@Achrow 2017

Welcome to The MeepTimes, the twice-monthly update to keep the community in the loop with what’s new, behind the scenes, and in the works. This will be published every other Friday.

Server Updates

Sethome Buff
We increased the amount of sethomes of most ranks! Citizens now can set three homes, Vip is allowed 5, Premium has 10, Exclusive is allotted 20, Elite has been given 50, and Supreme increased to 75!

/pweather
Pouring rain driving you insane? Now you have the control of what you see with this new donor perk for Vip+ that changes the weather between storms and clear. Use /pweather (reset, clear, or storm)!

Bugs Squashed

Shop Page
The forums shop has been fixed following a slight error with the display!

Mayor Spam
The NPC at /warp towns, Mayor Meep, will no longer spam you!

Recently Accepted Suggestions

/feed
Longed for this back? Never eat a bite of food again with the returning donor perk, /feed!
Trello Card

KitPvP Hearts
Tired of asking how many hearts your opponent had after the fight? Now you can simply look in tab to see how much health they have left!
Trello Card

Slime Fun
Ore crushers, digital miners, cactus armor oh my! We plan to go through the slime fun plugin to pick custom items to add to make the game more fun!

Beacon Improvements
Straight into the sky, a beam of light is cast. This enhanced beam can now give you even more abilities by allowing for more effects to be chosen!
Trello Card

Villager Eggs
After their removal from the /warp shop previously, villager eggs make their return as a vote crate item!

Dungeon
The dungeon of old makes its return in a new form. Fight your way through the hoardes, and conquer the dungeon boss for loot and other prizes!
Trello Card

Grappling Hook
The item from the server shop before the update to 1.10 makes its return as a vote crate item. Climb the walls, and grab onto the walls with the grappling hook!
Trello Card

Meepcraft Advancements
Earn your way to the top! Following the planned update to Minecraft 1.12, we will be adding custom achievements directly to the new advancements system!

Community Events

Reggles44’s Disguise Party
Coming back on, the community legend reggles decided to host a disguise part at /warp towns, and randomly changed everyone’s disguises! See images of the various disguises here.

Staff Auction!
Members of our community came together to trap one of our members of staff and decided to Auction them off! @NinjaRoxy was captured and was auctioned off into the community! This staff member was encased in glass for all to see. Missed the event? No big deal, click here!

Sleeping on the Job
Vexnoot caught some of the Meepcraft staff team sleeping on the job last night, and on the floor no less! Someone should really teach them how to do their job! Missed the sleepover? Click here!

The Project - Travelling Merchant

What is the Travelling Merchant?
The Travelling Merchant is a villager that will travel to a random town’s spawn at the beginning of a minecraft day. Upon arrival, the residents of the town will be alerted and will be able to trade with the merchant. All the trades available through the merchant are completely custom and range from 16 logs for 4 saplings and 16 bread for 1 gold, to a custom ‘poop block’ for 1000 dirt. Similar to regular villagers, the travelling merchant’s trades will lock after a certain amount of use, and when the sun goes down the travelling merchant will leave the town.

Who’s been working on it?

@Vamp1re_Man has been working on writing the code for the plugin and has also been working on the outline for the plugin.
@Midnight_Galaxy, @Flamedemond2 and @Kling have also been working on the outline for the plugin and coming up with trades for the merchant.

Let’s Talk!

Over the past week, questions have been sent off to some of the key people involved in this project. Using their answers, let’s get some insight on this week's project - The Travelling Merchant!

What did you work on and what was your role?
I worked on the outline on this project, I helped figure out items and trades, figuring out what was fair without it being too overpowered and ensuring that the trades were somewhat equal. I also helped vamp with the original idea and concept. - @Midnight_Galaxy

My role in this project was adding new ideas for trades and balancing the ones that were already there. We intentionally made it so you're seemingly trading down, but if you're getting the items you need, it's still beneficial. - @Flamedemond2

My role on this project was working on the outline alongside Midnight, Flame and Vampire. - @Kling

My role was to first brainstorm the general functionality of the travelling merchant along with the help of @Midnight_Galaxy, then brainstorm some ideas for trades with @Midnight_Galaxy, @Flamedemond2, and finally actually write the code for the plugin. - @Vamp1re_Man

What was your overall experience working on this project?
I had a lot of fun working and bouncing ideas with everyone who worked on this project. I think each person really has some unique ideas, and so I loved hearing what everyone had to say! - @Flamedemond2

This was my first major project that was involved with towny, and I really enjoyed working on writing the code for this plugin. I really enjoyed working with the others and coming up with what I believe will be a really good addition to the server. - @Vamp1re_Man

What are some of your favourite trades?
Easily the "Enchanted Rose" one. I mean come on, who doesn't love a sharp 5 + fire rose? - @Flamedemond2

My favourite trade is easily The Enchanted Rose, c’mon like Beauty and the Beast vibes people! - @Midnight_Galaxy

Did you enjoy working on it?
Most certainly, it reminded me of Nicholas the Traveler on Guild Wars if anyone's heard of that, a lot of players are possibly a bit young to know it. He was an NPC to which you had to kill mobs and look for where he will be to trade the items with for something nice. One of my favourite childhood games that was. - @Kling

I really enjoyed working on this, being able to collaborate with other staff members is one of the best parts about being a Tech and I loved being able to work with midnight, flame and kling on this project. - @Vamp1re_Man

How do you think the players of Meep will like this new feature?
I honestly think that the community will really enjoy this new feature and will look forward to what new trades each merchant will bring. - @Midnight_Galaxy

I believe players will have a liking to the new feature, it definitely is unique. - @Kling

Do you have anything you would like to add?
I hope you all enjoy this new feature! - @Midnight_Galaxy

I would like to once again thank everyone who worked on this for putting the time and effort into making this possible. I'm sure the community is going to enjoy this new aspect to the server! - @Flamedemond2

I really hope that everyone will enjoy this brand new feature to the server! As I said before, this is my first project that makes use of the towny plugin and I would love to work on more towny related features in the future. If anyone has any suggestions for towny related features that can be added to the server, or just wants to share some ideas about any new features that they want to see, send me a message in game, on discord or on the forums :) - @Vamp1re_Man

Storytime with the Crew - My Dream Town
The sun was shining, birds tweeting and despite this seemingly perfect atmosphere everything was far from it for ambitious Violet. The adventurous Villager was never settled, always wanted to find that next challenge. She was currently however doing absolutely nothing, Violet was in a town and had nothing to do, she wanted to feel responsible for something, work with people, meet new people and right now she was not fulfilling that desire. Day dreaming, Violet came up with a idea.

“A town!”, She says aloud, “What if i make my own town?”. Excited by the thought, she started planning. The first hurdle that reared its ugly head was the cost. After speaking to an expert she found out that making her own town cost 150,000 Meebles and she had a smacking 1,743, not even enough to buy a decent pickaxe to clear land for the town. Overwhelmed by this great sum she had to acquire, Violet started walking around the town square where she ran into Ukicorn… literally.

“Oomph!”, Ukicorn exclaims, startled by the blow.

“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, I must have been lost in thought and didn’t see you!”, Violet apologises.

Laughing, Ukicorn dismisses the apology, “It’s not a problem, but if you don’t mind can I ask what you were thinking about?”.

“Oh, I just have a large amount of money to save up if i want my own town. I’m Violet by the way”, She replies.

“Ah, I see. You can do it, don’t give up. I’m Ukicorn, but you can call me Uki”, Uki responds, smiling widely. “If you ever need help with anything let me know!”

“Oh, okay thank you”, Violet responds surprised.

“Not a problem. I do have to go, though, best of luck!”, Uki exclaims as she walked away.

Violet left the town square smiling, she had some more hope, if someone she had never properly met, said she could do it surely she could. As Violet made her way back to her home she plans out ways to make money, ‘Mining is a good way to make money.’ She thinks to herself.

Once she finally made it home she set out getting everything together she would need to go mining: picks, torches, food and more. Just as she is about to leave she spots one of her friends leaving their house.

“Hey, Bfy!”

Startled by the unexpected noise, Bfy drops what he is holding and looks around. When he sees Violet he rolls his eyes and walks over.

“Hey, where you off too?”, he asks.

“Oh, I was going to go mining so I can raise money to make my own town”, she replied nervously, unsure of how her friend will react to this. Violet watches as her friends face transforms from a frown to a smile.

“That’s awesome! If anyone can do it, it would be you!”, her friend exclaims, “Want a hand mining? I don’t have anything else to do”, Bfy offers.

“Yeah, sure if you don’t mind”, Violet says smiling.

As the two friends set off on their money making expedition, Ukicorn is left unsettled at her home, she thinks back to the young villager she met earlier that day. Struck by a startling emotion, Uki decides that she has to help Violet and thinks about people who could help her.

She left her home in search of her friends, Achrow and GhostlyStar, when she reaches Achrow’s house, she knocks at the door.

“Oh, hey!”, Achrow says as he opens the door, ushering Uki inside. As she enters the house she notices items cluttered throughout and turns towards Achrow.

“Hey, are you busy?”, She asks.

“No, Ghostly’s here, that’s all”, he replies.

“What a coincidence, I needed you both. I have a project for us!”, Uki says excitedly. As she finishes the sentence, GhostlyStar enters the room.

“Oh hey, Uki! Did I hear you say something about a project?”, she asks.

“Yeah, so I met someone new today called Violet and she really wants to make her own town but doesn’t think she’ll be able to afford it. I really want to help her but I can’t do it alone, will you help me?”, Uki asks her friends, pleading with her eyes.

“Of course we’ll help, I actually think I know who she’s friends with”, Ghostly replies, “Maybe we can go see if they can help!”.

“That is an amazing idea. Who are they? We can split up!”, Uki exclaims.

“I know Bfy is close with someone called Violet, and I think we can convince Grevous and Ellie to join us too”, Ghostly replies.

“Okay, awesome. I’ll go talk to Ellie. Ghostly, you go talk to Bfy. Achrow, you go see grevous. We will meet back here once we’re done, make sure Violet doesn’t find out. I want it to be a surprise”, Uki tells all her friends who nod and go off in search of their charge.

Uki finds Ellie quickly. It wasn’t hard to do, she just had to find her giant egg… not hard to miss.

“Hey Ellie!”, Uki says as she approaches.

“Oh, hey!”, Ellie says excitedly.

“So I have this project and I’m trying to raise funds for someone to get their own dream town, would you be willing to donate some Meebles?”, Uki asks Ellie hopefully.

“That’s a wonderful idea! How much were you looking to get in total?”, Ellie asks.

“Well, I was hoping to get the full cost but anything that can help would be appreciated”, Uki replies.

“You know what, here’s 75,000 Meebles. Good luck getting the rest!”, Ellie says, smiling.

“Oh woah, thank you so much, this will help so much!”, Uki exclaims, excited she got half the money.

“You are very welcome!” Ellie says gazing up at her egg statue, smiling.

Pleased with herself, Uki heads back to the house.

***

Meanwhile, Achrow wasn’t having the same luck finding Grevous. After asking everyone, he was beginning to lose hope. That was until he spotted Kling in a corner.

“Hey! Hey! Kling!”, Achrow exclaims, rushing over.

“G’day, mate, how can I help?” Kling asks.

“Where is Grevous?”, Achrow demands.

“Damn, should have known you didn’t want me. The lazy sod is in my town, want me to take you to him?”, he asks.

“Please!”

The two head off towards Mistveil where Achrow sees Grevous.

“Thank you so much!”, Achrow exclaims to Kling.

“No worries, mate, you have a good one.”

Smiling, Achrow moved towards Grevous, “Oi, Grevous, wake up!”

“Huh, what?”, Grevous wakes, spluttering.

“I need your help, do you have any money you can donate to a player’s wish to have their own town?”, Achrow asks.

“Um, I don’t have a lot but is 5000 okay?”, Grevous replies.

“Anything helps, thank you!”, Achrow says, turning and making his way back to his house.

He hears Grevous shouting in the background, “You’re welcome!”

***

Ghostly soon found Bfy who wasn’t alone, “Hey, Bfy, what’s up?”, she asks.

“Nothing much, Violet here is a bit disappointed, that’s all”, He replies.

“Oh that sucks, what happened?”, She asks, looking towards Violet.

“I really wanted to make my own town but it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to make the money. Why does it have to be so expensive?”, Violet asks, tears prickling in her eyes.

“Aw, don’t give up. You’ll get your town, trust me. Do you mind if I borrow Bfy for one second?”, Ghostly asks.

“Not at all, go ahead.”

Ghostly quickly ushers Bfy away and smiles at him, explaining their plans. A huge grin appeared on his face.

“Of course I’ll help, here’s 25,000 meebles towards it, I wish I could give more”, he responds.

“You helped, that’s the the main thing”, she says, “I have to go back and see how much we have, can you get Violet to come to Achrow’s house in 30 minutes?”

“Yeah, I’ll have her there. She is going to be so happy, you guys are doing an awesome thing!”

***

Ghostly is the last one to make it back to the house, as she made her way in she wonders how much they managed to make.

“Hey”, she says as she rounds the corner, “Violet and Bfy are going to be here in 15 minutes.”

“Awesome, let’s get all this together and see how much we have. Achrow, how much did you get from Grevous?”, Uki asks.

“5k”, He responds.

“And Ghostly, how much did you get from Bfy?”

“25k”, she says.

“Awesome, I got 75k from Ellie, which makes a total of 105k. Not bad, we just need 45k and we have enough, can you guys donate anything?”, Uki asks her friends, looking around the room.

“I can give 25k”, Ghostly says.

“I can afford to donate 15k”, Achrow replies, smiling.

“Awesome, thank you, guys. That makes a total of 145k, I will put the last 5000 meebles in and we have enough!”, Uki exclaims.

***

Violet was extremely confused as her friend lead her towards a house she had never seen before, “Where are we going again?” she asks.

Bfy responds with the same smile he had given her every time she asked that question and responds with the same “You’ll see”. Frustrated, Violet looks away, making Bfy chuckle. “Don’t be like that we are pretty much there, just another minute.”

“Fine”, she responds.

As they round the corner she wondered who lived in this area, because it wasn’t anyone she knew.

“We’re here!”, Bfy exclaims as they stop at a door, and knocks three times. Violet was not expecting to see Ukicorn, whom she had met earlier that day.

“Uki, you live here?!”, She exclaims.

“No, my friend does. Come on in, we have a surprise for you!”, She replies, laughing. As violet is ushered inside she sees two people she has only really seen from a distance.

“Hi”, she says timidly to them.

“Heya!”, they both say.

“So, you are probably wondering why we asked you to come here”, Violet nods at Uki’s observation, “Well, I saw how much you wanted to get your town, and I really wanted to help you.”

“What do you mean help me?”, Violet asked, confused.

“Well, me and my friends came together, went around and asked some of your friends and people we know if they would be willing to help, and we actually managed to raise enough for you to start your own town!”, Uki exclaims happily.

“Wow, guys, I don’t know what to say, this means so much to me!”, Violet exclaims.

“I am glad, you have made some friends today, and friends help each other out”, Ghostly says smiling.

“That they do, you have helped me get my dream town! Thank you!”, Violet says to them.

“You are very welcome”, Uki says as they all smile at each other, pleased with the outcome of the day.

The End!

Characters: @Bfy, @EllieEllie, @Achrow, @Ukicorn, @GhostlyStar, @GroovyGrevous and @Kling

If you have any story ideas you would like to be contributed into the times please send a mail or inbox to one of the MeepTimes members listed at the end of the issue.

Humans Of MeepCraft - Feat. @MasterofBoom

What led you to find Meep?
So, for the longest time. I was part of Ck’s faction, and we played together all the time. It’s really fun playing games with family, and we also enjoyed the company of our faction. I was our “demolitions expert” that fired the cannons (aka the best job). So eventually, we got a bit bored of things, and one of our longtime friends suggested that I check out this server called Meepcraft because they had a giant TNT game called Boomo. When I came to try it out, we had a literal blast, even though I lost over and over. Still, I moved on to pursue my interest in commands, and only came back after this reset because it seemed like a lot of fun.

Are you really the master of boom?
I love explosions, all right. Ck was actually the one to come up with the name when we were sitting there together thinking of something. I’ve filled an entire ocean monument with it, converted every solid block in a village to tnt, made a bridge out of it, and a lot of other fun things. If it goes, “Boom,” I know something about it.

What’s it like being a co-mayor of a town?
I have no experience in actually running a town before this one, but the environment I get to work in every day is nice. I have a lot of fun doing it, and tag teaming with @Adrian to blow up or bern the capitol is fun.

Do you have a specific interest you’d like to tell us about?
Like I mentioned earlier, I really love commands. Ever since the 1.9 combat update to Minecraft, there’s so much more you can do with them. Last spring, I started out by looking on Youtube to find the coolest and best creations. I’d then take them apart, and taught myself what they used to do things. Doing that, I taught myself how to program in Json. As updates go by, it just gets better and better for me. Functions added in 1.12 let me run my machines without ever placing down the command block.

Is there a certain project that you’ve made that stands out to you?
Most of the things I remember are the ones that were the most fun to use. One of the most useful items for vanilla modders like me is the carrot on a stick, because it has right click detection, with no actual purpose. I made my own version that ran a series of commands in a chain in response to detecting the right click. The end result was a carrot on a stick that struck one of my friends with lightning over and over as I repeatedly clicked it. I’m also pretty proud of some of the custom mobs I’ve made, called the Wither buff, Zombie Miner, and Builder Zombie. I’d tell you more about them, but you’ll get to see them in vamp1re_man’s latest project.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Not too much, but always remember the best memories are created when you tried something and failed. Even when you do fail, it can make a great laugh for later after you’ve gotten it right. The key is being willing to get back up to try again.

Welcomes and Farewells

We say goodbye to @Shellcode, one of our talented techs - Good luck with everything!

We also congratulate @GroovyGrevous on his long-deserved promotion to moderator!

In addition, we welcome @riri30 to the staff team and congratulate them on their successful journey to Helper!

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Get involved with the MeepTimes
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The next issue of The MeepTimes will be released July 7 2017! See you then!

This issue was created by @CluelessKlutz @Midnight_Galaxy @EllieEllie @Kling @Vamp1re_Man