Grab a pencil and your sense-of-humor and prepare yourself for AE's first ever Comic Contest!

A perfect Comic Contest example made by Lim!

This Contest is open to all players and has just begun on the AE Comic Contest Thread! Before we get into specific details, let's first discuss what everyone wants to know: the prizes you could win!!!

The Grand Prize is 4,000 BattleOn Points!
The two Runner-ups will receive 2,000 BattleOn Points
and Honorable Mentions will get 500 BattleOn Points

...soooooo waait what are BattleOn Points? Glad I forced that question out of yah! BattleOn Points is the newest way to Upgrade your account with the Master Account Login system. Obtaining enough Points allows you to get Game Currency in ANY of your favorite AE games and even Upgrade your account to Member Status!

BattleOn Points is also how you will unlock features, powerful items, and magic spells in the soon-to-be-released-brand-new minigame, BladeHaven! So what better way to get a head start in BladeHaven than with your Contest prize earnings ^___^

Rules Rule!

So now that you know what you're competing for... on to the Comic Contest rules! I'm only ganna say this once (...and then copy-paste is everywhere else...) so pay attention because ALL OF THE RULES need to be followed for your Comic Entry to be eligible. So if you wanna win, make sure you;ve actually read each rule BEFORE submitting your entry, kthx =D

• Your Comic MUST BE created by YOU!
  
  
• You gatta have a Master Account Login, since the BattleOn Points prize will be awarded to it
  
  
• You may only submit ONE (1) Comic to be judged (if making a Comic Strip, please condense it into a single jpeg/png/gif/swf/etc)
  
  
• Your Comic MUST have your Character Name (NOT your Master Account Login name) written/typed/signed somewhere on the picture to ensure that it really was YOU who made it! Any Character Name from any AE game is acceptable. Comics without a Character Name clearly displayed will result in an automatic disqualification.
  
  
• Your Comic must be "AE themed"... this is an AE Comic Contest after all! Your Comic can contain ANYTHING from AQW, MQ, AQ, WF, DF, and ED!
  
  
• You can create your Comic using any medium you choose. Hand draw it. Photoshop screen shots together. Use a fancy photo-editing program. Or whatever else you can think of to make a hilarious Comic.
  
  
• Make sure to post a VALID link to your uploaded artwork, or else we can't view it!
  
  
• Make sure the Link actually works before hitting the "submit" button!
  
  
• And most importantly: have fun with your Comic! If your Comic makes you LOL, it will most likely make us LOL too!

This contest begins today, June 29th, and will end at 11:59pm EST on Sunday, July 11th. That is a pretty long time to submit your awesome Comics, so I expect to be roflol'ing by then!

Here is another example of a Comic that Randor the Red did. It's great... and huge!

Winners will be announced Friday, July 16th and Prizes will be awarded then as well. A special page will be made announcing the winners, and we will provide you with that URL on the Portal Site and your favorite game's Design Notes and/or Homepage!

We cannot wait to see what artistic lol-talent hides behind that avatar of yours. Head on over to the AE Comic Contest Thread and post your Comic today! Or tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next... or the next... or whenever it's finished!

Good luck to all, and let the LOL's commence!

Cya on the forums! (Or Facebook, Or Twitter)

*Brushes the dust off the design notes* Whoo, been a while. Bet you didn't fancy seeing ME here on sneak peak Wednesday. Why I'm doing the post instead of Alina? Well, the mission she undertook for the Ficus last weekend has left her with a case off poison ivy the likes of which I've never seen. She keeps talking about getting back at Wayne Enterprises or something. Hopefully it clears up soon, because Geo's taking some time off this week herself!

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Go team go! BZZZZZZZZZ!*
It's Saturday*** and the level 60 World Cup Tournament capes are here! The teams which made the tournament (and will have their level 40 capes upgraded into level 60 ones) are:

• Uruguay
• United States of America
• Paraguay
• Argentina
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Brazil
• Spain
• Korea Republic
• Ghana
• England
• Mexico
• Slovakia
• Chile
• Japan
• Portugal

To MAKE the merge, you'll need 1 level 40 cape from any of the above teams AND a Yellow Card merge item. The Yellow Card item costs 100 Dragon Coins and can be found in the original World Cup shop (all the way at the bottom of the list).

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It's been a crazy Friday! Between the live musical event in AdventureQuest Worlds, Rolith and Alina both getting kidnapped (seriously?! Where'd you guys go? I blame the ficus) and Lim having World Cup Fever, it's been a busy day. Luckily I was able to trap Ghost and wherever Rolith went he forgot to unlock Khelios!

Dragonsgrasp: An Icy Wind
The Dragonsgrasp Saga has officially begun! Visit Inspector Doyle in the Baker Street Inn to play through the first quest in the epic DragonLord chain. An icy wind has started to blow through Lore... at the beginning of summer?

Nythera
Help Nythera escape from the Void! Can she make her way back home without Elysia's help?

Cape Upgrades!
The cape upgrade shop will go live tomorrow morning! Show your support for your favorite team!

The Programmer Formally Known as Personator... is Khelios!
Khelios has been a busy, busy apprentice this week (Well, every week since he has to do what Rolith wants him to do...)! He's been working hard on...

Cracking the case: The meanings of the Eggs
by: Khelios
So, the pattern of colors on eggs must have some significance, and having read in many legends, stories, and myths about them, I can safely assure you that the designs on these eggs all have a hidden meaning that you may not be aware of.
So, what exactly have I found? Dragon eggs with these patterns give them a significant advantage in their fighting abilities that exceeds that of normal dragons.

Egg 1: This egg swirls with toxic and sickening colors that, when unleashed, are poisonous to your foe, giving them a severe allergic reaction to it.
Egg 2: This egg hatched into a dragon cool and collected under pressure. Even the most patient creatures are subject to intense bursts of anger...
Egg 3: The initial view of the egg seemed to indicate that it was covered in lava. Having been exposed to extreme heat, this mysterious pattern actually keeps the owner cool and focused in the heat of battle...
Egg 4: This egg ripples out from a central point. Strange phenomena, such as shockwaves and quakes, are experienced when the egg is mishandled...
Egg 5: Part of this egg seems frozen, cold, and unrelenting. That very unrelenting presence has been known to upset migratory creatures and send a cold chill down the spine of even the strongest of beasts.
Egg 6: Like flames rising, the power within this egg grows more and more brilliant over time.
Egg 7: The swirling void on this egg seems to sap energy and life away from those around it.
Egg 8: I could hardly find information on this egg - if it exists, it is well hidden. It is a very inconspicuous egg that may harbor some surprises...
Egg 9: This malignant egg seems to thrive on the pain and suffering of others.
Egg 10: The symbol on this egg shows an enormous projection of energy exploding from a central point. One could guess that this egg stores power and suddenly expels it.
Egg 11: A sense of peace and tranquility emanate from this egg. It is rumored to cure diseases and restore life to the dying.
Egg 12: The wisps of color are said to be dictated by the flowing of the wind. The egg itself is as light as a feather...
Egg 13: This egg is sparkling just like solid gold. It is said to be able to put any passerby into a trance...
Egg 14: Shadows float around this egg at their own will. The shadows are rumored to harm both the physical being of an opponent and their very will to live...
Egg 15: The spots on this egg may have resulted from the egg's struggle against a disease. The magic appears to be keeping the disease at bay; however one must be careful in handling it to prevent catching it themselves!
Egg 16: This egg glows with a sickening green color. If exposed to wildlife for too long, rumors run that the wildlife will become mutated.
Egg 17: It has been hinted at in legends that this egg grows brighter in color when it is not threatened.
Egg 18: Is there anything worse than being hit by a biting wind on a frigid day? Well, the very design of the egg seems to have been sculpted by buildups of ice and snow blowing about it...
Egg 19: The wisps in this egg appear to ebb with clockwork regularity. They infrequently speed up to twice their normal speed, but the significance of this virtually unknown.
Egg 20: Some say this egg can produce a wide range of frequencies of sound. The locals have reported deep throaty rumbles and shattered glassware ever since the egg was brought near the town.
Egg 21: The pattern on this dragon egg is a fairly archaic pattern used in some magical trinkets to increase luck significantly.
Egg 22: All that is known about this egg is found in healers' diaries. All written information about it gives little information about its power, apart from its ability to heal deep wounds over a large amount of time.
Egg 23: In myths of old, great villains tried to break open this egg but were harmed by the very damage given to the egg. Despite being slightly cracked, it remains intact.
Egg 24: Violent patterns swirl around this egg, much like a vortex of air.
Egg 25: Many writers describe the markings on this egg to be similar to an ink blot. One famous writer in particular, Edgar Alton Prose, believed this egg to be discovered in an evil house belonging to a person who helps you find your seat in a play. This startling fact may give this egg some unknown sense of evil...
Egg 26: Some say that great magic is under the swirling smoke of this shell, while others think it is just a cheap parlor trick. It could be the ace up your sleeve...
Egg 27: Stories speculate that this egg could be dropped off the tallest mountain and would not crack due to its protective shell.
Egg 28: Three distinct lines run down the sides of the egg. They are said to drastically increase reflexes and greatly hasten the user to do normally impossible feats! However, such impossible feats come at a price...
Egg 29: The very color of this egg can drastically shift one's mood, causing anywhere from mild to severe anger spikes. Not one researcher has studied it enough before getting angry and burning all the materials they found, so it remains a mystery.
Egg 30: Rumors speculate that the colors dripping down the egg become more intense each time the egg suffers damage.
Egg 31: The grayness of the egg is speculated to come from the shadow of the moon mixing with the brightness of the sun. Is believed that both the shadow of an eclipse and the sun's halo around the moon affect the egg's strength.
Egg 32: Many arcane Mathemancers have argued for centuries over what this egg's symbol means. Not one seems to be able to find the exact value of this symbol.
Egg 33: The runes glow glaringly as if they contain numerous spells built up from over the course of thousands of years. You should be glad they aren't targeted against you...
Egg 34: The arcane symbols have been dissected by mages and found to affect many tactical aspects of fighting.
Egg 35: No legends anywhere mention anything about this egg. What it could do is virtually unknown.

I hope you all enjoy this week's release! The summer is just beginning... and I think it's going to be unseasonably cold....

We'd better get to work!
It's the final week of DragonFable's birthday celebration, and we're going to go out with a BANG! We've got a present for non-DragonLords AND a present for DragonLords!

Have you every wondered what your egg choice meant when you first did the Dragon Egg Saga? After 3 years of waiting, this week you'll find out! Khelios is coding that part of the birthday surprise while Rolith works on the other half of the DragonLord gift.

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It's party time for DragonLords!
Party over here! Raise the (thatch) roof! DragonLords have THREE new birthday gifts this week to continue the month-long birthday celebration!

The first of the gifts are upgraded DragonLord weapons! You might remember finding the DragonLord's Loss, DragonLord's Prize, or Staff of the DragonLord as a low-level character. They were level 1 weapon which have had new levels made! You can now talk to Lim in his Falconreach Weapon shop to access the DragonLord weapon shop! It has levels 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60!

Mmm. Not a lie!

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It has pictures and text with teasers and hints for you!
Who's ready for some sneak peeks? You? Most exxellent. I'll get right to it, then!

First up is a sneak peek at an outline of an NPC you'll meet this week in the Nythera quest, "No Loss without Gain."

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So, today was a fun day. I got in the office fairly early, said "Hello" to those who had managed to beat me to the Lab. Alina reminded me that I was supposed to share my to-do list with you today too.

Then, well, before I could pour a cup of coffee the wall of interruptions washed over me.

Zazul's internets were clogged. Maegwyn needed access to something. Warlic and I were talking about two entirely two different problems on a project we're both working on (If you're both working on a project together, it's a good idea to be working on the SAME project). Safiria wanted updates on my progress on various behind-the-scenes projects. The shop Alina was working on was blackscreening. Lim's pet was, well, Lim's new pet had some behavioral problems that resulted in some funny animations involving accidental monster dance parties. (That last bit may or may not have happened, but it's funnier to imagine than me having to go line by line in Actionscript to fix a freezing bug.)

Needless to say, it's now pushing past 4pm, and the number one item on my to-do list, hop on here and write a quick design notes post, is left undone. Let's fix that shall we?

I don't think I'll bother posting the to-do list, as it exploded in a crater after today's many, many, many, MANY distractions.

My to-do list was here.

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It's Monday today and there's so much to do!
Hi guys! It's Monday again! First thing on my agenda each Monday morning is making up a To-Do List for the week, and then dividing the work into days. I thought I'd share some snippets from my list for this week with you all!

Alina's To Do List for the week of June 14
Monday

• Add in lines to cutscene about Void to explain its nature
• Meeting with Ghost
• Meeting with Tomix
• Meeting with Geopetal about brand-new secret surprise gift
• Meeting with Lim about Father's Day weapons
• Talk to Rolith about addition to list of birthday gifts for this week
• Fix Ghost tog pets coloring/animation issue
• Upload Tomix's weapons
• Monday Design Notes

Tuesday

• Work on Nythera quest file for this week
• Edit Ravenloss town file for the new card shop
• Work on the birthday gift for this week
• This week's Falconreach town file

Wednesday

• Dive into the database. Come out with 26 new item entries.
• More database work! Father's Day items in DB.
• Write the DragonFable newsletter
• Work on the map for next week's Nythera
• Cutscene for next week's Nythera
• Work on secret project. Ask Galanoth when we can announce it.
• Sneak Peek Design Notes (come up with SOMETHING for this!)

Thursday

• To be determined
• Anything that comes up
• Surprises
• Unexpected additions to the list

Friday

• Miscellaneous release work
• Testing my quest
• Testing geopetal's quest
• Friday Design Notes
• Icecream or sushi. Or both!

As you can see from this behind the scenes look at a week on the DragonFable team, Mondays are full of meetings and plannings and pre-work getting ready for the rest of the week. Tuesday is a Flash-heavy work day where I'm in and out of the Flash program (and hoping it doesn't crash on me!). Wednesday I usually create whatever anyone needs in the database. This week there are at LEAST 25 new items coming out! I also try to work ahead on the next week on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday is a hodge-podge of a work day. Surprises often happen, where people come and say "Hey, can you do this by Friday?" And Friday? Friday is a FRANTIC day full of testing and Design Notes and Rolith throwing bananas at Lim. I love Fridays! And bananas.

What's coming THIS week!
We have a TON of new stuff for you this week. A whole BUNCH of new things, including quests, presents, weapons, helms... SO much for you to do and see and buy! It should be a great week!

We'll have the FIRST quest in the Vilmor Saga! If you haven't checked out the new layout in DragonsGrasp yet, you won't have met the newest NPC there, Lestrad. He and Doyle have some really important information to share with you; details you'll NEED to know for the storyline. So make sure you talk to them!

The second Nythera Saga quest will also release this week! You'll meet a brand-new NPC, who is much more than he appears to be. You'll learn more about the Void, including some things that Warlic DIDN'T know! There will be battles and information and new Wind weapons releasing from the Nythera quest this week!

The suits of cards in this shop will look VERY sweet!

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It's a Pre-Release release!
We have some REALLY special things to celebrate this weekend! The World Cup has started, which is very exciting! But even MORE exciting (to me, at least) is that Cysero is getting married! To celebrate both of these super-amazing events, here at DragonFable we've made some commemorative (and RARE) items.

Cysero's getting married!
You know him as the Green Mage, DragonFable's Mad WeaponsSmith. It's Cysero, and he's getting married THIS WEEKEND! (And not just in-game!) This weekend the whole team is going to trek to Cysero and Nursey's ceremony to help them celebrate their wedding.

But YOU can be a part of this happy, happy occasion by celebrating with them in AdventureQuest Worlds! Just log in at http://www.aq.com and go to the main event!

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And home before dark!
Anyone else really love the musical "Into the Woods"? I used to sing that all the time in elementary school. But enough reminiscing (for this paragraph, at least!), it's time to talk about this week's releases!

Rise of the DragonMage: Nythera's Saga, part II!
The start of our first Summer storyline happens... NOW! You'll get to play AS Nythera as Warlic takes you into the Void itself! He says you're ready to start learning more about your magic, and he's starting with lessons in the Void element!

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Celebration AND Color custom evolved DragonLord Armor!!!
Congratulations everyone! Today, the eternal Dragon of time prepares to blow out a special cake with 4 candles** on it for DragonFable. To celebrate, the team will be releasing a gift each week of this month for you. Starting today with Color custom evolved DragonLord! Meanwhile, our epic summer storyline is about to unfold. Whether you started playing at the beginning, or are just joining us now... you are part of something truly special. The first 4 years have been an incredible journey. To everyone who supported the game by helping on the forums, visiting sponsors, or becoming a DragonLord... thank you. Thank you for making DragonFable possible for so many happy players. I would like to recognize the hard working DF team for successfully doing a new release each week... and every week... for 4 years! Great job guys! Please join me in a toast to honor DragonFable's Birthday, all of our fellow players, and the friendly DF team *** and smiles warmly at Geopetal, Alac, Rolith, Lim, Tomix, Ghost, Thyton> ..... BATTLE ON!

Color custom evolved DragonLord
This upgrade is available for 20K gold through Lady Celestia (Where you train your Dragon)

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So after the response to yesterday's design notes, and the general "huh" response to the Nightmare quest during the Water Orb saga, I figured I'd do some research.

"King's Quest" came out in 1984, a year before I was born. Even "Quest for Glory 2", the first game I ever remember installing myself and the last Sierra game I know of to use the text-parsing engine, came out in 1990.

In other words? I'm old. And the fact that most of you have never played a text-parsing adventure game isn't that surprising.

So, it's time for me to fill you in on the joy that is... one of the most frustrating game concepts ever released. In a good way, I promise!

Text-parsers can be explained in 4 words:

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Poetry is nice, it adds a little spice.
I wanted to make this Design Notes post ALL in rhyme*, but the people at the in the Secret Underground Labthrew things at me**. Sadface!

I am typing this on the backup-spare-extra-auxiliary laptop, which I have named Glimmer because it is so shiny. My normal laptop came back from the store where it was getting repaired but was still broken! We booted it up and it kept typing tttttttttttt, even after they replaced the keyboard. Fail!

But on to happier news, like what we'll be releasing this week!

Release news so you're not confused!
Hey, hey, guess what? We're releasing things this Friday! Surprise!

Of course, if you've been around for a while, you know we release things EVERY Friday, but you won't know what until I tell you! Which I'm going to do right now. So get ready to get informed! (You might want to write this down, because it's pretty awesome.)

• The first quest in the second part of the Nythera Saga! Learn about the existence of the Void and- if Warlic will take you- try to travel there!
• DragonsGrasp gets a makeover, which should help un-confuse few people who are perplexed by the town's layout, and more/new dialogue!
• Captain Rolith will offer a text-parser quest in Oaklore based on an old arcade-style game! (Think of something similiar to the text-adventure from the Water Orb Saga, but with walkaround maps!)

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Are you ready for some randomness?
Then make sure you stop by both DragonsGrasp and Ravenloss to do the newest random quests in each of those towns!

In DragonsGrasp, you'll be able to talk to Knox in the Armory to help quell a riot in the prison in the first random quest. In the second, you'll be able to go on a training quest with Jonath where you battle illusions of past boss monsters!

The rewards for the training quest are level 50 reforged versions of old war rares (with changed titles, so rare collectors can tell which are which). Old rewards are:

• Reforged Boreas, Notas, and Zephyrus (from the Assault on Popsprocket)
• Reforged Magelord and Warlord Scepter, Prince's Dagger (from the Pirate vs. Ninja War)
• Reforged Spectrus Sword, Dagger, and Staff (from the Assault on the Necropolis)

And in Ravenloss, you'll need to talk to Tomix to do his newest random quest. You'll be defending Char, one of the children running wild in Ravenloss*, from the denizens of this dark city. And if you're feeling generous, buy some merchandise from Char's Chest so that he and his little brother, Kinder, can make some money to buy food.

Char will be selling:

• color-customizable bat wings (are they chameleon bats? Do those even EXIST?!)
• spiderweb capes (so appropriate for Ravenloss, now with new, higher levels!)
• invisible helms and capes (for people who want the stats from items, but don't want to change their appearances!) **

Check out the Pet Shop!
After you discovered Sepulchure's Spy in Falconreach (and found out some other startling information) by doing the Spy quests the past two weeks, we feel that it's time Grams moves out of the Pet Shop in Falconreach.

Aria will take over her shop. She might be young, but Grams has been training her in the ways of pet training, and her lessons were true, even if her motives were diabolical. The Spy of Falconreach quests will now be available in the Pet Shop if you'd like to redo them!

We know that some of you want us to make it so that Grams is still in the Pet shop if you haven't done the Spy quests. Although we were able to do something like that for the Nythera Saga (as you guys noted on the forum), we aren't able to do that here. The reasons are long and technical, but just take it on faith that if we COULD, we would consider doing it that way.

This will roll later tonight, so be sure to check back in a bit!

Week one of the DragonFable Birthday Extravanganza!
Get ready to rip off the wrapping paper***, DragonLords, because it's the first week of gifts to celebrate DragonFable's fourth birthday!

Don't try to eat the cake, though. It's still only batter.

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That's right, it's GOOD to be a DragonLord!
DragonFable officially released on June 9th, 2006. That's almost FOUR years ago, and what a crazy four years it's been! Full of dragons, magic, dragons, enemies, dragons, titan fights, dragons, orbs, dragons, cliffhanger endings... (are you picking up on a theme here?)

Dragons! DragonFable is all about dragons! And if you think that there haven't been ENOUGH dragons in DragonFable lately, just you wait until this Summer's storylines start. We're exploring the story of DragonsGrasp as well as Nythera's quest to regain her Dragon magic while helping the Void dragons!

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Do you remember what she did LAST Summer?!
If you haven't played the first half of the Nythera Saga, head to Warlic's zone and talk to his purple-pated apprentice! You'll soon learn she talks a LOT, is assured of her superiority, and absolutely hates doing mundane tasks. That's where YOU come in!

You got to play AS Nythera, and we're bringing back that functionality, in a slightly different way this Summer! You'll still be loading the Nythera class, but it will be a NEW Nythera class, completely remastered thanks to Tomix's hard work!

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We could really use your help, guys.
DragonFable is almost five years old and, in those almost-five years, we've put out a LOT of content! The newest content we released last week ties up the loose ends of the identity of Sepulchure's Spy in Falconreach.

We are going to take Grams out of the Pet Shop in Falconreach (we should have done that LAST week, but we ... forgot. Whoops!) and put Aria in her place. We'll also be adding the two Spy quests there. We'd ALSO like to add in ALL the quests/cutscenes where the Spy is mentioned. We think that'd go a long way towards helping new players understand what just happened these last few weeks.

There've been a few places in-game where we've mentioned the Spy. Do you know them all? (Who's going to be the first to list them all? We know you guys remember!)

Helpers get a slice of Internet Cake!

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