Rest in Peace, Club Penguin

Not just fun—it was awesome. -Aggron

The end of an era. I begin this post with this sentence fragment because I feel it most accurately squares the significance of reality with my fractured emotions. About thirty minutes ago, the Club Penguin servers were shut off permanently. It is difficult to appraise exactly what Club Penguin was and how much of an effect it had on its generation. Of course, from a literal standpoint, the game both as it was initially and as it came to be can be explained fairly simply. On the other hand, quantifying the metaphorical position of Club Penguin—its symbolic significance—is rather challenging. On paper, Club Penguin was a straightforward game, a cartoonish Flash-based virtual world; yet, in actuality, it was so much more than a game. Club Penguin was a community of real people who formed real friendships behind virtual avatars. For many, that virtual environment became an extension of the real world and a regular part of life. So many of us at some time in our lives invested exorbitant amounts of time and put so much of our hearts into Club Penguin that its virtuality became decidedly real. What would otherwise be an insignificant game was such a influential piece of the worlds of entire countless children. Club Penguin, ultimately, was a generation’s playground, a world of imagination that united kids as a community in a way which transcends physical boundaries.

Personally, Club Penguin had a tremendous impact on my own life. It is quite literally the definition of a section of my childhood, and besides the endless hours of fun it provided, Club Penguin is responsible for creating and reinforcing many friendships which I still have today. And, of course, without my Club Penguin obsession between 2007 and 2008, I would never have started Penguin Generation, which quickly became a fundamental constituent of my early teenage and middle school years. Penguin Generation itself is responsible for so many great memories and friendships thanks to our community’s unity in a common goal. When the original moderators and I came together to start Penguin Generation eight years ago, our underlying purpose was chasing after that intangible element of Club Penguin that had so strongly captivated all of us in the past.  Although the game was never successful, due mostly to my own failures, I do believe Penguin Generation as a community was at the very least in reach of that same magic.

Because of Club Penguin’s immeasurable importance in my life, it is heartbreaking to see it end even though I stopped playing many years ago. Furthermore, as I reflect on the impact of its closing—a death that I had no control over—I feel a deep sense of guilt over my role in deconstructing the Penguin Generation community. While I can’t change the past, I am sincerely thankful for the wonderful memories provided both by Club Penguin and, as a result, Penguin Generation. I would also like to thank everyone who was on the journey with me. It is because of you that we were and always will be the penguin generation. Below I’ve included some photos I took tonight to commemorate the end of Club Penguin. If I ever decide to piece together the videos I recorded, I’ll post that here as well.

Waddle on, friends.

~Powerflare

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Beta 2.0 Sneak Peek (#1)

Hey guys, it’s Powerflare! I’m here to bring you one of those sneak peeks mentioned in the post below.

As you can see, the above sneak peek is of a player card—the Beta 2.0 player card. Here you can see several items within the card that you have access to. Unfortunately, these items are, at the moment, client-side only. This means only you can see the changes you make to your player. Others will still see you as a standard, green penguin. We are working to figure out how to make the updates server-side, but cannot guarantee this will happen by the time Beta 2.0 launches.

Because I’m nice, I’ll give you guys another sneak peek since it goes together with the first one.

 

Here you can see another section of the player card. Here is where you’d find colors and pins. Just like the items, they are currently client-side only. I will reveal now that these are the only colors and pins planned to launch at Beta 2.0. Take a look at both sneak peeks and see if there’s anything else you notice besides the items.

~Powerflare

Penguin Generation Forum Party #1

Update: I’m working on a Penguin Generation video in Adobe After Effects, but it may take a few weeks as I’m struggling to handle the program properly.

Golden Member Notice: On the forums, we are experiencing some difficulty in the golden color showing on the light-colored gray background. Once a user becomes a Golden Member, we may either darken the background color or darken the Golden Member color and experiment to see what looks best. Problem solved. Color scheme updated.

Hey guys! I thought it’d be a neat idea to have a party on the forums. It will be your chance to talk to us about official topics (on some more official forums and threads coming soon) and just chatting on the Free Forums. It will also be a good way to get your post counts up. Let me explain.

Now as you may have noticed, one of our users has the “1 Star User” rank (Chub 777, namely). Every 50 posts you achieve another star. At 250 posts, instead of getting a rank that says “5 Star User,” you achieve the Golden Member rank. That will give you access to a bunch of extra features. However, as the forum grows, we will require more than 250 posts to achieve that rank. For instance, by next year, it may be 500 posts. Having this party will encourage you guys to post a lot, and in 30 minutes you can easily get 50+ posts easily. The party lasts an hour, so that’s an easy 100 posts if you participate (likely even more).

Penguin Generation Forum Party Details:

• When: 5:00 PM-6:00 PM EST; 4:00 PM-5:00 PM CST, 3:00 PM-4:00 PM MST; 2:00 PM-3:00 PM PST (if you are not in these time zones, check for the appropriate times) on Saturday, September 4th, 2010.
• Where: the Penguin Generation Forums (http://PenguinGeneration.net)

I hope all of you guys can make it!! Comment if you are going to be able to come!!

~Powerflare

No More Asking

Hello.

I am very annoyed at some of the people who randomly come here, and try to get us to add them. You can’t use real life stuff to help you get in OK? We only care about people who are good at the computers. And first of all, I always say NO to anyone who ask to work here.

Now I’ve gotten so mad that I’ve come up with a solution. Every who comments trying to work here will be banned from commenting for 72 hours. Then every time you ask after that it will double the amount of time. After 4 bans you will be banned forever.

Also, I have come up with another idea. Everyone will get to do Test Launch, but not everyone will get to do Beta Testing. Beta Testing is not actually what Club Penguin did for theirs, Beta Testing is chosen people to play the game, so every mod will get to choose one person who comes here to be a beta tester. And beta testers will be given a special item that I am not showing you. My choice will probably be Agent Pen, Ju Ju or Davy.

Thank you for listening to my concerns.

–Penguin Generation’s Aggron

Site Renovations Tomorrow + Possible Launch Shirt

Hey Penguins!

I don’t know if Powerflare has told you yet, but Penguin Generation’s site will be down during April 7th(tomorrow)- April 8th. It will be A LOT cooler! Plus, something alike to beta testing will be coming sometime soon(a month or more, maybe less).

Now onto the more exciting stuff! Beta testing is coming soon; a few months from now, maybe longer. But what you’re about to see isn’t what this is about. This shirt, is NOT about Beta Testing. Beta Testing is a lot like this, but this is different. It’s basically the same thing. But this is actually going to be called the test LAUNCH. Everyone who joins during test Launch, will be given this shirt during Beta Testing. Yes there will be a beta item too. I’m still thinking of a test Launch item to make. It’s probably not going to be the item I will show you, but it will be alike to it.

I will tell you what test Launch is about. It will be not really like Beta Testing. It is where you will have a penguin, a name you choose; but it can be used by multiple people. You do not have your own account on this. But people who comment here during the time of test Launch will be noticed to be given the shirt. You will be able to see other people, but there’s a catch, you can’t talk, wear clothes and your penguin’s color will always be blue. There will be absolute no buddies during this. But in the end, you’ll be happy since your first item ever will be a shirt. Now I should show you the POSSIBLE Launch Shirt:

I know Beta Testing is TESTING a game. But this is a little different. This is basically testing our test. 😆

-Penguin Generation’s Aggron

Parties/Mod Parties

Hey!

It’s me Aggron! I know I’ve been getting in fights with people lately (sorry to everyone I got in fights with). I’m really sorry. Today I’m going to talk to you about parties! As you know our beta testing party will be first! Then comes our other parties once we get PG completely running. Well, we came up with parties that are designed and geared towards individual mods! Ok… I know it’s kind of unfair, but it’s mainly just parties designed with some things we like! We are not trying to elevate ourselves as much as we are trying to express ourselves, and during mod parties we will get on more and play with you guys! Mod parties only last one day, so they are somethings you don’t want to miss. Most likely, the party itself will be changed a lot in the following year, and possibly moved to a different time. (A mod’s party will be on their given date [mix it up each year], or if nothing is said, their birthday). It will be very interesting, because most free items will go completely with the subject, and be special and really cool! Not to mention that these items will probably never return! I will give you a hint of my mod party, although this party may become a regular party!

Mars on a Basic Shirt:

Normal parties will be just as fun! In mod parties they’re just a little different, they can change EVERYTHING! They won’t change rooms, but they’re will be decorations. But outside you could be somewhere else… hope you like them!

We hope that these will be really cool! You can comment ideas for rooms when the parties come… also when PG is released!

– Aggron

Puffle Island Map

Update: New colored puffles are being added to the map at this point, but we aren’t including the white puffle—there have been sightings on Club Penguin, and so there will be one soon—then we add it.

Update 2: Attention all moderators! The moderator page password has been changed AGAIN.

Update 3: If anybody who visits this site has a good idea for Penguin Generation, like an idea for a room, map, game, or whatever! Just tell it in a comment!!!

Update 4: Don’t forget about the contest!

Hey everyone! I made a major update to the site. The first one to find it and comment here (not a mod, of course) will recieve 1,000 coins at during the game’s launch! 😀

Congrats Mew Man 54 for winning the mini-contest. He discovered the domain name http://penguingeneration.com/ You will receive 1,000 coins when Penguin Generation launches.

Anyways, check this out! Some months after launching time, we will introduce Puffle Island to Penguin Generation. It will start of as you see here, and change over time as penguins start to change the island.

Puffle Island Map (At time of release):
Click to enlarge. Some pictures were obtained from Google form unnamed sources.

Puffle Island Rooms:
No order.
All may have shortened forms in which the first or non-key word is removed (Example: Grassy Plain—Plain; this excludes Burnt Forest)

• Puffle Forest
• Puffle Beach
  • Puffle Beach [1]
  • Puffle Beach [2]
  • Puffle Beach [3]
• Puffle Mound
• Burnt Forest
• Puffle Plain/Puffle Area
• Grassy Plain
• Puffle Hill/Puffle Mountain
• Puffle Hilltop/Puffle Mountaintop
• Puffle Ex-Island
  “Original Puffle Island” where one lone Puffle formed a larger island and create “The Puffle” species.

That’s really it!!

~Powerflare

How to Create an Item!

Update: Our permission request from Club Penguin has been denied, however, they did not understand every concept, so we will be sorting things out for the next couple of days. Our current projects are still legal—we haven’t moved into the red zone. We will continue as we have been.

Today, I will tell you the steps on making a Club Penguin item. We can use this info to create Penguin Generation items!!!

Step 1: Decide what kind of item to make. Usually the item is based on the events for that month, or what themes will be in the costume trunk.

Step 2: Design the item by making a rough draft—what you think it should look like. If you look below, you will see an example of a rough draft.

Step 3: Finish the drawing by making a final draft—an edited and enhanced version of the rough draft. Shading, color, and detail is added. The icon for the inventory is also made.

Step 4: The clothing item is then created on the computer, and it is made into a 3D item.

Once the computer editing is finished (with the unknown program—I WANT IT NOW!!!), the result is what you see below.

That is how an item is created!!

~Powerflare

Penguin Generation Logo

Hey Penguins!

I made a logo for Penguin Generation! And please, no one change this! Because I did this pixel by pixel and if this is changed I’ll like scream. This took at least an hour. Anyway, here it is!

I worked hard on it.

-Aggron

Ice Rink Sneak Peek

Hey Penguins!

I decided to add another bleacher to the ice rink, which Club Penguin usually does at parties when they change the ice rink into something else. Here’s a pic:

-Aggron