Thanks to everyone who participated in making this beautiful video an incredible piece of work, and especially Shadow for bringing it all together! It truly illustrates the best that our server has to offer, both in its content and in the amazing people that visit it! Thank you all so much! ^^
Oh, and since I did the last photo shot, here it is below in color. :)
As a different change of pace from all the biome importing, I opted to continue furthering our New Cheese economy instead! Not only is the Macro Mart now fully stocked with New Cheese items (including all the colored wool you could ever want!), but now the ENTIRETY of the DRC Spawn shop has been converted to New Cheese as well! So if you're looking forward to buying that stack of Stone for two Old Cheese, don't be surprised if it won't take your money. In fact, it wants two New Cheese! :)
And just as a testament to how easy this is to set up using this new module, I converted the whole store in about an hour's worth of time (give a take a ton of distractions) -- very good considering the original redstone machines took days to create and calibrate. ;P
As an added bonus, the old Dravics Cheese and Head ATM which was previously decommissioned has now be restored and modernized to serve as our world's second New Cheese ATM!!
here you'll find not only the usual withdraw/deposit Cheese/Blue Cheese set up, but as a small nod to the Dravic's economy of yesteryear, it can also let you cash in "Rupees' (aka, emeralds) and Steve heads too! Granted these are regional trades and not "real" server money anymore, so expect to get back a LOT less than what these items are actually worth -- but anyone begging for low-denomination currency item will probably appreciate these very much. :)
The next modernization effort will take place in Spawnington, so expect to see some massive changes in the bank soon. [for one, the diamond, emerald and gold shops will be moved to the future jewelry store across the street]. :P
Well isn't this a gorgeous moonlit shot of hell on Earth? :P
Anyway, as some of you may already know, we have officially unveiled Monster Island on the server, a huge island FAR east of Spawnington riddled with smoldering terrain, infested wastelands and deadly volcanoes. Just the kind of place countless mobs and Nether visitors would call home!
It's generally safe to visit during the day when most monsters (save for hideous silverfish and a few slimes), like to sleep... but once the sun is down, expect things to get very nutty very fast. Monster Island is definitely not for the weak of heart; think of it as one giant hardcore dungeon for those seeking adventure and danger. Standard sightseers need not apply. XD
What do we intend to do on Monster Island? Why, whole mob towns and cities, of course! Already I've imported a Dark Tower from Twilight Forest and a clean Nether Fortress to serve as the pseudo-downtown area ofMonster Island. It's up to YOU brave and/or clever folk to help complete even more monster structures, be they simple zombie pigmen villages, or a bustling necropolis. Already we've had some enterprising players create makeshift dungeons deep within the ground -- its this kind of death-defying imagination that will help make Monster Island awesome! A place where artists who bask in pain and suffering can express themselves freely. >v<
Meanwhile, I've done pretty much all I've could for Monster Island. After this, I'll probably take a small break of biome imports and get back to my beloved Spawnington. <3
And here I was thinking it was already spring, and I could enjoy a little leisurely stroll through the park when suddenly... GLACIER!!!
FREAKIN' GLACIER!!! XD
And plus on the glacier seems like a wannabe Fortress of Solitude. But I won't investigate because honestly... I'm so sick of winter!! >v<
But you're welcomed to find this glacier biome on your own! It's actually the closest to Spawnington of all the imported biomes, and VERY hard to miss in isometric view. :)
WOOOOT!!!!!!!!!! WE UPDATED TO GULLIVER 1.7-- er, wait... there is no version for 1.7 yet,... So what am I looking at? >v>
....
Oh well, I guess we just kinda/sorta have a Mesa Biome just like that. Don't worry about finding it on Dynmap, it's REALLY easy to spot (just find huge chunks of red in the landscape). :P
Oh the nice pristine air, sweet smell of pine, and glorious cascades of the Mountain biome! And we didn't even have to install Biomes O Plenty to get this. It is now merged into our world, as natural as any native biome, and this is definitely just the beginning.
Over the next few weeks I will continue to import other great biomes and structures from many of our favorite mods, some of which have even been tried out in Little Brother (e.g., the Twilight Forest Lich Tower). This is to ensure that our world is teeming with interesting sights and sounds to see besides just player towns; to truly make it a joy to traverse the land on foot or horseback. Our server landscape will be like no other. :)
In other news, the great Tarig has released his latest patch update to the Forge Essentials suite of server management tools, which has been released and deployed to the server today! This release addresses the following, among other things:
Gulliver Commands can now be designated by permissions
Deputies and Commissioners now have Gulliver Commands at their disposal, including /basesize which they can now use to resize themselves or other players.
Commissioners now have access to some of the former opped tools which previously didnt work (e.g, /whitelist).
A few stability updates were added to the tp commands
The Economy module commands are now working properly, allowing us to resume work on converting our currency to New Cheese -- as of this writing, the Macro Mart is back in business once more. :)
At this point I feel we have everything we ever wanted from our original vision, and that makes me very happy! Hopefully we can get to hear even MORE good news in other fronts this week. :)
And lastly, since apparently torches cause lag (a particle effect thing), we will soon begin the initiative to continue modernizing spawnington, and replace torches with either glowstone or jack-o=lanterns. throughout the city. This will hopefully some of the lag issues we continue to have at spawn.
