FOUNDRY NEWS
An Independent News Post Owned By The Foundry Members

BLOGSPOT EDITION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007

CONTRIBUTORS
Coleman as the Editor & Chief and People Like You.

FORWARD
This is the first foundry news post and hopefully not the last. The general format will be the header, which is everything above this, a typical introduction in the forward and then a section on each of the three places in the foundry. As well as things around in general that I find interesting or posters have brought to my attention. I hope you enjoy foundry news and insist on future postings. If you felt I should have wrote about something but did not please post in reply or find another way of letting me know.

The amount of information to sort through is massive and not everything can always be covered. The Map Foundry and Map Ideas will likely lack many topics each week, but this information will only get better with time as the initial groundwork develops. (In other words, when I can copy paste more stuff).

One thing to keep in mind: If any part of this is incorrect and edited the edit will not replace the information, it will instead be added in this text.

MAP IDEAS

Canada REVAMP Competition! - Clicky
Start Date: August 27, 2007
Creator: KEYOGI
Status: Vote for Map

The revamp competition for Canada in the map ideas forum is coming to a close this week. No more entries are being accepted and it has entered a voting stage. So far submission F is in the lead but there have only been 43 votes cast at the time of writing so anything could happen. It is strongly encouraged you go look at the choices and vote for your favorite. The winner will appear in the foundry in the near future, but an exact date is not evident. Happy Voting!

WWII Europe - Clicky
Start Date: August 15, 2007
Creator: qwert
Status: Working Draft

WWII Europe is an effort by qwert to merge the Eastern Front map with his still unfinished Western Front map into a single map. (Click For Image) There is some heavy discussion at the moment as to the size of his map not fitting the foundries new and controversial maximum size requirements. It appears as though this map will not move out of map ideas until it fits the size requirements, something which qwert hasn't shown any interest in making it do. Hard to tell what may happen here.

The Puget Sound - Clicky
Start Date: August 13, 2007
Creator: Tisha
Status: Working Draft

The Puget Sound is a map of a body of water (part of the ocean actually) in Washington. This map mostly focuses on the land around the Puget Sound. The reasons for it still being in Map Ideas are at this point unclear since it appears to fit the requirements for being moved into the Map Foundry.

Ragnarök - Clicky
Start Date: June 27, 2007
Creator: Telvannia
Status: Early Draft

Ranarök is a map designed to simulate a huge battle between the inhabitants of Norse mythology. A working map hasn't surfaced yet but we have a clear look at the general layout available. (Click For Image) This map recently resurfaced from the foundry furnace due to community interest. The Migogaror region is currently being worked on (Click For Image) and should be finished eventually. The current creator has real life commitments slowing development.

Other Topic of Interest
World 3.0 (Clicky) has been placed into Vacation Status.

State of Map Ideas
Map Ideas is intended to be a section where ideas are made and then developed into working drafts. New ideas SHOULD NOT be their own topics unless the creator of the topic intends to develop a draft. The new ideas by people not making the maps have their own topic and should only be placed there. Currently Map Ideas is flooded with idea topics that are never going to be turned into maps by the creators. The flooding is so bad that the section of the forum is nearly unusable and unnavigable.

MAP FOUNDRY

SYDNEY 2000 - Clicky
Start Date: July 16, 2007
Creator: cairnswk
Status: Vote on Continuance

SYDENY 2000 is a map about the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The current results of the poll in the topic indicate this map is ceasing development due to lack of significant community interest.

SUPERMAX: Prison Riot! - Clicky
Start Date: June 6, 2007
Creators: mibi & Coleman
Status: Possibly Abandoned

SUPERMAX: Prison Riot! is about a riot in a Supermax. Supermax is a very real and frequently used term for a type of prison as much as it is for a section of a larger one. The creators of this map have recently announced abandonment although the topic title has yet to be updated. This has to do with the creators frustrations regarding the rigors of map making in general. They have both made it clear this is likely a permanent vacation.

Berlin 1962 - Clicky
Start Date: August 4, 2007
Creator: oaktown
Status: Bombardment Revision

This map is about the city of Berlin during the Cold War in 1962. For those who don't know the Cold War was a conflict between the United States and Russia that lasted for years with small skirmishes throughout the entire world. Berlin was one of these locations. The Capital of Germany. The start time for this is slightly inaccurate as this map was initially presented as the city of Berlin from a different point of view. Currently the idea of the Russian sector bombardment is being reworked.

WWII Western Front - Clicky
Start Date: July 19, 2007
Creator: qwert
Status: Vacation

This is similar to WWII Eastern Front, a released map. This instead focuses on the Western Front, or more on the Allies vs Germany conflict instead of the Germany vs Russia conflict. qwert has entered this map in Vacation status to take a break. He'll be back to deal with suggestions when he's more composed and relaxed. Everyone needs a break every now and then. For now, the mountain of suggestions is daunting, and only growing as the days pass.

Map Foundry Debates
Currently the Foundry Process is in a state of flux as a community of foundry regulars is fighting the current processes and standards heavily. The main issues are map size and development time. These are too intricate to adequately cover in a news post but links are provided below. A resolute ending to either conflict is unlikely in the near future.

Foundry Process Debate
Size Requirements Debate

FINAL FORGE

Quick Overview

Final Forge Maps: 11

Recently Quenched

Doodle Earth - Clicky
Start Date: March 30, 2007
Quench Date: September 8, 2007
Creators: Evil DIMwit
Status: Playable

WWII Pearl Harbor - Clicky
Start Date: May 14, 2007
Quench Date: September 8, 2007
Creator: cairnswk
Status: XML Glitch Ruins Gameplay

RAIL USA - Clicky
Start Date: July 7, 2007
Quench Date: September 8, 2007
Creator: cairnswk & WidowMakers
Status: Playable

Indochina REVAMP - Clicky
Start Date: July 24, 2007
Quench Date: September 8, 2007
Creator: Freakshow
Revamp: WidowMakers
Status: XML Glitch Can Impact Gameplay

Last Quench Date Before September 8, 2007 was August 6, 2007.

WWII OPERATION IWO JIMA - Clicky
Start Date: February 24, 2007
Creator: qwert
Status: Needs Graphics Update?

A map of the plans for Iwo Jima as seen by the allied forces. Currently the map is being held up by comments about the lines being 1 pixel thick and not blending with the map? Or something? Not everyone can see this error? It's hard not to be confused.

PORTUGAL - Clicky
Start Date: April 8, 2007
Creator: gimil
Status: Needs Graphics Update?

A map of Portugal, the country. It does a decent job of staying true to the indigenous names of areas. Currently the map is being held up by comments about the circles and names touching.

France! - Clicky
Start Date: May 14, 2006
Creator: reverend_kyle
Status: Territory Names Being Redone

A map of France, guess they got jealous of Germany. It is mostly Americanized, much like the actual country, but that is a different issue. Currently the names for some of the territories are being redone. Other then that it seems to be finished.

D-Day: Omaha Beach! - Clicky
Start Date: April 25, 2007
Creators: mibi & Coleman
Status: Waiting for Moderator

This map has been as much of a battle field as its namesake. This map plays out a small section of the beach at Normandy during the D-Day Invasion. This map may have withstanding issues or the creators may have abandoned it if it isn't acceptable in its current state. Hard to say at this point.

Greater China - Clicky
Start Date: January 14, 2007
Creator: Wisse
Status: XML Error?

Map of China, possibly not set in the present. Otherwise it is mostly true to native names. This map is currently finished if the current possible XML error turns out to be a fluke.

Battle of Actium - Clicky
Start Date: June 2, 2007
Creator: cairnswk
Status:Waiting for Moderator

This is about the Battle of Actium. That's where Octavius and Antony fought in the water over Cleoptra's son being allowed to inherit Rome or some nonsense. It's Julius Ceaser's fault. Thankfully, most current female political leaders are hideous. Moving on, this map is ready for playing unless someone finds something wrong with it.

The Netherlands - Clicky
Start Date: December 29, 2006
Creator: Lone.prophet
Status: Graphic Work
The production time for this map of the Netherlands is a bit off base as the whole graphics portion was redone recently. The graphics are still undergoing work.

South Africa Map - Clicky
Start Date: March 16, 2007
Creator: Crowley
Status:Waiting for Moderators

Map of South Africa. This map is so great it entered Final Forge in August and nobody had anything bad to say about it since. If history is any indication this will change once the moderators remember it exists.

Italy - Clicky
Start Date: December 12, 2006
Creator: RjBeals
Status: Waiting for Update

A map of Italy. Shocking! RjBeals said on September 4th that he'd update this soon with the Vatican somehow.

MALTA Map - Clicky
Start Date: December 6, 2006
Creators: Ruben Cassar & Yeti_C.
Status: Needs Yeti_C's signature.

Map of Malta. If you are starting to notice a trend a lot of December maps of countries were started and are just now nearing completion. The moderators' words on the status of this are vacation, but it needs Yeti_C's signature, as he is the xml artist. So it is not finished regardless.

The Solar System - Clicky
Start Date: June 14, 2007
Creator: maxdetjens
Status: Creator Missing

This is a map of the Solar System. Sort of. It borrows some science fiction ideas, so it is a potential future map of it. maxdetjens started dead beating on August 25 (possibly 24th) and has since vanished. He has a website (clicky). It's a personal one about him that was updated September 9th. So if someone could scout that out and maybe inform the paper as to what may have happened, let the Foundry News know. At current he is missing in action.

WRAP UP
Hope you liked the first Foundry News. If you didn't send me a PM or reply to this topic and I'll see what I can do. If you did like it, do that too. (Warning, any pms sent to Coleman as of this instant are considered foundry property and can be publicized in Foundry News without the sender's consent.)