As promised, I updated the header of the site when I got my Atmos. I tried to keep it as true to the original as possible by taking the picture with almost an identical character and in the same level. The new header also marks the time when I will be much, much more active. As school finally comes to a close, I can sit down and blog more. I have much more free time now as we only have a week or so left in the school year.

My phone broke about a week ago too, and to replace it I ordered a HTC Droid Incredible. I’m using an unlimited data plan with the phone, so with 3G internet on the go I’ll be able to update Atmosphiric whenever anything of importance within the Atmosphir community occurs. So stay posted!

Atmosphir has been in a private beta stage for almost two years now (more like a year and a half). On June 7th that all changed. A week ago the Minor Studios team launched Atmosphir to the public–not as a finished product, but still as a beta. New users have been frequently posting on the forums and the kind members of our community have been welcoming them all.

My private beta shirt, to show off to all the new open beta users.

But I must warn everyone on the forums now: As the community grows, the moderator team will be much stricter. It’s a great deal of work sending out warnings to every person who spams the forums, so temporary bans may become quite common. Now, don’t take my word for it, but the team has been discussing things of this nature and I just thought I would warn all readers. Make sure you behave your best on the forums, because we will not tolerate spamming and/or flaming.

The following is a quote of Dave’s post announcing the next design challenge, Story10. The forum post can be found here.

“The next design challenge is Story10.

If you are an old-school member, you remember Atmosphir before info stickers. These wonderful simple little tools have added much-needed storytelling into the game, and it’s now hard to imagine them not being there. Yes, eventually NPCs and dialogue will take that to the next level, but it’s actually pretty impressive what users are already doing with multi-level adventures, secret messages, hints, and enemy dialogue.

In Story10, we’re looking for the best story-driven level – the only requirement is that you tell a compelling story of some sorts using info stickers, and preferably, the environment and gameplay. Some ideas to get you started:

+ A narrative-based adventure in one of the many worlds of Cirrus
+ A mystery level where info stickers provide clues to solving a bigger crime
+ A treasure hunt where there clues to hidden stashes of treasures
+ A trivia level where you have to know the answers to questions to proceed (pick the right door)
+ Having interesting characters/enemies who talk with you
+ An interactive story you watch from afar, like being in a theater
+ An Atmosphir recreation of a famous book, movie, TV show, video game, or song

Make sure to include [Story10] as one word in the title of your level to enter. The deadline is Thursday, July 1.

As usual, the top 3 levels as voted by the community will win atmos. But instead of a random winner this time, now that we’re live, the designer who has the level with the most number of plays by midnight PST on July 8 will get an Atmosphir tee-shirt – so tell all your friends to play your level!

Good luck!”

That’s it on Atmosphir news! Make sure to subscribe to us on Twitter at @Atmosphiric for all the latest Atmosphir updates and check the site everyday because I’m going to much more active over the summer and hopefully in high school.

Atmosphir is constantly changing and new updates containing fresh new features are always being released. The latest version of Atmosphir is 0.7.5 and has been out for a little while now. It contains new features, namely the scaling and free-rotation of all blocks and platforms, minor bug fixes, and a sleek, refurbished marketplace.

Already the community has cranked out some unbelievable levels using just their new ability to scale and free-rotate blocks and platforms. It’s something that the Atmosphir community has done very well of the past two-or-so years: they’ve always made due with what they’ve got. Just a small little feature that Minor Studios may think is minute can cause some of the most drastic level design changes the game has ever seen. Just the last new feature with blocks and platforms has caused some people to create futuristic spaceships, perfectly rounded planets, and magnificent landscapes. It has totally moved Atmosphir out of the area of blocks and squares and landed the game in a whole new realm of possibility.

In addition to the aforementioned feature is the refinement of the Atmosphir marketplace and character creator. The two now go hand-in-hand as opposed to being separate from one another which has made a great change for the better. Right now the marketplace serves no real useful purpose but eye candy because no one has received their old Atmos yet, but once we all do get our money, the brand new marketplace will be much easier to navigate and use to preview and purchase Atmosphir character items.

“The next design challenge is Castle10.

Let’s face it – a castle is pretty much the ultimate video game environment. A walled fortress might require some brute force or stealth to enter. Huge towers beg to be climbed. Secret passages and treasury rooms could be around any corner. You could be in the middle of a battle, have to deal with royalty, or explore abandoned and haunted ruins. The possibilities are endless.

So your task is simple – make the ultimate Atmosphir castle adventure. What type of castle is totally up to you – Gothic, European, Sand, Space, Blockland, Forest…or whatever you can dream up. The very best levels will not only look great, but also have the gameplay to back them up…a big empty castle isn’t going to be fun for anybody.

The deadline for this challenge is 11pm PST on Wednesday, May 5. Make sure to include the tag “Castle10″ (as one word) in your title in order to be considered. As always, atmos will be awarded to the top 3 spots, and once again, one random entrant will win a free Atmosphir tee-shirt.

Good luck!”

Those were the words of Minor Studios’ Creative Director Dave Werner as he recently announced the latest design challenge: Castle10. I don’t think I need to add much to Dave’s notice but a wholehearted good luck! I can’t wait to see what the wonderful community creates this time!

In February of last year, users within the Atmosphir community were hard at work on their Tutorial09 levels. Back then, they didn’t have the tools we have today. That didn’t even have the Muka Tribe to work with. Now, over a year later, we are coming near to the closing of the current design challenge, just like last year, Tutorial10.

Basically, all you have to do is design a level that will teach beginners how to play in Atmosphir. Simple as that. Now that Minor Studios has added the info sticker, designers will be able to talk to the player, giving them descriptions and instructions during the level.

Your Tutorial10 entry must be submitted by Monday, March 8th, which at the time of writing is in exactly 4 days. Most if not all participants have already entered with their very own levels, but do not be discouraged! You still have 4 days, so you should give it a shot!

As always, the top three winners with receive Atmos as follows: First place will receive 1000 Atmos, Second will receive 500 Atmos, and Third will receive 250 Atmos. In addition to this, some of the very best levels will be chosen to become “official” tutorials, showing up in the ‘Tutorial’ filter in the play browser.

All the new features that have come with the new update open an entirely new world of opportunities; from scaling, to free rotating, even to dialouge! I wish all of the 500-or-so Stratosphir players a wholehearted good luck, may the best level win!

You can also read Dave’s full announcement here.

About one month ago, Dave asked the Atmosphir community to make the best arcade-based levels to their ability. Now we see who the best 10 entries were, and the top 3 will receive 250 Atmos for 3rd, 500 Atmos for 2nd, and 1000 Atmos for 1st. I would like to congratulate all the winners in participants of this last design challenge before Stratosphir, so here are the results:

It’s disappointing that this will be the last design challenge before the release of the biggest update in Atmosphir history, Project Stratosphir, but I think that these were some of the best levels to date. If you’re upset you didn’t make the Top 10, don’t worry, maybe you made the Top 25.

Also, a special thanks to Adz, for making this video compilation of all the Top 25!

There are quite a few things to write about today… I’m going to go one at a time, starting with the announcement that Moderator Applications have been released. After the past few months, a few of members of our Moderator team have either become inactive, resigned, or just lost their powers due to other reasons. Because such a large quantity of Moderators are not part of the team anymore, we are looking for other users to replace them.

Their are five spots open, each definitely in need of a fresh new Moderator. As always, the community has become very excited and anxious; people want to know whether they have a good chance of being chosen or not. I wish the best if luck to every applicant, and I look forward to reading what you have to say. Just remember, get your applications in by December 1st, and fill out your application to the best of your ability.

Yet another bit of good news, PizzaBoy has returned! He had deleted his account, but has now recreated the same account and will hopefully continue playing Atmosphir. I was joyed to see it when he made the thread of his arrival, I think we all were. I hope he will become as valued a member of the community as he used to be, and that we can forget he ever left. Welcome back PizzaBoy, I’m sure glad to see you; they always come back.

You can read PizzaBoy’s thread here.

Dave, without any warning, released even more Stratosphir footage in another Quick Look video the other day. I think we were all surprised to suddenly see it up on the Front Page and and News Page. It showed quite a lot improvements and amazing concepts. The video consisted of a lot of events, but I hope this list sums it all up for you:

• Moving platform triggers and waypoints
• A waterfall, made of a rotated water block set vertical
• New bombable blocks
• New animations for things like combat, walking, climbing, and jumping
• More bomb-cannon aiming
• Improved graphics and textures
• Resized and rotated blocks
• Crows following the character

I hope that described the video all of you reading, you can watch it in its fullest here.

In addition, voting for Arcade09 has begun. Remember to send your votes in to user Atmosphirvote by tonight (November 27). Good luck to all the participants in this last design challenge before Stratosphir, and I can’t wait to see who won! Stay updated with Atmosphiric to see the results.

I am quite impressed with the entries to Arcade09, a lot of them are some of the best levels I have seen to date! I’m sure it will be a close run between many of the levels, because very many are brilliantly designed and well-deserving of an honorable placement within the top ten. Again, good luck to everyone!

Dave announced just a small bit ago that the final design challenge before the release of Project Stratosphir will be Arcade09. Good luck to all entrants, and have fun designing! Here’s the post from the Atmosphir News page:

“The November dual Design & Play Challenge is Arcade09. Arcade games are known for certain traits – being fast, fun, and all about getting your initials in the high scores. This month’s challenge seeks to do the same. While almost any Atmosphir level could be considered competitive in the leaderboards, certain levels are more well-suited to allow for a wide variety of scores. An “arcade” level might have some of the following features:

+ A relatively simple gameplay premise or story
+ Fast-paced, race-against-the-clock action and/or survival from ever-increasing difficulty
+ If time is used, a short initial time limit that can be extended through powerups or points
+ High replay value to entice you to try and beat your best score

If you’re still unclear of the concept, some great examples of what I would consider awesome arcade levels are Lunch Break Mayhem by EliteBlackDragon, Muka Carnivale Game by bigdrip681, and Leaderboard Tower by munchy365.

In addition, we’ll be giving out prizes to the best players in this challenge as well. The players with the #1 spot on the top 3 designs will also win atmos. Because no one knows who will win the design challenge until the official results are announced, players should try to top as many leaderboards as you can. Designers are ineligible to win a play prize for their own level, but may compete in other designers’ levels.

The first place level designer and first place leaderboard player will each get 1000 atmos. 2nd is 500 apiece, and 3rd is 250. The deadline for designs is Sunday, November 22nd. Make sure to include [arcade09] as one word in the title of your level to compete, and check the forums on the 23rd to vote. Playing will continue until the contest winners are revealed later in the week.

As mentioned before, this is the last design challenge with the current desktop version of Atmosphir, so make it count! We will be moving into the new browser-based multiplayer version in early December.

Good luck to everyone!”

I hope every one of you Atmosphir users had a great Halloween! I’m sorry I’m late with the results, but Atmosphiric only started yesterday.

As with every design challenge, 3rd place will get 250 Atmos, 2nd place will get 500 Atmos, and 1st will get 1000 Atmos. There are ten places in all, and a variety of different designers in the results; some veterans, and some undiscovered. To see Dave’s (AKA okaysamurai) reviews, click here because I’ll be reviewing the top 3 myself in this article… Anyways, here’s what the results were for Halloween09:

10th: Demonic by Daimon

9th: Forbidden Fortress by quigon

8th: Castle of Legends by MarcoK–You’ll be seeing a Designer of the Week segment from Marco regularly.

7th: The Temple of Xar by creator7

6th: Dry Bone Dungeon by maxinima

5th: Inferno Tower by boberto–Yep, that’s me.

4th: Welcome to the House of Fun

3rd: Trinity Castle by JazeGeek

JazeGeek makes his first top 3 appearance with his entry to Halloween09, Trinity Castle. Scenery is great, and gameplay is crisp. There are many hidden secrets, some required to find. Your first goal is to get into the castle, which is barricaded by a double-locked door. Once inside, you face the challenge of finding another key which is even harder to find. Altogether, I think JazeGeek did a great job with his entry.

2nd: Trick or Trick by Saunby

Literally the first entry to appear on the play browser, and by far one of the best. Saunby really knows how to design, because Trick or Trick is always living up to its name. Probably the two best puzzles were one where you had to ledge-hang/jump across a wall with pillars. You may have been confused there, but that’s what you do. The other superb puzzle was one where you had to jump off a box into a small hole in a huge pit of spikes to get a key. A very creative and difficult entry, Saunby sure earned his place in the top 3. Great job!

1st: Mining Moria by frodo

It was a year ago when the first Halloween design challenge was announced; Halloween08. Frodo was one of the best–and still is–designers and decided to enter. His first entry, Mines of Moria won the design challenge, and so did his similarly named, Mining Moria this design challenge. Mining Moria was a very well designed leaderboard challenge with many interesting ideas, such as floating staircases made of falling spike traps and stationary owl traps to jump around. The level took place in the Mines of Moria, where much treasure lays hidden. Good luck to everyone who tries to get a high score on the leaderboards, and amazing work frodo! Congratulations, you deserved it!

Dave announced with these results that there would be only one more design challenge before Project Statosphir comes out. What will it be? Join us at Atmosphiric to find out! Good job to all the winners of Halloween09, and even if you didn’t win, don’t be discouraged, there were tons of great entries.