What's that, Furcadia?

Beekins are Furcadia’s volunteer group. Their (volunteer) job is to help the players of Furcadia out when they’ve got questions, bugs, or just need a helping hand.

One of the big problems with the Beekin Group, however, is that most people don’t know which group does what, and who should be handling what kinds of situations.

Even inside the Beekins it isn’t always obvious what a person should and should not do, so consider this a review of the program and a cheat-sheet.

Helpers – Generally knowledgeable about most everything on Furcadia, they can give general help to just about everyone about everything. Their downside is that a lot of them don’t know specifics. When you type, “Help <whatever>” in Furcadia, you’re sent directly to the Helpers Channel. You can also find helpers in the Naia Green Help Center; they’re the only ones allowed to help there. (I’m pretty sure you can’t actually sit there on the pillows unless you’re a helper anyway.)

Teachers – They teach our Beekins; their interaction with the public doesn’t actually extend very far, and they don’t answer questions. Generally, you need to be in another beekin group to join up with the teachers, so any time you interact with a teacher, you’re probably also interacting with another kind of Beekin.

Mentors – These beekins are all about talkin’ things over with other beekins. If you’re a beekin and you’ve got something you want to talk about, these are the guys to turn to.

Pixels – These guys do a lot of the artwork you see in festival dreams and on the Furcadia website. They’re the little fairy-furres that hang out on the Dream Channel and give out snarky comments to you if your pixel-art is shameful. Or, alternatively, they give out a helpful hand and teach you how to shade that portrait better. To be a pixel, you have to be good at art. Good to someone else’s standards, by the way, not your own. Sorry.

Masons – These guys help you out with dreams. That’s anything from patches to maps, DS to PS, anything and everything you do in a dream is their domain. (Unless they’re being cranky and claiming that their badge means they don’t have to help, which never happens in the Masons!) Anywho, if you’re lookin’ for help with somethin’ dream related, these’re the guys to go to.

Bugges – These guys make Furcadia break. A lot. That’s what they do when they’re not trying to avoid being squished. (Sometimes they do it while they’re being squished, just for giggles.) Found a bug? Think Furcadia’s broken? These are the guys to talk to. Unfortunately they can’t help you out much if you don’t give them clear instructions on what you did to make Furcadia break, so make sure you pay attention and can repeat the break that you’ve done.

Guardians – Power hungry sociopaths! No, not really. What they are is a small-ish group of volunteers who do a lot of work to resolve player-created conflicts. They’re not ‘ban happy’ as a lot of people predict, and they’re (mostly) easy-goin’ people. They do have their bad days though when pestering them and asking them to be your girlfriend will annoy them. (It’s true, it will.)

Remember, beekins are there to make your life easier, so don’t harass the hell out of them. It annoys them and makes them want to beat you across the face with a rubber mallet. (Or worse.)

Edit: Oops, I forgot the welcomers. (And believe me, I’ve been hearing about it!) Welcomers are the people who say, “Howdy!” whenever you enter Furcadia. They used to be the most popular group, (because everyone was allowed to join.) but now, that’s not the case anymore, though! However, if you need to be shown where a main map is, or shown around one, these are the furres you’ll want to talk to.

Another installment, this week we’re lookin’ at a blushin’ (Cute too boot,) bride-to-be.

Her ‘love’ is workin’ for the United States Air Force. She’s currently only accepting money through Paypal so she can help pay for certain things, (like her dress) for her wedding which is slated to be out on DVD sometime later this year. (Check your local stores.)

This demure girl does all sorts of different artwork. For a price, she’ll even do some for you. Here’s how she breaks down her pay-rate-for-work, in her own words:

• Remappable Furcadia Portraits: $15
• Nonremappable Furcadia Portraits: $10
• Bust Image: $10 (includes shading and simple background)
• Chibi Image: $15 (a miniature childish version of a character)
• Full Body Image: $20 (Includes simple background and 1 character shaded, +5 for more detailed background, +10 for 1 extra character, $5 for any others after that)
• Oh and Character Reference Sheets: $20 (front pose and miniature remap version, +$3 per extra details ex: back views, close-ups, etc.)

You can see examples of her work by clicking this link. Or, if you’re feeling gutsy, (or want to see her portrait art,) you can always click this link here instead. Either way, I think her art is swell, (and I’m sure she just blushes in the cutest of ways when she’s flattered,) so go ahead and drop some money into her pocket. She’ll take care of your port pretty fast, (general time is about 3 hours for one she informs me,) and she’ll probably throw in some gratuitous laughing out loud to make the journey together a fun one.

This is a Press Release from the creators/owners of WFMA-Radio station. To check out their site, click here.

Horray! The writing contest has finally begun!
Setting: The article/ poem/ story (etc) must be set in Furcadia – Or the main characters must somehow end up in this land.
= Genre: What ever you like – I’ve always liked comedy but Admins are not the judges 😉
= Length: No longer than 1000 words. (Or at least – not too much longer)
= Format: You can speak it and send it as a sound clip, You can video it and send it or you can type it and send. Any format, Basically.
Send all entries to admin@wfma-radio.com
Subject: Writing contest – (your name)
A Few pre-set and perminant rules:
– Staff of WFMA may enter material but can not win.
– There are no restictions on the number of entries
– There are no restrictions on the content unless otherwise stated in the contest description
– ‘Adult’ Material may be enterred but might not be made public – To the discression of the Admins.
– Prizes vary – you’ll be alerted of any possible changes in the contest description
– We do not accept bribes
– All judging is done by people who are not players of furcadia then finalised and discussed by Admins. this means that sucking up wont do you any favours.
– All donations made to the alt ‘WFMA Radio’ will be added to the prize of the contest that is running at that point. Otherwise it will be used for on-air contests such as Trivia contests, Caption contests, Criptic Code contests etc.
Prizes: (The part you -really- care about)
Ferian Foxen
5 GD
And an art choice:
Either 2 Digitally drawn pictures made to your specifications
or
1 highly detailed digital drawing made to your specifications.
The artist is incredibly skilled and well known and will be names when the contest ends.
The drawings will be quite large, I’m informed.
The contest is currently set to run for around one month but that time may be extended.

FOXes have wormed their way into everything on Furcadia, and third party software is no different.

Weighing in at just under 2.0, (1.9) PatchFusion is making it’s way into Furcadia Downloads everywhere.

With more updates slated for the future, this version of Patch Fusion, (dubbed "All power corrupts, but we need the energy") has in it support for the new FOX file format. This includes the ‘frames’ for making client-side animation.

It doesn’t have a kitterspeak editor, so animations still have to be done in the FSHeditor; it will allow you to make full FOX Files, however.

Keep watching here, or Lothus’s website for more news and information.

You can get the latest version of patch fusion here.

Seen the new stuff in the Wylde yet?

There’s a lot of stuff that’s different in there. For starters, no more teleporting. (That’s right, you can actually map out paths now!) The map is about double it’s previous size. Additionally, there’re animations everywhere.

One of the more significant changes, however, might be in the Mountain Aerie. There’s a cliff overlooking the desert below. If you have wings, you can leap off of it and fly down into the desert beneath you.