Best Posts in Thread: The Meeptimes #38

Clueless’s House Party​

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

Public Bans
Ban and kick messages are now private again! For a full thread regarding this change, see here.


Community Events

CluelessKlutz’s House Party
Everyone enjoys a good house party, especially when the homeowner doesn’t invite anyone! Earlier this week, Onceuponajano, EllieEllie, L_e_, and Teddypines invited the entire server to invade Clueless’s home for a party, which he later agreed to. Then Ellie and Once convinced the poor homeowner to enter flower parkour, but this is not a horror story, so no details are being released about that. See images from the party here.


/warp Hornemans
When Fuzzlr got online for a quick fix of towns, the community all gathered at the newly created /warp hornemans, as Fuzzlr had created an NPC. Following a suggestion, they decided to write a new quest. The nearby Supermod, CluelessKlutz, quickly generated a document to use, and let anyone with the link edit . . . that was a mistake. Soon after, it was spammed with random sentences and the script of the Holy Grail movie. View the screenshots from the event here!


The Project - Tutorial



What is the Tutorial?

Tutorial is an important aspect to a new players experience on the server as it gives them a insight of how to actually play. It is the first world a player logging onto the server sees, and thus needs to generate a positive first impression.


Who’s been working on it?

• @CluelessKlutz has been the leader of this project, while also helping create the outline.
  
  
• @0zblox has been working on building the tutorial map.
  
  
• @Vamp1re_Man has assisted in creation of the outline, as well as worked towards creating the plugin.

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 -


What is your role?
My role on this project was the organization and outline. So if any of it goes wrong, it’s probably my fault. - @CluelessKlutz


What was is your overall experience working on Tutorial?
Tutorial has always been one of my passions. It’s so often overlooked that it just never gets done when it is really one of the most important worlds on the server. - @CluelessKlutz


Do you enjoy working on it?
Absolutely, I’ve wanted to update this for ages, and I mean ages. This is actually the third tutorial revamp I’ve worked on, but other issues rendered the previous two useless. - @CluelessKlutz


How do you think the players of Meep will like the improvements?
Well, the hope is always that players will love it, but it honestly won’t affect current players as much directly, though maybe indirectly by guiding newer players to the worlds they want to be in. - @CluelessKlutz


How do you think the new Tutorial will affect the server and assist new players?
I really hope that it explains things to people much easier. The more the tutorial can explain, the better. Sure, there are things that would just be too long to include, but at least this is going to keep it from being as overwhelming to learn how to play. - @CluelessKlutz


Do you have anything you would like to add?
Obviously, a tutorial isn’t something that will stay the same forever, because the game and server is constantly updating. Still, it’s been over two years since Tutorial was last updated, but now we should be able to stay on top of it by bringing it into the most current version.

Overall, I just hope that it can get players, new and old, both going all on their own so they spend less time having to find stuff out, and more time having fun. - @CluelessKlutz


Let’s get some Architect and Tech input!

What input have you had on this project?
I’ve always been pushing for a newer and improved tutorial and had previously had plans to create a tutorial similar to the current quests. On the current project, I’ve been helping advise and give ideas for basic structure of the tutorial to ck, however the majority of the work so far has been from him and 0z. - @Vamp1re_Man


My role in the tutorial is to create a new, exciting map that players can enjoy in addition to learning the essential commands needed to enjoy Meepcraft to the fullest. - @0zblox


How difficulty do you believe these changes are to implement?
From a Tech perspective, tutorial is a really easy project to implement. A majority of the tutorial is simple holograms which only takes a single in-game command to add. Of course, if we want to add a quiz, rewards, specific commands the player has to run, etc. it will require a bit of code but really it’s all quite simple. - @Vamp1re_Man


What do you go for when building something like Tutorial?

First impressions are always important. The tutorial world is the first thing that a newcomer would see upon joining Meepcraft and I strive to give an awesome glimpse into Meep that would hopefully make the player want to stay. - @0zblox



Storytime with the Crew - The Halo Tournament: Part 2

And that’s it!!!! The finals of the grand halo tournament have been decided at last! The crowed roared in anticipation as the announcer went to hand over the trophy to the winners….

But wait, our story doesn’t start there. It all began on one fateful evening, when four teams made up of the best Halo players Meep had to offer entered in the Grand Halo Tournament. Each player, determined as any to take home the victory for their team, awaited eagerly the day where they could demonstrate their skills to the rest of the server. Each team, made up of four players, was not only hungry for the tournament trophy, but to show off their superiority and claim the title of best Halo player.


First up, Team Bern stepped into the Arena to battle Mastered PvP. Having returned to the Halo arena just for this tournament, Raycovel promised to be quite the threat. Slightly inexperienced, but greatly making up for it in confidence, MasterTurtle_101 had spent all day practicing with his team to sharpen his skills. Fruity_196 had grinded all through the night to get her level up. Hardly needed an introduction in the realm of PvP, Cleaves510 also had prepared for weeks for the tournament. Together, they made up MasteredPvP.

Over on the other side of the gap, stood the master berner and troll of Legend, AdrianBFaust. EmperorMeznik stood alongside his long-time friends, holding his rifle tightly. _Peero_, a longtime Halo player, grinned as he clipped the ammo into the his sniper rifle. Finally, EniBeast entered, checking that all his grenades were in place.

After getting set in place, the two teams quickly engaged into the action. Watching from above, CluelessKlutz sized up the enemy as he observed the battle waging below him.



“Feel the bern!” Adrian yelled as he chucked three grenades behind him at MasterTurtle. Looking back, he saw Fruity explode as Meznik’s shot hit home.

“Yikes, these guys mean business,” Clueless muttered softly.

Barely holding off the red onslaught, Raycovel fired again and again, narrowly dodging one of Peero’s grenades. Cleaves danced in and out between the members of Team Bern, scoring points left and right as he racked up kills. Boom! He suddenly exploded into a million particles. Back and forth, the lead went. Finally, it was declared that Team Bern had won the round. Without so much as a cheer, but a sigh of relief from Adrian, Meznik's, Peero, and Eni, they reloaded their weapons for the next match.

Taking notes on how everyone moved, Clueless whispered to Boom, who was sitting next to him, “Think we'll do well?”

Smiling sinisterly, Boom replied, “Oh they won't stand a chance against our secret weapon.”

“Your hacks?” Ck taunted.

“Ye, no one beats my skill aura. Plus I need this for my daily hackusation. You know I can't go a day without it!”

“Will your two dorks be quiet so we can watch this?” Hestia teased. “The next round is starting!”

Turning their attention back to the arena, Team Bern and Mastered PvP were well into their second match. The map was called Zanzibar, and its most prominent feature was an enormous object in the center that resembled a wheel. Deep into the battle, Mastered PvP began a push against the red team by tricking them into facing all four of them against one of Team Bern. First they nailed Adrian, then Meznik.

Peero swung his axe at them rapidly, desperate to avoid getting killed. Nailing Cleaves, he dodged from side to side, evading dozens of attacks. As the round ended, Mastered PvP was announced as the winner.

The tie breaker began within moments, each team determined to move on to the next stage. Fighting furiously, Ray charged the enemy again and again only to get blasted each time by a well placed round. “Would have been nice if Caleb didn’t throw us to the sharks,” he complained.

“Let’s do this!” Eni shouted, pushing ahead with Peero close behind him. Little by little, Team Bern’s lead increased. Despite all their efforts, Mastered PvP simply couldn’t catch up. In the end, they lost, and Team Bern moved onto the next round.

“Quite a close one,” Clueless remarked. “Reminded me of how close the duel between Darth Sidious and Grand Master Yoda was in Revenge of the Sith.”

Sarcastically, smkorpi asked, “Is there anything that doesn’t remind you of Star Wars?”

“There really isn’t,” Boom mentioned. “Now let’s watch the next one. Epix, Alex, merked, and Jaden are going up against Team Bern. I believe they call themselves the Mesa Miners.”

Rushing forward, Epixaid weaved in and out of the rocks on the map, narrowly avoiding countless projectiles. He leapt high into the air, and blasted Meznik in one quick shot. As they both continued. Team Bern fired down at them from the high ground.

Adrian fired another round, hitting merked straight in the helmet. Ka-boom! She respawned back in her team’s bunker as the explosion cleared. Avoiding Meznik by a hair, Jaden returned fire, clipping his arm, but not killing him. Drawing his energy blade, Jaden sliced EmperorMeznik right across, dealing the finishing blow, yet the points for the round were nearly tied. “Time for the winning blow!” Peero yelled as he squeezed the trigger on his rifle. It was a perfect shot, going straight for Epixaid. Epix looked at it, but knew there was nothing he could do to avoid it. As the deadly snowball got within one block, the game ended! The Mesa Miners had won the first match!

“Noooo!” Eni screamed. “We were five points off!! Which we would have gotten in that shot killed Epix. Making quick work of the second round, Team Bern tied it 1:1. Again, the finale would determine who won.

The crowd cheered wildly as the last match of the day began. In the smallest TDM map, the Nether brick contrasted greatly against the water below the platforms. Hiding behind pillars between shots, merked snuck along the side towards the enemy base, only to be surprised when she was ambushed by Meznik! Before he could unleash his barrage, he suddenly poofed. Looking back, she saw Alex standing there, smiling. As the match continued, the score would shift back and forth as each team performed better in different areas of the map. Frustrated, Adrian jumped out from his cover in the last few seconds, only to be hit instantly by merked and Alex at the same time. Suddenly, the match ended, with the Mesa Miners emerging victorious.

***​

“Well, looks like it’s our turn,” Clueless remarked. “That last match was quite intense! Good thing we already warmed up a little bit ago, too.”

“What’s our team name again?” smk asked.

As if in response to his question, a voice on the speaker system announced, “Now the Mesa Miners will face off against the Mythical Warriors!”

“Well, that solves it, I guess,” smk chuckled.

All geared up, both teams entered into the arena. “Something look different to you about the Mesa Miners?” Boom commented. “I don’t see Alex, because that’s Viper standing there.”

“Meet our secret weapon!” Jaden beamed. Known throughout combat arenas everywhere, Viperfan17 was famous in Halo as one of the fastest jitters, meaning he hit hard and fast with his glowing power hammer. “Now let’s do this!”

Still, the match had already begun. Countless shots pelted the environment in near misses on both teams. “Gosh, I hate this map,” Clueless complained. “It’s so hard because the red teams spawns up in this dropship! So anyone on blue can just snipe where the entrance is.”

“Yea, but let’s win this anyways!” Boom shouted, as he spun around dealing untold amounts of damage. Chucking two grenades into a small tower, flames burst out the top, making the tower look like an enormous torch. Slowly losing, the Mythical Warriors all began to tire. Pushing with their last reserves of strength, Hestia fired rapidly across the stream. Ck fell off the bridge while narrowly evading.



He flung a single grenade towards the enemy, and nailed Jaden. The crowd watched in amazement as the best of the best fired over and over at one another. It was a clash of titans. Inching ahead, the Mystical Warriors worked their way to catch up.

“Good thing we love sniping long range,” smk laughed as he nailed Viper from across the map. “Viper is great until you get him a long ways off, then it’s much easier to hit him since he relies on his Power Hammer so much.”

Barely pulling ahead before the end of the round, Clueless, Hestia, Boom, and smk managed to secure the win.

Taking a short break, both teams were allowed to rest a bit. While they were grabbing some lunch back in Legend, the thump of music came from Ellie’s home. “Sounds like Onceuponajano is having another dance party at Ellie’s,” Hestia smirked.

Running over to knock on the door, both Ellie and Once came to the front door only to find Boom standing there. “Egg, Once, go to sleep!” he yelled. “It’s four in the morning for you!” As smk, Clueless, and Hestia laughed at the scene, their minds could not help but drift to thinking about the next match.

“Hope we get a good map,” smk whispered. Both teams hopped into the arena after the crowd had returned. “I heard the profit from the tickets is going to the Meep Citizen Fund, too.”

“Either way, let’s give this a go!” Clueless declared. Once inside the arena, they had a clear view of the map: Zanzibar. Being the blue team, they sprinted towards the middle of the map to get a clear shot at the Mesa Miners as they came over the hill. Boom! Boom! The first two reds died near instantly. Bang! Bang! Some came in return, striking smk and Clueless. Sighing, Ck ran along the side of the map, only to find most of the enemy team rushing at him.



Ding! A hit on Epix killed him instantly. Suddenly, Viper jumped on him from behind and clobbered Ck with his axe. “I really hate that hammer some days,” he whispered under his breath. The match continued, neither side willing to give in, not even for a moment.

The last minute of the match began, and the Mystical Warriors were down by a thousand points. Defeat seemed certain, which would only lead to another match. “Bring the boooom!” MasterofBoom yelled as his grenades took three of red team at once in a ball of fire. And it was over! The score had been tied nearly for the entire game. And the winner was . . . the Mesa Miners!

Disappointed, the warriors walked towards the exit so they could prepare for the next round. The Mesa Miners gave each other hi-fives to celebrate stopping the tournament from ending so quickly.

This time, they went to rest at Boom’s home in Old Legend. “Can’t believe we lost that one . . . “ they all thought to themselves.

Seeming to appear out of nowhere, Ellie flew in the front door. “Congratulations, you guys! Knew you could do it!”

“What do you mean, Ellie?” Hestia asked. “We lost that round, and may or may not lose the next.”

“Oh! You didn’t see! One of the camera crews was coming up with statistics for each match by watching the footage, and noticed the kill count he came up with differed from the official one. Turns out it didn’t count five kills for your team!” Ellie explained. “You guys won!!!”

Jumping up and down, all four of them ran back to Halo, finding the judges waiting for them on a stage, holding four golden Halo trophies with their names carved on them.

Allowing each member of the team to take the mic, each gave a short little speech. The last to go, Clueless began, “You know, this all started a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . .”

Want to see more pictures from the tournament? View the full album here!


Humans Of MeepCraft - Feat. @onceuponajano and @Legend Emerged (L_E_)



How did you find Meepcraft?
I was looking around for a towny server and came across Meepcraft, the players and community were very inviting so I decided to stay. -onceuponajano

To be honest, I don’t remember it anymore as clear, but I think I searched Google for Towny servers and this one came up. So I came on, and just tried it out. You see, I once was interested in making my own server with a couple of friends. I always dreamed of making a towny server, but my friends were more interested in PvP and minigames, so I searched my passion to look elsewhere. - L_e_


What keeps you coming back to Meepcraft?
Mainly for the friends that I have made on the server as I have met people from all across the globe. The whole server is very friendly and inviting and it’s one big family that I love to bits! -onceuponajano

I’d have to say it’s more an addiction than most things, but the community, I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s totally different from other servers. People support everyone on here. It’s nice to get support on what you create and to play with people who are really friends. - L_e_

What is your favorite building style?
Ooh that’s a difficult question! I like to build in many different styles, for example: Medieval but recently, from the help of L_e_, I have found a new style that I love to build, Fantasy. We’re both currently building a new district in the town of Legend. -onceuponajano

Oh, you can guess. Fantasy of course! It’s just a super open style people mostly think is about witch huts, dragons, etc., but you can actually create whatever you like. I build in mostly every style, but my builds somehow turn out a bit fantasy anyways in the end. I just love color in my builds, but I guess that’s what makes them fantasy. - L_e_


What do you think is the most underrated or used block?
That’s another difficult question, I would say overused possibly stone brick, and underrated, hmm, I would say brick as a lot of people do not like the texture or colours used in the block. But I love the brick haha. -onceuponajano

Definitely the emerald block is overrated. It’s the most terrible block I’ve ever seen. Although I’ve used it in a couple builds, it is difficult to work with. You can use the block like as a gem or something, but that’s it. - L_e_


If you were architect for two weeks, what would you want to build for the server, and why?
I’d maybe give the towny spawn a redecoration or maybe work on a new Ctf map. -onceuponajano

Well, I don’t know where to start. I guess I’d be really busy with maps that could be useful for minigames, because new maps always create new interest. If I had the time to do it, I’d try building a new spawn, but I certainly would do that if I had more time. - L_e_


Once, what was going through your head when you got ultimate?
I was not expecting it at all, it all came as a surprise! I am just very thankful to Nyamekye for giving the rank to me, it has definitely made building easier!

...why are you a carrot, Once?
Hahahahaha. Both my skin and name are based on Youtubers! Onceuponajano is short for the Janoskians, a group of Australian pranksters that I used to love and watch all the time, and my skin is a carrot onsie from the Youtuber Hannah Hart!


L_e_, what does your name mean?
My name means Legend Emerged. That name was already taken, though, so I had to improvise with my name. I’m a superfan of legends, which is why my Beta town was called Legend.


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The next issue of The MeepTimes will be released August 18 2017! See you then!


This issue was created by @CluelessKlutz @Midnight_Galaxy @Flamedemond2 @Vamp1re_Man @smkorpi