Meeptimes #41

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.



Bugs Squashed

Towny Staff
Staff in towns no longer pay taxes!

Community Events


Merk’s Birthday Party
To celebrate getmerkbyme’s birthday, a large party was thrown. See images from the party here.


Legend Nation Capitol
The Mystical Realm held its first major event in building their nation capitol near the Towny spawn. With the help of @CluelessKlutz, @Lady_Hestia, @PoisonLily, @Qazini, @minepose98, @SidTheSeaStar, @lanekids40, @Alexxxxxx_, @Sammoth_Mammoth, @bloodyghost, @FamousZAmos, @AdrianIsEpic, and @MrAwesomeBro, the build was completed in less than a week. See progress here.


The Project - Minigames Update



What is the Minigames Updates?

Following the server’s update to 1.12, our development team has been working to update our minigames to the latest version. This process involves going through the plugin’s code and updating the outdated practises, and then setting up the minigame on a testing server to go through it and squash all the bugs that may have arised.


Who’s been working on it?

• @jadenPete has been working on updating boomo and infected alongside @LordInateur.
  
  
• @Vamp1re_Man has been updating CTF.

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 Minigames Updates!

What was your role?
I run quality assurance tests on the plugins that Jaden and Vamp been updating, and when we've finished fixing the major bugs I implement and configure the new plugins on MeepCraft. - @LordInateur

My role was mainly helping to update the Boomo plugin and right now it is to update Infected. Lord did most of the testing and helped me with potential issues, while I modified the code. This project was also a great learning experience for me, because taught me how to update plugins and allowed me to work collaboratively with the other Techs. - @CasualJaden

I have been working on updating the CTF plugin to 1.12 and fixing any bugs that may arise because of that, along with adding and tweaking existing parts of the game. - @Vamp1re_Man

How difficult was it to implement?
It depends on the plugin. Boomo was a little bit more difficult than normal because we had to rework the server instance that it was running on, but I think that it was a good learning experience for Jaden. - @LordInateur

As CTF is a plugin that I have been working with recently, I am quite familiar with how it works, which allows me to easily locate what might be causing a potential bug and fix it relatively quickly, putting this update on the rather easy side of things. - @Vamp1re_Man

Boomo wasn't that hard to update, but it took more time then we both expected because there were a number of issues that were already present. With Infected we are adding a cross-server implementation to our debug server in order for the plugin not to conflict with other plugins and to more closely represent MeepCraft. Overall nothing big had to be implemented, just tested thoroughly. - @CasualJaden

What do you think the players of Meep will enjoy most about the updated minigames?
I think the players will be able to enjoy a more promised experience, because now there are more Techs and we have the chance to identify what the issues are and what we need to change to make them better. In addition, the way bugs and features are handled should greatly improve because we have them more spread out instead of two techs struggling to handle everything. - @CasualJaden

I think they'll enjoy actually being able to play them after the 1.12.1 update. Some of the plugins were broken before the update (which is why they weren't fixed while we were upgrading the servers) and so I think that the players will enjoy having a relatively bug-free experience... and with more Techs on the team, I think they'll enjoy being able to directly message one of us if something goes wrong without worrying about something getting stuck on the forums. - @LordInateur

Being able to play on MeepCraft smoothly and without any bugs is something that all players would list as something that they care about, and these minigames updates are all about exactly that: getting our minigames updated to the latest version so that everyone can enjoy playing them again. I also believe that some other balancing changes that I am making to CTF will make the game more fair and enjoyable to all players. - @Vamp1re_Man

What is it like when you're going through the process of updating older plugins like this?

It's always a unique experience for each plugin, because sometimes updating the dependencies aren't enough to "fix" a plugin. Often, there are bugs in the plugin that already exist and they are simply brought to the surface when we go through an update. On that note, it's often more satisfying fixing these because it requires some critical analysis of the plugin, and it requires us as developers to try to understand the thought processes of previous developers. - @LordInateur

Most of the plugins haven't been updated for a while, so we had to inspect them well to identify the present issues and sometimes issues that were already there. Similar to what Lord said, it was more than just changing the dependencies and removing deprecated code. - @CasualJaden

As CTF is not really an ‘older plugin’ so to speak, the process that I have gone through is quite different, and arguably a lot easier than what Lord or Jaden would have had to have done with boomo or infected. - @Vamp1re_Man

Do you have anything you would like to add?
If anyone happens to find a bug in a newly-updated plugin, feel free to reach out to me on Discord or file a bug report on the forums. - @LordInateur

For those of you who aren’t massive fans of minigames, there will be more towny updates coming soon! For those of you who are fans of our minigames, I hope that you enjoy being able to play them in 1.12! - @Vamp1re_Man

If anyone notices any bugs in both new and old plugins, please report them on the forums or message any of us Techs. Just like other staff, our job is to improve the server, so any input from players helps a lot. - @CasualJaden


Storytime with the Crew - Infected


The end of the world started slowly. There were stories, here and there; tales of strange happenings and odd goings on. People didn’t take them seriously until it happened to them. By the time the word had gotten round, it was too late to take any drastic measures to save themselves. Themselves being humanity, that is.

There were pockets of people still living, of course, as well as they could in the circumstances. Some buildings turned into strongholds and the people inside would try and venture out for food and of course medicine, when needed. It was risky, but what else were they to do? It was determination and the will for survival and existence that had gotten humankind this far, after all.

On the particular night where we find our protagonists, the setting is a shipwreck just off the coast of the city. I’ve been observing them for a while, out of curiosity. They were one of the larger groups I had seen. Their dynamic was… interesting. A range of ages from all walks of life, some with similar interests, some that clashed. The survival instinct they all shared, however, was admirable. They had a system which worked more often than not and a bond between them grown from their mutual struggle. It was this that made them so successful as a group.

A stirring in the darkness caught my attention, a small way from the shipwreck. A paddle boat was approaching. The light woosh woosh of the oars cutting through the water seemed deafening in the silence. It was clear the boat was struggling under some weight, perhaps they had found a place with plenty of supplies while they were looting. One of the males was sporting a bulkier winter coat as far as I could tell, and there was a mass of blankets and several cans and small boxes in the middle of the two people. As they neared the ladder up to the ship, one of them whistled using their fingers.

As had been practiced many times before, a wooden pallet was lowered over the side and down to the men below. The recipients steadied it, before proceeding to load the cans and boxes into their rucksacks. Curiously, they both took hold of the blankets and heaved, making them a lot heavier than they seemed. Struggling, the blankets were lowered onto the pallet and another whistle was performed, signalling for it to be pulled up and onto the ship.

“Christ, seems like a good haul here, buddy.” That was Kling, originally from Australia. He’d been on holiday in America when it happened. Hence why he was here now. He spent his free time trying to boost morale and work out emergency plans if things went downhill. He’d gone on a looting run a few nights ago and found an old football some kids had left behind. They’d played a 3-a-side game until reality hit them once again.

His comment was directed to the person behind him, both of them pulling on the rope attached to the pallet.

“Yeah, no kidding.” They called the bloke behind Kling ‘Grev’. They were good friends, had been for a while, thick as thieves. I liked their easygoing relationship. It wasn’t complicated, they said what they wanted and knew each other's limits. They were honest, a valued trait when they were living with the last known survivors, so they thought. No contact with anyone else made it easy to think like that.

The rope they were pulling on rubbed against the side of the boat, the friction making it a little difficult. By the time it was high enough for them to grab, they were panting with the effort. Grev grabbed a handful of the top blanket and pulled, revealing what was underneath.

“Blimey.” Kling had to blink twice to make sure his fatigue wasn’t giving him some sort of hallucination. “Who’s this then?” His question was directed at the two men coming over the ladder.

“No idea!” Adrian smiled, “Found her by the roadside a couple of miles away. Out cold, too.” He climbed over the edge then reached a hand out to Teddy.

“Thought she was dead at first, in all honesty.” Teddy added, taking the hand offered and hauling himself over the side.

The four of them carried the unconscious girl down into the ship, where it was warmer and they had some mattresses they could lie her down on. At least she would be more comfortable, and hopefully the warmth would do her good until someone could give her a look over to find out what was wrong.

After they’d got her settled, the boys gathered in the storeroom and unloaded the loot that Teddy and Adrian had gathered on their excursion. There were plenty of cans of fruit, soups and some boxes of cereals. Adrian pulled more boxes and bottles out of his bag; painkillers, antibiotics and clean dressings for wounds.

“Hey, uh.. Run into any trouble out there?” Grev asked quietly.

“The usual, they’ve started gathering about half a mile away. We managed to kill maybe a dozen of them before we had to head back and hole up somewhere for a bit.” Teddy shrugged. As I watched them, it became clear this had become the norm. They no longer let their fear of the undead control them. They were used to them. The infected.

Kling clapped them both on the back, happy they were back safe, and headed off to get some rest and signal to Silly and Merked that they were next on watch. Grev followed suit.

***

A clang and a following groan from outside was carried in the wind, waking Hestia from a light slumber. She blinked, shaking off the sleep and rolled over to her side. I watched as she looked at her friend Clueless in the corner of the room. He was reading by candlelight, a book he’d read at least ten times now, she’d stopped counting, but it kept his mind occupied.

They were an interesting duo, the two of them. Clueless had stumbled across Hestia whilst him and his brother, Boom, were running from the undead. She’d grabbed his ankle on the way past and he’d slipped because of it. The girl led them down into a trapdoor that opened up into some sort of bunker.

She’d only discovered this herself the night before. I’d watched her as she explored, looking for somewhere to stay for a few days that was dry and sheltered. She hadn’t come across another truly alive person in months, it was odd suddenly sharing a space with a strange man and his younger brother. However, these were strange times and she was finally in the company of other real life humans, so she felt some relief.

They had eventually decided to travel on together, and I watched as they stumbled across more people. One of them, a girl called Loli, had told them about a ship where there was a congregation of people all helping each other to survive. This is where they were now, and where they had been for several months.

“What’s on your mind?” Clueless uttered quietly so as not to wake Boom, who was currently burrowed under his and his older brother’s blankets.

“There’s some of them outside, isn’t there?” She replied, watching him carefully.

“Mhm.”

“How long have they been there?”

“A few hours, Merked has been keeping an eye on them. They’re not trying to get in, just repeatedly throwing things around them.” Clueless turned back to his book and Hestia stared at the wall ahead of her, sighing.

“I wish things were different.”

“You’re not alone.” A slight comfort to her, Hestia took Clueless’s words in and rolled them around her head. Yes, she was no longer alone.

***

“There’s more of them.” Qazini and several others sat around the main dining table the next day, I was rather enjoying their discussion so far.

“Thank you for stating the obvious.” Mega replied, “I’m not sure what we can do about it other than trying to dispose of them all. It does mean drawing more attention though. I just don’t like how they’re grouping so close to us.”

“Honestly, we don’t have enough firepower to do things from a distance.” This time, it was Klutch who spoke up.

“Surely there’s more we can use than just guns, we can get a little creative.” Kling stated; he found some paper and a few pencils to write with, the whole table putting their heads together to try and find some semblance of a plan, should things go awry.


I liked these people, they were fighters even though the odds were highly stacked against them. Many had come from afar with few and next to no possessions, living on the bare minimum. It was interesting to see such an obvious show of resilience to the infected. While I watch them discuss several possibilities, I can tell you that people are taking shifts to go on watch, to clean, to cook, to go out and find supplies and make sure everyone can carry on fighting. Yes, they were an interesting group of survivors.

***

“Hey,” Loli had been watching over the unconscious girl Adrian and Teddy had brought in a few days ago, she’d finally started stirring. “Can you hear me?”

The girl’s eyelids were fluttering and she groaned a little, not used to the light. Slowly turning her head, she took in her surroundings.

“You’re safe, for now I guess.” Loli told her, smiling slightly.

“Th-thanks.” The girl coughed, clearly not used to speaking out loud. “Where a-are we?”

“Beached just off the coast, my friends found you lying next to the road a couple miles back.” Loli handed her a bottle of water and helped her sit up in the bed.

“Call me Uki.” Uki sipped on her water, still drinking in her surroundings. “Thank you.. For bringing me here and looking after me.”

“You’re welcome, we have to stick together.”

***

“Guys, I think we have a problem.” Yes, I think so too.

“What is it, Adrian?” Hestia asked, the noises from the creatures outside had been growing steadily louder, over the past few hours. I could tell she had an idea of what Adrian was going to say, but didn’t quite want to believe it.

“We either need to get rid of them or run.” Klutch answered, Qaz nodding alongside him.

“I don’t want to leave, but we simply can’t kill them all. We’re overrun, and terribly lucky they’ve been quite passive for this long.” Silly, I noticed, had been a near-constant voice of reason in the group. I often found myself agreeing with her, not that they even knew I was here.

“Silly is right; but even if we do decide to run, where are we going to go? They’re still going to see us and attack either way.”

The discussion went on for an hour, everyone joining in and trying to think of a solution. Klutch was right that they didn’t have a lot of firepower, certainly not enough to take them all out. Perhaps not even half of them, when I think about it. I enjoyed the struggle, listening in on each of their ideas, their growing worry and weariness of it all. It is rather amazing to see humanity pushed to the limits, then keep going further. I was starting to feel more disappointed that this might actually be the end for them, though.

A good two thirds of the group were looking resigned to their fate, thinking this was the end. The fire gone from their eyes. Others, however, kept trying. Relentless in their discussions, their planning.

At the end of it all, they were getting more and more surrounded by the undead, those infected with the disease to bring down mankind as it was known. Though not clever, the ‘zombies’, if you want to call them that, had noticed things moving on the ship, had become more curious, had attracted other zombies. It was only a matter of time before they worked out how to get to the ship, and then there would be no time to find a way out.

Interesting.

I watched as the group of resistance fighters gathered on the deck of the ship, beached on some sand. They carried with them each a small bag of food, a blanket and personal belongings. Every one of them had some sort of weapon designed to effectively kill each of the undead. Whether they had been here a day, or a year, they were all fighting the same fight.

All of them looked determined to try and find some way out of this, I hoped it would last. I’ve been waiting for the game to actually begin.

Hello. My name is Fuzzlr, welcome to Infected.


Humans Of MeepCraft - Feat. @SillySilver



How did you first find Meepcraft?
My brother was playing Meepcraft, and I became interested about the server, so I later joined in because it sounded a lot of fun.

How did you come up with your name?
I have been moving with name Silver in the internet for years, mostly because it sounded feminine to me. So, I wanted my name to somehow roll on tongue or mind easily, and I thought of the word “silly”. So I added it onto my name, and because I am pretty silly by my personality.

What is your favorite thing to do on the server?
I absolutely enjoy the community, talking to my friends and just having a chat with other players. But when I’m not talking, I mine and do other things to earn meebles.

How do you like the 1.12 update so far?
I think it’s wonderful, I especially love the parrots since birds are my favorite animals. And the new things are really interesting, I should dive more deep into what the update has in it.

If you were given a million Meebles, what would you do with them?
Buy ranks for other Meepies! Or give it to charity as...well, paying it to other players. I am already Ultimate so I don’t need to buy ranks for myself, so I would buy ranks for others.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Not really, other than I really wish Meep would get whitelisted soon, it’s a little upsetting how quiet the server is and I remember the old days, I really hope we can reach that status someday again.


Welcomes and Farewells

We bid farewell to @GroovyGrevous, one of our beloved moderators, and thank him for all the time and effort he has put into the server!


We also say goodbye to @riri30 and @smkorpi. Thank you both for your contributions to the server as Helpers, and best of luck in life!


Social Media!


Be sure to follow us on our social media platforms to get sneak peaks and be kept up to date on all things meep!

Instagram! - @officialmeepcraftmc

Facebook! - @meepcraftmc

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 29 2017! See you then!

This issue was created by @CluelessKlutz @EllieEllie @Vamp1re_Man

 

First. Nice issue, thanks for the farewell

 

Great article, glad that we could update the community on our progress.

 

WHAT
NO
NO
NOT GREV
NO
@GroovyGrevous U DONG
UR JOB IS TO SPREAD ANIME IN SLACK AND THE STAFF TEAM
WHY
NO
also sad cause @smkorpi and @riri30 are ded but
NO

 

yes,
yes grev
he spread too much anime because of YOU

 

Of course ck writes about his own nation's spawn.

 

u dum
b O
u got denied cause u didn't accept anime
dum
b O
become a weeb for staff its ez

 

O
O k

what anime should I watch then mr know it all dum
b O

 

What did you expect, Vape Nations's capital? Oh wait... xd

 

Rest in peace smkorpi and riri and grev <3

 

@GroovyGrevous Nuuuuu

 

Another great article guys! I am excited to see more! Grev, Smk, and Riri, sad to see guys go, good luck in the future!

 

Ctrl+F "bloodyghost"
0 of 0 results

 

When you donate 4k or so of concrete and it isn't worth Clue typing your 5 letter name smh

 

@CluelessKlutz convenient how everyone on your list is either above vip or a legend staff member eh?

 

Interesting.... and I'm sure it was a coincidence

 

Funny thing is, Meeptimes is written as a group, I just happened to be posting this time. Either way, I edited it to add you both.

 

I dont think I helped unless I just forgot, but thanks