Design Notes
November 11, 2010
The DoomKnight Room
"Never Give Up" Achievement Unlocked
I have really missed you over the past 7 crazy, insane, sleep deprived days of conventions, guests and meetings. Expecting to finally write you a long design notes and tell you about everything in detail... the situation finds my fingers going Mach 5 to type this all out before I miss my flight to LA to attend Miltonius' wedding*! Last I wrote to you, I shared with you my belief that we are capable of doing anything in life as long as you persist and never give up. This was put to the test two weeks ago as I told several hundred thousand of your fellow gamers here on the design notes that I was going to meet an impossible deadline by building a house the same way we build video games.... and have it ready for a few VIP guests who were coming in for the convention at 6am last Friday. Failure would not just mean I had to get the guests a hotel room... but that I would have to tell you that I was wrong. Well, maybe it is not possible to do absolutely everything... but I will tell you that at 5am on Friday (1 hour before they arrived) we were ready! The place had a floor, electricity, hot water (well, luke warm...), and a DoomKnight Room! (Although, LOL, I was not able to legally use my bathroom in my room.) You may have seen some in-progress pictures of the DoomKnight room with it's wall of skulls and giant Shadowscythe logo** were seen on my Twitter account. We were all hoping Kimberly (Lead Singer of One-Eyed Doll) would choose that room and be the first to sign the creepy guest book for people who dared slumber in that room. A picture is worth a thousand tweets!
* Cupid apparently found a machinegun replacement for his Bow at the Secret Underground Lab this year.
** Yes! There is also a Paladin room! But it is on the opposite side of the room for anti-dimentional-rifting reasons.
Why Artix will never get hired as an interior decorator...
Of course the craziness did not stop there. In addition to the game releases and launch of the novel we also ran a booth at the convention. Cysero made a great post below... and I would also like to thank everyone who came! It was great seeing you :-) If you were not able to go -- we need to find a way to meet you too! We should throw our own convention.... erm... in the DoomKnight room? Claustrophobic-Doom-Con! Talking about which, Voltaire was the second person to sign the DoomKnight room's guestbook. Then Galanoth and I met with Toys R Us to talk about the new card game and maybe action figures. They were really nice.... just do not tell them the things I would do to actually make a Sepulchure or Drakath action figure O_O. Of course this brings us full circle back to the Cartoon/Anime. To be honest... we just do not have enough people to make all of these ideas actually happen. I think you and the other creative players are going to need to come help us :-) Just for the record, the player Xyo, who is well known for his fan video has recently started creating new commercials for AQWorlds. The first one "Darkovia" just went on TV today! Please let us know what you think if you see it. This week the CHAOS LORD fight opens for all players and...
OMG.. PLANE LEAVING!
Talk to you again soon friends. BATTLE ON!
August 02, 2010
Being A Concise And Much Anticipated Recounting Of Orbs, Fish, PvP and Friday the 13th
Of Orbs...
If you happen to own one of Miltoious' Orb Pets, you probably noticed that last week we took the quests out of the orbs. We did this mostly to keep their rarity for you. We have added code that allows ONLY YOU the orb's master, to access the quest that will allow you to transform your rare non-ac version of the Void of Miltonius into one of the other non-AC armors once again.
We might have to change a few more things like this to actually protect those rares as rares in other pets that came from the zone. As he warned you when he began this long, strange journey... Expect changes and don't cry when they come.
If your orb doesn't give you the quest, close your game window, empty your cache and relog-in to AQW.
Of Fish...
If you were following Beleen's Twitter or My Twitter, you probably know about this already but we've got a new Pet O' The Month in Aria's Pet Shop. It's Beleen's Stupid Derp-Fish!
Someone pointed out that it has (once again) been more than enough time to add a new Pet O' The Month and Beleen discovered that it's "Catfish Month" so she took 12 seconds and drew this...
Bear in mind that Beleen is NOT one of AE's artists.
There was suddenly a mass call for Beleen's Catfish to be made into the Pet O' The Month, which I immediatly shot down. I mean, look at it. It's got a eye on it's forehead. However, as the requests piled up, and the more I looked at this stupid thing, the more I loved the idea of getting it into game.
So I spent about 7 minutes of my time, translating this monstrosity into a pet for Aria's pet shop, staying as faithful to the original design as possible.
If you are a member you can pick up this amazing Pet O' The Month from Aria for a limited time (but probably more than a month). So yeah... have fun with that thing.
Of PvP...
This Friday we are closing the Darkovia PvP map and Re-opening Bludrut Brawl for ALL players (members and non-members alike will have access to the map)! It was one of the favorite maps from PTR PvP testing and we're happy to open it. Dumoose will ALSO be offering ALL NEW PvP Rewards!
Of Friday The 13th...
Artix, I and a handful of the other staff here in the secret underground lab were VERY excited to be on the phone with voice actor George Lowe as we ran through and recorded his lines for the Friday the 13th super insane-o event coming two weeks from now. Voltaire recorded his yesterday. Kimberly should be recording hers any day now. J6 is working on backgrounds and the George Lowe NPC while Milton crafts monsters and begins working on some of the longest, and best Cutscenes in this game. Skyline and Dage are both working on Friday the 13th items and PvP rewards and Beleen.... she's drawing derp-fish.
Ballyhoo Says Thanks!
Since we placed Ballyhoo in Battleon, allowed her to give you up to 5,000 FREE GOLD per day and DOUBLED her chance to drop ACs from watching her ads, she has been getting a few more visitors and feels much less lonely. She's always happy to see you, so be sure to stop by and get your free gold and ACs every day!
July 23, 2010
Let The Races Begin FINALLY!
Sorry For The Delay
You wouldn't believe the day that we've had. Poor llussion is on his last nerve trying to get all the coding done. He really wants to make a super fun mini-game and put a lot of time into but ran into some issues. So did Dumoose and I when making all the fixes to the Miltonius Zone. It also took some time adding all 43 race prizes to the minigame.
We've got 2 new armors, 3 new pets, 9 new weapons, 3 new helms, and 26 new house items! That's a whopping 43 brand new, never-before seen items that you can ONLY get by gaining racing trophies in the minigame! And you can ONLY play the minigame, if you are up to date in your Giant tale Quests!
We will have the release out as soon as we can, I promise!
The Biggest Bug
So, llussion has encountered the mother of all bugs. I guess we shouldn't have added so many roaches. The problem lies in the racing opponent AI. It was somthing that was working in the minigame engine and now is not. He has called in re-enforcememnts and busted out the COMEDICLY LARGE CAN OF BUG SPRAY.
I'm really really really sorry that the release is running so late. Believe me, we want to go home and put this week behind us as much as you want to play. I'll keep you as updated as I can.
Update: 10:55 PM
We've both been here since about 9AM, and neither of us have eaten since lunch. Just ran out to get Llussion and myself some dinner while he yelled at his computer, and shook it a little bit. Exactly the way you don't treat a baby.
Maybe it's the glow brought on by fast food or maybe it's the fact that we've been at work for about 15 hours, but I think we're making some headway!
Talked to Artix. He had fun at MertoCon. Goober.
Update: 11:05 PM
Starting to wonder if this will actually be a SATURDAY release. 55 mins left.
Also starting to wonder what my wireless mouse tastes like.
Update: 11:06 PM
Bad. It tastes bad.
Update: 11:16 PM
Zhoom has a breakthrough, finding a crack in the GREAT WALL OF BUGS. Roach racing opponent is no long bashing his face into the piles of mashed potatoes that the minigame places in his path, allowing the player to now finish the game!
Looking hopeful, right at the very second all hope seemed lost.
I should be webcasting this tragic comedy!
SIDE NOTE: Wireless mouse's off-putting taste just takes some getting used to. Now tastes like chickencow.
Update: 11:30 PM
J6 comes online to see if I'm ok after reading that I am chewing on my computer peripherals. Llussion, through his delirum, just mentioned something about "looking good". Can't be long now.
How long have we been in this wilderness?
I can't remember civilization. Was my life before the bugs all just a fever dream.
Update: 11:51 PM
Minigame now working, Beware hard mode, it's not impossible too difficult but those roachers will cut you off and drive you into the fruit. Llussion says we need to test just one more thing and we'll be ready to start the countdown!
Update: 12:10 AM
Looks like a Saturday release after all. BUT we are merre minutes from getting this release OUT! 10 minute warning Incoming!
kaneuf saeknfsoaenfkiawdoanbw d! (faceplant on keyboard)
Update: 12:31 AM
Servers are down, and so are we. Our brains are moving slugishly after 16 hours at this table.
Just making sure that everything has been moved to the live servers before we open up the floodgates and let you guys swarm in.
Hey, look at it this way... we saved you from the midnight lagstorm.
SIDE NOTE: My mouse is in tattered ruins. One of us was not going to make it home tonight. I'm glad it was him and not me or Llussion.
Update: 12:39 AM
WE ARE BRINGING THE SERVERS BACK ONLINE. We survived the release. The Miltonius changes are in, the Giant Tale part 3 is up, Cutscenes work, Racing Game works, Music works, Prize Wall works.
Something like 16 and a half hours after we walked into the lab, we are finally ready to leave.
Goodnight AQW, and thanks for keeping us company through our madness.
THE RELEASE IS LIVE!
Update: 1:44 AM
Broken Yulgar fixed, racing pets fixed, Crag & bamboozle and Dridgen prcing fixed. May odd dreams of edible wireless mice haunt carry you through the night.
This concludes our broadcast day. Going to bed. Night night.
July 22, 2010
Roach Racers & Sword Lasers
I've Never Used The New Design Notes System Before
This is a brand new back-end system that we're trying out. The amazing coding team put it together for us and NOW we have tags and we can link to specific entries and all kinds of good stuff. Let's see how badly I break it!
Roach Rage!
Tomorrow we're releasing the next to last section of the Giant Tale storyline, which includes a brand new racing minigame! We are also releasing loads of prizes you can earn by playing the game! Llussion has been blowing a lot of his brainpower (and coding time) on making this game interesting, and I haven't seen more than 3 seconds of it yet so we'll see how that turns out. Expect greatness.
(now, how do I add a picture?)
(I wonder if that worked.)
Some of you have been saying that the Giant Tale storyline isn't very interesting or too "kiddie" for your tastes but I have been having a BLAST writing these cutscenes and it's really nice to take a break from the stress of the constant war against Chaos to just have a little silly fun.
AE has always been about silly, stupid fun and I hope we never lose that part of ourselves. It's what makes us, us. So for those of you who have been laughing along with me, thanks for keeping me company on this adventure!
Friend's List Increased!
Zhoom told me the Friend's List Max was increased by 10, as promised. I haven't tried it out yet. Hope that works too.
Miltonius Fixes!
All is going well with the Miltonius Secret Area quest and item fixes. Today is the last day to turn in your AC Turn Ins, and pick whom you love better, Drudgen or Crag & Bamboozle. If you're confused by the whole concept, re-read my earlier DN's HERE. (did that work?)
Metrocon, Here We Come!
And when I say "We" I mean everyone else. Sometimes I look at by beautiful son and remember why I love being a father so much... because it get's me out of things like working the Artix Entertainment Merch Booth at MertoCon in Tampa this weekend (starting tomorrow actually) like Artix, Nythera, Ai No Miko, Thyton, Nightwraith, Faith, and Zazul!
I plan on stopping by for a few hours on Saturday, wearing my Chickencow T-Shirt! If you see me, say hi!
Our merch booth will be the FIRST PLACE EVER that someone will be able to buy the Chickencow T AND the NPCs AE Soundtrack CD! Remember that buying the CD will earn you a secret code that will unlock a special guitar item in EVERY AE GAME, including earining you the Green StarGuitar (and achievement) in AQW!
And, as you know the Chickencow T comes with a special in-game pet in DF and AQW. The non-member Armored Chicken Calf!
AND AND If you buy ANYTHING from our merchbooth at MertoCon, you will recieve the very, very, very, very rare MetroCon Samurai Moglin non-member pet in AQW! I know it's going to be very, very, very, very, very rare because MetroCon is NOT a very large convention. In fact, Shawn and Violet. y'all might be ONLY PEOPLE ON EARTH with these pets when all is said and done.
Critical Hits Track List
Lots of folks have been Tweeting me and asking about the NPC's AE Soundtrack CD Track listing.. so I'll just type that out for you. All 32 tracks of greatness.
- DF - Warcry Of The Paladin by Carbon Rapture (AKA The Out Crowd)
- ED - Epic Duel Suite by Warlic
- AQW - TV Spot by Warlic
- BH - Main Theme (Yeah, BladeHaven will have music) by Warlic
- Artix Vs the Undead - The Rise Of The Paladin by Warlic
- WF - Break Free by The Archivist
- AQW - Mythsong Classical by Warlic
- DF - All Roads Lead To Falconreach by Ghost
- AQW - Mythsong War by Warlic
- MQ - Flight Of The Kingadent by Warlic
- DF - Call Of Kathool Atchoo by Ghost
- MQ - Galactimecha 8Bit by Warlic
- AQW - Coronation by Warlic
- AQ - Bouree by Warlic (Arranged by J.S.Bach)
- DF - Demento's Dirge by Ghost
- MQ - Sugar Plums and DOOM by Warlic
- BH - Swamp Battle by Warlic
- DF - Looks Like It's Time To Get Awesome by Ghost
- AQW - March Of The Doom by Warlic
- MQ - Crush The Weak by Evil Jim
- AQ - Shipcrash by Warlic
- DF - Into The Fray by Ghost
- MQ - Evil Jam by Warlic
- AQW - Sneevil Jig by Warlic
- MQ - Spaceflight by Warlic
- DF - You Will Become What You Once Destroyed by Ghost
- MQ - Ticklish Zorbo Dance Party by Warlic
- AQW - Dramatic Theme by Warlic
- DF - Magiscience - Ghost
- MQ - Sys-Zero Breakbeat by Warlic
- DF - Ruins Of Bask by Ghost
- NPC's Original - Don't Like Them Ninjas by Warlic, Zhoom, Alina and Artix
*whew*
And to answer some of your OTHER questions, YES, the CD will eventually be available on Heromart, once we get it up and running and it will still come with the rare guitar items!
What have we learned today? Ghost favors long titles, Cysero likes the new DN posting system, BladeHaven (our next game project) has music, and aircraft deisgners use a "chicken gun" to fire dead poultry at 900 miles an hour at the windshields of new aircraft to test how well they will handle getting hit by birds mid-flight.
That last bit is entirely true. It was also my 1337th post. W3rd.
Now let's go see if this DN's post worked!
AQ3D
BattleGems
BioBeasts
Dragons
Undead Assault