ASN History

Alteran Stargate Network Development

In the development and deployment of the Alteran Stargate Network, it has gone through many changes, rewrites, and complete restarts. In the end, we are still the same group, with the same goals and the same basic idea: to create a Stargate Network.

The Beginnings

September 2005

Zachary Carter started an account in the Second Life ® world. At this time, he was known as Christos Mousehold. The first thing he found when entering the game was a Stargate. Though amazing at the time, it was pretty poor compared to today's standards.

The Anti-Matter Air Heads

November 2005

While trekking around, he came across a group known as the Anti-Matter Air Heads. This is where he bought his first Stargate and Puddle Jumper and came across the first functional Pegasus Stargate. As Zachary was a newbie at the time, he quickly ran the group's patience. However, they did assist him with inspiration and ideas, and he went off to create his own Stargate.

The Abydos Stargate Project

March - June 2006

Skipping forward a few months (like six), the Stargate was created, and a fully functional DHD and dialing computer came along (with the help of Dennis Albion and JeffeJ5005 Lewis). It was around this time when Zachary came across an individual named Peter Lameth. With the help of Peter, they were jointly able to script a functioning Stargate network working off a PHP backend server. The Abydos Stargate Project was born.

We call this a project because it never turned into a full network. It was just a side project that was worked on. Contact was made again with two members of the Anti-Matter group, Geordie Boffin and Reyo Neutra. With their help, textures were acquired for the newly created Stargate Network.

It never actually made a release and was set aside for a while as the email communication was unstable, and a new LSL function called llHTTPRequest was due within a month or so.

The Cleary Network

July 2006

After llHTTPRequest came out, Peter and Zachary did not attempt to finish the Stargate Project. Other projects occupied their time, and it took a back burner to them.

One day while browsing a sandbox, Zachary Carter came past a poor-looking but very functional Stargate. This is where we meet Wes Keynes, the creator of the Cleary Stargate Network. Zachary offered to trade textures (that weren't his to give) and sounds in exchange for ideas. This deal was a stupid mistake and caused tension between the two networks.

The Grid and Arcturus

August - September 2006

Shortly after restarting the Abydos Stargate Project, the main creator of the Anti-Matter Stargate (Mintopia Ambassador) reappeared. Wanting to finish a network as badly as we did, they decided to join together. Apologies were given for the texture handouts, and a new alliance was born, known as The Grid.

When The Grid was created, the two groups decided which Stargate (Milky Way / Pegasus) they were going to use in their network. The Anti-Matter group named their network the Prometheus Stargate Network and decided to use the Milky Way Stargate system. The Abydos Project, now going to be a full network, turned into the Arcturus Stargate Network and took the Pegasus Gates.

It was getting close to release when the main creator of the Prometheus Network, Mintopia, disappeared again because of real-life work. It was decided at this time that the Arcturus Stargate Network would take over both gate systems, and Prometheus would be on standby. No response was heard from the Prometheus Network, and The Grid broke apart.

Lex Mars

October 2006

One day, the group stumbled upon a complex called Navo Terre while hopping on the Cleary Stargate Network. They discovered a new high-prim Stargate created by an individual named Lex Mars. It was at this time when members of the group started making stupid decisions and even camped out in the station figuring out how Lex made his low-prim chevrons. The relationship between our group and Lex Mars / The Cleary Network was strained.

However, after apologies, friendships were made between the group and Lex Mars. He later joined the Arcturus Stargate Network and helped out in some of its releases.

Problems with Release

November - December 2006, January 2007

The Arcturus Stargates were finally ready to be released. The first 10 or 20 Stargates went okay, but after they started rising to 40 or 50, the backend server started having problems. It seems that the code which was adapted from email to use the new XML-RPC and HTTP was a hackjob at best and could not handle the load of 50+ gates.

The code was then rewritten with the help of Zwagoth Klaar. The network was then redeployed with greater expandability and much faster responses.

Eternal Calm

February 2007

During this release, the region Munkie Island, where the group was renting a plot for the network headquarters, went up for sale. Peter Lameth took a grab at the island and purchased it from its owner, Philip Logan. The network was now based inside of the new Munkie Island, then renamed to Eternal Calm. A Lantian-style city-ship build was created by Lex Mars, which was rightfully named Sedo Locus or Calm Place. The network headquarters was based inside of this build.

1.0 Release

September 2008

In early September, the 1.0 version of the Alteran Stargate was released to the public.

Sidenote

By Zachary Carter

Obviously, throughout all this, mistakes were made. The original team broke up, and the current path is nowhere near what we had originally planned. However, I feel that under the circumstances we have succeeded in our goal: to make a Stargate Network. No money, no personal agendas, no war between networks. The main goal in the beginning was just to create a Stargate Network, and that is what we have achieved in the end.

I would like to give thanks to those who are not involved with the network's development anymore for whatever reasons but were very influential during its development.

Proper thanks goes to: Peter Lameth, Mintopia Ambassador, Reyo Neutra, Geordie Boffin, Sakura Raven, Dennis Albion, Wes Keynes, Lobos Cranes, Zwagoth Klaar, JeffeJ5005 Lewis, Kirby Figtree, Ash Qin, David Gian-Cursio (indirectly).

I would now like to give thanks to those currently involved in some part of the network, who continue to develop and make this network as great as it can be.

Proper thanks goes to: Zachary Carter, Lex Mars, Wolfie Waves, Peter Lameth, and Ash Qin.

And finally, a special thanks to all of the users of the network, for without you we would not be here today. You have done good.

... somehow, Zachary Carter has remained more-or-less sane.