Your Wednesda... Thursday Rapid Fire Update

A full out, high sprint lab around the Secret Underground Lab revealed the following things...

EbilCorp's Chairman Platinum out of work.. and on TV!?
Those of you familiar with Chairman Platinum, EbilCorp's former evil ruler, might get a chuckle if you watch tonight's episode of "The Guiness Book of World Records Gone Wild!" on TruTV. Apparently he hung up his suit, assumed someone elses identity, and is trying to break a world record? (UPDATE: His segement did not appear on last night's episode. Very likely it will be next week.)

Carvanal begins in AQWorlds tomorrow!
This is going to be pretty cool... check out the design notes for the whole scoop.

EpicDuel's OMEGA release is officially a HIT!
Epic Duel's servers have been on fire since the release of OMEGA. The team is hard at work fixing a ton of blanacing issues and problems introduced with the release... so my advice to you... PLAY NOW WHILE THINGS ARE STILL OVERPOWERED!

Doom Cauldron
Warlic finished assembling the first puzzle challenge of our test mobile game. It is working pretty nice! If we get time to work on it this weekend, we should be finishing it up soon.

Samba Live 3D Animation Stream
Tomorrow at noon (EST) on Ustream!

Beleen's Hola Hoop
... *sigh* Beleen showed up today with a pink hola hoop and told us all it was her new workout routine. Every hour she goes into the hall between the game rooms and hola hoops.

Check all the game's websites to see what is coming next in them!

EpicDuel is your favorite Player Versus Player MMO. But if you haven’t yet experienced EpicDuel Omega, you are missing out!

New Items

Hungry for Omega Gear? Feast your eyes on the Omega buffet of brand-new items:

• Omega Onslaughter
• Omega Obliterator
• Omega Slayer
• Omega Impaler
• Baby Yeti
• Dark Yeti
• Baby Warrior Yeti
• Dark Warrior Yeti
• Baby Omega Yeti
• Dark Omega Yeti

Golden Yeti Tournament

Are you Yeti for the Golden Yeti Tournament? It’s starting soon! We hope you got your tickets--because they are all sold out now!

New Character Creator!

• Improved graphics
• Updated class armors
• Default armors can be upgraded and equipped with cores!
• STAYCLASSY to receive the original armor from pre-Omega!

Customize Weapons!

• Upgrade all weapons up to your current level!
• Adjust stats points as you like them
• Equip new cores to weapons and armors for active and passive effects in battle!

Achievements

• Free Omega Overlord Achievement Live
• Frost Warrior Achievement Live
• "Big Game" XLVII Achievement Live

Fifty exciting Frysteland Missions!

• Visit Yeti Trainers to upgrade your yetis!
• Uncover the mysteries of Frystland
• Learn the secret powers of the Krampus
• Complete a secret mission for a secret prize!

Improved NPC AI

• Nightwraith and Titan are now level 35
• NPCs can now use Auxiliaries

And that’s not all—there are many, many more fixes and improvements to the game engine! So stop reading this and start playing EpicDuel Omega!

Battle On into Omega!

In the busiest street of Soluna City, a cyber-Moglin holds up a battered sign reading, “The end is nigh!” Most of the young and eager mecha pilots of Gears University laugh and dismiss his doom- filled warning. They should not. For our galaxy is under attack from horrific creatures from the unfathomable darkness of deep space. Hearing their cursed name brings even hardened war heroes to tremble. They are known to us as the Shadowscythe. Invaders rumored to be spawned in the plane of Darkness itself.

These shadow beings fuse their twisted darkness form with the technology of the races they have conquered. With each planet that falls to them they become stronger, smarter, and far more deadly. It has been years since the Shadowscythe’s weakest scout forces nearly wiped out our Galaxy. Our resistance did not go unnoticed. Thus I write you to confirm that our worst fears have come true. Our watch probes at the furthest reaches of the Galaxy are being destroyed. While most have gone silent without a trace... we received ONE sensor reading. It was of an Armada of ships bigger than ANYTHING we have ever seen.... or dreamed possible. If these readings are even close to correct, then we have already lost. It can only be one thing... The full assault by the entire Shadowscythe Armada has begun! They are quickly approaching our alliance of worlds.

The final battle of our war against the Shadowscythe invaders... has already begun.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Yes friends, it is finally time! Just as the main storyline of DragonFable ended with a bang nearly two years ago, MechQuest is ready for its main story’s grand finale! We are rapidly approaching the mysterious and highly anticipated moment which will finally reveal why MechQuest, a world with giant hulking laser and missile filled mecha came BEFORE the swords and sorcery world of DragonFable. If you think you know what will happen... brace yourself. While the ending was known to us 5 years ago, we are only now revealing it in full... and it is still the craziest, most bizarre, and surprisingly logical conclusion to this great game.

ANTI-RUMOR CANON

I would like to dispel a few rumors. MechQuest will be the second game with a “finished storyline.” When DragonFable finished, it was amazing. In fact, so many people returned to DragonFable and upgraded during the finale that resulted in the creation of DragonFable’s second chapter. Even if DragonFable not had a sudden resurgence, we would have continued to update it periodically and have seasonal and holiday events. Unlike some other game companies *resists urge to post links* our games never go offline. But it is important to the future of our gaming community that we continue to innovate and take the games to exciting new places. I would very much like to see in our future, a new version of MechQuest on iPhone/iPad/Android & other mobile devices. I would also like to see a in-browser 3D MechQuest PvP game where you are actually looking out of the cockpit of your mecha and can move around and fire.

QUESTION: Do you think you know what will happen? "Call it" by typing what you think will happen below. You are only allowed one post each. If you know something about the ending from the staff, you are not allowed to post. (This needs to be fair and "no spoilers") After the ending happens... you will be able to link people to this for a totally reliable "told you so!"

"I gotta bone to pick with you"

Here is a sneak peak of the new-style undead in our upcoming game, AdventureQuest 3D. If you have been following the posts about the game, you can see this new skeleton is drastically thicker and more stylized than the old one. In fact, it looks a lot more like the skeletons from DragonFable. Except for the head... which is hands down my most favorite evil loooking skeleton head of all time (for reasons described in the image.) Meanwhile, Korin has been working on the new character animations. I will take some video and post it here for you as soon as possible.

OverSoul

Head on over to OverSoul and check out the Contest Winners Characters: Shaister and Virgil. Can you defeat these beasty bosses deep within the Dungeon? And the Lich Boss in the Undead Dungeon has a bone to pick with you. Conjure up your characters and join the ongoing battle in OverSoul!

AdventureQuest Worlds

Can you defeat Graveclaw the Defiler? Imprisoned by the great King Alteon long ago, Graveclaw has regained enough strength to rise again! Summoning his minions deep within Shattersword Cavern, Graveclaw prepares to unleash his army against the world. Suit-up in Quibble Coinbiter’s Rare items and delve the dark depths of Shattersword Cavern to defeat the beast of burden!

EpicDuel

The Omega marathon enters the full sprint phase! We are feature-locked and plan on launching next week. Check out our updated DNs and Twitter pages leading up to the release date at http://epicduel.artix.com/gamedesignnotes/ .

DragonFable

What wood you do? Most of the human citizens have accepted The Rose, with some even welcoming the chance to gain an advantage over magical beings. But not everyone trusts the Rose…even some within their own ranks! Cinquefoil will send you into the depths of the huge stronghold being built in the north of Surewood, the Rosewood. What books will you find? What confiscated weapons do the Rose keep locked up in their armory? Cin knows who you are... but just who, exactly, is he?

MechQuest

The Shadowscythe Showdown has begun! Report to the Queenadent at the War Camp to begin your first mission. Check out the new 1000-NG versions of the Corrupted House mechas, or if you have an original, enjoy the new power buffs! Also remember to grab a commemorative head before this special version goes rare…forever!

HeroSmash

Player suggestions are Super! You always have the best ideas for HeroSmash, and we have been adding your item suggestions to HeroSmash all week long! Fly on over to the Good and Evil Kiosks and suit-up in super gear inspired by your fellow Heroes and Villains. Smash on!

AdventureQuest Classic

Paladins versus Necromancers: the ultimate rivalry! The Paladin Order wishes to cleanse the world of Undead, while Necromancers wish to cover the land in an Undead plague. Both sides have battled on for so long that many have given up any hope of the war ever ending.... until now. You are the Chosen One who will decide which side emerges victorious.... and which side faces extinction!

HeroMart

Diozz's limited print of Gravelyn is available now at HeroMart. You can get the normal or fully armored versions... and you can request that it be signed!

Battle on!

Hi, Hero! As you may know, the Carnaval of Brazil begins next Friday, February 8^th. This world-renowned party brings in hundreds of thousands of visitors to the festive streets all across Brazil. Carnaval is all about turning fantasy into reality, and just like AQWorlds, you can transform yourself into anything you want here!

Como você já deve saber, o Carnaval do Brasil se inicia na próxima Sexta, dia 8. Esse mundo novo trará centenas de visitantes para as ruas festivas em todo o Brasil. Carnaval é sobre tranformar a fantasia em realidade, e no AQWorlds, você pode se transformar no que quiser aqui!

Carnaval began back in 1641 in Rio de Janeiro. But there has never been a Carnaval in-game event in ANY game… until 2013! Starting next Friday, festoon yourself in beautiful Carnaval costumes and journey to the all-new permanent zone of Terra da Festa! In this magical land, you will find:

Carnaval se iniciou em 1641 no Rio de Janeiro mas nunca teve um evento de Carnaval em qualquer jogo... até esse ano! Começando próxima sexta, se fantasie com grandes roupas e inicie uma jornada em uma zona nova e (bold)permanente(bold) da Terra da Festa! Nesta terra mágica, você irá encontrar:

• Tons of Items, both Rare and permanent 
• Vários itens, ambos Raros e permantentes
• Brazil Mythology Monsters
• Monstros da mitologia Brasileira
• Rio de Janeiro-inspired Map
• Mapa inspirado no Rio de Janeiro
• Day and Nighttime versions of Map
• New NPCs
• Novos NPCs
• Carnaval music
• Músicas de Carnaval
• Cutscenes
• Videos
• Special surprises for Paymentez players
• Surpresas especiais para jogadores que usam Paymentez
• Entire English and Portuguese translation
• Tradução em Inglês e português
• AQW player Tendou no Mazo will be helping us with Carnaval!

WOW! Now that’s A LOT to get your tail-feathers shakin’! And to all our Brazilian friends out there who have experienced Carnaval in real life, we just KNOW you are going to love the Carnaval of Terra da Festa!

WOW! Agora é tudo que você precisa pra entrar na folia! E para todos os nossos amigos brasileiros que vivenciaram o carnaval nós SABEMOS que vocês vão gostar do Carnaval da Terra da Festa!

Stay tuned for more updates while we prepare costumes, characters, floats, and more for the Terra da Festa Carnaval! All the fun begins next week at www.AQ.com!

Festa On!

"Now with storytime!"

Each Wednesday I am start the day by walking around the lab and tell you things I see going on...

AdventureQuest 3D & Mobile

We sure seem to be in perma-crunch time these days. Our newest round of work on the AdventureQuest 3D characters has really seemed to hit the mark. Xero (3D Modeler) finished the gazzillion changes to the female late last night. Korin (3D animator) has been animating their new idle and combat poses. If it seems like we are doing this over... and over.. and over... that is just because -- we are! this game has to be more perfect then anything we have ever put out before. Minimal & Zhoom are still working on the combat system. It is pretty complex... far more complex than AQWorld's system. Minimal has his heart set on being able to support 40+ person raids. I have been working with the team during the days... on nights and weekends I have been working with Warlic on building mobile games. Last night we discovered that we can sneak extra data into graphic files. This is pretty amazing. It means instead of sending you two files... we can just send a graphic, and it will already contain all of the information on how to place, animate, etc the monster, character or weapon. 

DragonFable's Valentines Day Event

Last year was the wedding of  two of our most beloved team members, Rolith and Alina. (Fan art by ~TomeOfFaith) They had both worked together on DragonFable before Alina was promoted to co-lead of AdventureQuest Worlds and Rolith went on to create the multiplayer server for Oversoul. In fact, Rolith proposed to Alina in an amazing old-spice parody quest inside DragonFable. This explains why DragonFable players were furious when the in-game wedding event for their favorite developers took place in AdventureQuest Worlds instead of DragonFable! This Valentines Day... the DragonFable Team is rectifying that issue... with a twist. They are going to tell the story, just prior to the wedding. With a fair amount of focus on Rolith's bachelor party. Based on the real life bachelor party his best man threw him... which was *coughs* Artix. Now, you are probably thinking, "Artix!?!?! He does not drink, nor anything bad and in general is way too goodie two shoes to throw a worthy bachelor party." -- until you find out that all of the bad stuff was replaced with incredible amounts of combativie violence. Earlier that morning radio announcers were talking about a bunch of old WWF wrestlers were in Tampa preparing for an unspecified private event. But if you want the full story... and the pictures I promised... then be sure to check out DragonFable's very special Valentines Day event and posts :-)

Other random Artix Entertainment going ons!

• EpicDuel is REALLY close to launching their Omega release.
• Oversoul launched the friends system and an undead dungeon with a boss monster, Degore. The team is now building "artifiacts."
• Samba is doing live streams on Friday!
• Miko & Draven made a snazzy new design for the AQWorlds Payment Page
• Did you already see AQWorld's new Character Creation design?
• Diozz drew an AMAZING Galanoth picture that will be the header of a special AQWorlds email being sent to players this week. Be sure your email is up to date and verified.
• Is Chairman Platinum a good villain?
• Phase 2 of Artix.com is still underway. Progress was slowed down by an endless sea of other issues popping up around the network -- but it looks like Nythera's new player support pages will be completed first then the account mangement. 
• AdventureQuest World's programming team is overwhelmed. They hit the max lines of code to compile the game client (again... for the 5th time) and are now chopping up the game engine into smaller pieces. This has been an ongoing source of frustration and why the Guilds project has kept being delayed. Also, they are addressing a critical error that prevents some players from loading the game on their first try and the walking speed hack. I warn anyone against using the walking speed hack -- as soon as the fix goes in (hopefully today), it will auto ban anyone who even attempts to do it.
• Dage has been spending his spare time learning how to make armor in real life. He is REALLY into it...
• HeroMart - we approved two new samples. The Chicken Cow (Bawk 2) shirt and a new, more blood red, ShadowScythe T-shirt. Those are going to print now and should be available next week.
• All of the game teams are hard at work on their new releases for this Thursday/Friday

Question: What are you more interested in playing? AdventureQuest 3D in your browser OR AdventureQuest Mobile on your phone or tablet?

OverSoul

Keep your enemies close…and your friends closer with the brand-new Friend’s List! You’ll need to keep your friends in check if you hope to defeat the Undead Boss deep within the Undead Dungeon. New $5 and $10 packages are now available to amp up your OverSoul experience. And get ready to capture 4 new Characters…if you’re lucky enough!  

AdventureQuest Worlds

Quench your thirst for Darkblood! Chaos Lord Lionfang and his chaorrupted Golden Onslaught soldiers are preparing to lay waste to the Darkblood city of Falguard. Explore this brand-new zone swarming with inhumane humanoids, never-before-seen loot, and terrifying quests that make the bravest Darkblood’s blood curl. Brandish your broadsword, conjure up your spells, and Battle ON towards victory!

EpicDuel

Omega is closer than ever! This week, over 100 hairstyles have been revamped, bringing them up to the new standard. The 6 default armors got a makeover, too! The new character creator is finished and the release should be feature locked by Sunday. Click here to check out this video created by our faithful Mod and tester Practel, demonstrating the new Omega features.

DragonFable

If you plan on fighting dragons in DragonFable, you had better have some serious weaponry by your side! The new blacksmith of Falconreach, Seilu, has a dragon’s weight of new items in his shop. But you can’t storm head-strong into battle without your helm! Seilu has 12 helms to keep your head in the game, as well as new Light, Water, Wind, and Stone weapons. Merge, DA, and DC versions are available too! 

MechQuest

The March of the Shadowscythe begins! Report to the Queenadent at the War Camp outside of Soluna City. Be sure to turn up your sound for the all-new original soundtrack by Reeky!

HeroSmash

Hi Smashers! No update this week, sorry. Winter storms have been wreaking havoc on the power grid here, which has lead to issues like no computer or internet (or TV or electricity at all). But we have a lot of other releases coming tonight, so all you Heroes and Villains, take your battles to a NEW arena!

Next week we will have a Player Suggestion shop, and the team is working on a 2v2 PvP zone, too!

AdventureQuest Classic

Powerful potions require powerful ingredients! Now that you have rescued Lucretia, she can finally begin stocking her shelves with all kinds of new potions. Gear up in the limited-time Witch Hunter Armor and the Witch Waster Rapier and set off on your journey across the lands of Lore!

Battle on!

Today, we start a new tradition

One thing I love about AE, is we are always doing new and interesting things. One thing I hate about AE is there are so many new crazy things going on they are impossible to keep track of! Mondays are planning days. Fridays are release days. So it makes a lot of sense on Wednesday, to walk around the lab then release a mega jumbo sized bullet list of everything I see people working on.

• EpicDuel Team on track to release "FULL" Omega Launch at the end of the Month
• Bug Tracker is a HUGE success! Literally 1000s of bug fixes in progress.
• OverSoul servers are back up and the servers have been improved. Players love the new dungeon "Labrynth". Friends lists and lower priced SoulGem packages ($5 and $9.95) coming ASAP.
• HeroMart.com just restocked 2013 Calendars! They also have a few more AQWorlds Card Games & Booster Packs available.
• MechQuest's "Finale" begins this Friday. It will be about 5 parts long.
• AdventureQuest 3D Programming team has basic combat, shops, inventory and character equip working.
• AdventureQuest 3D Art/Animation team 90% done with the new Male/Female Models
• Doom Cauldon (Mobile test project) is being worked on during nights and weekends. If this works, making a AdventureQuest classic type game will be doable and awesome!
• Artix Entertainment & Ebilcorp Mug (Prototypes) arrived - they looked terrible. We sent them back.
• Nythera's Player Support team is building a new "one stop" player support center which will make it easier than ever to recover, fix problems, or fix whatever is wrong with your AE game accounts. This will probably launch around Spring Break.
• We several unexpected (and completely unplanned) staff-run AdventureQuest Worlds events! If you like this sort of thing please do let us know! In addition to this week's release "The DarkBlood of Falguard" the team is also working on a complete redesign of the starting town, Battleon and the surrounding areas. Rumors include a museum, weapon shop, library, TONS of new quests and more. This will probably be released in pieces over the next several months.
• You have just over a week left to get into AQWorlds 1st "Shut up and take my rares!" contest. 

Wednesday Rapid Fire Update Question: What should our first real mobile game project be? Is building a casual AdventureQuest style game with our new art, pvp, and chat the way to go? Should we try turning DragonFable & MechQuest into mobile games? Should we make a new version of Moglin Punter? (You know... that game we made WAY BEFORE Angry Birds!)

OverSoul

This weekend in OverSoul, do battle in a brand new dungeon crawling with enemies, and see if you can defeat the contest-winning boss monster! Plus:switch between lobbies, take the new quest to clear the cellar of rats, and try out our new side-scrolling battle map!

AdventureQuest Worlds

What happens when there is no place for Evil in Lore? Feeling that the Great Truce is no longer necessary, Lionfang kidnaps all of the good heroes of Lore and plans to torture them into giving up their evil ways. Invade the newly renamed Onslaught Tower, defeat Lionfang, and free the heroes of Lore!

EpicDuel

The Epicduel team has made outstanding progress this week toward Omega. The battle engine rewrite and new character creator are now nearly complete. We hope to enter next week with plenty of time for testing and building new content to take advantage of the added flexibility in the engine.  We are on target to release by the end of January!

DragonFable

Change is in the air…literally! The new wind elf blacksmith is ready to start merging the elemental essences you’ve been collecting in Book 3. Be sure to check out the blacksmith’s DC Shop loaded with the DC versions of all the final forms for those that can’t wait! A few minor changes have been implemented in the Book of Lore, like rearranging the buttons off the first pages to make it less cluttered and confusing.

MechQuest

Reports of masses of Shadowscythe are coming in from every corner of the solar system! The Queenadent has set up a War Camp just outside of Soluna City, and needs you to skip classes and report there post-haste.  Planet Loreon and the rest of the Alliance are all in grave danger! For a limited time, a special edition of a NEW Shadowscythe Head weapon will be available to commemorate the upcoming epic battles vs. the Shadowscythe forces!

HeroSmash

Smash stuff up in the Smashmas War! But it looks like you’re going to need some epic armor. Gear up in the Samurai Armor set that is now available in the Battle Poll shop and make it a Shogun Showdown!

AdventureQuest Classic

Right before Lucretia the Potion Mistress was opening her new shop, she went missing! Track her down through a creepy cemetery before she is taken by an Undead Mage… or eaten by his pet! Be sure to check out the Red Viking and Red Valkyrie player faces in Warlic's Magic Mirror that are only available until March.

Battle on!