Artemia Sea Update #2

It's only been one post since the last Artemia Sea update, and here I am with another. Okay, in reality it's actually been a while since the last Artemia Sea update, but given how infrequently I've been posting it certainly looks recent. 

This update is considerably more substantial than the last one:

• All the flora and fauna will now fall down slightly after being picked up and dropped. This is because they stop functioning completely when picked up, and when one put them in the inventory or some other vehicle they'd unrealistically keep floating.
• Dead organisms will now adjust their falling speed depending on if they're in water or not. Previously, their floating speed depended on where they died; they'd drop like rocks if they died due to drowning in air or slowly fall down if they died of natural causes underwater, regardless of their current room type. 
• The adult jellyfish are considerably less toxic, making them slightly less dangerous to creatures.
• If for some reason a shark dies (normally they can only die when the hand manually changes their attributes and drags them above water), it won't "revive" if pushed or pulled. 
• The seahorses will move a little faster when trying to get to a plant or a mate, and are also less likely to go above the water's surface. 

As always it's available from the Metarooms page of the C3/DS Downloads section, or you can save yourself some clicking and just get it here.

I'm also working on updating the Deep Abyss, but it's not quite ready yet. I'm actually planning on trying to have it completely finished by the time CCSF 2015 rolls around. Whether or not I manage to release anything else then is still up in the air (on top of my usual laziness, I've also got the task of coordinating it to worry about).

Until the next one, folks.

Artemia Sea Update

Here is a small update for Artemia Sea. I received a report that it was being laggy. Upon looking into it, I left out a line of code in the Sea Gooseberries that might have made them tax the system a little more than intended.

While I was at it I also attempted to fix the issue where the sharks and reef fish could be played with by creatures whilst in the middle of their turning animation. Unfortunately I don't think it worked, but try it and see?

You can get the update from the link on the Metarooms page in the C3/DS downloads section, or here.

Until the next one, folks.

Post-CCSF Stuff

The CCSF is now over. Actually, it's been over for a while now; I've just been too lazy to update the blog.

It was a considerable improvement over last year's, I can say that much. Despite the fact that CCaves glitched out three days into the festival and delayed it for quite a while, what was there was still pretty enjoyable. KittyTikara did a wonderful job handling it all, and it was nice to see that the CCSF got a dedicated section that was both noticeable and actually looked like a CCSF website.

That being said, it still fell flat in other areas. There was a grand total of *one* big release (which I submitted); everything else was either a genetic breed, simple agent, or a creature pack. Furthermore, while there were quite a few contests, participation in them was utterly abysmal (Not counting my genetic breed contest, which was started before the CCSF, the most entries any of them got was two, and only one of them even got that many).

A lot of this can be chalked up to the aforementioned CCaves technical difficulties and to the fact that it took forever to get this festival planned. In spite of all that, what we got was enjoyable for what it was. However, it really doesn't bode well for future festivals.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there just wasn't a festival next year.

The community just isn't what it used to be. We're certainly not dead; new members are still coming in at a regular basis and everyone who's still here is reasonably active. However, a lot of wonderful people, many of them skilled developers, are no longer a part of the community. And what remains just doesn't seem as lively.

Given this state of affairs, I don't see the CCSF getting any better. Unless the people who really cared about the CCSF return to the community, or the current community gets a massive boost in activity, I doubt the tradition is ever going to return to its former glory.

I'm not saying there's no point in keeping the tradition alive. If there's still people who want to keep it going, then by all means. I'm just not expecting a whole lot out of it from now on.

Okay, enough of the downer stuff. I think it's about time I get the stuff I released on my own place, isn't it?

Release #1 is the Spam Norns. These are essentially an updated version of the breed of the same name created by ToxicNorn (ToxicNorns?). While they aren't completely immortal or age as fast like ToxicNorn's, they still breed really, really fast, and are really social on top of that. If you want lots of norns quickly, then these guys are for you, but everyone else might want to be careful lest they overrun whatever world they're placed in.

Download the Spam Norns!

Next up is Artemia Sea, the sole big release of CCSF 2014. This metaroom is based upon the tank from the Amazing Virtual Sea Monkeys and is designed with the comforts of swimming creatures in mind. It's filled with life from Creatures 1, Creatures 2, and the Amazing Virtual Sea Monkeys, although there's a few completely new organisms floating around in there....

Download Artemia Sea!

Finally, there's the Artemia Grendels in the event you need some creatures to fill up Artemia Sea. This pack of grendels was produced from a wolfling run I ran in Artemia Sea while the room was in development. They have a number of differences from normal grendels, not the least of which is that they have gills and will drown if you don't get them to water as soon as you import them. I don't consider these to be a proper breed...at least, not yet. Might want to stay tuned. 

Download the Artemia Grendels!

I initially held off on this since I wanted to make a bonus release. However, there's a certain holiday coming up very soon that would be a better time to release some things and so I decided to just upload my CCSF stuff and get it over with. 

Now, there's also my genetic breed contest that I mentioned some time ago on this blog. It's technically over since it ended on the last day of the CCSF.

Um...about that. Despite the long period time it was open for, the contest got only three entries. The winner of these three entries was decided quite a while ago, and I could post which one I liked the most. 

The problem is that this is far fewer entries than I would've liked. I was hoping to get six or more by the supposed deadline. I guess the lack of participation is sort of my fault for not making it more visible. 

I do have a new idea for the whole thing, but that'll be for a later date. For now, consider the contest to still be open. I'll close submissions when I work the kinks out of the idea. 

I think that's everything I have to say for now. Until the next one, folks.