BuildCity

BuildCity

World of Active Worlds

Owner(s)	Founder Hyper Anthony Host AWI
Founded	June, 2010
Configuration	P50 N,W,S,E 25 Users
Rating	PG
Running?	✓
Website	?

BuildCity is the preservation of GameFest39: Builder's Challenge. It was created by Hyper Anthony as an entry for the Virtual Game Festival 2010. BuildCity is currently in the off-season, but still accepts players to run through the process and practice their skills. The global bot is not guaranteed to be online 24/7 during the off-season.

History

Builder's Challenge was revived in the summer of 2010 after Hyper Anthony learned that the Virtual Game Festival 2010 would be extended through mid-July. After obtaining the world GameFest39 (now BuildCity) and engaging in a two-week period of intense development, the world opened for public testing on June 24. The major difference from the iteration in SW City was that the scale was cranked up significantly, and the builders were restricted to building in tiered zones—completion of plots in easier zones would allow progression to more difficult building zones.

An interior view of the vessel Opportunity.

The world provided a unique opportunity to develop a new context, so the game was packaged as a new, experimental colony. Upon entering the world, players were greeted by a scientist that engaged in a long conversation about how the player was a member of a building group known as the Reclaimers, and this faction existed to colonize and develop new worlds. The entry zone was designed as a starship—known as the Opportunity—orbiting the world, and players were able to teleport from there to a floating midway, where scores were kept. From there, players were directed to the surface zone of Verdant Valley, a charming farming community where players create their first build. NPCs that assisted the player through use of the say command were commonly placed through the world.

Five zones exist in this world for players to build in. When a player completes a lot, they can progress to the next zone:

• Verdant Valley
  • A rural themed building area. New players begin here.
• Lakeshore Harbor
  • A city themed building area, situated on a lakeshore.
• Riverside Park
  • A housing themed building area.
• Rust Path
  • An industrial themed row.
• Newtown
  • A skyscraper themed building area.

In the time that the Game Festival world was open for testing and competition, players built in Verdant Valley and Lakeshore Harbor. Riverside Park was unlocked, but not built in before the contest ended. Rust Path and Newtown were never engaged. By the competition's end, Dashie567 was the winning player, with 170 credits. Players in this iteration of Builder's Challenge were of varying skill levels, but all managed to find creative solutions to go beyond the original parameters issued to them by the objective boards.

By the end of July, the winners of the Game Festival had been announced—Builder's Challenge was one of 5 runner ups out of the 16 gaming projects recognized for completion. The world is preserved as BuildCity world and is currently on hiatus.

Present Day

BuildCity is still open and accepting participants, but it is currently in a state known as "off-season" where competition isn't daily and isn't rewarded with anything but points. There are plans drafted to automate rights assignment in the future that will hopefully help the game to function without the presence of a Caretaker.