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Masscraft Challenge #2 Begins
A Drifter has made it into the movie
Spacecraft enter Unreal Engine
Navigate the Void (and get a Murk Ring)
For those who missed it, we’re anticipating the launch of our spacecraft with THE MASSCRAFT JAMBOREE (brought to by LeakProof Tech). It’s a series of events and 5 challenges. Everyone who participates in each challenge will receive a loot card which can be used to upgrade your spaceship. The second challenge STARTS NOW.
This challenge is a puzzle.
NAVIGATE the unpredictable Voidcloud with help from a mysterious Murk Ring. Can your pilot correctly manage and control the Murk Ring's signal to bring your ship safely to port, marking off any obstacles as you go?
RULES:
Create a LOOP (not a path) between all cells.
Sectioned areas with a number tell you how many cells are filled in in that area.
No cells can be left empty, they must have a LINE or be FILLED IN.
No shaded cells can be next to each other.
PRIZES:
Every correct submission receives a new Loot Card
5 Veteran Drifters will be awarded to the first five correct submissions.
A Drifter Wins
Masscraft Challenge #1 has concluded.
Dove is a teenage orphan who freighter-hops around the Fringe clinging to her families mythic heritage. She’s also Drifter #1625. Community member Ash08 prevailed through 3 rounds of competition and emerged from over 300 Drifters submitted. Each round invited participants to further develop their character. The top five finalists were all ready to star in their own Fringe film. The Fringe team held a Twitter spaces to debate the five finalists and vote, eventually declaring a winner. You can listen to a recap of the action here. Dove will now be written into our movie, and Ash08 will receive a legendary drifter of their choosing.
Here is the winning submission.
Name: Dove
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Similar Character: Scout Finch, Matilda
Whats in her backpack: Mother's antique heirloom mesmegraph machine
Description of her last seven days:
"...sure I could plot the Murk'' Dove scoffs, hanging upside down from the alcove of her makeshift bunk, enough room for a child. “Faster than a Khulark fart too, kip's stuff for a Mesmegraph.” she revels in the captivated faces of awestruck Channelrats.
As recent arrival she’s pestered for stories. She loves telling stories.
"But they threw me off the ship, then like flotsam I drifted awhile 'fore getting swallowed up by this station like all of you, down in its belly, chomp!" She gestures vividly.
Channelrats had offered her sanctuary. It’s more homely now; adorned with automatic drawings, manuscripts and ritual curios she's "salvaged" relating to Mesmegraphy. Some nights for comfort; she recites the entire lineage without fault.
Beside her is Zoeey curled asleep, purring softly, as well as her Mother's Dreamcaster; a Mesmegraph’s tool. "Bygone trinket, she’s gone" Navigator Kayin had once sneered, then later "Witch! she fogs my head while I sleep." But the tatty wooden box with its rickety strobelight and rusty crank is all she scrambled to protect when her old ship roared away leaving her behind in the dust.
She recounts the cycles spent freighter-hopping since, colorful characters came; but always went. She tells of her darkest night with nothing to cling to except her dreamcaster as she wished and wished in its dim light. The same night that seemingly by some miracle she found Zoeey, or Zooey found her. “Wouldn't have made it alone,” she says.
Some particularly young channelrats sit holding out crumbs to the air expectantly or stroke the palm of their hand through empty space; "I felt it's fur!","It bit me!" they snatch their hands away giggling. This perplexes Dove; Zoeey hasn't stirred.
Her favorite stories are of the first Mesmegraphs "...There was High-Computer Vana surrounded by her golden retinue. Crooked Ludoc; who could see around corners and Dunch The "Enlightened" whose dreamcaster filled the Great Hall! The light was so bright they say he vanished into it!"
Dove laments how much she might understand of others and of herself, if only her dreamcaster shone as bright.
"…guess they were sorta misfits, misunderstood sometimes, but they helped build the Fringe, brought light to the void, brought people together, I’m gonna too…”
"Can you possess folk? make someone give us food?" There's a clamor of excitement at this prospect. Dove frowns.
"Nun’a’that true, She's curdled!" teases someone, others mimic the taunt.
Her earlier bravado is gone. Sensing Dove is overwhelmed; Zoeey wakes and climbs into her lap to comfort her. No one else seems to notice this.
"Enough" an older boy with some authority intercedes "A story can be true, a lie, a wish, all at once even. Everyone needs a story, a history, ‘specially drifters, gives 'em a kind of gravity. without something to hold to; reckon you can lose yourself real quick out here..."
Dove holds Zoeey close. Receding inside her holey sweater from some old children’s show.
"...Starting tomorrow we'll find out what she can really do"
Spacecraft Enter Unreal Engine
We just completed a step which may not sound glamorous, but is pretty exciting for us. The spacecraft models have been recently formatted for ideal compatibility in Unreal engine. This is cool for a number reasons. We can create real-time animation, allowing us more dynamic renders for the spacecraft tokens. Also, it aides our goal of doing real-time VFX for the film. Instead of green-screen, we can shoot the inside of a spaceship cockpit on a volume stage and show other ships flying around out in the windows in realtime. Lastly, Unreal is a video game engine - which means these ships would be ready to be integrated into interactive or gaming applications should they arise.
Coming up…
There’s still three more Masscraft challenges in addition to today’s puzzle.
There a ton of prizes in addition the loot cards. We’re giving away dozens of mech suits, freight wars veterans, and the rest of the legendary drifters in the Void collection. Stay tuned.