Written by Awportals.com

The first change to be made was the removal of the world background image which had previously presided over the world for almost 10 years. In its place has gone a day night bot previously developed for use in NewAW, AWGate and Stagecoach [limg]/media/imglib_general/swcity_dusk.jpg[/limg]Island to dynamically alter the gradient sky and world lighting settings.

This first change gave way to a second change; the introduction of more substantial cloud layers above the world including a level of Altocumulus wisping across at a low level.

A less subtle change to be made was the switching from ground object to terrain which gave the whole world a lighter looking ground and extended the distance to which the land extended to the horizon.

The removal of the ground object also removed the source of the Alphaworld Enhanced skybox meaning that AWE users did not have to make configuration changes in order to see the new effects.

Special new Halloween objects were also added to the object path during the week. Contributed by community members these objects are available to view at the Alphaworld ground zero but will only be buildable for a limited time - after which they will be removed from the registry.

While some users have objected to the darker environment that is present in the world for several hours each day the overwhelming response to the changes has been good, even as Activeworlds, Inc continues to make small adjustments to the day / night cycle and other world attributes.

Awportals.com for one is glad to see steps being taken by Activeworlds, Inc to bring the flagship world of AW more up to date.