Honoring the Christmas Spirit in a Time of Spud War
As Upland prepares for the epic Sandbox Wars, tensions are already rising and friendships are being tested. For some it’s “just a game”, and for others it’s all about the long-term community connections. For many, of course, it’s both.
With the holiday season upon us, we want to refocus the community on what it means to be an Uplander, a member of a community that is built by (and for the benefit of) all of its citizens.
In order to emphasize this, we have a few announcements.
Between the first and second round of the Sandbox War tournament, there will be an official Armistice throughout all of Upland. We will stop the fighting, and come together as a community to celebrate the Holidays. During this period, there will be gift giving, decorations, festive costumes, and more. The competition will start again on January 1st, with the Sandbox War Championship.
Additionally, in response to the division we have seen in the community, we will be replacing Armageddon with Sandbox Wars: Detente. This will be a time of easing relations amongst former enemy combatants, and rebuilding a support and collaborative community.
This 3rd sandbox competition will replace cell towers with a more positive structure, and instead of reducing points, this structure will boost the points of a fellow player (boosting will not be available for a player’s own structures).
NYC Collections Update
We also have a policy update for collections: Whenever NYC collections reach 100% minted, we will unlock them. This is because there is no advantage to keeping sold-out collections locked, as it increases the likelihood a player may sell their property before the true value is revealed through collections.
In the upcoming days, we will begin releasing the sold out NYC collections. After that, we will then begin to release the first 3 collections that are not sold out, in accordance with the major SF-centered property development sandbox release. If you have NYC properties on the marketplace, you may want to be cognizant of the timing of the reveals, so you can adjust your asking price in case your property has been impacted by the new information. The precise timing for the NYC collection release will be announced at least 24 hours before the reveal.
NYE Uplander Fireworks
The new year is coming up fast (who’s ready for 2020 to be over?), and Upland is preparing to celebrate in style! However, to create a truly unique New Years Eve experience, we’ll need your help. We are calling on all Uplanders with video skills to create a short fireworks video that will be featured in Upland. Similar to the Halloween experiences, every player that submits an original firework video will get a temporary NYE-themed 3D model to place on a property that they own, on December 31st. Before midnight UTC, when a player visits their property and clicks on the model’s pin, they will see a countdown to midnight. 10 seconds before midnight UTC, players will see an animated countdown, and then the player-created firework video. After midnight, when the pin is clicked, the countdown and fireworks will replay. In order for the best results, the videos must be in portrait mode (vs landscape), and be no longer than 30 seconds.
Additionally, we are collecting voice recordings of Uplanders counting down from 10–1 and yelling “happy new years!”. We will combine these collected recordings and sync them with the countdown animation that will display before the fireworks. We will provide the countdown animation for all who are interested, in order to help ensure the voice recordings are in sync with the animation. We will provide a form where players can submit both the fireworks videos and the countdown audio.
This way, Uplanders can celebrate the New Year’s Eve countdown together, even if we’re apart!
