Feral Heart

Updates for November
Times move on and we just passed by the happy Halloween which I'm sure many enjoyed. I really want to apologize for the late news post but there's been a few things around the corner, not to mention that the content for one has been very calm this month but there's still something worth mentioning.

Board & Site changes
After some messing around with the mesh section we made one final touch to this board. Instead of it remaining inside of the "Other Creations" board it's now seen and linked from the board index directly which means it is it's own section from now on which means less clicks and easier navigation for the meshers and those interested in downloads.

Events & kewl sturf
Something that could be worth mentioning for those who hasn't noticed this already is that FeralHeart has gotten a nice little Tumblr page. There's probably quite a few members that hangs about on that site, and a FeralHeart Tumblr will be able to post fun, less fun, important or less important information and posts revolving FeralHeart, so make sure to follow it.

Link for it right Here

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As Halloween passed by us FeralHeart held a special little part for those that were able to attend. We want to thank all floofies that showed up for this and took part and hope to do it again, and a big thanks to Delay for putting together the Halloween map for us all to visit.

But with the party there was also a preset contest of who that could up with the most interesting/spooky Halloween preset, and there was 3 Ferals that deserve to be mentioned in here as well.

3rd place
Roflcopter

2nd place
Wolpard

1st place
Tearless

So a big applause for them and their creations. As always thanks to all participants and people attending. If you want to check up on the presets that won you can do so by clicking this thread.

Side note
Hopefully there's more to provide next month around, and don't forget that MOTS Autumn is coming up so make sure you are on the tip of your toes. But for now, we just want to thank everyone behaving for yet another month of FeralHearting and we will posties soon again.

Thanks~ Redrawr outz

Updates for September

Even though the majority is now jumping back to their school since the summer break has now passed, things are moving on as always here around FeralHeart. The month might been very calm around the boards, but we still have a few things to bring to your attention, so feel free to read through September News update.

Notice Regarding The Game Server
Not too long ago Razmirz did some upgrading to the game server and we now have faster writing and reading speeds. The old limit of 200 players within a map has been increased to up to 300 and bad token messages users used to bump into should been reduced drastically, giving a better play experience all together.

Board & Site changes
On the board front there has not been too much going on, but we have one slight of change, and that is the sticky in the "Member Bio & Journals" section here on the board, the sticky that used to exist has been remade a bit, so thankies to ramine for that. New sticky can be found by clicking here.

Events & kewl sturf
Our Member of the season vote for the Summer period has now ended, and we have 3 lovely members who made it. They are no one else but.

BigSkippy, Thierry and Tearless!

Congratulations to you three, you have been a very nice addition to the Site and game and the members of the community think you deserve this one, and the staff can only agree on this. Whether it's for input regarding subjects, helping new members, creations shared or just time and interest put into the game we thank you for it all. You will soon receive and updated profile with a nice little ribbon and wear the green MOTS name on the online list for the upcoming season.

Give them all a congratulations guys!

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The video making contest is moving on, and we finally have the qualifiers for the final vote. We thank everyone who took part and entered the contest and shared their videos with us since we got quite a few lovely viddies but now it's time to determine the top 3 but also see who takes home the first spot. If you are interested in putting your vote for certain viddies feel free to visit this thread and check out the qualifiers. The vote will keep on going until the middle of September.

Side note
From one thing to another, we have yet another MIT on the team, and the floof we are speaking of is our BigSkippy. He's spent lots of time and interest into the FeralHeart community and it has not gone unnoticed. He will most likely be helping the staffies a lot the upcoming month and show his floof like qualities.

Short and simple monthly update this time around, hopefully we will have more to bring up and share in the next update, but low on information or not, see you in a month, and stay safe.

Thanks~ Redrawr outz

Download here
http://www.feral-heart.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=2&jfile=index.php&topic=1775.msg22942#msg22942

So the plans right now is to make a smexy city map for the public that anyone can enjoy and spend time in. Our biggest enemy right now would be the lag that will show for the majority of the users visiting a map filled with objects. But trying is something that should be worth doing, and no matter how it will turn out, tries of giving out something will be done.

With some help of friends in the community this project has already gotten a jumpstart and there's a good amount of meshes that can be used for this project. The "city" in this will be rather small, but tries will be done to get it as close as possible to a city feel inside feralheart.

Some things this map will feature or I will try to feature is lots of texture variety, very detailed city environment, custom sounds and other candy as long as FeralHeart allows it. If you want to provide or suggest meshes and what not, feel free to bump this post.
http://www.feral-heart.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=2&jfile=index.php&topic=23810.0


Map Information:
Width: 7000
Height 300
Boundary: 1200
Runtime end to end:
23 Seconds

So the basics of the maps are done now when it comes to the heightmap so I know what I have to work with. Alls the roads are actually a few coordinates below the regular ground, but there's also height differences of the different planes of the town/city, was quite the trick.



A small step for man a giant leap for lilly the lioness, here taking the first steps on the pavement of Feralcity. This is actually a rough work to do since I need to use regular collboxes for the majority of the pavement to save on performance. Looks good so far though.



Finally now you can start to see the map representing something more city like. I added on the 5th texture which is the concrete one that will show in the more busy area of the city, added some street marks, but I also took the liberty to change the other road texture since I managed to find a more suiting one. A long way to go though. You can also see where the park will be situated by looking in the top right corner.



There's 3 different height levels of the city, and I'm finally done with the top one when it comes to placing sidewalks and collisions for them. They aren't exactly the most fun thing in the world, but since they do so much difference in a map like this it's a must. And since most of the top level is completed, I threw in some more detailz. Like parking lotz?



Here's just a quick view of a part of the middle level of the city leading out to the bottom one. Top level(downtown) and middle level is now finished with sidewalks and their collisions. Just the bottom and final level left now until I can start working on the fun stuff.



I know I cheated some on the collisions and roadmarks since the sidewalks and roads are not completely done yet. But it has been a lot of workies and I'll get back to it later. Here's the whole map so far in all it's glory though.



First things first, now when red has taking over the city, the city billboard needs a change. Yes.. He did it again.



Here's a sneak peek of what the visitors might see when they first arrive to feralcity.



Trash needs to go somewhere, here's the Compound.



Awwww yeeeaaaa



Come pleh wiff me. Trying to keep the map interesting and just not houses everywhere, of course adding something like this wouldn't be possible without the meshers in the community to help you out.



Hungry while you are paying a visit to the city? No problem! Here's a diner that you can roleplay it all out in.



Here's a screen from one of the main streets in the city.



And another from the road leading into the city from the suburbs area.



And a last part from the top west corner of the city.

Some of you Might've noticed that this board has been locked down from posting threads in for the last week and there's a reason for this.

Due to a good amount of users ignoring the board rules and plain out posting threads with questions, one kind of content, sloppy postings without links or screens etc. The main addons & mods board will now change to "Apply Only" section in which the board will be locked and your thread can only be placed there if moved by a moderator. The exact rules for which threads that will be allowed will explained in the sticky on the board once the time comes, one thing is certain though, that there WILL be requirements to post in this board.

So we are going to try this for a while and see how it turns out, but before we do so we are going to clean out that board from all threads and start new and that's why we want everyone with a thread in that section to

Copy the content from their threads and save it

This is so you will not loose any potential links or information in your threads before we remove these and are able to put them someplace else. The main Addons & mods board will remain as it is now for a week or so so you will be able to fetch your things.

Thanks for reading.

So what is a moderator?
A moderator is usually someone who helps the community with various tasks, these are here to keep track of the users and their behavior making sure they keep the rules that apply, along with keeping things organized and up to date. They have powers on either the game or forum, and can use these to engage with players not behaving or in need of assistance. You can say MODS are really the ones trying to keep things in motion and set the lines required for "you", the users. Moderation work is done both on the Site/forum, as it's done within the actual game, and tasks can vary. Their main purpose is really to help as much as possible and put up a good example for other users within the community.

How do I become a moderator?
To be fair, asking rarely gets you anywhere regarding this matter. But since the question has been asked many times in the past, and still occur, we will try to explain as well as possible, but also a few things you should think of. The staff team consists of those who will keep track on potential users that could be seen suiting as a MOD, but just because you think you'd make a great addition as one or the fact that you'd want to help, doesn't mean you will become one. Moderators have powers and responsibilities they need to be careful of and use well, so only those who are trusted enough will be granted a MOD title.

Here's a few things that's common for a MOD:
- Preferably active both within the game and on the forum.
- They've shown themselves as helpful towards the community and game and has a great interest.
- They're known to and have done positive actions in this community and game.
- Are well aware of the game/forum rules and has stayed rather clear from bans and other warnings in the past.
- Know their way around the game fairly well, both inside and outside.
- Is contactable online outside of the game
- Preferred if they are above or at 16 years of age.

Even though this list explains some of the things well, it still doesn't mean a user following these lines would become a mod. But if you behave well you might get offered a MOD position. If you work on your own accord and show you want to help without the soul reason of "being" a mod, then you most likely have good chances.

Other facts about MODs:
- Staff are volunteers. This is not a full time job.
- Staff should not be judged soley on forum post and or in-game activity, there are many other responsibilities (background or otherwise) that staff are expected to attend to.
⁃ FH is not other game communities therefore staff should not be expected to behave like staff from other communities nor should they be compared to such. Every game staff evolves around the needs and niches of their own respective communities, thus every staff team is different.
⁃ MOTS does not guarantee you a spot on the staff team, just as users who have never been nominated as MOTS could become staff
⁃ Staff promotion to positions with higher responsibility (such as admin & or global moderator) are most often progressive and granted upon the individual’s ability to manage the increased responsibilities expected within these positions. Regardless of seniority admin and or global moderator positions should not be expected as a given as they are roles assigned due to certain qualities not a reward.
⁃ Staff are not selected on the basis of friendship but rather necessity. Quality of an individual’s personality and traits are valued over shear skills as skills can be attained through training with time.
⁃ Staff that retired on good terms and remained in good terms while out of position are guaranteed their former position back to the team so long as they’ve proven that they still can manage the time and responsibilities expected of their allotted position.
- If a staff member isn’t allowed back due to not being on good terms the staff is not obligated to disclose the reasons to the public community.
- Staff should be treated with the same amount of respect as any other member of the community. That means that all rules apply when interacting with staff through any medium of FH.
- Staff must adhere to the same rules of discipline as the rest of the community.

How do I get in contact with a MOD or Admin?
There's a few ways to get in contact with a mod, but the most simple way would probably be by visiting this page here, it will bring you to the staff page of the site along with links to Admins/mods profiles. But you can also use the online user list located on the bottom of the forum and click on their name (Admins/mods have coloured names).

What do the different ADMIN/MOD titles mean?
Admins - Are the ones in charge of the majority of the site and staff and their work is to not only help as any other mod, but also to help the rest of the staff when needed, keeping things structured.
Global Moderators - Are moderators granted some more powers and responsibilities around the forum to help and assist with the staff work, but also the ones that moderators can turn to if admins are not around.
Moderators - Are the ones defines the word moderator. They move and lock threads around the boards, suggest things within the staff, keep users within the boundaries and do what we see as moderating.

What is a kick, and what is a ban? (Game)
Kicks within the game works as warnings. If you're given a kick it's for a reason and an in-game MOD probably spotted you breaking some sort of rule for the game, and in the majority of cases the reason is stated for you as you get booted off the game. By then it's usually a good call if you stop with what you were doing and learn from the warning you got, cause if you get back in the game to repeat your actions or mouth back, you will most likely face a ban instead. Bannings on the other hand are much more direct and harsher since it restricts a user from getting back in the game for a certain amount of time given. The times given for breaking rules can vary depending on the case itself, and the mod giving it, but if you receive one you did something wrong, and should check up on the rules to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Can a MOD get fired?
They can, but it's nothing that happens too often exactly. The only way a MOD would get fired would be if they misbehaved greatly towards the staff or community, or even abused their powers to such an extent that the Admins and the rest of the staff would be needed to take action. Activity could also be a factor if a staff member is away for very long time without letting the rest of the staff know.

Can I report a MOD?
If seen needed, you are able to report a mods actions to an Admin and explain your situation along with proof showing this, since the MODs shouldn't abuse their powers or walk over their own rules. The MODs should know what they are doing though, and if you're trying to frame a MOD because you hold a grudge from earlier events you could be the one getting in trouble instead.

Are mods real people or computers?
Mods are people just like you and me that need sleep, food, and nuzzles.

A MOD has banned me, what do I do?
If you got banned it's most likely for a good reason and you should look up on the game rules here. You should never post threads on the boards asking to be unbanned since this is against the board rules. If you by any reason must explain your situation and show you are not guilty for any rule breaking, please contact ONE moderator here on the forum via message function and we will look into the matter. If you try to lie about a ban given and make up your own stories we will find out eventually though, and in that case you might face an extended ban instead.

How come MODs don't respond to me in the game?
The mods in the game are there to keep their eyes after rule breakers and inappropriate behavior. If you need to get in contact with a mod or need assistance regarding any matter you might have when it comes to the game, you should contact them on the staff with a message, or possibly post in the help boards.