Design Notes

August 25, 2014

Bring on the DragonCon

2014 DragonCon Information

Artix Panel Date & Time 

WHEN: Saturday, Aug 30th @ 2:30 PM 
WHERE: DragonCon : Grand Salon D room @ the Hilton Atlanta hotel
WHY: To launch the 13 Lords of Chaos poster, to talk about our new Mobile game AQ Dragons, to showcase a new secret Mobile game, and to meet and greet our biggest fans—like you!

Launching: 13 Lords of Chaos Poster!

To commemorate the epic finale of the current AdventureQuest Worlds storyline, we are releasing this AMAZING 13 Lords of Chaos Poster, featuring all 13 Chaos Lords drawn & painted by Diozz and Dage the Evil. The entire Artix team will sign these posters at the lab before they are taken to DragonCon. Anyone attending our panel on Saturday, August 30 at DragonCon will be able to buy these posters before ANYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!  

New Mobile Game: AQ Dragons

So you want to know more about AQ Dragons? So OF COURSE DragonCon is the best place to do so! The Artix team will reveal everything we know about the upcoming mobile game, AQ Dragons, at our panel. This is so much better than piecing together tidbits of information via our Twitters =)

Ah yes, a new secret mobile game. Well… it won’t be much of a secret for those who attend our DragonCon panel! And I cannot say much more about it… because it’s been kept a secret from me, too! >…..< 

How to Survive DragonCon

Cysero is your best bet for surviving DragonCon. And he’s posted a full length survival guide here.

On behalf of the entire Artix Entertainment team, we hope to see you at the Artix Panel @ DragonCon this Saturday, August 30^th, in the Hilton’s Grand Salon D room!

xoxo Beleen =D

Ps... IDK what that drawing up there is for. Cysero drew it... so maybe you can ask him about it on his Twitter? 

September 04, 2013

Video Game News from DragonCon

Brutalcorns, Ninjas, Potatoes, BladeHaven 3D and more!

We are back home from DragonCon 2013 and we brought you.... STORIES AND PICTURES!!!! Critical hit that read morebutton to see our teaser trailer for our upcoming mobile game, Battle Gems! Also read all of the video game announcements and sneak peaks of upcoming AE game events. 

Goodies from the Artix Entertainment Panel

Thank you to everyone who came to our panel! We tied for the most popular gaming track panel that day.

Our panels have a long history of being unusual, crazy, and milk-shooting-out-your-nose ridiculous. With George Lowe (the voice of Space Ghost coast to coast), Cysero, Alina, Dage the Evil and myself presenting....  we did not dissapoint. We had three hours of stuff to talk about -- but only one hour to do it. Here is what happened!

Battle Gems! (Video Premiere of teaser trailer!)

We are building a new mobile game... and unlike certain "candy" games, you will not be embarrased to tell your friends you play it. It is a Puzzle Battle RPG game unlike any other. Well, it is a little like one of our previous games... but as those who got a sneak peak of playing it at Dragon*Con, it has a lot of interesting new game play mechanics. Behold... the official video premiere of the Battle Gems teaser trailer!

Watch on YouTube

Battle Gems is part of Project:Omni, which is the code name of our new process to build games for all devices from iPhone, Android, iPad, Tablet, and game-ready toaster ovens.

We are still building the game, and it should be available this October. Be sure to follow the games progress here on Artix.com and on the official BattleGems Facebook page.

REAL LIFE BrutalCorn summoning!

"BrutalCorn is real... you just need to believe"
The laughter filled chants of 200 fans summoned a real life Brutalcorn into our panel.  But since Brutalcorns are dangerous we needed someone to slay it. Naturally, little girls armed with baseball bats called forth.  The fighting was intense... the mythical beast was finally dispatched when a AQWorlds player with a real life "Blade of Half Off" delivered the slaying blow.

Real life "Blade of Half-Off" made by a player. He got us to sign it!!!

Want to get in shape at Con? Wear full plate armor and chainmail! 

Voltaire crashed our panel!

Everyone's favorite gypsie/goth/pirate musician crashed our panel to talk about AQWorld's next Friday the 13th Event. (WITHOUT talking to us first, LOL!) It seems Talk like a pirate day and Friday the 13th are only a week apart -- so, he was thinking we should do a week long cross-over event! Since Voltaire's new look is very piratey in real-life... how could we argue? Voltaire also brought posters and toys of his new character "Candy Claws" an evil bat like creature that will very likely be appearing in the event. This was a pretty big year for Voltaire, he released a new book "Call of the Jersy Devil" and a new album with a very controversial cover featuring what looks like George Takei and him on the cover. (Note: I actually went and met George Takei at DragonCon and gave him a copy, then got him to sign another copy for Voltaire. 100% true.)

One more note about Voltaire.... and this is really a credit to all of his fans. Originally, Dragon*Con did not invite Voltaire and several of the other regular music groups back to DragonCon this year. But Voltaire's fans started a massive facebook revolt and got DragonCon to invite him and schedule a show. Depsite being late Sunday night, it was still one of th ebiggest and most highly anticipated shows at con. WAY TO GO FAN POWER! (What do you expect from DragonCon fans? These are the same people that got the Firefly movie "Serenity" made!)

"Candy Claws" -- Several of these were hurled at the audience. If only Ozzy had been there... he would have tried to eat it.

AdventureQuest Worlds (11th anniversary event announed!)

Every year we wish you with with us at this convention.... then... IT HIT US! How about we have an in-game convention! A week of special events where you can meet the staff, dress up, sketch along with live draws, go to video concerts with us and do a digital recreation of everything that happens at a real convention! Now... we just need a name for the convention! BattleCon? AECon? AdventureCon? What do you think?

Blade Haven 3D (New mobile game announced!)

Surprise! We announced our OTHER mobile game project. The creative 3D artists that were working on AdventureQuest3D are not sitting idly twiddling their fingers while we build Battle Gems. They are building a 3D version of our swipe and slash game, BladeHaven. In this new game, you will play the story of Galanoth the DragonSlayer. (Ooooh... pronounced: "GAL - LEN - OTH")

The game features monters from our world.... and OMG did people cheer when they saw the Trolluk. But it was not a normal Trolluk... it was actually the smaller, thinner creature that precedes the Trolluk. Follow the official BladeHaven 3D Facebook and Twitter to watch them create this game. We believe BattleGems will be out in October and BladeHaven3D will be out in December.

Stories from the Fan Table

Thank you so much to all of the wonderful players who came to visit us at our fan table. We took turns running the table. Amongst AE's community staff Gjappy (The ArchAngel), ACW0, Poe Boy, Neomanni, Stratos, Eukara, Koi, Kamui and Ash were there! We gave out a "sticker of the day" for each day a person visited the panel. Stickers gave a half off discount for some things... and if we messed up and put the sticker over you badge ID number, you won the... um... inability to get into places requiring your badge number like the Cheese Grinder in the gamy lobby. Sorry!

View from behind the fan table. Panaramic taken by Roshuno.

Have a Joker? Go fish!

One of the coolest presents ever brought to us at a Con was this golden box full of surprises! Each compartment has a clever pun and a surprise inside. Thank you ACW0!!!

Kid Friendly MMOs Panel

Panel Moderator: "Today we have with us the makers of kids games...."
Artix: "Actually, we do not make kids games..."
Panel Moderator: "Then how did you get on this panel!?"
Artix: "We make video games for players of all ages."
Panel Moderator: "Oh...."
Artix: "The reason our games are for all ages is because of how a lot of the game devs are in real life. For example, I do not drink, smoke, nor do drugs. Never have. Never will. Well.... maybe I will try drinking when I am like 80. Hmmm. Nawww."
Panel Moderator: *chuckles* "So your games are good for young children?"
Artix: "Yes, that is why in the opening of AdventureQuest World's storyline we have one villain rip the soul out of the chest of another major villain and crush it in his clenched fist."
Panel Moderator: "..."

Alina and I were also on a panel with some of the team from Sony Online Entertainment to talk about gaming for younger players. It was very early in the morning so there were only a handfull of people in the audience. Never the less, I went all out and made it very unpredictable and controversial. You would have been so proud of me.  Alina spent most of the panel sitting in horror with hopes that I would not say anything else that would make the Sony staff start throwing things at me. I love the Sony guys, but you should have seen the look in their eyes when I let them know I had John "Smed" Smedly, the CEO of Sony Online Entertainment's cell number in my phone and said I was calling him to tell him they were doing a great job during the panel. (In case any of the Sony team is reading this, I would like to apologize for that story I told before the panel. You guys are great and no one there was responsible for that mishap that happened three years ago. Except for that one DragonCon official who was in the back of the room who laughingly told me he was.)

American Ninja Warrior panel

Drew Drechsel, Ryan Stratis, Aersion (formerly Roam), a cast of ninja contests and myself showed videoes and did a Q&A about how to get on and compete in the show American Ninja Warrior. I need to tell you... Drew & Ryan are true champions. It fills my heart with happiness that good, honest, and really nice people like them are amongst the shows top competitors.

Other DragonCon randomness.... (SHHHH)

Cysero was clearly the winner of "who can vine harder" at Dragon*Con. Vine is a new video app for the phone which takes 6 second videos. The internet has been so creative with it.

We did not have our usual Suite at DragonCon this year... apparently Stan Lee took it O_O.

In other random stories from this year -- yes, we had a secret midnight panel. But, LOL, despite actually having a director secure us the room, the panel was STILL broken up less than 13 minutes into it by security (tradition!). We did not even have time to text people who I promised to tell once the panel started. Why? This is pretty funny. I was late getting there and another group of people took control of the room without knowing what was really going on. Those of us who were there to run the secret panel were in the audience. I went around getting people to come to the panel and securing their loyalty with the hillarious plan of staging a coue (yes, I was raising a rebellion to take over a panel that was ours already.) But a technical malfunction summoned techs who realized that the panel was not even on the time sheet and a handful of confused officials broke up the event before I could hatch my diabolical room-conquering scheme. We deny the existance of any other secret panels which may or may not have happened at DragonCon.

Are you looking for that something special for your favorite Jedi?

Bathrobes for Super Heroes

George Lowe (voice of Space Ghost) questions the validity of the Xellos inspired pink potato. Apparently someone at the fan table told people you needed to kiss the pink potato to get a pin. Somewhere there is a GIANT photo gallery of people kissing that potato.

I snuck this photo while they were watching the BattleGems video.

Hah! Best photo ever. Guess Cysero was hungry at the fan table.

OMG! She brought the original moglin plushies from waaaaaay back when to get them signed! SO COOOL!

Which look is Faith giving? "Shop smart... shop HeroMart" ...OR... "You are in big trouble, MR."

Rawr! I will try to post some more photos on my facebook account for you when I can. *whispers* I am being yelled at for taking too long to make this post and am supposed to get back to working on the games! Thank you for reading this. Thank you to all of the players (both new and old) who came by to see us, and to the online staff for helping to run the booth! It is amazing how much people care about the games and new things we are building. Words cannot express the joy we feel to a part of something you love. Now that we are back at the lab, with our mental batteries fully recharged, our inspiration meters at full (and a weee bit o' Con Rot) we are pushing full throttle to the next major game releases! Thank you again and...  BATTLE ON!

"Brutualcorn is real... you just need to believe."

It has been a blast DragonCon... see you next year! 

(Probably. How is PAX?)

Things to do right now!

• Like BATTLE GEMS on Facebook
• Like BLADEHAVEN 3D on Facebook
• Comment what you think we should call our in-game convention!
• Play AdventureQuest Worlds and find someone who can tell you this year's code for the Dragon*Con handout flyer special item... the Doctor When themed "Sonic Sword-Driver"

August 26, 2013

DragonCon 2013

What Is DragonCon?

Quite a few people don't know what DRAGONCON is so we should probably cover that first. 

Since 1987 people have been coming to Atlanta, Georgia (roughly 8 hours drive from The Secret Underground Lab) for DragonCon which has become one of the largest Sci-Fi, Fantasy conventions in the world. They say that they get about 40,000-45,000 people every year but it's closer to 65,000 or 70,000 and every year, it keeps growing. 

There is so much to see that it can actually short out your brain. it happened to my on my first year.When I got back my friends asked me how it was and I actually needed a few days to process all that I had seen and done, heard and tasted, battled and escaped from before I could talk to them about it.

There are panels about everything from making your own functional steampunk R2-D2, to meet-and-greets with some of the biggest names in TVs, Movies, Gaming and Books. There are thousands of people dressed up as their favorite characters, movie marathons, a sea of tables for table top games like Dungeons and Dragons, card games like Pokémon, Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh, board games like Risk, Settlers of Catan and King of Tokyo. There are several WAREHOUSE sized rooms stocked to the gills with Naruto headbands, Lightsabers (like mine and Yorumi's), Steampunk Goggles, Nerdy T-shirts, Comic Books, Video Games, Card Games, Board Games and other types of games, Art and anything else you can imagine for sale. There are nightly raves, Firefly themed shindigs, vampire masquerade balls and a constant stream of Concerts featuring people like I Fight Dragons, One-Eyed Doll and Voltaire... and, of course, our own Artix Entertainment Fan Panel.

We are a small company with a small but loyal fan base who keep showing up no matter how awful the panel was the year before. In fact, they keep giving us bigger rooms  and better time-slots every single year. 

At the panel we get to meet and hang out with some of our biggest fans, we talk about what is coming up, have a question and answer session, Artix usually shows some movies that he's made over the weekend and we usually have a Kick-The-Twilly contest. In 2012 our panel was AMAZING complete with a fight between Artix, Chairman Platinum and Sepulchure himself fighting surrounded by screaming AE fans cheering Artix on. A few people even stepped in front of our friendly paladin to protect him from the DoomKnight. 

Every year we make a special item for those who have come from all over the globe just to hang out with us, but there is also an Artix Entertainment Flyer that we will be handing out that has a code for another DragonCon item for everyone. Just talk to one of your friends who goes to get the code.

This year the Artix Entertainment Panel:

• The time will be Saturday at 2:30PM. (only 1 hour this year!)
• The hotel will be the Hilton Atlanta
• The room will be the "Grand Salon E"

We will also have a AE Fan Table in the Hayatt Recency Atlanta, on the lower level (we think). Members of the AE staff (and maybe some AE fans) will be manning the table all through the con. We have made special achievement stickers to attach to your Con Badges for all three days of the con. Make sure to stop by and grab your wee achievement stickers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and keep us company! We get lonely.

That is not a giant pen... the stickers are teeeeeeeeeny tiny. I put the pen in the photo to give you guys a sense of exactly how small they are. 

A LOT of the famous people at con will sign something for you if you pay them, but lucky for YOU we're NOT FAMOUS AT ALL! All you have to do is give us a marker. We will sign ANYTHING. I mean that. Artix and I signed a dude's neck back in 2011.

NOTE: WE DO NOT RUN DRAGONCON! AE has nothing to do with the set-up or funding of the convention. We just attend like everyone else. It's an institution in Atlanta and has been held there for the last quarter century so asking us to have it in YOUR hometown next year impossible on every level.

This is also the closest, biggest convention that we can get to. We would LOVE to come to the convention in your town or in your country but we simply can't afford to travel that far. 

If this is your first Con, then you should carefully read...

Cysero's Con Survival Guide! (revised 2013 edition)

DragonCon starts THIS WEEKEND and as has become tradition I am imparting my knowledge and experience to you all. This is Cysero's Con Survival Guide '13!

WHAT TO BRING

• A Large Bag. You're going to to be carrying a LOT of stuff around with you and picking up a lot of stuff as you con so a large bag is necessary. And when I say bag I DO NOT mean a large plastic grocery bag. I mean a sturdy courrier bag or backpack. I will be bringing my N7 Canvas courrier bag, hardered for con survival.

• A Towel. Your hotel room will probably come equipped with these but I always prefer to bring a large, beach-sized towel with me wherever I go. Hitchikers listed most of the uses, but for a more practical example: I have fallen asleep in the hallways of more than one convention hotel and it's always nice to have a towel for a blanket or pillow.  
  

• Energy Bars. Meals come unpredictably during con and staying alive can be hard. You never know when you'll be stuck at a table-top gaming session that lasts 14 hours straight... and if you leave the brutal GM will just kill you.

• Bottle Of Water. See above. Also good for waking up wierdos who are sleeping in the hallways of your hotel under beach towels. Trust me.

• Extra Strength Energy Shots (Optional). You know, those little bottles of energy booster that they sell everywhere. These things are not great for you, but caffeine and sugar have no effect on MY metabolism and you might be built the same way. Con goes day and night, all weekend long. And it's a holiday weekend. I consider them a necessity during Con.
  
  
• Multi-Vitamins. There are thousands of people from all over the world at con and many of them have brought strange, exotic diseases with them. All these diseases mingle together and become some sort of super-flu affectionately called "Con Rot" that WILL infect you. Keeping your body's defenses up during con severely reduces the time and number of limbs you will lose to the Con Rot after you leave the convention.
  
  
• Hand Sanitizer. See above.

• Cash (Well Hidden). As you explore the convention you WILL encounter some stuff you NEED to own. Swords, pithy shirts, novels, William Shattner selling autographs... and there is a 50% chance that the thing you want to buy, you can't buy with plastic. If you plan on falling asleep in a hall somewhere, be sure that your cash is in your sock or in the secret pocket in your boxers, or cloak... you don't want to wake up broke.

• A Mobile Computing Device. Most modern cell phones will do, but you might not get a signal in the underground mazes that connect the convention hotels. Having a wireless card in a small laptop is priceless. A smartphone attached to a 3G, 4G or LTE network will do (con-tested my iPhone in 2009, worked like a dream). You might or might not Tweet or Vine. You might or might not need to check your Facebook and Twitter but your FRIENDS will NEED to contact you about something that you HAVE TO SEE RIGHT NOW! 
  
  A VERY large bonus to a smartphone is the DragonCon App. it has schedules, maps and gets updated on the fly unlike your paper schedule.  
  
  
  
  You will eventually lose your paper one but so does everyone else so there are an endless supply of them in every corner BUT this way you don't have to get your hands sticky and wonder why the last person ditched it. 
  
  It has maps, schedules for panels and speakers, concert times... everything you need to plan your Con experience. If you don't have an iOS device you can still access the event app through their web page. 

• Phone Charger. Everyone has something to charge now so finding an open power outlet can be a real challenge but just like you never know when you will get to eat, the same goes for your phone. If you have an emergency battery boost for your phone, bring that but at the very least make sure that your phone charger is close at hand.
• A Camera. Fully charged. Memory card empty. NEEDS a flash. Too many dark corners with Halo Spartans hiding in them. If you have newer generation smartphone with a decent flash, that will do fine.
  
  
• Glow Sticks or a Dance Party App. in 2010 Alces and I accidentally found ourselves in a mobile rave. One guy was wearing the sound system and power supply on his back and his two friends were each wearing giant speakers converted into backpacks. The party never stopped moving. Alces and I took a chance, caught a cab, went to an all night market and bought $44 worth of glowsticks to give to share with our fellow mobile partiers. We were gone about 4 minutes, but when we returned to the street corner, they had moved on. We spent the next hour following the sound of those booming speakers until we caught up. If on'y we'd had the glow sticks on us!
  
  
• Portable Gaming Device. Long lines. Really long lines. After last year this one was moved to the MUST catagory. Again, one of the newer generation smartphones will do. 
  
  
• A Good Friend. The buddy system is always a good idea. That's why I bring Alces. He's part Dr. Gonzo, part Chief Medical Officer and part Tech Support. He is all best friend and has been for more than half of my life. If you have a friend who has been before and can show you around the ever changing paths of the convention, bonus.

• A Zorbak Plushy (Optional). It's the ultimate ice-breaker. "Can I get a picture of you holding this guy, please?" "Sure... what is he?". 

• Good Walking Shoes. Trust me. 
  
  
• An Umbrella or Poncho (Optional). in 2011 the Venture Brothers panel line was long enough that it went outside the hotel and Alces and I found ourselves in the middle of a rain storm. With all of the weather coming from Tropical Storm Isaac headed toward Atlanta just in time for con. I suggest packing weather protection. A poncho will fit in your bag but an unmbrella makes you look swanky if you rock it right.

• Duct Tape. This is just something you should have all the time anyway, BUT there are a LOT of people in a LOT of costumes and things start falling apart on day one. A well timed piece of duct tape can make you a lot of friends very quickly. 

That should be, more or less, everything that you need to pack. Other options include: clean clothes, costumes, things you want autographed, video camera, your Battleon Battle Card deck (teach a stranger how to play!), a map of the con (some of us like getting lost), a pair of scissors (for a lock of Kevin Sorbo's hair while he's passed out in a fountain somewhere), a sketchbook (for ideas), a steampunk R2 unit, 8 channel progrmable remote control, Sonic Screwdriver, or grappling hook... just cause.

You Guys Are Coming With Me! 

It always seems that we have a TON of fans at our panel but they represent a tiny fraction of you guys and we really do wich you could ALL be there. This year Im going to try really hard to keep a contact stream of Twitter and Vine spam coming your way so you can come with me and live DragonCon through my eyes (camera). 

Here is a link to my Twitter.

Alces and I will be hopping in the car on Thursday Morning, so be packed and ready to ride to Atlanta with us! 

August 26, 2013

DragonCon Cometh!

And Dragon Rider Armors, Friday the 13^th, and Talk Like a Pirate Day too!

Happy Monday hero! This week is super special because the Artix Entertainment team is headed to DragonCon Thursday morning! Whooohooo!

Later today, Cysero will publish his foolproof DragonCon Survival Guide for you and your friends attending DragonCon. If you’re impatient—like meeee!!!!—you can brush up on last year’s Survival Guide by clicking here.

Friday’s New Release

If you can’t attend DragonCon… no worries, friend! Friday’s new release in AQWorlds will totally make up for your absence. This cannot drag on any longer… because the highly anticipated RARE Dragon Rider armors are coming to Quibble’s Shop in Battleon!

Created with you in mind and inspired by DragonCon, the DragonKahn mount armor is only 1 of the new Dragon Rider sets arriving Friday evening. Due to popular demand (and the endless onslaughts of Tweets), Dage the Evil began creating a dreadful dragonoid of his own.

Then the Dark Lord of the Undead Legion began giving life into his creation…

Fierce! The Legion Raptor is almost ready—and now Dage needs your help designing the armored rider. Give him your ideas on his Twitter!

Friday the 13^th and TLAPD

September is nearly here… and that means Friday the 13^th and Talk Like A Pirate Day is rapidly approaching!

We have heard your awesome ideas on the AQWorlds Facebook Page regarding this Special Event. We have narrowed down our favorite suggestions and want to get your feedback on possible armor sets. What do you think about:

• Galactic Naval Commander
• Chrono Naval Commander
• Shadowscythe Pirate Captain
• Royal Pirate Slayer

Which one is your favorite? Or favorites?! Which pirate armor set would you like to /equip during Friday the 13^th and TLAPD? Tell us your thoughts on the AQWorlds Facebook Page!

In the meantime, Alina, Artix, and myself are meeting with Voltaire, everyone’s favorite Pirate Musician and a legend amongst Friday the 13ths, to begin planning out September’s special in-game event. I will keep you updated on our progress!

Heed the call of battle and Battle On to victory!

xoxo Beleen

September 06, 2012

DragonCon Wrap-Up & Celestial Spheres

We're Back

Didja miss us?

Most of you probably had no idea that we even gone and those who did know were mostly at DragonCon with us. Those few.... those lucky few... got to witness something for which words have not yet been invented.

Our panel kicked SO MUCH... uh... moglin. You can read all about it, see pictures and even a few teaser videos in Artix's totally and utterly amazing DragonCon 2012 post.

This was my best DragonCon ever. The panel was by FAR the coolest thing we've done in a long time and there are so many other amazing stories and memories I have knocking around in my brain! We got to meet and hang out with some of our long-time friends (Prac, Turf, Hilton Clan &c) and fans. We got to answer questions and ask plenty of our own. Thanks to everyone who showed up and blew the roof off of our panel!

As always, everyone who showed up at the panel and wrote their name down so that we could READ it will get the custom DragonCon pet. Tradition states that we make one every year and the past few years we've been getting the whole panel in on helping us decide what it will be.

For this year's pet, the panel combined a few great suggestions into a Dragon/Pony pet with chibi Dage and Nulgath riding on its back.

THIS PET IS ONLY FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED THE DRAGONCON PANEL. There will be no other way to get it, just like all those that came before it.

If you missed DragonCon this year and just can't get enough of all the amazing sights, and also weren't watching my Twitter 24/7, then you can see some of the images that I Tweeted on my Twitpic. It's like the first two whole pages.

For a more active media experience, you can see even more on Artix's Tout Account and my Tout Account as well.

We are now in a period of recovery and our minds and bodies heal themselves from the long-lasting effects of CON. The mysterious Con Rot has (so far) taken out Dumoose, Dage, Miko, Nythera and Zazul and it's working its magic on the rest of us slowly but it looks like most of us made it through the experience. 

Celestial Spheres

On the AQW Forums I asked for your help coming up with a one-off adventure that we could complete with half the team down with Con Rot. There a LOT of great suggestions (I wrote down all the really good ones) But I decided to go with a Mobius expansion based on the Solaris Knight and Lunaris Sentinel armors available there in the Good and Evil shops respectively.

This week you will choose your side and help the Good Oriented Solaris Knights or the Evil Oriented Lunaris Sentinels as they complete for the ancient Sol and Luna artifacts over which they have been warring for centuries.

You will begin your quest on Friday in Mobius by either siding with Saa'thel the Solaris or Travon the Lunaris.

You will go complete unique quests for either one side or the other, increasing your good or evil faction as you go and unlock special shops and hairstyles if you complete the story!

If most of the art team comes out of their Con Coma we will also try to update the Player Suggestion shop with a new round of items taken from your suggestions on the forums and brought into the game by the amazing AQW art team!

Some News

• Quibble leaves Monday!
• Matomy AExtra Contest winners will be announced after we've contacted them by e-mail. 
• Power Gems will be added to Twilly in Battleon. IF YOU HAVE A CONFIRMED E-MAIL then you will be able to get a power gem from him once a week!

105 days until Just Another Day

August 27, 2012

DragonCon 2012

What Is DragonCon?

From talking over Twitter this weekend I found out that a ton of people don't know what DragonCon is, so allow me to drop some knowledge.

Since 1987 people have been coming to Atlanta, Georgia (roughly 8 hours drive from The Secret Underground Lab) for DragonCon which has become one of the largest Sci-Fi, Fantasy conventions in the world. They say that they get about 40,000-45,000 people every year but it's closer to 65,000 or 70,000.

There is so much to see that it can actually short out your brain. it happened to my on my first year.When I got back my friends asked me how it was and I actually needed a few days to process all that I had seen and done, heard and tasted, battled and escaped from before I could talk to them about it.

There are panels about everything from making your own functional steampunk R2-D2, to meet-and-greets with some of the biggest names in TVs, Movies, Gaming and Books. There are thousands of people dressed up as their favorite characters, movie marathons, a sea of tables for table top games like Dungeons and Dragons, card games like Pokémon, Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh, board games like Risk, Settlers of Catan and King of Tokyo. There are several WAREHOUSE sized rooms stocked to the gills with Naruto headbands, Lightsabers (like mine and Yorumi's), Steampunk Goggles, Nerdy T-shirts, Comic Books, Art and anything else you can imagine for sale. There are nightly raves, Firefly themed shindigs, vampire masquerade balls and a constant stream of Concerts featuring people like I Fight Dragons, One-Eyed Doll and Voltaire... and, of course, our own Artix Entertainment Fan Panel.

We are a small company with a small but loyal fan base who keep showing up no matter how awful the panel was the year before. In fact, they keep giving us bigger rooms  and better time-slots every single year.

At the panel we get to meet and hang out with some of our biggest fans, we talk about what is coming up, have a question and answer session, Artix usually shows some movies that he's made over the weekend and we usually have a Kick-The-Twilly contest. Last year we also had a Battleon Battle card game tourney which was a LOT of fun.

Every year we make a special item for those who have come from all over the globe just to hang out with us, but there is also an Artix Entertainment Flyer that we will be handing out that has a code for another DragonCon item for everyone. Just talk to one of your friends who goes to get the code.

This year the Artix Entertainment Panel:

• The time will be Saturday at 5:30PM
• The hotel will be the Hilton Atlanta
• The room will be the "Grand Salon E"

We've also started a tradition of holding a pizza party in Artix's hotel suite every year. Last year we made too much noise and got kicked out of the room so there are small changes this year. There is free pizza, soda and we get the chance to sit down with you guys and just chill out and talk.

This year's AE Pizza Party:

• The time will be Thursday at 7:30PM
• The hotel will be the Marriott Marquis Atlanta
• The location will be on the 10th Floor, in the Skyline meeting area.

We will also have a AE Fan Table in the Hayatt Recency Atlanta, on the lower level (we think). Members of the AE staff (and maybe some AE fans) will be manning the table all through the con. We have made special ribbons to attach to your Con Badges for all three days of the con. Make sure to stop by and grab your ribbons on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and keep us company! 

A LOT of the famous people at con will sign something for you if you pay them, but lucky for YOU we're NOT FAMOUS AT ALL! All you have to do is give us a marker. We will sign ANYTHING. I mean that. Artix and I signed a dude's neck last year.

NOTE: WE DO NOT RUN DRAGONCON! AE has nothing to do with the set-up or funding of the convention. We just attend like everyone else. It's an institution in Atlanta and has been held there for the last quarter century so asking us to have it in YOUR hometown next year impossible on every level.

If this is your first Con, then you should carefully read...

Cysero's Con Survival Guide! (revised 2012 edition)

DragonCon starts THIS WEEKEND and as has become tradition I am imparting my knowledge and experience to you all. This is Cysero's Con Survival Guide '12!

WHAT TO BRING

• A Large Bag. You're going to to be carrying a LOT of stuff around with you and picking up a lot of stuff as you con so a large bag is necessary.

• A Towel. Your hotel room will probably come equipped with these but I always prefer to bring a large, beach-sized towel with me wherever I go. Hitchikers listed most of the uses, but for a more practical example: I have fallen asleep in the hallways of more than one convention hotel and it's always nice to have a towel for a blanket or pillow.  
  

• Energy Bars. Meals come unpredictably during con and staying alive can be hard. You never know when you'll be stuck at a table-top gaming session that lasts 14 hours straight... and if you leave the brutal GM will just kill you.

• Bottle Of Water. See above. Also good for waking up wierdos who are sleeping in the hallways of your hotel.

• Extra Strength Energy Shots (Optional). You know, those little bottles of energy booster that they sell everywhere. These things are not great for you, but caffeine and sugar have no effect on MY metabolism and you might be built the same way. Con goes day and night, all weekend long. And it's a holiday weekend. I consider them a necessity during Con.
  
  
• Multi-Vitamins. There are thousands of people from all over the world at con and many of them have brought strange, exotic diseases with them. All these diseases mingle together and become some sort of super-flu affectionately called "Con Rot" that WILL infect you. Keeping your body's defenses up during con severely reduces the time and number of limbs you will lose to the Con Rot.
  
  
• Hand Sanitizer. See above.

• Cash (Well Hidden). As you explore the convention you WILL encounter some stuff you NEED to own. Swords, pithy shirts, novels, William Shattner selling autographs... and there is a 50% chance that the thing you want to buy, you can't buy with plastic. If you plan on falling asleep in a hall somewhere, be sure that your cash is in your sock or in the secret pocket in your boxers, or cloak... you don't want to wake up broke.

• A Mobile Computing Device. Most modern cell phones will do, but you might not get a signal in the underground mazes that connect the convention hotels. Having a wireless card in a small laptop is priceless. A smartphone attached to a 3G network will do (con-tested my iPhone in 2009, worked like a dream). You might or might not Tweet. You might or might not need to check your Facebook and Twitter but your FRIENDS will NEED to contact you about something that you HAVE TO SEE RIGHT NOW!
  
  Additional: This year, DragonConhas perfected their free Con Schedule App!
  
  
  
  You will eventually lose your paper one but so does everyone else so there are an endless supply of them in every corner BUT this way you don't have to get your hands sticky and wonder why the last person ditched it.
  
  The App is for Ipnone and Android phones. It has maps, schedules for panels and speakers, concert times... everything you need to plan your Con experience. 

• A Camera. Fully charged. Memory card empty. NEEDS a flash. Too many dark corners with Halo Spartans hiding in them. If you have newer generation smartphone with a decent flash, that will do fine.
  
  
• Glow Sticks or a Dance Party App. in 2010 Alces and I accidentally found ourselves in a mobile rave. One guy was wearing the sound system and power supply on his back and his two friends were each wearing giant speakers converted into backpacks. The party never stopped moving. Alces and I took a chance, caught a cab, went to an all night market and bought $44 worth of glowsticks to give to share with our fellow mobile partiers. We were gone about 4 minutes, but when we returned to the street corner, they had moved on. We spent the next hour following the sound of those booming speakers until we caught up. If on'y we'd had the glow sticks on us!
  
  
• Portable Gaming Device. Long lines. Really long lines. After last year this one was moved to the MUST catagory. Again, one of the newer generation smartphones will do.
  
  
• A Good Friend. The buddy system is always a good idea. That's why I bring Alces. He's part Dr. Gonzo, part Chief Medical Officer and part Tech Support. He is all best friend and has been for more than half of my life. If you have a friend who has been before and can show you around the ever changing paths of the convention, bonus.

• A Zorbak Plushy. It's the ultimate ice-breaker. "Can I get a picture of you holding this guy, please?" "Sure... what is he?"

• Good Walking Shoes. Trust me. 
  
  
• An Umbrella or Poncho (Optional). Last year the Venture Brothers panel line was long enough that it went outside the hotel and Alces and I found ourselves in the middle of a rain storm. With all of the weather coming from Tropical Storm Isaac headed toward Atlanta just in time for con, I suggest packing weather protection. A poncho will fit in your bag but an unmbrella makes you look swanky of you rock it right.

• Duct Tape. This is just something you should have all the time anyway, BUT there are a LOT of people in a LOT of costumes and things start falling apart on day one. A well timed piece of duct tape can make you a lot of friends very quickly.

That should be, more or less, everything that you need to pack. Other options include: clean clothes, costumes, things you want autographed, video camera, your Battleon Battle Card deck (teach a stranger how to play!), a map of the con (some of us like getting lost), a pair of scissors (for a lock of Kevin Sorbo's hair while he's passed out in a fountain somewhere), a sketchbook (for ideas), a steampunk R2 unit, 8 channel progrmable remote control, Sonic Screwdriver, or grappling hook... just cause.

You're Doing A Release From Con?!

Yes. As always we will be running a release from our lap-tops using the hotel's internet. The team is scrambling like mad to get everything ready for the release so all we need to go is hit the GO button. Look for ALINA's Design Notes Post a little later on today for more details!

August 31, 2011

A Mystery Villain Arrives Friday!

 Molten Madness Means Mayhem!

Flaming carnage, fiery death, and massive magma-based mayhem! All contained in a raging, roaring volcano! And THAT is where you wake up, Hero! This mysterious 'mancer is not taking any chances with you, not when you've caused so much trouble in the past.

Luckily, Warlic and Jimmy the Eye will be on-hand to assist you.

What is it with villains and impractical hideouts? I mean, really, wouldn't a well-guarded fortress be more suitable for plotting world domination? But noooo, this villainous violator of the peace has plans for you, Hero, and it's up to you to evade them. Otherwise, you'll be roasted, toasted, and burnt to a crisp!

Prepare to battle through an inferno of furious fire minions as you make your way to the top of this incendiary site! This release is the lead-in to a larger story which we will

More Epic Items and Equips for you!

We've got NEW Treasure Chest items, NEW Player Suggestion Shop items, and NEW massively molten rewards for you this week!

Treasure Chest items:

• Blinding Valor Armor
• Zealith Reaver Armor
• Zealith Helm
• Zealith Wings
• Blinding Valor Sword and Shield
• Blinding Valor Wings
• Valor High Priest
• Valor High Halo
• Valor Domed Helm
• Fallen Angel
• Fallen Angel Helm
• Fallen Angel Wings
• Lotus Armor
• Lotus Helm

Suggestion Shop update:

• Raging Fire (by Na Tra)
• Legendary Bow (by xserenax)
• The Unknown (by theavenger07)
• Unknown Hood (by theavenger07)
• Medieval Shadow (by Dudulokinho)
• False Blade of Champions (by Ayuzu)
• Turbulence (by Ninjudo)
• Backblades of Assassins (by Lord SlayR)
• Khriot's Hair (by Khriot)

Massively Molten Release rewards:

• Magma Bow
• Lava Spear and Shield
• Searing Slicers
• Axe of Many Flames
• Hammer of the Core
• Flaming Armor

Dragon*Con starts TOMORRW!!!

We are racing to get everything ready so that we can roll AQWorlds live from our panel at Dragon*Con on Friday. Although Yorumi will be at the Lab Friday to make sure the servers don't explode, Cysero, me, Samba, and many other AE staff members will be onhand to help launch another awesome AQWorlds release!

If you're going to Con (or wish you were), then check out Cysero's Guide to DragonCon!

And speaking of AWESOME releases... Pony vs Pony will go LIVE! At the Panel! On Friday! Everyone has been working on Pony vs Pony this week to make sure there's enough content for you to saddle up in style. Not sure what we're talking about? Check this page out! (Make sure you have your music turned on.)

We will also be making some other announcements, will ask you what YOU think we should do in DragonFable's Chapter 2, play some games, watch some (awful) videos, and have an epicly awesome, con-crashing good time!

August 29, 2011

THIS WEEK! 3 Days...

Mystery Boss Dungeon Crawl, DragonCon, NEW Game

Gear up and prepare for a dungeon crawl with a mystery villain this Friday. You will have to either wait until the release is live to find out the identity of the mysterious villain or you can come see us at our panel at DragonCon this Friday! We will be announcing the name of the villain (as well as revealing other secrets hours before the release goes live at the convention!

DragonCon

The AE team is heading for DragonCon on.... WHAT, 7am THURSDAY MORNING!? That means we only have 3 days (YES,  3 DAYS) to do ALL of this week's game releases. See full details on us and our friends on our DragonCon page. NOTE: Rumors are spreading that Chairman Platinum of EbilCorp (TM) - a name you can trust - is planning on raiding our panel at 2:30pm at the Sheraton Hotel in the Savannah room.  During the panel, we will have several prizes to give away! Including a to-scale replica of Galanoth's DragonBlade. (We are still working on figuring out how to stream the panel online.)

... did you say, A NEW GAME!?

Rolith will be unveiling and launching his brand new game for everyone during the DragonCon panel. (In a reverse twist, all of you who are not at the panel will be able to play, while the people at the panel will have to wait until they go back to their rooms to play!)  What is the new game? ... it pains me more than you can imagine to have to promote this... but... *shudders* brace yourselves...  Pony vs Pony . Have you been watching the madness unfold on facebook?

August 29, 2011

Magic Keys: Take Two!

How Many Treasure Chests Have Your Found?!

This weekend we pioneered our Treasure Chest System. If you missed it here is how it works:

You can defeat ANY monster in the entire game (That means ANY monster, PvP Kills don;t count even if your opponent is monsterous) and you have a small % chance to get a Treasure Chest which can contain any one of a number of really cool items and armors, all of which are 0 AdventureCoin items so you can store them for free in your bank.

To open the Treasure Chest, you need a Magic Key which Twilly sells in Battleon. Give the chest and key to Twilly and he will open the chest for you.

The Magic keys cost 200 ACs each but if you are a Member you will be getting 2 Magic Keys for free each month.

If you don't feel like buying ACs or earning FREE AdventureCoins with AExtras, you can just sell the chests for 500G each.

We've gotten a LOT of very positive feedback from most of you. You like the fun of hunting, the fun of opening a surprise, the ability to get ACs for keys pretty easily through AExtras and the new member perk of 2 free keys a month.

This weekend we encountered a few bugs which were quickly taken care of.

1. The engine wasn't checking your BANK for items so you might have opened the same thing twice. THIS WAS NOT MEANT TO HAPPEN. The way it works is that you never get the same item twice so you don't waste your keys.
   
   
2. Once that was fixed, another bug popped up where people were turning the quest into Twilly and nothing was happening. No reward at all. That one Zhoom fixed REALLY quickly. 

Unfortunately this mean that some of you wasted your keys and your hard earded ACs.

We don't like that so we're fixing it.

A little later today we will take the number of keys you bought, compare it to the number of keys you have + number of treasure chest items you have and give you the amount of keys that you lost.

It's not possible for us to track the 2 free keys that we gave members, but we don't want you to have wasted your free keys, we are just going to give ALL AQW MEMBERS another 2 Magic Keys absolutely free.

If you didn't use your keys then grats, you get 2 more for free. If you bought your membership this weekend, then grats, you get 2 free keys. :)

In addition to this weekend's DragonCon festivities and special release and suggestion shop update, we will also be adding even more great items to the Treasure Chests this weekend.

Cysero's Con Survival Guide! (revised 2011 edition)

DragonCon starts THIS WEEKEND and as has become tradition I am imparting my knowledge and experience to you all. This is Cysero's Con Survival Guide '11!

WHAT TO BRING

• A Large Bag. You're going to to be carrying a LOT of stuff around with you and picking up a lot of stuff as you con so a large bag is necessary.

• A Towel. Your hotel room will probably come equipped with these but I always preffer to bring a large, beach-sized towel with me wherever I go. Hitchikers listed most of the uses, but for a more practical example: I have fallen asleep in the hallways of more than one convention hotel and it's always nice to have a towel for a blanket or pillow.  
  

• Energy Bars. Meals come unpredictably during con and staying alive can be hard. You never know when you'll be stuck at a table-top gaming session that lasts 14 hours straight... and if you leave the brutal GM will just kill you.

• Bottle Of Water. See above. Also good for waking up wierdos who are sleeping in the hallways of your hotel.

• Extra Strength Energy Shots (Optional). You know, those little bottles of energy booster that they sell everywhere. These things are not great for you, but caffine and sugar have no effect on MY metabolism and you might be built the same way. Con goes day and night, all weekend long. And it's a holiday weekend. I consider them a necessity during Con.

• Cash (Well Hidden). As you explore the convention you WILL encounter some stuff you NEED to own. Swords, pithy shirts, novels, William Shattner selling autographs... and there is a 50% chance that the thing you want to buy, you can't buy with plastic. If you plan on falling asleep in a hall somewhere, be sure that your cash is in your sock or in the secret pocket in your boxers, or cloak... you don't want to wake up broke.

• A Mobile Computing Device. Most modern cell phones will do, but you might not get a signal in the underground mazes that connect the convention hotels. Having a wireless card in a small laptop is priceless. A smartphone attached to a 3G network will do (con-tested my iPhone in 2009, worked like a dream). You might or might not Tweet. You might or might not need to check your Facebook but your FRIENDS will NEED to contact you about something that you HAVE TO SEE RIGHT NOW!
  
  Additional: This year, DragonCon is working on a free Con Schedule App! You will eventually lose your paper one but so dones everyone else so there are an endless supply of them in every corner BUT this way you don't have to get your hands sticky and wonder why the last person ditched it.

• A Good Friend. The buddy system is always a good idea. That's why I bring Alces. He's part Dr. Gonzo, part Chief Medical Officer and part Tech Support. He is all best friend and has been for more than half of my life. If you have a friend who has been before and can show you around the ever changing paths of the convention, bonus.

• A Camera. Fully charged. Memory card empty. NEEDS a flash. Your cell won't do for this. Too many dark corners with Halo Spartans hiding in them.

• A Zorbak Plushy. It's the ultimate ice-breaker. "Can I get a picture of you holding this guy, please?" "Sure... what is he?"

• Good Walking Shoes. Trust me.

• Glow Sticks or a Dance Party App. Last year Alces and I accidentally found ourselves in a mobile rave. One guy was wearing the sound system and power supply on his back and his two friends were each wearing giant speakers converted into backpacks. The party never stopped moving. Alces and I took a chance, caught a cab, went to an all night market and bought $44 worth of glowsticks to give to share with our fellow mobile partiers. We were gone about 4 minutes, but when we returned to the street corner, they had moved on. We spent the next hour followig the sound of those booming speakers until we caught up. If on'y we'd had the glow sticks on us!
  
  
• Portable Gaming Device. Long lines. Really long lines. After last year this one was moved to the MUST catagory.
  
  
• Duct Tape. This is just something you should have all the time anyway, BUT there are a LOT of people in a LOT of costumes and things start falling apart on day 1. A well timed piece of duct tape can make you a lot of friends very quickly.

That should be, more or less, everything that you need to pack. Other options include: clean clothes, costumes, things you want autographed, video camera, your Battleon Battle Card deck (teach a stranger how to play!), a map of the con (some of us like getting lost), a pair of scissors (for a lock of Kevin Sorbo's hair while he's passed out in a fountain somewhere), a sketchbook (for ideas), a steampunk R2 unit, 8 channel progrmable remote control, Sonic Screwdriver, or grappling hook... just cause.

August 26, 2011

Crossroads & Treasure Chests

The Chaos Twins Are Back!

Xing and Xang, the Chaos Twins: They have been a constant point of curiosity and source of debate among hardcore players.

"When a great King, Queen, or Hero reaches a moral crossroad, legends says the Twins appear." but for a while they have not been the force for balance that they once were. Something happend to the Twins to alter them and today you find out what that was.

Journey to the Crossroads and speak to the half-Troll Druuz and the half-Horc Rawg and perform the ritual to summon the Twins to answer 5 of your questions! 

You will find new, intresting sub-species of well known monsters like Lemurphants or the deadly Chinchillizards. You will only be able to summon the Twins if you can pass the test of She Who Answers (Maybe they should call her She Who Quizzes) as she challenges your knolwedge of both Horc and Troll culture.

In this release you will also find new items added to both the Horc and Troll Reputation Shop as well as drops from the monsters in the new area!

Have You Found A Treasure Chest Yet?

Mysterious Treasure Chests have been showing up all around Lore lately. Have you found one yet?

This is a new, fun, and completly random addition to the game. These chests have a less than 1% chance of dropping from ANY monster in the entire game. Each one contains one of over 20 (and the number will keep growing) Epic Items that you can't get anywhere else, including 5 all new Armors!

All of the items are 0 AC so you can store them for free, all of the items are non-member so you can use them forever!

There's just one problem. You can't open the Treasure Chests without a Magic Key. The good news is that Twilly (the little red Moglin in Battleon) has a few extras and will happily sell you one for 200 ACs and open your chest for you.

If you don't have a lot of spare ACs, you can always do some AEXtras to get some quick AdventureCoins, and if you don't feel like doing that, just sell the Treasure Chest! Each one is worth 500 GOLD!

MEMBER PERK: Once again, AQW membership gives you even more of the best of AQW. Today, everyone who was already a member at the time of the release got 2 FREE MAGIC TREASURE CHEST KEYS added to their backpack!

And it just keeps getting better. Soon, we will be adding a way for every Member to get 2 Free Magic Keys EVERY MONTH from Twilly. We will annouce that as soon as we have it working. Since the keys are worth 200 ACs, that means that it will be possible for members to sell them and get ACs from the game for the first time ever!

NEXT WEEK: DRAGONCON 2011!

Once again it's time for the LONG CON! Every year a lot of the AE staff head to Atlanta, GA for the  DragonCon! "The largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!".

As usual, we have an AE Panel where players who attend the convention can come to hang out with us, punt some moglins, get things signed, sign things for us, ask questions, get answers and see sneak peeks of our top secret projects that we always have in the works.

As usual, each person who attends the panel will get a special DragonCon Pet made just those brave few who travel from all corners of the Earth (we can actually say that now!) to hang with us.

This year we've got some new stuff going on. Artix is having a full-size wooden replica of Galanoth's the DragonBlade crafted and one of the lucky panel attendees will be going home with it!

We will also have a Fan Booth set up in the one of the main convention halls. Each day we will be handing out REAL LIFE ACHIEVEMENT BADGES to attach to your convention badge. There's a different badge for each day of the con!

As usual we will be driving up to Atlanta and every time we stop somewhere I will scout out a public pay phone and Tweet the number. If you catch the tweet, you will be able to call us and say HI! It was big fun last year and should be again!

I will also be accepting Battleon Battle Card challenges anywhere at anytime during the convention.

There's also a Pizza Party in Artix's room on Thursday night.

I'm not making ANY of this up.

Here's the Info page.

Have a great weekend! or Else.

August 17, 2011

We Love the Players!

... even more than ice cream and sushi.

Each day we receive awesome letters (many with drawings) in the mail from awesome players. Zazul opens all of the mail and brings us the fan letters. I wish I could post them all! for you to see! (Note: We are very careful about not posting any real names or info) Today we recieved a package filled with an awesome letter, full color poster, and character portraits drawn by the talented AQWorld's player, Bladebrawl. Thank you!! So, today seemed like the perfect day to thank ALL of you who have sent us amazing things to lift our spirits and inspire us to keep making the games better every week.

Happening now or in the works!

• Beleen is back from school and is about to help Yergen take HeroSmash to a whole new level.
• Kimberly from One-Eyed Doll sent us a surprise package full of the band's T-shirts & ... really? A champion of darkness pony labeled Artix? This pony thing is completely out of control. Have you been seeing that Jemini and Rolith have been doing on the PonyVsPony facebook page? FaceBook.com/PonyVsPony . *shivers and hides under desk*
• DragonCon (Convention in Atlanta, Georgia) is only two weeks away! More coming on this soon... but we are throwing a party for players in the Artix Entertainment suite (not that big, hold your breath!) on Thursday night before the convention starts! (What is DragonCon? Here is an old write up I stumbled upon.)
• 2012 has been officially been dubbed, "The Year of Chaos!" 

Forum/Twitter Question: I am having trouble with the cover for the AQWorlds 2012 Calendar. Can you help? It would be really cool to have a dragon and some action on it. But the calendar needs to be CHAOS themed. Do you have any idea on what we should do? It is going to be on the storeshelves of Toys"R"Us in addition to HeroMart... so we need it to be really professional (Hehe, us, professional?) What characters or monsters should be on the cover? I will be on the lookouts for your messages in between the pony spam (Thank you Rolith!) and post drafts for you to give feed back on tomorrow. Battle on!

August 10, 2011

AE Food Pyramid

They changed the food Pyramid!?

Recently, I learned that schools changed the Food Pyramid to something called "MyPlate". Which is... some sort of spherical pie chart of edible goodness. This has serious ramifications to all of us here at Artix Entertainment who have been following the official A.E. Food Pyramid.

So... it is time for a change! But I need your help. What should we put into the "MyAePlate?" For starters, coffee needs to be replaced with Green Tea (Coffee is so 2007. Green Tea is the fuel of creative geniuses now!) Feel free to post drawings... they should be circular. See you on the forums, Twitter and Facy-facebook. Battle on!

DragonCon 2011

We are just 2.5 weeks away from the DragonCon Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. The A.E. team will be there in full force. A great chance to meet the team in person! We are throwing a pizza party in our suite (at the top of of Marriot) at 8pm... and if you are going to DragonCon, you are invited! Then... we are kicking off DragonCon's gaming track on Friday at 2:30pm with the "AQWorlds Meet and Greet" (Check us out on the DC MMO page) During the panel we will be making fun of ourselves, showing crazy videos, giving out tons of prizes.... including ONE "still in the package" 2011 Calendar (with a Chronomancer Code).  But this year we are making special arrangements for all of you who cannot attend in person. We are going to attempt to stream our panel live in-game for you. This will be the first year of DragonCon for many of our team... including J6 who will be attending in his J6 cosplay outfit that he put a crazy amount of work into!

August 05, 2011

J6's Hyperium Continues

The Mysterious Bounty Hunter Flies Again!

The puzzle-driven J6 area got a big expansion this week!

If you are up to date all you need to do to continue your space-western adventure is enter the Hyperium's VR room and head to the next area!

If you're NOT YET up to date, you will need to play through all of J6's previous content to get to this week's map, items, the much-coveted J5 armor and several cutscenes that raise a lot more questions about this masked man.

In related news, J6 will be at DragonCon with the rest of this year, so if you can make it to our annual panel at DragonCon in Atlanta, GA at the beginning of next month, then you'll get to meet the man behind the mask.

Player Suggestion Shop Update!

Once again we have taken a number of suggestions from players just like you and pulled them into the game in Yulgar's Player Suggestion Shop!

This week, both Dage and Mennace chose to reshape these items into AQW items!

•  Gia Blade - Vamprincess Dorene137
•  Paladin's Victory - pikachu199519
•  Soul Stealer Advanced - Darkon Drago
•  Demonic Revenge - Darkon Drago
•  Snowstorm Hood - gompa
•  Snowstorm - gompa
•  DragonSlayer's Solace Hat - mietior
•  DragonSlayer's Solace - mietior
•  Royal Maximus - Prince Knight

As usual, each of these items have been given to their creators regardless if they are member, non-member or AC items.

If YOU have an idea for an item that you would like to see brought to life in AQW, please visit out Suggestion Forums and make a post. Who knows, maybe yours will be in the next round!

Please, remember: Even thought we do like to see your art and ideas on Twitter and Facebook, We ONLY take items from those forums to add to the game! We don't add every items in the forums, but if it's NOT in the forums, we WILL NOT add it.

New PET O' THE MONTH: The Vordred Nightmare Pony BATTLE PET!

It's a new month and that (sometimes) means a new PET O' THE MONTH!

This month, in honor of the completion of the Vordred Storyline and the internet's recent fascination with ponies, we've combined these two ideas into one terribly cute monstrosity of necromancy.

Introducing the member only BATTLE PET (Works as a normal pet, but for NECROMANCER it will replace your Skeleton base pet for damage dealing!)

He's been hugged and battle-tested against Noxus in the Shadowfall war to guage his lovable might. Visit Aria's Shop in Battleontown to get your own Vordred Nightmare Pony!

NO GENDER CHANGE THIS TIME!

Sadly, J6's maps are so insanely involved that Yorumi didn't have time to properly code or test the Gender Change option which will hopefully come next week but we did make a few changes that you might have already noticed.

QUEST TRACKER: The first addition is a new Quest Tracker Button on your character portrait.

It's right there on the left, opposite your level. Just click this and any quests you are on will appear in a list on your screen to help you keep track of what you need to complete it without opening your Quest Log every time.

CHARACTER PAGE UPGRADE: The second change is on your character page. Now you can look at almost anyone's character page and see exactly what they have equipped right next to their image. (I say ALMOST anyone, because MOD items do not show correctly).

Now available for the iPhone and Android

The AE team created a mobile app our favorite voice actor... ME! So now, you too can have your life narrated by George Lowe (best known as the voice of Space Ghost!) Includes 300+ soundbites (even some favorites from the games.) At the touch of your fingertip, you will instantly be able to make any cramped elevator more uncomfortable.

Next week we begin work on our next CHAOS ZONE, you can also expect a Mennace LQS (keep watching the Design Notes for times, items lists, images and prices!). Until then, have a great weekend!

or else.

June 06, 2011

Necromancer & Conventions

The Tower Of Necromancy

This Friday, the story of DoomWood continues as we head to the Tower Of Necromancy where questions will be answered, wits will be tested, old characters will re-appear and NECROMANCER CLASS will be obtained.

As you may remember from my last post, there will be TWO ways to get your hands on the non-member Necromancer Class. The first will require a LOT of hard work. First you will need to reach RANK 10 in DoomWood Reputation to purchase some materials that will be required to unlock the class, Next you will need to farm the Creature Creation for a not-very-rare drop, and lastly you will need to reach the top of the Tower Of Necromancy in the heart of DoomWood Forest.

The maniacal master of the tower will test you, and if you are able to reach the top of the tower, you will be able to unlock and equip the powerful Necromancer Class!

The other option is to buy it with AdventureCoins. Zorbak, who is always looking to cause trouble, will offer to sell an AC version of the class for 2000 ACs. This AC version of the Necromancer Class will also be added to Quibble's shop for the duration of his stay (at least one more week). Once he leaves, you will still be able to buy it from Zorbak or earn it from the Tower. Or both,

but no reason for that since they are completely identical other than price.

The top of the tower will also sport some necrotic weapons and some member only options for Necromancer like a Color Custom version of the base armor and hood...

Or purchase the member only Necrolock robes and hood, also for gold. They are not CC but they're still quite lovely.

Meanwhile, back in the AE Underground lab... Yorumi is still hard at work building this innovative new type of class. Our aim is to allow you to command a new type of pet called Battle Pets to do your bidding. Most of the class skills are buffs to the pet's damage or haste, but other skills will allow you to regain mana or life through pet attacks.

The class SHOULD come with a very basic version of a Battle Pet built in (a skeleton in this case), but later we want to open other Battle Pets to the game for member-only purchase (there might be a few very very very rare cases where we might offer non-member or AC Battle Pets but not often). THESE Battle Pets might even come with their own signature skill, unlike the base pet that comes build into the class.

There is still a long way to go to make the class function the way we would like it to, but as soon as I have some solid skills ready for balancing I will give you guys a skills write up.

Meanwhile, back in the AE Underground lab... Artix is single-handedly planning out the levels of the tower, trying to create a unique challenge for you. You will be required to take command of several skeletal minions and move them across the room to reach a lever. Once you acomplish this task, the platform will take you one level higher in the tower. Sounds pretty simple, right?

Yeah...

Meanwhile, back in the AE Underground lab... Zhoom, being the clever code monkey that he is ,believes that he has found the recent source of massive lag in DoomWood. He could be wrong but he has, to my knowledge, never been wrong about anything else. Ever. We will continue trying to track down some of the pesky quest bugs in that area as well. We will be applying those fixes as the week continues.

Come See Us, Please!

AE is going to more conventions than EVER this year. Granted, we are mostly going to ones we can drive to in under an hour but still, more is more, and we would LOVE to meet you guys.

Here's what's goin down...

E3: THIS WEEK Artix and Titan will be heading to the E3 (The Electronic Entertainment Expo).

It's not really a convention but more of a big annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association.

There, they will rub elbows with some of the industry greats and also get to play with some of the worlds coolest toys. E3 runs June 7-9 and we don't have a panel or booth but if you happen to be in L.A., get a chance to visit the E3, and know what Artix or Titan look like... say hi!

PARIAHCON: Then, this weekend Artix, Nythera, Thyton, Jemini, Korin, me and a few other members of the AE staff will head to Lakeland, FL for PariahCon 2011. 

This one actually IS a convention claiming to be Lakeland's first anime/gaming/collectible convention. Considering that Lakeland is a wonderful but only mid-sized town with roughly 584,000 people inhabiting it, that comes as no great surprise.

We will have a panel, Artist Alley booth AND a booth at this one. The Con runs JUNE 10-11 and our panel is at Friday, 4:00 PM in the Main Events room on the 7th floor of the hotel hosting the convention.

After our panel, we'll mostly be playing (and selling) Battle Cards at our swag booth. This WILL be a small con. If you happen to make it we'll be able to hang around with you like... all day.

METROCON: This convention is a bit larger being held, as it is every year, at the Tampa Convention Center, June 17-19.

Once again, we've got a panel and swag booth. Our panel at this convention will be 2:00 PM on Saturday then several hours of trying to follow Artix through the merch room. He vanishes like a 4 year old in a department store. POOF.

DRAGONCON: This is our BIG convention that we go to every year, and I consider to be my home away from home.As always it's held the first weekend of SEPTEMBER (Sept. 2-5) in Atlanta, GA.

We will have a panel and that is it but we will ALSO be giving away our yearly DragonCon Pet (last year those who came out to see us helped us come up with the Steampunk Dragon non-member pet).

Our Panel is on Friday 2:30 - 5 PM. The room is yet to be decided but you will find us in your Con Guide under the MMO Track. I will also accept ALL Battle Card challenges offered at this con. Probably the others too. I will be fully prepared to sit down on the floor in the middle of a hall way surrounded by roughly 80,000 con-goers and begin dueling.

I can't speak for everyone but I utterly and completely LOVE running into players at conventions and at DragonCon especially! This is how I first met Stratos who is now one of the head Mods, as well as a number of other super-fans who came out just to attend our panel and many of them have also become trusted friends. A few of those guys have also become mods, come to think of it.

That doesn't mean that coming to con will make you a Mod, but if you're the kind of AE fan who makes the trip just to meet us (sometimes from as far away as New Zealand!), it's a pretty good bet that you're the kind of person that we're looking for to be a mod.

Get Well Soon

If you follow our Twitter feeds, you know that Alina had surgery last week. She considers it minor surgery but she also tried to work from home within an hour of being released from the hospital so that's how sane (or dedicated) SHE is.

Rolith (her husband to be... got enganged at DragonCon last year!) and I wouldn't let her. She eventually resigned herself to sleeping off her surgery and trying to heal.

I just want you all to know that she is well, recovering nicely, even spent 45 minutes on the phone with Artix talking over DoomWood plot this morning. With some luck she hopes to be back in the lab toward the end of this week.

Get well soon, Alina. We miss you at the AQW table and the halls of the AE lab are far too quiet without "There's a MAYUN in there!" bouncing off of them. (Inside joke. Ask her.)

Now, stop laughing, you'll pop a stitch, and get some sleep.

September 08, 2010

DragonCon 2010!

The AE Team is home with tons of Pictures and Stories

We are back from the biggest and craziest fantasy/sci-fi/anime/pop-culture convention of the year. Over 30,000 people attended DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia this year... most in costumes... we had the time of our lives. We got to meet players of the games for the first time as well as see many familiar faces. Please note is is officially against the rules of the AE team to post photos of ourselves.... (note: we are very very bad at following rules) Read on!

Jemini from the MechQuest team as Jedi Barbie

The Battle Bus and Truckstop Payphone Madness

We crammed 36 members of the AE team into three vehicles on the way up. (Somehow we came back with 39...)  At the first rest stop the noise our phones make when we get a new twitter message went off... Cysero had posted the phone number to the payphone we were standing next to and we started taking calls from players who wanted to say hi! We took calls from nearly 20 players during our pitstops!!!

Artix prepares to demonstrate the very dangerous-to-Paladins jumping jack technique

The AQWorld's Panel

"What is the difference between regular panels and Artix panels? ... well, I am pretty sure other companies do not show their home movies and chuck candy and weird DVDs at fans who answer trivia."

Our panel at DragonCon.... the wierd videos seen can never be unseen!

The players passed around the 25lb replica of the Blinding Light of Destiny

The official word from the DragonCon staff was that thanks to all of you who attended we were the #2 panel in the entire gaming track! I wore the Paladin armor that Nythera's friend crafted for me.... because, and please know I have never dressed up in cosplay before so I was quite nervous.  Especially since the armor was finished literally 1 minute before I went to the panel. When I walked in, everyone started clapping....  I nearly shed a tear. But instead I showed everyone the top secret way to get an AQW Paladin to hurt themselves.... make them do jumping jacks with those upward swiveling shoulder pads!

Player's got to see the man behind the voice of EpicDuel's epic updates as Titan talked about the PvP game. Titan from EpicDuel. Cysero was... as usual... hysterical!. I have no idea how he makes us all laugh so much.... and the prizes he gave out were so weird! ...including a tutorial DVD on "how to draw pistols like a real cowboy movie star" and what has to be the worst kung fu movie...  dubbed... but not in english...  with a half-finished paint by number image tiger on the cover.... and the most popular item of all -- a banana signed by the AE Team.

We took questions, showed clips from movies that you will see soon as live action game and.... of course... punted Twilly. The winner of the 2010 Punt Twilly contest took home Guitar Hero for the Wii (thanks to xFinity.)  Oh, and we got two very unusual gifts. Cysero was given a GIANT sock made of socks... which secretly contained a little baby green sock. One player's mother baked us 3 pies that said 'Battle On' on them!!! (We also got some super cool chain bracelets!)

Players baked and brought us Battle On Pies!? Beleen and Safiria (pictured) were prepared to throw them if we ran out of candy.

This year's in-game convention attendance item was chosen by everyone who attended the panel... a Steampunk Dragon. It has been added to the game and placed on the characters of those who signed up for it at at the panel. If you like the style of this SteamPunk pet.... read on because we are thinking of an entire zone of SteamPunk stuff that everyone can help us make! As requested by the players, the steampunk dragon explodes if you sit long enough.

DragonCon Panel SteamPunk Dragon

The only thing that could have possibly made the panel better is if you were all with us too... and maybe a live action game to go along with those videos. Next year let's work on getting both of those things!

ROLITH PROPOSED TO ALINA!

THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE WEEKEND! During the 1st night of the convention.... DragonFable programmer Rolith proposed to DragonFable writer Alina! He chose the special spot where they had first spent time talking and getting to know each other at DragonCon 2 years ago. The proposal first happened in game in a AWESOME and funny cutscene completely unbeknownst to Alina. Players waiting anxiously to hear the result. You can still play the cutscene and see what happened by logging into DragonFable and then reading the design notes.

The Big New Game Announcement

The big news at our official panel was the announcement of a new MMO which is scheduled to start Alpha in November. Members of AQworlds will be invited to play in the alpha (Update: After reading your forum posts we are meeting on this to figure out how we can accomidate all players who have made this possible on the very limited-space testing server.) to help test our new game engine and be the first to fly around wearing your undershorts on the wrong side -- that is right... it is time for a Super Hero game!

The Artix Entertainment Party

Later that night after the panel we co-sponsored a party with Sony Online Entertainment and xFinity (formerly Comcast? ... they change their name more often than Nebula asks for new bows.) There were a shocking number of people attending with dancing, light-saber limbo...

Lightsaber Limbo

...and.... *apologetic sigh* well for this next one I would like to give a select number of our players my apology.

Party Disaster #1: Artix Apologies

I would like to sincerely apologize to all of you who I invited, but were not able to enter due to the age restriction. Originally we were the sole sponsors of the party and it was an all ages party. Somehow, along the way this changed and we were not notified. When we found out they were carding people at the door I was really upset -- especially since I invited so many of you personally. I spent most of the party in the hall so I could talk with players who could not get in, but I know many of you had already left before then. I am truly sorry and will make it up to you. Next year we will be throwing a party on our own and you and everyone reading this post are officially invited as guests of honor.

Party Disaster #2: Artix wipes out on stage... then loses voice... in style

This was the first time we had ever done something like this -- we were very unprepared. Now, I always speak to you very personally sharing the good times, bad times... and then there are stories like this one. The other companies at the party all had giant banners, marketing materials on the tables, a live web video feed and a bearded dwarf lady in full armor (who had some killer dance moves for the record) We.... um.... did not know we were supposed to bring anything, LOL! When our Dwarven co-sponsor got up on stage and gave out tons and tons of free stuff... we gulped. Then when they gave out tons of MORE free stuff... we... gulped again. we were informed that it was our turn to go up in front of the 500+ person crowd and I was to say a few words on behalf of our company. *Panic* Now, that was a tough act to follow... even if we had brought anything! It is sort of like finding out you were supposed to give a speech in front of the class... right after the super smart guy who always made you look bad in front of the cute girl you had a crush on had just given their speech. (Was that a bit too personal? I wonder what Tim Kibiki is doing now. Anyway!) So it is my belief that there are only two options in a situation like this. 1.) You can swallow hard, walk up on stage, and politely thank everyone for coming and hope no one notices. Or 2.).... (and my choice).... you run up onto the stage full throttle, grab the mic while yelling BAAAAAAAATTTTTTLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEE....... (like Kimberly from One Eyed Doll during that live event) and then flipping wipe out onto the stage as hard as physically possible. I tumbled and hit the stage so hard that the audio equipment jumped. Every one in the room suddenly turned to the stage as the room went dead silent. I stayed motionless the obligatory 2 seconds then sprung back like a spring on my shoulders and did a martial arts kip-ups, jumping back to my feet and yelled into the mic.... OOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!! The room laughed and cheered. With a surge of confidence I thanked the crowd and ad-libbed, "We are WAAAAY to poor to have brought you free stuff... ", and over the room's laughter I continued, "HOWEVER... if you walk over and talk to the lovely Safiria standing *points* over there she will  here she will give you a free item in our hit MMO AQWorlds!" Then Cysero said a few words and I took the mic and shouted "PARTY ON!" as we walked off the stage. In the crowd... a bunch of people said, "Hey... isn't he supposed to say Battle On?" So I grabbed the mic and screamed Battle On so loud that people in the buildings OTHER party heard me.

Voltaire's Concert

Later... that night.... or into the wee hours of the morning... We saw Voltaire's perform in front of  4,000+ of his fans. Sporting a newly grown beard (very odd!) he sang songs from his two new albums "Spooky Songs for Creepy Kids" which features cover art from the event and the AQW live event versions of the songs.. AND... (and this is not made up)... songs from his *blinks* new Country album "Hate Lives in a Small Town" Very strange! They are available for pre-order on his voltaire website. 

Cysero & Alces Battle Robots

For those of you following C's Twitter they and their friend entered their robot "Binky the WarBear" into the robotics competition. With 2 wins and 2 losses, Binky did a mighty fine job! But the underdog robo-win of the event went to a 6th Grader who's mechanical monster beat everyone including even the favored to win MIT Robotics student's machine in the final match

Our favorite match was Nuclear Kitten 5.1 vs Wedgie!

Celebrities & Thanks!

There were a ton of celebrities at DragonCon... for example, Stan Lee's room was right next to mine. We got to see  Kaylee from Firefly, Data/Riker/Counselor Troi from Star Trek, and even Buck Rogers! (This way was easier than calling them by their real names and then explaining who they were) George Lowe was there -- and surprisingly hard to get past the line to talk to!  .. and no DragonCon would be compete without sitting uncomfortably in the elevator with Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) and not saying a word. But the people we were most excited to see at the con was the staff and players who came to see us. DragonCon is the only time we get to see far away staff like Westwind, Aelthai, Pae, Vivi, Kamui, Stratos, Razer, Koi, and Maegwyn. Also, Sunumbrella once again returned all the way from New Zealand to see us.... and all of the other familiar faces that joined us this year. Thank you for coming and making this the biggest and most memorable time ever!

Zorbak... erm... Twilly goes to Con!

Each year, Zorbak has run around with his camera taking pictures with people in the best and craziest costumes! However, this was Twilly's last year at DragonCon (There are less than 100 of him left at Jinx and is about to go perma rare as the new Twilly 2011 is being released next year.) So we photographed Twilly trying to heal and cure all of the zombies, monsters and other cosplayers! These photos will show up on the Zorbak goes to Con website later this week!

SteamPunk... the next big thing!

Imagine an alternate reality where steam became the source of all energy in the world. Set in a Victorian themed world full of romance and adventure with steam powered vehicles, crazy goggles, and clockwork mechanical madness... this is SteamPunk. (Did you ever see the movie Wild Wild West with Will Smith?) It is growing in popularity faster than that time we put tribbles in our server room. People were dressed up as steam punk super heroes, and there was even a steam punk Ash from Army of Darkness! All of the old anime stalls seemed to be converted to SteamPunk stalls selling weird retro-steam-nerf-weapons and victorian hats, and...  half the AE team came back wearing steam punk goggles. We want to do a SteamPunk zone in AQWorlds. Instead of doing the same ol' same ol' we want to do something really crazy. I was thinking a Clockwork Necromancer with an army of steam-augmented undead (but you guys know me...) Do you have any ideas? Have you ever heard of this genre before? What would you like to see in the next AQworld's major storyline? (...and do you think we could get away with some Doctor Who references?)

Forum Question: Steam Punk Storyline!? COME BRAINSTORM ON THE FORUMS!