WRTL Newsletter #1 - August 2013

There don't seem to be many announcements these days. However, there's plenty of stuff to talk about happening in the community and it always seems a little difficult to sum up exactly what is going on right now to newcomers and old returners. So I've decided to start a monthly-ish WRTL Newsletter, which is basically just a monthly post in the announcements section that talks about stuff that's a-happenin' in the community (This one will be about what's been going on from July 1 through today, so it'll be a bit longer than usual) Also! there are links everywhere in this thing, use them.

August 2013

Site News

• Movie of the Month (formerly Movie of the Week) is now Movie of the Every Other Week (MEOW)! Shoutout to efrazble for the name idea, and to VividRedemption (formerly known as MonkeyPoo) for making the fabulous new PIP in all it's Nyan Cat glory. For those asking why everyone now has them even if they won a MOTW or a MOTM, it's because you have lazy admins and we might change that sometime in the future if enough people say they would like it to change (so let us know). It would be doable it would just take a bunch of time.
  
• The BBcode editor is fixed! thanks to help from SLGray from the support forum. The editor is actually totally new and awesome so yeah enjoy that. Also, there was a related issue with sending PMs to multiple people that is also fixed now.
  
• Livestream playlist is under construction! Shotoku is being awesome and stuff and totally revamped the order of everything on the stream and is now adding more tracks and stuff. Go suggest additions or removals in the playlist thread.
  

Releases

• Eden 2 by Helios Pavonine - [featured] The release of this track is really a story, culminating in gaoyubao's re-edit which you can watch here (and really should if you haven't already). If you want to know the full story you can read my blog post here. The track itself is a massive intense quirk synced to the song Wing$ by Macklemore.
  
• The Well-Tempered Manual by gaoyubao - [featured] A large track, described by its creator as "an etude in three parts". Another must watch, featuring playful off-balanced manuals and a bizarre kramual moment.
  
• Mysteria III by Commandercoke (& Cereal) - The first major scenery release in over a year, this is also CC's first major scenery release in over a year, and arguably his best yet. CC has a way with scenery that is essentially unparalleled. Yet another must-watch!
  
• Handlebars by roflmaoqwerty - [featured] roflmaoqwerty insists this is not his masterpiece, nevertheless it has received a ton of praise. A massive omnitrack with clear sections synced to the song Handlebars by Flobots, featuring a dynamite final section.
  
• Limitations by The LCC - The LCC's first XY release, a music-synced XY omnitrack project directed by boo, featuring a plain ridiculous final section by Sheldon and helios pavonine.
  
• Whangadoodle by Summoning - A cool and creative manuquirk heavy on longer-than-usual flings. Sum introduced his track by telling us a whangadoodle is a fanciful creature of undefined nature.
  
• Ghost by boo - boo's latest XY, a large, smooth track featuring lots of creative integration.
  
• Noon by Pawel - an extremely creative all blue quirk by Pawel. Has been compared to 1473, Opal, Georgio_Jc, and gaoyubao.
  
• Other Notable Releases: Goontz (a minimalist redcap-esque XY/alt quirk by boo) / Manhattan Traffic (a fun progressive quirk by roflmaoqwerty, inspired by HappyGuy42) / Something With More Class (a fun progressive collab by shammies and roflmaoqwerty) / Symbiosis (a smooth, chill, creative manuquirk by Helios Pavonine) / Ahead of The Curve (a highspeed manuquirk by boo) / None of the Above (a second-peg manual track by Pawel, Cereal, and gaoyubao) / Monster (a new track by an old member, awesomekid) / TGHT (a new progressive quirk by shammies) / Sky Alight (a short music syncing experiment by shotoku)  / Xasperated sYgh (an XY by Cereal) / Trash'd (a new quirk by the much-loved pure5152) / Acid Rain (an awesome scenery short by Enil)
  
• also, watch Phunner if you haven't yet
  

Engaged Riding

• Epic Battle III
  The third installment of the epic battle franchise is well underway. The Staff Team, Elite Team, LCC Team, and the first ever Grey Team (unranked members) are all hard at work. Reminder to all teams: tracks are DUE NOVEMBER 1ST, which gives you all just under 2.5 months from the present. If you are interested in past epic battles, check out the IRTLepicbattle YouTube channel! The Elites won the first epic battle back in 2008 with The Epic Track, and the Power Riders won the second epic battle later that same year with Empowered Unity.
  
• Line Art of The Week!
  Only has two entries so far in August! Come on guys, let's make line art and vote on it and stuff! Check it out by clicking here.
  
• Cereal's Maze Speedrun Contest
  This was a cool contest in which you had to build a track that would get Bosh to the end in the fastest time possible. Congrats to roflmaoqwerty for edging out AC to win with the insane time of 1:49!
  
• Weirdest Track Contest
  In one of the most open ended contests as of late, helios pavonine made a thread saying simply "make the weirdest track". Intriguingly, this has actually resulted in some pretty sweet entries such as efrazable's trippy concept track and Orthuss's Honeycomb (and others, too!). I believe a poll will go up soon for this contest.
  
• Peer Pressure Contest
  In what is probably the most bizarre official WRTL anything in recent history, Hedge and I created this abomination of a contest. There are basically no rules and even the deadline and criteria for determining a winner is ambiguous. Despite this, the winner will receive a RAINBOW PIP for a month (and that is not a joke!) Check it out by clicking here.
  
• Eden 2 vs Gone
  In the most epic battle in recent history, two massive music-syncing track went head -to-head, and Gone BARELY edged out Eden 2. Check it out here.
  
• New Community Scenery Project
  Signup is now open for a new CSP: Phunky by Cereal. Project will start soon! Check it out here.
  

Version Development

• 3.4.2 - kevansevans's latest version, released just recently. Check it out! 3.4 with a second round of extra tweaks/features/bug fixes.
  
• 6.y.2.k. (aka 6.y2k) - for those of you who prefer 6.y, kevansevans tweaked and added a couple features to what mhenr18 says will be his last flash build. Check it out here.
  
• Line Rider: Unleashed - mhenr18 & Conundrumer are working on a new non-flash version of Line Rider (and have been for a while). From what I've seen there will be lots of new features and a whole new engine that will basically render it a game that is entirely different from beta 2. Very exciting. Check out the design document, and comment on it if you like, here. More when I know more!
  

Promotions!
Feel free to congratulate these people in this thread!

• gaoyubao is now a member of the LCC!
  
• Cereal is now a Line Rider Legend!
  
• Commandercoke is now a Line Rider Legend!
  

Upcoming Stuff!

• Kramwood is making a very large thing complete with a video preview
  
• Conundrumer is back! and is making a thing
  
• Sheldon is making a sequelly thing
  
• gaoyubao is making a thing
  
• Chuggers is making a thing
  
• Votale is making a thing
  
• Summoning is making a thing
  
• shotoku is making stuff
  
• ~5 LCC projects in the works. Some fun, some epic.
  
• 2 Massive Community Scenery Projects on the cusp of completion. (one of them will be the largest Line Rider collab of all time)
  

Damn, we did a lot in these 6 weeks. Rock on, everyone.

I like the newsletter concept. Plz do moar rebbid.

There were some bbcode errors, think I fixed them all but let me know if I missed anything.

and thanks efraz

rabid squirrel wrote:Phunky by Cereal. Project will start soon!

It better

lal, my track was an experiment.


Good stuff, even if you've followed all this by being an active member, it is still fun to read imo.

So, I'm assuming since this one was long, the next one will be long (until the end of september), then a monthly thingy?

Also, that is like the 3rd time you've called me "awesome and stuff" for going working on the autoplay

gaoyubao wrote:

rabid squirrel wrote:Phunky by Cereal. Project will start soon!

It better

at least now you see what I was doing!

Shotoku wrote:So, I'm assuming since this one was long, the next one will be long (until the end of september), then a monthly thingy?

or a short one closer to the start of september? iono, depends on stuff. Hopefully will actually be able to follow through this year with the once-per-month stuff.

Shotoku wrote:Also, that is like the 3rd time you've called me "awesome and stuff" for going working on the autoplay

cuz true

This is a great idea. Now if we miss something we can check here to see I dig this.

I appreciate the amount of work it takes to organize this Rabid! I'd love to see it monthly.

This is awesome, Rabid. Much respect for taking the time to do this.

We post upcoming tracks in here as well? I could've given you guys something had I known that.

I have a good feeling about the next 6 weeks.

Opal Rider wrote:We post upcoming tracks in here as well? I could've given you guys something had I known that.

pretty much from preview threads, but if y'all want to send me PMs for the next newsletter anytime I'd be happy to include stuff.

This is cool, and will help lurkers like me keep up with the new stuff going on in the community. Great work

Awesome idea rabid!