscreen mode, you can change the window size in the Options menu, press Alt+Enter and the window size will revert to the new window size.

To find out what’s new for our Blue Mars devs, check out our Developer Release Notes.