Blue World Notes: Fall Leaves Come to Blue Mars (If They're Scripted to Be Seasonal)

Wildwood before and after the scripting of Fall leaves

On a recent return visit to Wildwood, the lovely forest glade in Blue Mars (Blink page here), I noticed something had changed, since I visited late last Summer: Where the trees were once a lush and verdant green, many were now bursting with the color of Fall leaves, as was the ground around them. The effect was dazzling. (Compare and contrast September and now, above.) As it turns out, the seasonal changes of Blue Mars trees can be coded:

"The trees turned color with the October update," Wildwood owner Josie Quest tells me. "That was done by changing the leaves textures on several of the tree models. I had to tell it to do that for particular trees and times." While all the trees were set to have green leaves by default, she edited many leaf textures with other colors (DavyRocket helped her with that), and set the time when they would turn. "They will remain that color until I change them. I am trying to decide if I want to change them for Winter or just let Winter be on that snowy mountain." While she's undecided about Winter, she has definite plans for Spring, next time it comes around: More green, and perhaps some blossoms.

The blazing flashes of Autumn leaves aren't the only changes that have recently come to Wildwood, by the way: There's a deer tagging game, a challenge to find all the Bambis now foraging for Fall leaves in the woods of Josie Quest. Go here for details on playing that game and others in Wildwood.

What about Blue Mars should I write about next? Email and let me know: hamlet at bluemarsonline dot com.