 Alac Regularly stays up until midnight
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December 31st 2009 Break out the noisemakers and streamers! What do YOU want to see come to DragonFable in 2010? New classes? New weapons? New storylines with new and/or old NPCs? We might make DragonFable, but it's really YOUR game, and we'll try our hardest to give you what you want! 2010 will have MANY new things (we're pretty sure of what many of those are, but... surprises are always fun, right?) like the Water Orb Saga, the DragonsGrasp/Vilmor storyline, the final ArchKnight quest, the final Zorbak's Legion quest, the start of the Ravenloss/Tomix saga, the continuation of the Clashening Saga... we've got so much planned, and so much more still to plan! This year was fantastic, but next year will be even awesomer! The New Year's shop will come at midnight (well, maybe a few minutes later) tonight, so look forward to some awesome new Chrono weapons crafted by Lim! Tomorrow will see the finished War Memorial released, and nine old wars return to DragonFable along with a rather timely quest from Geopetal.
So as the midnight hour draws closer, put on a silly hat, grab yourself a plastic lei and some noisemakers (I like the kind that explodes streamers. My dog does not.), and keep an eye out for any strange crawling babies wearing "Welcome 2010" sashes. Put them back in their cribs, then go back to the party. If you've got a computer handy, be sure to watch the Big Ball drop in Times Rectangle in AdventureQuest Worlds! P.S. - The second CodeMonkey Day Challenge is here! Head to Lymcrest and click on the tog. Remember, you'll need to work together on the forum to figure this out. And.... don't overthink it. Just a tip. |
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December 29th 2009 Wow, it's been THAT long?
I noticed the design notes hadn't gotten much attention this week and decided to pay it some. First of all, Happy Frostval! Hope you're enjoying your holidays. I'm looking forward to New Years for more than one reason ("He Shall Knock Four Times!") but mainly because it offers a fresh, new start and a chance to finish old tasks and start on new ones. What are you most looking foward to in the coming year? What's coming this week? Well, I think we've safely decided on a Friday Release (except for a little release Thursday *cough*) to avoid rushing and making this week's quests as well made as possible. We may be on the four sides of the country, but we're all working hard on the release. Have a happy and safe New Years if I don't talk to you before then! Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter) |
Alac Is having a merry Frostval | December 25th 2009 With your help, the moglins of Lore are safe! This year ALL the moglins of Lore were kidnapped by Zadd the Golemancer, who wanted to steal their hug magic! Now, you know the moglins of Lore are very friendly, but some of them prefer to pick and choose their friends on their own terms. Zorbak is one of those! When Zadd goes to hug him, unexpected things happen! Log in to see the conclusion of the Frostval storyline and the opening of Chapter 4's Frostvale! Who wants PRESENTS? Head to Frostvale and talk to Maya (or click on the Gift button in Falconreach) to have access to this year's Frostval Weapon series! These Silver weapons range from level 10 to level 60 and are available for both free and upgraded players. You can also talk to Papa Moglin in Frostvale to merge ANY level of Dragon Head weapon with an Ice Dragon Head item to create the level VI or level VII Dragon Head weapons! On the fourth week of Frostval, DragonLords find under their tree... Head to DragonsGrasp, to the Armory, and talk to one of the three trainers there to change your base class for a Dragon version! These classes will only ever be available to DragonLords, so if you like the look of them (and the skills and animations), then now is the perfect time to upgrade your character and gain access to them!
Geopetal, Rolith, Lim, Ghost, Tomix, and I along with the rest of the Artix Entertainment staff want to wish you the merriest of Frostvals and a happy holiday! Thank you for enjoying our games and, as always, we can't thank you enough for your support and feedback. Merry Frostval! |
Alac Wishes you a merry Frostval. | December 23nd 2009 Grab your moglinberry juice and get ready for part 1!
.... and in the meantime, the poor frost moglins continued to be hugged and squeezed in the mountains. As you prepare for your Christmas Eve assault to save them... will they last for another night of hugs?! Look for this year's presents in Frostvale to open on Christmas Day! I have a plane to catch. Jolly Frostvalmas! We'll see you Christmas Day to open the presents! And remember, the last Frostval quest will be coming later! |
Alac is getting ready for Frostval.  Lim Cookies for SCIENCE! | December 22nd 2009 Jingle bells, jingle bells, Frostval smells... like cookies! For Lim's latest comic all about Snickerdoodles and the trials of getting some when surrounded by unappreciative co-workers, check out this link: Click for comic. Release news on Wednesday:
Release news on Friday:
It's the last few days before Christmas, and everyone on the DragonFable team who works in the Secret Underground Lab is going to be traveling home for the holidays (that won't delay the Wednesday and Friday releases, though!). If you're traveling for the holidays, too, travel safely! |
 Cysero Gave What He Could | December 21st 2009 And it's for a good cause!
This is a great charity set up by the guys over at Penny Arcade, that brings the gamer community together to help kids in children's hospitals all over the world. It runs year-round now but they try extra hard during the holidays to get the gaming community together to show the rest of the world what we're made of. For the past couple of years we were able to actually be sponsors of Child's Play which due to circumstances beyond our control, we were not able to do this year... although many of us dug down into our pockets and gave personally. We've decided to try something a little different this year. We printed up this high-gloss, 24" X 30 3/4" poster of XAN, on foam-core and got as many of the AE Team to sign it as we could.
It was signed by me (Cysero), Artix, Zhoom, Safiria, Warlic, Thyton, Beleen, Tomix, Ghost, J6, Llussion, Ai No Miko, Jemini, Korin, Geopetal, Aisha, Faith, Alac, Rolith, Nythera, Zazul & Yergen Von Shmergenbergen. The picture was taken before we got everyone to sign it, but the names are all on there! There is only 1 of these in the entire world! (note from future: It was sole on Ebay, and 100% of the profit from the auction went directly to Child's Play Please, do whatever you can to show the world what we already know... that Artix Entertainment fans are the best fans on Earth! Even if you don't win the poster, Childs Play could use your help! Thanks for bidding and Happy Frostval to you all! |
Alac Borrowed moglins from Zadd. | December 18th 2009 Putting the squeeze on poor little moglins!
Not Ravenloft. Not Ravenclaw. Welcome to Ravenloss!
On the third week of Frostval, the moglins gave to me....! DragonLords can access a new minigame this week! We call it "Slayer Splash"; DragonLords will be dropping water balloons on the most prominent non-DragonLord of them all: the DragonSlayer Galanoth! You don't want to HURT him, but who can resist dropping water balloons from a flying city? Watch him run away, then giggle like a little schoolgirl. It's ok, we do it, too! CAUTION: Construction Zone!
Frostval continues, but in the real world, Christmas is almost upon us! We hope you're all enjoying the holidays and making sure to spend time with your family and friends, because we're deifnitely going to be spending time with ours! If you have to travel to do it, fly/drive/walk/swim safely! |
Alac Has a message. | December 17th 2009 The newest shipment of presents has arrived in Frostval!
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Alac Needs your opinion. | December 15th 2009 Which Free Player weapon was YOUR favorite? If you'd like to vote on which free player weapons you liked the best, please head to the forums and vote in THIS poll! |
Alac Has the whole list. | December 14th 2009 The Treasury is going to be SO depleted after this! You all had a chance to request improvements and offer suggestions in a thread on the forums; we've gone over them and made up a list of things that will be put in-game as soon as we have the time to do them! (Even though the improvements will start being added next week, construction takes time. Look for new improvements to be added to the town every couple of weeks for the next few months!) So, what ARE these improvements, you ask? We've divided them into four categories: New Places, New Things, Cosmetic Changes, and Miscellaneous Suggestions. Here are some examples of what you can look forward to in each category:
Remember, these aren't the ONLY things we'll be doing to improve Falconreach, but they are some of the examples we're most excited about! Look for the newest improvements to start appearing next week!
P.S. - Happy birthday, Beleen and Chongo! If you want a chinchilla pet (member only) in AdventureQuest Worlds, then log in now! You can see what Chongo looks like by reading the AQW Design Notes! |
Alac Is ready to duel! | BREAKING NEWS: Epic Duel goes LIVE! The time to DUEL is now! Varium has also been released along with the opportunity to get Founder status in this brand new game. Because there are no memberships, Varium is what you want if you want awesome upgrades in-game! If you like PvP and a deep combat system featuring a skill tree -- come play!
Become a Founder! Not only that, if you buy either of the two higher Varium packages at any time until then, you'll receive the very DUELMASTER armor! This awesome armor is ONLY available while the Founder promotion is going on, so it is VERY exclusive! You won't want to miss this!
If you haven't had a chance to play Epic Duel yet, this is the time to try it out! Head to Epic Duel's website to start dueling now! There's a chance you'll run across Artix, Cysero, Rolith, and me as we run around battling and trying to level up our characters! (I run a technomage. Go mages! /rock) |
Alac Comes bearing gifts. | December 11th 2009 We're gonna find out if you're naughty or nICE! New monsters have been sighted in the area, too. Ice and snow golems have invaded the area, but no one knows where they've come from! They look pretty nasty, and don't act much nicer. There IS something odd about these monsters, though... sometimes they MELT during battle! I guess that's a hazard of being made of unstable components and ice! Necromancer seeks Queen! On the second week of Frostval, the moglins gave to me...
For DragonLord players, there is a brand new Weaponry Shop in DragonsGrasp packed FULL of new weapons from level 11 all the way to level 60! You'll have access to the Orbed Set, the Dragontooth Set, the Kaaros set, and the Shari set! Reni Bluestar, the winner of the Banner!
It's time to be getting your gift lists made, then checking them twice (or, if you're like me, three or four times to make sure everyone is on it and has a gift listed). Then it's off to make a present for my Secret Santa! (Shhh, they don't know who they are yet). Do you have any gifts you're REALLY happy to have purchased or made for someone? Let us know! Happy Friday and Merry Frostval! P.S. - The DragonLord Birthday quest now has level 60 versions of the color-custom birthday weapons! If your character's birthday is in December and you've already done the quest, better re-do it and snag a level 60 version in case you need it later in the year! P.P.S. - Thanks to Veya from the DF General Discussion forum, level 30 and level 52 versions of the Frostval Top Hat can now be found in the Moglin Gift shop in Chapter 2, Part 4 of the Frostval quest chain! P.P.P.S. - Check the Presents shop when you open the Frostval book! There are new presents there: a red present, green,present and blue present, all for 0 gold! They will open later this month. |
Alac Will give out rewards now. | December 8th 2009 The DragonLord "New DragonsGrasp Banner" Contest results are in! Grand Prize: Runners-up Honorable Mentions Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who entered! We hope you had fun! The banners made by the Runners Up will be turned into House items the next time we do housing items. |
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December 8th 2009 What a week!!! I've been very busy lately. VERY busy. Between Engine Build 9.0.0, lots and lots of behind the scenes projects, and teaching Lim how to code monsters (Why does he keep laughing maniacally when I show him how to buff damage against magic users?). I've been pushing forward on our week to week releases' coding as well as a few surprises for Frostval presents later this month. That said, tonight I was feeling productive but not productive enough to go digging into the engine, so I thought I'd take the reins off of Alac's hands (she's still working on getting the contest winners post together) and make a post myself. I've been making GOOD progress on 9.0.0, and have started to employ the Smiley Method* to determining what's left to do. My personal check list (which contains some special surprises that I'm not going to put on the official one) is already decked out with green and blue smileys, and I am working with Alac to get those same smilies on the page listed to give you guys a feeling of how far we've got to go. But I'm not here just to talk about how busy I am. Where's the fun in that? I'm here to spread some holiday joy! Frostval is upon us, and this week? We're going to get the ball rolling for this year's celebration! Except... where are Zorbak and Twilly? What has happened to all the Moglins? What in the world can be going on? We'll start to find out this week! Along with that, there are still the Four Weeks of Frostval gifts to give out, as well as starting to fill in that long void of weapons between 50 and 60!** Also? Fraggle Rock has recently become accessible to me for the first time in probably over a decade... and man oh man did I sing my heart out to that theme song. I didn't realize I knew all the words, but apparently I do. And now I'm stuck with that ear worm*** and so is everyone sitting at the DF table. This leads me neatly to the Forums Question for the week: What TV Show theme will you never be able to forget about, no matter how much you try? Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter) * The Smiley Method was developed during DoomKnight coding and has been used on every one of my major projects since. Green Smiley next to my checklist means I've coded the step, Blue means I've tested it, Red means it's been tested throughly and is ready to go live. ** Alac says there will be at least one set of weapons over level 50 available this weekend. Maybe more, if you've been good heroes this year. Bad heroes will get coal. (Not Cole the Gift Moglin.) *** An "ear worm" is a song that won't get out of your head. Fitting name, don't you think? |
| December 7th 2009 You know the sound a hi-hat makes after a comedian tells a joke? Rolith found a link to the sound online and it's turned into a room full of stand up comics. If comics sat on rolly chairs in a secret underground lab while telling jokes. But what I'm about to tell you is no joke! It's the second week of Frostval and more presents are being wrapped as I type this. Lim's had his gift ready to go for a few weeks now; he really hopes you'll like it, as people have been asking for this for quite a while now in various threads on the forum. There will be a gift for DragonLords, too, but you guys can do without a hint, right? Right, I thought so.* The Frostval storyline will start this weekend! If you've wondered where Zorbak and Twilly have gone, you're going to find out! Something always happens to the Frostvale moglins, but that's a GOOD thing for you, because after you rescue them, they're eager to show their gratitude with one-of-a-kind Frostval items and gear! The next Zorbak's Legion quest will release this weekend, too! Zorbak is going to try to ally with everyone's favorite <NPC class>. But first he'll need your help to <action> the <monster species> who is trying to <action> <NPC name>. Don't you just love Mad Libs? I know, me too!** Lim, Rolith, Jemini, Thyton, Yergen von Schmergenbergen, and I stood around judging the DragonLord Banner contest entries this afternoon. We have gotten them narrowed down pretty far! Look for a Design Notes post announcing the winner, runners up, and honorable mentions later this week! * But I can't go without giving one! Head to DragonsGrasp this Friday to see this week's DragonLord Frostval present! |
| December 4th 2009 Frostval is here! It's time for snow, snow, and more snow! Unless, of course, you live in the more temperate climates. I used to live farther North before moving down to the Secret Underground Lab,so today Cysero introduced me to the concept of "Florida snow". It is JUST LIKE normal snow but... not. It took me a minute to catch on until I looked out the window. "Florida snow" is rain, and we get a LOT of it. In Falconreach, though, you'll get REAL snow, because it wouldn't be Frostval unless the ground was white, Frostvale was open, visions of sugared moglinberries danced in your head, and the Moglins had presents! There's just one catch... we can't seem to FIND the moglins! Zorbak and Twilly in Falconreach are gone; only cardboard cutouts are in their places. Where could they have gone?! This year's Frostval storyline will start NEXT week, but we'll have the previous Frostval storybook available for you, as well as the first Frostval gift! What IS the gift, you ask? Level cap raise! That's right, we're raising it to 60! It's been a while since the last level cap raise, so take your time and enjoy watching your EXP bar fill up again! But that's not all; there is a present for DragonLords, too! Read on for more information about it! CALLING ALL DRAGONLORDS! Who or what could the DragonLords be guarding in this prison?! Zorbak Legion also has a new installment in its quest chain this week! Zorbak wasn't pleased that you took out a large part of his army, so he's going to let you make it up to him by taking the babies and recruiting some new (way less cute) help for his army. But these baby dracoliches never quite do what Zorbak expects, do they? We also have a brand new contest starting tonight! DragonLords can enter to design a NEW DragonLord banner (like the ones in the picture above) for DragonsGrasp! You can find the post to enter it here. The Grand Prize winner will get their DragonLord Banner put in-game, 1,000 Dragon Coins, and then a special super-secret surprise prize! (surprise + prize = surprize!) Honorable Mentions will, as usual, all receive a prize as well! Good luck! And if you haven't yet played Epic Duel, well, what are you waiting for?! Upgraded members of any Artix Entertainment game can create an account for Epic Duel and log in now to start experiencing a wide world of MMO PVP fun! It's a great game, a game in which I REALLY need to level up. Anyone want to battle? And all members should create a Battle On Master Account. Read Artix's Design Notes post below for more information! Enjoy the beginning of the Holiday season and have a great weekend!
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 Artix Has something to share | December 3rd 2009 All players are invited to create a Battle On Master Account . this is the Alpha test of the new system which will unify all of our games. Surprise - we are lauching our 5th game NOW! JUST Released!
Coming Tomorrow: The Four Weeks of Frostvale
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Artix Has something to share | December 2nd 2009 Tomorrow we are going to open up the apha of the Battle On Games! Master Account System. It will happen at night... possibly REALLY late*. You probably have a lot of questions**. But my best answer is as follows: "The One Login to Rule Them All!" Think hard about what login name you would like to use to access all of our future games. Then join us tomorrow night to choose your login name. By the way, for security reasons, no one except you and the player support team will ever actually see this login name. It will never be publically displayed. Pretty good security move, huh? This is why you should choose a login name that is completely different from the name you normally use. You can even use an email address. For example... and this may shock you. My login will NOT be Artix. I am going to choose something impossible for anyone to guess, and then I am never going to tell anyone else what it is. Since your login name and password will be how you access all of your games in the future, I highly suggest you do the same***. This is the start of something huge. Tomorrow's Alpha release of this new system is available to all players. It is an Alpha... so there will be very limited functionality and anything can (and will) go wrong. Also.. as a special bonus... we have a secret announcement to reveal! (Oh boy, are you going to be surprised****) * Really late like... Friday. Or perhaps even Monday. |
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December 1th 2009 It's beginning to look a lot like Frostval! It’s officially the Frostval season. (I’m looking at you, retail stores, having decorations out mid-November) and man am I getting into the spirit. You guys are awesome in your generosity. The Falconreach coffers are overflowing yet again, as you’ve donated over 4X the amount we needed to raise for repairs to the city. Donation button’s been removed for now, as we’re well above funding requirements. These funds will not go to waste, though, as they will be used to improve the city over time. There’s a nice thread on the forums about exactly how to spend the extra money already. Join it and have your say. We’ll take any input we can from there and use them in future releases. (Yes, this is one of those ambiguous “S.O.O.N.” concepts that you shouldn’t expect any given week, but instead will be released when there is time.) A lot of what I’m working on isn’t very fun to talk about. And what is, I’m not going to spoil for you, gotta keep some surprises! What I will tell you is 9.0.0 is going well! It’s still a few weeks out, but hopefully not as far away as it was before. I’ve been looking over the shoulder of Lim and Geo as they work on the new DragonLord town and am amazed at how amazing it’s looking. Everyone involved in that project is pulling out all the stops and I can’t wait to be exploring it along with the rest of the DragonLords when it’s released! I notice there’s five Thursdays this month. That’s all I’m going to say about it Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter) |
Apparently it's been almost a Month since I've done design notes? Weird.
Lim is not just a scientist, he's a cartographer, too!
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