Design Notes
July 27, 2010
Metrocon Pictures and Stories!
Wait... you guys are really real?
Last weekend the team went to the Metrocon Anime convention. It was so much fun! It was the 1st time we had ever ran a booth. Meeting people without a keyboard in-beween is so strange! Thyton and Nightwraith drew sketches for people while the rest of us talked to people about what we were building and... generally just had a lot of fun! It was a huge success. (Well, unless you are good at math. for every $1 we earned, we spent $2 on anime, manga and silly hats.) We wished you all could have been there. Until Zhoom finishes his insta-teleportation machine so we can travel everywhere... I have some pictures for you... now, it is officially against our policy to post real pictures of us on the game sites. But I am going to break the rules for you... because if I cannot meet you in person, I would like to meet you here online. So if you have been wondering what Artix and the team really look like... Here you go! (Note: I immediately regret this decision!)
Nythera, Ai No Miko & Artix crashing cosplayers with their games!
We were amazed at the huge number of people who knew and had played our games. Everyone and their grandmother (literally, we met one) had played the original AdventureQuest. Meanwhile we got to meet a ton of incredibly cool AQWorlds and DragonFable players. However, it was MechQuest that shocked us all. Die hard MechQuest fans were so intense, loyal, and dedicated... and there were so many! There must be something special about delivering Pizza in a 100 ton war machine (stepping on cars may hurt your tip though.) Some players even came dressed up -- including one girl in Alpha Pirate armor! Our friends from DragonCon returned in costume as J6, Valencia, Tek, and Ash!
Cosplayers, Chickencow T-shirts and... *Whispers* Thyton is the one on the far left.
We had a giant candy bowl which we used to lure unsuspecting convention attendees to our booth. (Unrelated note: While normally a very healthy eater... I chomped down about 3 bowls worth of candy during the convention.) Many people were surprised when they found out that all of us running the booth actually built and run the games... we were not just some faceless corporation that just imported games from other Countries. You could see the passion and enthusiasm for the games when talking to the team. They are as super friendly in real life as they are in game! (Talking about which... the poor skeleton crew back at the lab really had a rough time. But we are going to make it up to you... we are making something EXTRA SPECIAL for you for Friday the 13th)
We had some new things with us including the ChickenCow Shirts and our first Music CD, The NPC's "Critical Hits". If you picked up one of the ones from the convention... check your email tomorrow. We will be sending instructions. If you were not there, do not worry -- they will be available with the premiere of the new HeroMart store which will open shortly. "Shop Smart... shop... HeroMart!" Unfortunately, we are now completely out of stock of Thermo-Nuclear Detonators for Toddlers and Herios Breakfast Cereal (Free Princess in every box -- be sure to rescue her before the expiration date!) Meanwhile, the MechQuest Artbook is still available at Jinx.
People watching 101. If you are ever out with a group of friends in a public place and want to do something funny... try this. During day two of the convention Cysero, Thyton, and a bunch of others went out to the center of the room and.... just looked up and stared with shocked expressions at a random spot on the ceiling. They did this for about 10 minutes without so much as glancing away. Meanwhile, back at the booth -- we video taped the reactions of people walking by. People react so weirdly! From flinching, running, studying it... but.. no one ever asks what they are looking at!
Once again, thank you to everyone for making this such a special and memorable experience. Now... what convention should we do next!?
Should have finished mouth full of caaaaaandy before the photo was taken
Watch J6 draw LIVE on Thursday
We are setting up a special room in AQWorlds. You will be able to go there and watch J6 draw a weapon for this week's release.... LIVE as he draws it. We are not sure how to facilitate chat, but we will think of something. We are aiming for 3pm EST this Thursday
Giant Finale & the Start of the new Zone
This week is the finale of the Giant zone! Next.. if the poll on the forums continues the way it is going, we will enter the enhanted forest of Arcangrove. How high should we raise the level cap for the next zone?
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!
July 21, 2010
Preparing for Metrocon
The convention is only 2 days away!
It is madness here at the lab. Cysero and the team are getting a brand new release ready for you in AQWorlds on Friday. Meanwhile, Nythera, Thyon, Miko, Faith and I are preparing to run our first ever booth at the Metrocon Convention. We created a giant 9 foot wide banner to hang behind the booth and another 9 foot wide one to go in front. We have a few never before seen things that we will be releasing at the convention... like our first music CD!
The BattleOn NPCs
Our first music album is called The NPCs - "Critical Hits". It features 32 tracks of music from ALL of our web based games... and a bonus track of Zhoom's never before heard themesong, "I don't like dem Ninjas." EbilCorp ninjas best go to Yulgar's for some ear plugs. The CD sounds amazing and there are some songs on it that I did not even know we had in game!
Target 10% off Promotion
Just a reminder - Target Stores are offering 10% off our in-store Game Cards until the end of the month. You can use any of our game cards, even the ones that just say for AdventureQuest and DragonFable, for ANY of our games. You can even stack up cards to get larger packages by using the Master Account System.
Random Act of Kindness
It does not cost anything to make someone smile. I think it is contagious when people do good deeds. Especially they do them for no reason at all. So please join me in a quest today to do an act of random kindness. Help a stranger with a problem, give someone a compliment or words of encouragement, do an unexpected chore at the house just so someone else does not need to, or even politely answer a question from someone who is frazzled. When you complete this quest... keep it a secret. The reward is a feeling deep within your heart that will have no equal.
Friday the 13th
Thank you for reminding me that we have a Friday the 13th coming up next month! I want to do something bigger and crazier than we have ever done before! Bigger than a box of herios breakfast cereal!
Forum Question: Any ideas? Maybe an un-Friday the 13th?
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