Retro: City Upgrades for Game Update 8

Game Update 8 was the first major renovation for player cities.  Since there are so many returning mayors; and people wanting a look inside what city tools are available for mayors/militia; I made this peek available on the blog - classified as a "sneak peek" at the time.

^ Storage increase cubes increase work on Cantina, Hospital, Merchant Tent, and Theater structures.

^ The /grantStoryteller command lets the mayor flag a character with the rights to set up a Storyteller Event within their city.  This allows a city to have activities and events planned - even allowing aligned guilds to host events - but no worry of full blown zoning which could mess up city design.
^ The Structures Report List will be revamped to show all the structures that your city has as well as being able to get a waypoint to them from the List.  Want an example?



^ Recycling Stations available for player cities: junk dealer terminals.

^ A Citizen Report update will also be made - so mayors can stay more in touch with the citizens.  As the structure report, this will be very similar.


This lets mayors set a Citizen Message which all citizens can see when they log in.  This will help make things much more interactive - as well as offer up reminders for galactic events or city news even.


This is a CITY MESSAGE mayors can set; which anyone entering the city will see.  This could alert people of events happening or even direct them to a structure such as a mall.

^ City decorations and gardens increase by 50%.  This means a Rank 5 Metropolis could support a cap of 46 civic structures and 75 total decorations.  City Banners also take up one decoration space, but it hasn't been an issue yet.

^ On top of that, mayors have new gardens to place...



^ There are also "factional" gardens...
 

Full Friday Feature ("We Built This City") here:
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/players/news_archive.vm?id=68220&month=022009 


Full Friday Feature ("Living with the Land") here:
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/players/news_archive.vm?id=68225&month=022009

[click the "more" button to see a full list of changes]

Retro: Solaria Statistics '08

Just as the title...these are old statistics I dug out.  They were nge but before the houses first started the demolitions [pack up collection] started.

The statistics are dated October 2008.  It was a time the old houses with old footprints were still there.  And the city had much more of a struggle for city maintenance reserves to stay full.


City Statistics

Rank: Metropolis (5)
Radius: 450m
Citizenship: 85
Structures: 261
Registered Civic Structures: 90
Specialization: Research Center
Income Tax: 2000 credits
Property Tax: 19%
Sales Tax: 0%
Travel Ticket Fee: 100 credits
Garage Service Fee: 6%

R.I.P. Jeff Freeman: 1968-2008

I happened upon this and knew many people would take interest. Some of you may want to know, and many are aware he was a developer for Star Wars Galaxies. At times he was also the figurehead/scapegoat for some of the game's modification: unfair as those accusations were.  Since I feel Solaria is a community place, it's only fitting one of the biggest people to help shape my SWG experiences gets tribute as others who passed through and passed on.


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=756313

[link since defunct]

His brother got word out via a variety of MMO forums:

"Some of you know who Jeff Freeman was; he was the lead designer at Sony when the major changes were made to SWG that left so many upset. Although it was not his fault he took the brunt of the criticisms, attacks, and even death threats.

Some of you may have even known him back in the UO days as Dundee, Guild Master of the Nameless Ones on Lake Superior and later the administrator of the private UO server World of Dreams.

I am not sure why I have chosen this forum to share this news; it may be that I would have loved to see Jeff build the game that he really wanted to, if he was running a private server. You see I am his brother. On September 24th Jeff took his own life. I am not angry at him or anyone else, sad yes, like so many others I feel a bit of guilt but I love my brother and I am thankful that he is no longer suffering."

Obituary:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/news-journal/obituary.aspx?n=jeff-freeman&pid=118224322

Some additional links and places to find food for thought...

Tribute/eulogy by Raph Koster:

http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/09/30/jeff-dundee-freeman

Article via Escape Magazine:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86552-Jeff-Freeman-Former-SWG-Lead-Gameplay-Designer-Dies

EDIT:
Sadly, it seems his blog has gone defunct since his death. I was hoping someone tried to preserve it somehow, but alas. Maybe his brother was able to archive some of this, but I have no clue as of now.
Let me know if there's info.

On a related note, his "memory book" has expired as well. It takes paltry amount to keep it open forever: as is $80US. That is less than most people spend to play the average MMO for a year.