10th Anniversary

Posted by Artix on 10/12/2012 12:00 PM 104 comments

Play-by-Play

Tonight, at 6pm our 10th anniversary event will begin in ALL of our major games. Join me here, as I give you the play-by-by, a live news feed of the last minute craziness as the team prepares to launch the event.

9:30am	Secret Underground Lab online. Servers online... Backups online... Elevator online... All systems check. 100%
9:35am	Artix reporting for duty! Thyton reporting for duty! Yergen reporting for... (Hah hah, he said dooty.)
9:45am	Thank you to everyone posting anniversary/birthday wishes to the game network on Twitter. Words cannot express how heartwarming it is to see your encouraging words. Especially since we are doing something completely new for our special event. Doing new things is always scary... but you have always had our backs. Thank you for being part of this and for supporting us!!!
10:00am	A team members girlfriend baked us banana bread this morning. But it was not cooked. I realized this after eating a BIG bite of it. It is still in my mouth. WHAT SHOULD I DO!?
10:30am	"Alina checking in!" "Samba here!" "Korin... erm.. here... wait, this isn't my bed...." "Dage in the house."
10:31am	The judging of the AdventureQuest 3D Design a Monster art contest is now taking place! So many good entires -- this is going to be impossible.
11:00am	Checking in with the game teams! Today's event will be spanning 6 games. This really is the first time we have tried doing this... only 7 hours left until launch! AdventureQuest Worlds - 97% DragonFable -waiting for response MechQuest - waiting for response HeroSmash - !Problem! New feature issue AdventureQuest - waiting for response EpicDuel - waiting for response
11:30am	Um... that was weird. Someone just ran into my room to tell me there is a black limo with an ebilcorp logo on it circling the building above the lab. Did one of you go all out on some sort of practical joke?
12:00pm	The limo was gone before we could get a picture. So weird! Anyways, only 6 hours until the launch of the event! It is really cool seeing all the game teams pulling together for the same thing. HeroSmash is having some technical problems... nothing like having less than 6 hours to rewrite core engine functionality. Going to help!
12:30pm	You know, for pretty much the past 10 years we have been doing non-stop weekly releases. Once we started, we never actually had a week go by without one. How funny would it be if tonight's 10th Anniversary event was "Surprise, no release!" LOL. Note: We would NEVER do that! We did do the opposite once though. Remember the week in DragonFable when the team announced they were just releasing a single fish. People were so mad! But when they caught the fish it took them to a surprise complete underwater zone.
1:15pm	All game teams are reporting that they are close. That means... IT IS STORYTIME! What was your favorite memory from our crazy adventures together? The time Captain Rhubarb renamed 10,000 AQWorlds players's names to "Captain Rhubarb" and we had to declare a mulligan day? (A "do over day") ... or perhaps that time legendary AE artist and ninja Thyton (although he sorta looks like a Spartan. Like a... Spartan Ninja.) was creating the dragons for DragonFable and he showed them to and I replied, "Great! Now... let us go draw some GOOD Dragons." He was really hurt. He thought I was saying his dragons were bad and we needed to draw better ones. But what I meant was, he drew a bunch of EVIL looking Dragons and we needed to make some GOOD-GUY dragons. /facepalm. What was your favorite memory/story from our game community?
2:00pm	Only 4 hours until the anniversary event begins! But this is not the only major event coming this October. It is a non-stop chain of releases starting with the most romantic tale of gamer love. Next week, Rolith (DragonFable/Oversoul Programmer) & Alina (AQworlds co-lead) who met while working here at AE, fell madly in love, became engaged (remember his Old Spice spoof proposal in DragonFable?) and are to be married in real life & in game next week! I was pretty surprised when Rolith asked if I would be his best man. It is traditional for the best man to throw a "bachelors party" before the wedding. That will be... Thursday night. For those of you who have known me for a while, you may think "How in the world is Artix going to throw a good batchelors party? Artix does not drink, does not smoke, would never do drugs, and basically lives a PG lifestyle." The answer? Life threatening danger. Rolith has no idea what I have in store for him... and is scared out of his mind. So right here, I am promising YOU, that I will post the full story and some pictures from his bachelors party before the wedding next Friday. (Please remind me, you know how crazy things get here ^_^)
3:00pm	Miko, when you see this -- please make sure the server hamsters get treats. We need them full speed for tonight's release!
3:30pm	While we are on storytime, I would like to post probably the most interesting & controversial story from the business side of our gaming history. This story is 100% true. Back in 2007, a lot of big companies came trying to buy Artix Entertainment. A lot of people are shocked when they find out that I turned down a legit, written offer for $84 million. This actually happened. I love our games and our community, and I would never give it up for anything. Maybe this is why I am more proud than ever to be with you and the team are celebrating the 10th Anniversary today. There were a lot of battles back in those days that I was legally not allowed to share with you. Maybe one day I can write a book. But you have always had my back -- and we did ever get into trouble, I know that the team and I could count on you. Switching topics... Sometimes we say and do things in the "Artix Universe" that are fantasy. For example, we say that Geopetal, the game lead of DragonFable, is a rock. Of course in real life she is not REALLY a rock (she is a pebble.) Things like this are just plain fun. Well, fun as long as you play along that is. Sort of like an inside joke between friends. But it is funny how pretty much EVERY one of these inside jokes is based on something real. For example, before joining the team, the girl who is Geopetal was actually a Geologist. 100% true. Just something to think about.
5:00pm	ONLY one hour until our 1st ever all games event! In my experience... this is where the game crippling bug happens. goes looking for it Here buggy, buggy, buggy....
5:39pm	Flight attendants, please secure the cabin for take off. Thank you for flying "indie video game air." Please make sure your seat belts are fastened and your seats are in their full, upright position. All electronic devices should be TURNED ON AT FULL POWER and MAX VOLUME for take off. We may experience a little turbulance, but the in-flight movie will feature monsters, combat, and epic adventure. 20 minutes left....
5:45pm	HAH! Now that is timing. The black limo with the Ebilcorp logo is driving around the building above the lab again. Hang on, I am going to go get you guys a picture... this is crazy!
5:48pm	The elevator is in lock down. What the heck? Checking with Faith to figure out what is going on.
5:55	All game heads reporting in! - EpicDuel is shutting down to install the release. - HeroSmash is preparing to shut down to install the release. - MechQuest & DragonFable & AdventureQuest are on Sandby. - AQWorlds is reporting some sort of issue...
6:00	What the... Epicduel is now reporting an issue HeroSmash is now reporting an issue AQWorlds is now reporting an issue MechQuest & DragonFable & AdventureQuest are ready... no... wait... what the!? Lab Security system just went into lock down mode!?

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Argus Knight: I remember when Xan burned down Falconreach, and we were left with only a board. Good times... I can honestly say that playing AE games has lead me to want to do what I want to do knowing that they started out making games in Artix's dinning room.

I've been working on my own game for a while now in unity. If I could find the free time for it, I' be a bit quicker but I understand why it takes AE so long to do anything for the new game. Combine 3d modelling with animating, functionality, and storyline creation...

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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DFObbsessedGuy: The Chairman WILL PAY IN EXTRA FOR THIS! NOT DRAGONFABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU MESSED WITH thE WRONG GAME PLATINUM!

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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Skyz: lmao 6:00

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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SilverDragonFoxNight: Platinum....face...the...furry...of...Silver....SILVERNIGHT FOX OF AQW REPORTING! SILVER REPORTING FROM DRAGONFABLE! SILVERFOXNIGHT FROM HERO SMASH REPORTING! KATAEE FROM ADVENTURE QUEST REPORTING!
PLATINUM YOU ARE GOING DOWN
BATTTLLLE ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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Tiamaat: All right, time to kick some EbilCorp virus behind!

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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SilverDragonFoxNight: WHOA WHAT THE!!!!!! EBIL CORPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!(Using my Khan voice) GET OUT OF OUR GAMESSSSS!!!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO LORE!

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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Smores: Preparing to defend Aqw... Just waiting for my heros to load!

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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Ovarlord: This is the moment we all waited for 10 years :D

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY AE !!! And HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY AQW !!!! :DDDDD

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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jakemaster1390: Oh I love how the release is always later by at least a half hour due to a last minute bug. Just a fun part of releasing stuff during a live event. Happy anniversary.

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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GPBoy08: is eating carrot......(crunch!)

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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Eberwolf: I can't believe that you guys kept my attention for 10 years. My parents couldn't even do that for more than an hour. You guys have performed a miracle.

Reply Posted on 10/15/2012 3:43 PM

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