Status and Features

From Blue Mars Developer Guidebook

This page is intended to collect in one place current development status and future plans in one place, since that info is scattered in a number of locations (FAQ pages, blog posts, developer forum comments, etc).

Contents 1 Software 1.1 Version Info 1.2 File Sizes 2 Website and Accounts 3 Online Features 4 User Content 4.1 Software Limits

Software

Version Info

Current Version: - 0.0.10521 for both Client and Developer software

Release Date: - 27 Aug 2010

Release Notes: - Release Notes

System Requirements: - Recommended System Specifications indicate Nvidia 8400/ATi 3000 series graphics card, and dual core processor with 2GB memory. OTOY/AMD Fusion Cloud Server in development to offload graphics generation to server side and allow wider range of systems to access Blue Mars. Config files can be edited manually for custom settings either for lower end systems, or for high quality rendering.

File Sizes

Client Download: - 351 MB

City Data: - 3.02 GB for 21 cities as of 05 Jul 2010, in Blue Mars\Game\Levels directory

Client Total Disk Required: - 4.06 GB as of 05 Jul 2010 for Program Files\Blue Mars directory with all cities installed

File Management: - Available cities and updates are shown in the Client "Places Browser" and added via a download manager. Removing cities is currently manual and not well defined.

Developer SDK Download: - 519 MB

Sample Data Download: - 453 MB

Developer Disk Required: - Approx 1.9 GB for full SDK install with Sample Data, plus any developer content files.

Website and Accounts

Account Types: - Player and Developer, which has subtypes of Item Creator and City Developer. Player can be upgraded to Developer. One account per email address.

Age Limits: - Terms of Service states you must be at least 18. General FAQ page states age limit will be extended to 13 in 1Q of 2010 which did not happen.

Account Costs:

- Free to register and download software for all account types.

-Hosting Service Packages for cities have fees starting at $275 a month for a Village package. Smaller areas within a city (Blocks and Shops) are available for lease from city owners for less.

- Game currency (blu$) can be purchased via Player account page & client toolbar (for item shopping use), and Developer account page (for property lease use).

Account Profiles: - Available within Player Account Page. Not accessible in-world.

Friends List: - Available since Oct 2009. In May 2010 updated to scalable floating window. Window shows online status and enables private chat. Friends can be added online or via account MyPage, but only removed via MyPage. Groups can be created within friends list. Conference chat added Aug 2010.

Inventory: - Added to MyPage Dec 2009. Available in-world via toolbar. No way to sort or delete items at present. New layout Aug 2010 with more options on how to wear items.

Online Features

Access: - No account verification (age check), City or block access controls, eject, or ban at present. Residences are intended for tenant plus guest access only.

- Abuse reporting added 2Q 2010 via Help Desk ticket

Avatar Customization - Default Male and Female avatars available since Oct 2009. Custom clothing, hair, shapes, and skins are available as of May 2010 to upload for personal use or sell. Custom makeups via toolbar button. Makeups can be saved to a file. Limb lengths not variable at this time as that would break animation cages. Default animation set with some options is standard, uploading custom animations added Aug 2010. More clothing options, and attachments are planned features.

Avatar Identification - Players can set a "display name" via account MyPage which shows above avatar head and in chat history. Account Name is permanent, and can always be seen by right-clicking the avatar, or in chat history. Login uses email address + password, and is not shown to other players.

Camera - Default camera is avatar-centered with zoom range via mouse wheel, including first person view and overhead map view. Horizontal follow cam is an option, otherwise pivot view uses right mouse + move mouse. Custom camera modes are settable by city developers.

External Links: - Copy/paste text and Adobe Flash are available in local chat and main 3D view respectively.

- Copy/paste text, active URL links added to private (instant) messaging Jul 2010.

Groups - User defined groups within friends list added Jul 2010.

Keyboard Shortcuts - A number are available, a list is to be supplied by Blue Mars staff.

Location Search: - Not currently available aside from choosing a city from the Places Browser.

Local Chat: - Uses Adobe Flash based text entry and display window, with ability to scroll back. Optional scalable chat bubbles per avatar also display text for about 1 minute before fading. Chat history is not logged. Chat range is set by city and can be at least from 50m up to entire city range. No ability adjust chat range by Players, or control chat bubble fade time.

- Mute function added Jul 2010, which stops text and voice from a local player.

Maps: - Overhead "skycam" view added Jul 2010 via scroll wheel zoom out. This is not a map, but a live perspective view from far overhead looking straight down.

Money: - Game currency (Blue Mars Dollar or blu$) added Dec 2009. On screen display added Aug 2010. Purchase via various methods, cash out is for developers only, after 30 days via PayPal. Two balances, user and developer. Transfer from developer to other developer or user accounts possible with small fee. User balance can be used for item purchase, and developer balance for shop/block rental at present.

Movement: - Uses WASD, arrow keys, or click ground to walk to target. Jog is by clicking a far target. Alternate movement mode added Aug 2010 using relative direction rather than turn. No run fast, jump, crouch, strafe, fly, or point-to-point teleport so far.

Private / Instant Messaging: - Only works for friends list members. Is logged to \My Games\BlueMars\ChatLogs and now is sorted by your account login. - Scaling and undocking PM windows added Jul 2010.

Snapshots - Not a game feature at present. Turn off UI feature added Aug 2010 for making screenshots.

Teleport - Inter-city teleport via devices available since Oct 2009. Via "Places Browser" added Dec 2009. Intra-city teleport is availabe via devices. Global point-to-point teleport is a planned feature.

Voice Chat: - Added May 2010. Uses Vivox technology. Generates extensive logs at C:\VivoxLogs Spatial range about 10 meters, with volume controls for listen and talk. No Push To Talk button at present.

User Content

Categories: - Clothing, hair, shapes, skins, animations, furniture, shops, blocks, and cities can be uploaded by Developers. Scripts are possible at the city level currently. For individual items that is a planned feature.

Creation: - Models are made in any 3D program that can export to the correct .dae file format. Texture maps are made in any imaging program that can save to native .dds or to .tif format (converted to .dds)

Fees: - Registering as a developer, editor suite and sample data, and uploads of items for personal use are free. Blu$ transactions have a 25% fee deducted. City hosting and in turn block, shop, and residence rental have monthly fees. Currency transfer from Developer account to another account have a 10 blu$ fee.

Editors: - Currently eight editors are included in the editor suite for specific purposes: City, Block, Shop, Animation, Body, Cloth, Item, and Furniture. Vehicle Editor is planned. All allow for adjusting graphics settings via the "Material Editor" window, and use the CryEngine 2 graphics to display content correctly. Preparation of content is done offline via the Editors, and then uploaded for sale or use.

Format: - Native formats include .cgf for models, .mtl for graphics settings, and specific sub-formats of the DirectX .dds for texture maps. Collada .dae and .tif images are converted by the editor suite to the native format. Scripts use the LUA language, and Flowgraphs are available at the City Editor level.

Ratings: - Since there is no age check or access controls yet, all content currently has to be approximately MPAA-PG rated. Prohibited are games of chance or skill that offer payouts in Blue Mars Dollars or anything of value, sports or betting services that offer payouts in Blue Mars Dollars or anything of value, securities markets, banking of investment services, sexually explicit content, and content that depicts bestiality.

Sales: - Currently only from developers to players within game. Developer to developer sales of content items need to be done outside the shopping system. Gifting is under development. Selling services via currency transfer is possible. No method to do resale.

Permissions: - Currently all sold items are no copy, no modify, no transfer, single items only (ie no outfit sets of clothing or furniture sets) Downloaded city and inventory data are encrypted to reduce content theft. Any items used in building are currently full permission as you are using the original data files in your builds.

Software Limits

City Data: - Cities have a maximum of 1 GB of compressed unique data files. Objects are instanced, so a 3D model or texture only counts once towards the limit. Items in Blue Mars provided common data (such as default trees) do not count towards the limit, nor do displayed store items, residence contents, or visiting avatars and their wearables.

City Dimensions: - Terrain dimensions are from 128x128 m to 8192x8192m, with a max height of 8192m. Terrain dimensions is the product of grid size in points times grid spacing in meters, both user-selectable within limits. At least 16x16km of playable area can be used per city. Any part not occupied by terrain is open water, but objects and avatars can use the full area. A maximum of 15 terrain textures are assignable, with the 16th reserved for "holes". One texture is assigned per grid point, and additional terrain detail can be added via "Road" and "decal" objects.

Concurrent Users: - Will be limited by hosting price plan, but is not currently turned on. Outpost (beta plan no longer sold), Village, and City plans have limits of 5, 50, and 250 users per city respectively. Number of avatars in view affects scene triangle count and therefore frames per second.

Models and Textures: - Individual models are limited to less than 5000 triangles if uploaded as items, or 64K triangles or vertexes if imported into a land-based editor. The CryEngine can handle a maximum of 31 UV mapped sub-materials per model, and textures can be a maximum of 2048x2048 pixels. Item uploads are currently limited to 512KB zip files each. This is planned to be extended later.

Rendering: - Scene triangle counts of over 30 million have worked, but it is recommended to stay below 3-4 million for performance reasons. There is a limit of 64K placed objects and 4000 active scripted items per city.