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CHRISTMAS EVENT COMPETITION

by Hazed

I can't believe it's December already - and less than three weeks till Christmas! We'll give you lots more information in next week's Star about Christmas in Fed DataSpace, but this week I want to announce a special Christmas competition that will encourage you to have a go at writing events on your planet.

Every year we ask POs to put Christmas decorations on your planets, and we give a prize to the one we like the best, but this year we've upped the ante and are offering two different prizes: an artistic one and a technical one.

The artistic prize is for the decoration that is the best written - that has the best use of language, that makes us smile or laugh, that embodies the spirit of Christmas and/or the spirit of Fed.

The new prize is the technical prize, and this is aimed at people who want to try writing some events. It will be awarded to the person who makes the best use of the event facilities that we offer. Maybe it's the person who does something really sophisticated, maybe it's someone who comes up with a use for events that we never thought of, or maybe just someone who demonstrates a good understanding of how events work.

So what kinds of things could you do? The basic decorations, which don't use events, change the description of a location - or add new locations - to describe the decorations.

If you want to use events, the simplest thing to do is add a special message to a location that players see when they enter, such as a Christmas greeting in a bar.

At the other end of the spectrum, making full use of the event features released so far, you could add objects that can be examined, or you could add commands to make something happen - special Christmas food and drink in a bar, for example. The new object editor released today (see below) will let you do these things and the Advanced Workbench Manual explains how.

How to Enter the Christmas Contest

Step one - add the decorations to your planet files.

Step two - submit the files to feedback@ibgames.com (with Fed2 in the subject line) to have them put into the game in the usual way.

Step three - check them in the game and make sure they work as you want them to. If necessary, submit new files.

Step four - once you're happy with the decorations, enter the contest - mail feedback@ibgames.com (with Fed2 Christmas Decorations in the subject line) and give the following:

• Your name
• Your system name
• The name of the planet or planets the decorations are on
• Directions from the LP to the location or locations where we'll find them

Closing day for entries is last thing on December 26. We'll send in the robot judges in the next few days and announce the winners on December 31.

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