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
1.12
The world of color has come to Meepcraft as the server moves to be running fully in 1.12.1.

Meepcraft Advancements
Custom advancements have been added to the towns world that reward you for achievements in towny. To view these achievements, go to the towns world, press “l,” and go to the crafting table tab. Alternatively, you can press esc, then go to the advancements menu from there.

New Voting Items
The grappling hook, villager tamer, and glass pickaxe have been added to the vote crate rewards! The glass pickaxe breaks any glass panes and blocks instantly, the villager tamer allows you to put a lead on villagers, and the grappling hook allows you to teleport to a location you select.

Towny Upkeep Calculator
Using /t plots will display all upkeep and tax information about your town. It will display the exact number of plots in your town, the number of each type of plot in your town, taxes collected from each kind of plot, and number of each plot type owned by players.

Towny Plot Types
The jail and farm plot types have been added as part of the larger towny plugin update.

Skyblock Shout Tax
Shout tax no longer takes Skybucks while in the Skyblock world.

/warp Parrot
Due to a Minecraft bug that prevents parrots from spawning naturally in Jungle biomes, an admin shop was created at /warp parrot to allow users to buy parrot spawn eggs for 10,000 Meebles.

Hostile Mob Stacking
Hostile mobs no longer stack in grinders and in the wild.

Skyblock Ore Generators
By upgrading your island using Skybucks, you can now generate ores directly on your island!

Bugs Squashed

Updating Worlds

All worlds on the server except Boomo and Infected have been updated to 1.12, meaning players will not get stuck in a world that is updated to 1.12.

Voting
Updated to 1.12, voting is back up and running.

Jobs
The jobs plugin is back up following the 1.12 update.

Embassy and Shop Taxes
Taxes collected from embassies and shops is collecting again.

Animal Breeding
Changes were made to the mob stacker plugin, leading breeding to work in Towns again.

The Project - 1.12 Update

What is the 1.12 Update?
The “World of Color” update to Minecraft debuted on June 7th, 2017. Since then, our developers and administrators have been hard at work to get everything running properly in the latest version to allow more players to join.

Who’s been working on it?

@LordInateur - Our Tech and main worker on this project, he devoted so much time into this and deserves a huge Thank You from us all!
@Fuzzlr - Helped Lord during the conversion.
@xT3Kx - Worked on planning out the conversion, what needed to be prioritised. He also worked alongside Lord during the conversion.
@KlutchDecals - Helped organise the conversion.

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 - 1.12 Update!

What was your role?

I updated MeepCraft past the Minecraft World of Color update into 1.12.1. - @LordInateur

I showed Lordinateur the inner workings of MeepCraft’s infrastructure so that he would be able to make the necessary changes. It was a pleasure to work with Lordinateur. I was impressed with his professionalism and his ability to expedite the project. - @Fuzzlr

Basically my role was to get the ball rolling. Plotting out what needs immediate fixing and what can wait to be fixed if it breaks. As worrying as to if something would break, it was pretty quick and smooth and required little fixing. I worked very closely with LordInateur to get everything done, props to him because he did most of the work. - @xT3Kx

My role in the update was just organizing it. I didnt have much of a "technical" role. I knew that everyone wanted these blocks and that new players wouldnt stick around long if we didnt have some of the games newest blocks. - @KlutchDecals

How difficult was it to implement?
This update was a large update, and a lot of things behind the scenes changed. The toughest part was getting through the relatively large number of bugs, but nearly everything should be back to normal! - @LordInateur

The implementation was extremely difficult. It changed the way almost every single plugin worked and everything needed to be updated. Lordinateur dominated this update and I cannot thank him enough. - @KlutchDecals

I had it quite easy because LordInateuer did all the heavy lifting server side. So quite honestly 2/10 on the difficulty scale. - @xT3Kx

Did you enjoy working on it?

Definitely. I've been a Meeper for several years now and so it was wonderful working behind the scenes to make everyone's Minecraft experience more enjoyable. - @LordInateur

Its extremely stressful when going through an update as major as this. When we have to update core elements like towny, there’s always risk involved. Seeing half the plugins break and need updating gets scary as you know every player will be gunning for you if something breaks. - @KlutchDecals

I do enjoy working on things server related when I have the time. I've been on Meep for quite a few years and have always loved giving to the community and a lot of people wanted the update so we brought it. With collaboration from LordInateuer and Klutchdecals we have much more in store as far as aditions go as well so stay tuned. - @xT3Kx

What do you think the players of Meep will enjoy most about the 1.12 update?
I think the players will enjoy the new blocks the most. The beds, terra-cotta, and parrots are really cool additions and i can’t wait to see the new builds people make with them. - @KlutchDecals

It seems that parrots have been the hype lately! And I'm sure that the architects and artists that we have on the server will enjoy the new colors that come with the concrete blocks. - @LordInateur

Well parrots of course. The new colors and terracotta blocks are also quite cool, but we all know parrots are the main attraction with their ability to mimic sounds and driving you insane. - @xT3Kx

What is it like when you're going through the process of making significant changes like this?

When performing a software update like this one, it is important to have as little downtime as possible and ensure that all player’s data is stored safely. An upgrade like this one is often irreversible so it’s important to perform all the changes correctly the first time. - @Fuzzlr

It really keeps you on your toes because a lot of times we have to update servers while people are playing it. We strive to maintain as little interruption as possible, and everything is definitely worth it in the end. - @LordInateur

Communication is key. We stayed up quite late some nights discussing issues and the road map for what server was next to be updated. Combing over the issues and possible complications is always hit or miss with an update like this. Many required a simple update or in a few cases a rewrite to be compatible for the new version so that's always a tedious task of seeing what actually works on the live server. I can't say it enough though, with the help of LordInatuer the live testing went very smooth with little complications. - @xT3Kx

How do you feel the work you are putting into the new features will affect the server and engage players?
The upgrade to 1.12.1 will definitely make the server more appealing to new players, as well as old players. It is important to keep the game up to date so that the experience does not fall behind other servers. One of MeepCraft’s key attractions is that we are one of the longest lasting communities. We have an emphasis on security, and we make sure that player creations are stored very safely on our servers so that they continue to enjoy their in-game progress in the future. The update to 1.12.1 allows us to continue maintaining a great in-game experience as Minecraft continues to evolve. - @Fuzzlr

These new features keep our players engaged by making it exciting for them log on and play... we always want to keep the level of monotony at a minimum so that even older players have a reason to come on and experience the implementation of new ideas. - @LordInateur

Hopefully the work that’s going in will make players just have an overall better experience. It’s never fun to see blocks you can’t use and i’m glad that major update went well. I need to take as little credit as possible as Lordinateur and Fuzzlr are the 2 main people to thank for the 1.12 update. We could not have done it without them. -@KlutchDecals

I have high hopes for new features, but as always it is hit or miss. Some members of the community might love them while others don't. We are doing our best brainstorming and executing strategies to make Meep more fun for current players and engaging for new players. We do have a road map to become EULA compliant which will bring the edition of new perks and goodies. - @xT3Kx

Do you have anything you would like to add?

I just wanna add a thank you to everyone for dealing with a few days of silly errors and broken plugins. Im human and make mistakes but I always have the servers best interest in mind. I hope the players will like all the additions we have coming soon and try to bring as many people to Meep as they can. - @KlutchDecals

I'd like to thank LordInateuer for such a smooth transition and all his hours of hard work, he is the real MVP. Also KlutchDecals, TeamRisk and Reggles44 for constantly helping behind the scenes to help us move the update along. Most people don't see what is going on behind the curtain, but these guys have played a good role in helping us with the update and what's up and coming. - @xT3Kx

It's great to work on the server, and players should feel free to reach out to me at any time if they have new ideas... I'm pretty much always on our Discord. - @LordInateur

Authors Note:
I Just want to thank, on behalf of everyone, LordInateur, Fuzzlr and our Admins for their hard work on this upgrade!!

Storytime with the Crew - Horneman’s Concrete Catastrophe

It was a rather unusual day. New blocks had appeared out of nowhere called glazed terracotta, concrete powder, and concrete were discovered. Parrots were found as well, but Hornemans cared nothing for them because there was no way to farm them.

Deep within his lair of cactus, Hornemans smirked as he held the colored blocks in his hand. “I shall rebuild my empire once again!” Looking out the windows of the lair, he could see thousands of cactus blocks falling, “And I know just how to do it.”

***

The next day, smkorpi had geared himself up to go to the End. “Gonna be a long day of mining endstone,” he reminded himself. Holding a sword firmly in his grasp, he leapt into the swirling vortex of the End portal, preparing himself for the fight to come. Suddenly, he felt blocks raining down on him from seemingly nowhere. “What in the wor . . . “ smk started, but was cut off by a massive explosion nearby. Running to the edge of the obsidian platform, he could see hundreds of blocks that looked like sand that had been splattered with a rainbow running in a massive conveyor belt. At the end, he could see it all compacted into solid colored blocks, then get blown up by TNT.

All the while, Hornemans looked down at his glorious creation. “My concrete farm will mass produce all these new blocks and take over the markets before they can even truly begin.” he whispered.

Quietly sneaking along the sidelines, smkorpi crept closer to the tower in the middle of the concrete factory. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was inside, either. “Well, he always makes himself known,” smk muttered under his breath, looking at the giant ‘H’ made entirely out of gold blocks. “It seems Hornemans is at it again with his farms. I need to get back to the Overworld to tell Klutch and xT3kx.”

“Not so fast,” Hornemans boomed. “You won’t be going anywhere, in fact. No one knows about this farm that produces hundreds of thousands of concrete for me, and they never will! My employees will see to you now,” he chuckles. Suddenly, two heavily armored players stepped out from behind Hornemans, each carrying a glowing diamond sword that radiated power. “They will all pay for laughing at me so long ago. No one understood how genius my application really was,” he griped.

Chuckling slightly, smkorpi thought to himself, “Maybe because your ‘genius’ was copying another one from the internet.

“Now get him!” Hornemans commanded. Sprinting after him, the guards charged, quickly gaining ground on the younger smk. Breathing hard, smk reached the exit End portal swiftly, only to be met by an empty bedrock bowl.

“No!” he yelled. “Why is the portal closed?!” The guards were almost upon him when he made the split second decision to run to the outer End islands to devise a new play of escape. Pillaring with incredible speed, he reached one of the gateways, and chucked an enderpearl into the mysterious glowing portal. Breaking into a run once again, he dashed into the chorus forests, guards in hot pursuit. They too had brought plenty of enderpearls. Abruptly, a sword appeared in front of smk’s face. Smacking straight into it, he fell to the ground, slightly dazed. When he opened his eyes, the two guards were looking down on him, smirking sinisterly. Each grabbing one of his arms, they carried smk back to the main End island, where they locked him in a cage of solid obsidian from the towers.

***

Another adventurer was trekking through the overworld, eager for adventure. BlendyCat went hither and fro in the towny world, slightly disoriented after having been in Skyblock for so long. However, his friend smk had asked him to play Towns with him for a time after the new blocks and animals had appeared. Arriving at his friend’s house, he stood at the front door. Noticing the back door was unlocked and swinging open, Blendy went around the building, only to find a large set of stairs going deep underground. “Fifty-nine, sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two,” he counted to himself before reaching the bottom step. The room was absolutely silent except for the gentle yet sinister hum of the portal itself. “Guess he already went through . . . without me,” Blendy sighed. “Guess I’ll just have to catch up later!” as he leaped into the black vortex. As with smk, he was astonished to see so much concrete pouring out. Following the trail, Blendy arrived at the very same concrete factory. This time, on the other hand, a large stone box with iron bars stood to the side. Inside the makeshift cage, he saw none other than . . . smk! “So that’s where he went.”

Sneaking around the side of the camp he came near the cage before whispering, “smkorpi.”

Waking slowly, smk replied, “Blendy, I can’t believe you’re here. You need to get back to the Overworld and warn them. Hornemans is building a . . . ahahahaha.”

“A what?” Blendy asked, confused.

“That wasn’t me,” smk stated. Both looking behind them now, they could see Hornemans standing there once again with his two guards.

“Would you look what we have here. A rescue?” Hornemans declared, laughing slightly. Before the guards could come any closer, Blendy promptly slashed the lock on smk’s cell with his enchanted blade. Drawing out his own blade, smk nodded to Blendy to pick a target. Each engaging a guard, the enchanted diamond swords swung and crashed against each other as the duo fought the guards. Not being much of a Pvper, Blendy struggled to keep up with his opponent by narrowly parrying swings. Faring better against the other guard, smk landed several hits, then blocked the counter-attack in mere seconds. Swiping at the guard’s feet, smk’s weapon collided with the armor, catching the guard off balance. Ting! Ting! Ting! More blows met each other only to be canceled out.

With another swing, this time at the guard’s helmet, smkorpi landed the final blow to his opponent, then swiftly ended the stalemate between the other guard and Blendy. “Whew,” they both sighed. Approaching Hornemans now, they could see the nervous look on his face as he calculated what his next move should be. Within moments, he unexpectedly bolted away, running straight for his tower. Chasing after him, Blendy and smk sprinted into the tower, only to see the floor was an enormous cactus maze.

“We don’t have time for this!” Blendy cried, and chopped down cactus left and right, cutting a path straight through the middle. In the next room, it was the exact opposite. One needed to bounce from cactus to cactus to avoid falling into the pit of instant death. Outsmarting the tower once again, smk built a simple bridge of cobblestone across. Reaching the very top of the tower, Hornemans drew a sword of his own, a shield, and armor, for once. Sending Blendy away to create the exit portal once more, smk calmly approached Hornemans, enchanted sword drawn and ready to strike. Rapidly, Hornemans launched several swings at him, none of which collided to smk’s armor. With a mighty swing, smk drove his sword through Hornemans’s shield, shattering it to bits. Launching a counter-strike, Hornemans’s Cactus Blade swung once more at smk, grazing his skin a bit, and chopping a hole into his armor. Before they could finish their battle, a third person came out of nowhere, scaring both fighters backwards; it was Klutch.

“So I hear you’re having fun with concrete, Hornemans,” his voice boomed even more deeply than Hornemans’s. Nodding slowly, Hornemans raised his head up, then back down again. Within the hour, the machines had been cleaned up, and bug patched to keep anyone else from successfully making a concrete factory.

Following their epic duel, smk and Blendy both obtained the endstone they had desired, but both agreed it wasn’t their passion, and returned to their mighty fortresses in the sky.

Welcomes and Farewells

Congratulations to @jadenPete on being accepted as a developer! Don’t know Jaden? Check out the interview with him below!

Humans Of MeepCraft - Feat. @jadenPete

How did you first find the server?
Well when I was 10 years old I had played single-player for a couple months, but I started getting tired of it. So I was looking through the server lists, but I didn't quite like how all the servers were primarily minigame-orientated. I found MeepCraft and I instantly fell in love with the community as well as the balance of minigames to Towns.

What do you enjoy the most about the server?
Although I enjoyed the minigames that other servers provided, I didn't like the lack of community and I wanted the sandbox aspect of Minecraft to be included while retaining the challenges of survival. I soon discovered Towns, and while looking for a Towns server I discovered MeepCraft. I loved the original minigames and the presence of Towns, but most of all I loved the community. They would always welcome and greet you and it didn't take long for me to settle into a town and start making friends.

What do you think of 1.12 so far?
The 1.12 update has been pretty exciting for me. Some of my favorite features are the modified color scheme, the addition of terracotta, and the addition of parrots. The addition of functions should also be very useful for vanilla modders and mapmakers as well. I can't say that I find the recipe book useful because I've already memorized nearly all of the crafting recipes.

What lead you to apply for tech?
I've always enjoyed programming and computers. When I was 10 years old I started getting into programming and I instantly fell in love with the possibilities. When the summer started I knew nothing about programming plugins, but I had about two years of Android development experience, which mainly revolves around Java. I knew that I wanted to help the server one way or the other, so I started learning Bukkit API and I made my first plugin in a couple of days. I loved the idea of interacting with the game with code, so I gradually learned more and more, and produced two more plugins.

What is your favorite Star Wars movie?
My favorite Star Wars movie would probably be Revenge of the Sith. I love the change in plot and I feel like the movie is a major climax in the series. Although the result is tragic, things like the rescue of Chancellor Palpatine, the fight with General Grevious, the execution of order 66, and most importantly, the creation of Darth Vader make it the most exciting movie to watch.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I'd like to thank the community for supporting my application. Without the community's support, the assistance of Vampire and Shellcode, and the staff behind it all, I would not have this wonderful opportunity to help the server. This server is growing everyday and I hope to see it improve even more. I'd also like to encourage all veteran players to give MeepCraft another shot. Right now our staff are working hard to introduce a new update known as the Rank Update. This will introduce EULA compliance, without sacrificing the features that _you_ payed for. The way this will work is by introducing "keys" that players will have a small chance of obtaining. These keys will introduce effects as well as temporary perks for players who have not purchased the necessary ranks. In addition, new perks are being added and brought back as well.

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Get involved with the MeepTimes

With every release of the paper we will pick a cover photo and a (free) advertisement submitted by the community. The owner of each piece of content will receive 4,000 meebles and have their name featured in the article, below their content. Fill out the form here to submit content. Happy Meeping!

The next issue of The MeepTimes will be released September 15 2017! See you then!

This issue was created by @CluelessKlutz @Midnight_Galaxy