New Newsletter 3/26/07 ~ More Updates, Changes, And Surprises On Their Way To VMK!

[VMK_KrazyLuke]

Enjoy The New News From VMK About Even More Changes, Updates, And Surprises!

3/26
Awesome new in-game features are revealed along with the answer to last week's photo puzzle. Yavn's got the latest VMK news, now get in the know!

Dark Days Ahead

Winter is finally over and spring break is looming just around the corner – but something else is looming on the horizon, something dark and it's on the way to VMK! (Now don't skip to the good stuff yet – we're serving up some tasty info you'll want to eat up before getting to dessert!)

How to Clear a Room

Silly me, last week I forgot to tell you about one of the coolest features in the new build – the Clear Room button! Now you can send every single item you've got in a room back into your inventory with the click of a button.

Just one click of that red button – and everything in your room is placed back into inventory!

No more removing items one by one – you've got to happy about that – I know I am! Now we just need a way to sell back items in bulk!

Last Chance For EPCOT Questing

Alright, this is the last week to grab that EPCOT Guest room – in fact, you have until the end of the week to complete the 4 EPCOT Quests.

EPCOT Guest rooms only available until the end of March!

The reaction to the Quest has been phenomenal (thanks to all of you who played) if you haven't Quested, don't want to miss out! Once the EPCOT Quests are gone there's no telling when you might be able to get that EPCOT Guest Room again.

Anyone for a Makeover?
Just a quick note, the weekly Room Makeovers will now be showcased in the Event Info section on this very Newsletter page! Don't forget we're making over 2 rooms each week now – maybe your guest room is next!

Tomorrowland Quests

Another reminder for all you Questers out there – we're getting reading to re-launch the in-game Tomorrowland Quests. If you want to get another star for your Diving, Driving and Flying Pins you'll need to make sure you've completed the current in–game Quests. (Don't worry if you don't complete the Quests, you'll still be able to win the pins, but you'll only be able to get a 2nd star.)

What's it for? Flights of fancy – to the Inner-Space Shop.

Also many of you have noticed that both the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom Tomorrowland Quests have been removed from the VMK website – don't worry, they'll both be back very shortly with a brand new Quest reward – the Red Inner–Space Suit Magic Spell. (Yes, this will be coming to the Magic Kingdom too!)

Ride On!

So did you like the little image of the strange critters last week? As many of you guessed the creatures are from none other than Alice In Wonderland (and of course, the Alice In Wonderland attraction in Disneyland). But what does Alice In Wonderland have to do with VMK? Well, Alice will help kick off something brand new for VMK – Dark Ride Attractions!

The Alice dark ride – coming soon to VMK!

That's right, the Alice In Wonderland attraction (as well as one more ride… but you will have to wait to see which one!) has been lovingly recreated in VMK! (How awesome is that?!) Now, to give you an idea of how much detail went into this wonderful new addition, over 120 new furniture items have been created – just for Alice!

How do the new rides work? Well, when they open take a walk over to the brand new Fantasyland Courtyard and enter through the turnstile, pay your credits (sorry they're not free – but you may win something very cool for just riding… more on that next week!) and hop on!

The team really pulled out the stops to make the VMK versions of these attractions as faithful as possible to the Park versions. We also added some new functionality to the game to help make the current ride system work better. The main change is a new animation system that allows items (like furniture) to animate when a player passes by the object. And just like the real Park attractions – our dark ride tracks do not allow players to hop off the ride until it comes to an end!

I don't know about you ride builders out there, but every time we have a Ride-A-Thon we have to block both sides of every piece of track. One more really cool feature is the new track system can support both Fantasyland Dark Ride vehicle types, how exactly does that work? Well, the track you use to launch the ride is associated with a vehicle type – so if you place an Alice Track starter – you'll get an Alice In Wonderland Caterpillar Vehicle. Place the starter from the other ride and… well you'll see!

Hair-raising New Style


Since we're on the topic of new stuff, how about a new hairstyle for boys and girls! In honor of the new Alice in Wonderland attraction we present Alice In Wonderland hair for girls! And for the guys, a cool new surfer do – perfect if you are a fan of Troy from High School Musical.

Hair's too your new look!

Gotta Fly Now!

Well I need to get packing, literally. That plane to Asia leaves in just a few days and I've got to get my gear in gear. But before I go I'll leave you with this pretty picture and a riddle:

What do you get when you cross Dark Rides, the new Fantasyland Courtyard and a Sword In The Stone?
The thrilling answer and news from my trip to the Far East in next week's Newsletter – don't miss it!

See you in VMK,
Yavn

 

[jasonpwns]

Hair style=Woohoo!
Quest In Magic Kingdom=Yipee!
New Furniture=Double Woot

 

[Imagine Ears]

What room is that sword and stone in?

I'm assuming when they release the Dark Ride stuff, there will be a Ride-a-Thon? That's pretty much what he said.

 

[VirtuallyUnknown]

This was the best newsletter Ive ever read since I registered for VMK. I am so excited for the ride pieces and the "over 120 new furniture items", plus, I am grateful for the Clear Room button!

 

[WDWLIGHTNINGZ]

What room is that sword and stone in?

Nobody knows yet.
-----
120 pieces of furniture! There go my credits down the drain.

 

[Shaymojack]

AT LAST! Hair that looks like mine in real life!

 

[CapEldano2]

All i have to say is.... WOW! I didn't think anything could beat last week's newsletter, but obviously i was wrong! Don't you guys realize!? VMK has finally turned a classic Disneyland ride into a virtual ride! Not a room, not a piece of furniture or clothing, but a virtual RIDE!!! That is one of the biggest things we've been asking for since VMK opened, along with the "clear room" feature! The Sword in the Stone is I would assume part of the new "Fantasyland Courtyard" which Yavn hinted upon maybe we'll even be able to try and yank it out? LOL. This also goes along with the poll a while back - Which Land Should Be Updated Next?. Oh.. I can't wait for this update, this is gonna be awesome!!!!!

Oh, and i don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but I don't think Yavn will be giving us all 120 pieces of furniture. My theory is that it is "furniture" like what is used in the Haunted Mansion Public Guest Rooms, most of it we can't have. I think probably these 120 pieces will be used mostly in the ride rooms. But again, just a theory I have...

 

[Diznygrl]

AHHHHHHH!!! That's how I screamed when I saw the pic of that Alice in Wonderland room, then AHHHHHH!!! again when I read it was gonna be a highly detailed virtual dark ride! That is the coolest thing ever and I totally can't WAIT!

The Alice hair is cute too! I think we might need an Alice dress to go along with it. *coughcough*

 

[Melp]

What room is that sword and stone in?

I'm assuming when they release the Dark Ride stuff, there will be a Ride-a-Thon? That's pretty much what he said.

the Sword in the Stone at the parks is in front of the Carrousel and is part of a show where a lucky guest gets to try and pull the sword out. Not sure what it means to the game but sounds awesome.

I love the idea of the Dark rides! wondering which will be the other they announce. Mr Toad? Winnie the Pooh?

Clearing a room awesome, but will wait to make sure there is no bugs before playing with that button

Thank you Yavn and VMK staff for all of the upcoming changes! Can't wait to see them actually in the game

 

[VMK_KrazyLuke]

While reading it in my opinion I took it as that it would be that these "Dark Ride" Pieces will not be available for us obtain for personal use. To me it gave the impression that they would be used for the MAIN VMK Ride they are making. Can anybody elaborate, opinionate, or explain further what they took it as, because right now I am going with this::

 

[Imagine Ears]

While reading it in my opinion I took it as that it would be that these "Dark Ride" Pieces will not be available for us obtain for personal use. To me it gave the impression that they would be used for the MAIN VMK Ride they are making. Can anybody elaborate, opinionate, or explain further what they took it as, because right now I am going with this::

That's what I was thinking, maybe the name, Virtual Magic Kingdom, will actually be true. We will be able to ride rides.

But then he said something about ride builders and how we always have to guard off the sides so nobody can get off.

I'm not really sure, yavn was sending mixed messages, probably just to keep us speculating.

 

[Belle1997]

Wow How exciting I give this newsletter a :

I still remember doing the VIP Tour at WDW and they said there would be no virtual rides. Oops they got that wrong a long time ago with build your own rides. I do not mind paying to ride. I am so excited about all the new pieces wow 120 furniture pieces. This is going to be so cool.

Way to go VMK (applause)

 

[Lauralee]

Sounds like there will be two dark rides (created by vmk staff) at a new Fantasyland Courtyard that we can pay to ride. Did you catch him saying that although we have to pay to ride, we may win a prize if we do! Who else (when you first started playing vmk) thought that the Splash Mountain room in Frontierland was a real working ride?

Yavn says nothing about these new ride pieces being available for us to buy. I agree with Cap in thinking that if they are sold, vmk won't make all 120 pieces available to us.

Wasn't the sword in the stone located by the carousel at Magic Kingdom? How cool would it be if there was a carousel at this Fantasyland Courtyard!

 

[LuNaReVe]

OMG. This is the best newsletter ever. 120 new furniture items!!! OMG I'm SOOOO EXCITED.

 

[Peri]

yes and look again at that april calendar of events which includes spinning and flying - I know spinning could just be a generator - but it could also mean spinning in teacups or on the carousel...

this is so fun!

Do you think they gave us all the credits so we could buy ride pieces, if the dark ride pieces become available???

 

[VMK_KrazyLuke]

Like someone above stated: "120 Furniture Pieces" were made especially for this dark ride. Well, they will not all be available for US to use. Like somebody else said. In the HM Rooms will the NPC Ghost are.. those room pieces and decorations in those rooms are considered furniture, which means that most likley in the new Dark Ride Rooms and Fantasyland Court those are most likely part of the 120 pieces <-- Just a Theory

 

[aliceblue]

I'm about ready to faint. Can it get any better than this? Room, ride pieces, furniture and Alice hair to boot! Maybe they'll even release a costume.

I guess VMK loves me!

While reading it in my opinion I took it as that it would be that these "Dark Ride" Pieces will not be available for us obtain for personal use. To me it gave the impression that they would be used for the MAIN VMK Ride they are making. Can anybody elaborate, opinionate, or explain further what they took it as, because right now I am going with this::

That would certainly not make any sense, since the whole point of ride pieces is for players to create attractions; not for game developers or staff to do it for us. Perhaps Yavn simply didn't word this clearly enough, in his excitement over the staff rooms they've been working on to introduce us to these new features.

 

[aengus]

WOOT WOOT WOOT! just totally amazing Cant wait to see some of this stuff happen!!!

Nice job VMK team!!

 

[PirateBell]

Wow!! I am so blown away with this news letter! I so agree this one of the best news letter ever! So many new cool things to look forward to!

Love the idea of one button to clear the room feature! Awesome!
No more taking things out one by one! How cool is that!

Alice and Wonderland dark rides..totally awesome!
This what i have been waiting for since I joined vmk last year.
To have more classic Disney in the game. Paying to ride...oh that fien with me ..makes more like the park! And besides we have to pay to play the Pirates game! So its fine with me. Boy i just can't wait to have all these new features in the game!

New hair do's...yay..a girl can't enough hair do's! And the boys too! It looks cool. So humm.. new Alice hair do...maybe a Alice dress outfit to go along with it? Wouldn't that be cool!

Now for the Sword in the stone...well that is interesting! I certainly I also think it could be the Carousel Well lets put it this way... I am hoping it would be. IF so I know some one who will love that!

I just want to say can't wait for all the new features.. say Thanks Yavn and staff for all the new things to look forward to!
The is awesome!

 

[amazingsuperpixie]

i think that for those who thought the kingdom lost its mojo...they just brought it back big time ;D