Alac
loves icecream

July 2nd 2009
Summertime, and the living is easy

It IS pretty easy, especially if you're a kid on break from school. Then it's all day swimming in the pool and stalking ice cream trucks. (In my neighborhood growing up, the trucks played "The Entertainer." I'll forever link that song to cherry popsicles and ice cream tacos.)

And in THIS summer time, we're leading up to the Great Fire War! The next quest in the Konnan saga is ready; yulgar has work to do, and Konnan has one last test to work through. Things are heating up, and you'll need a nice, cool, refreshing ice weapon for what's coming up next. Talk to Konnan in Yulgar's weapon shop in Falconreach to play the next quest in the chain!

There are THREE new Ice weapons in Cysero's Dragon Coin shop, which will all get a new special sometime during the Fire War, so they're sure to be something... well, special!

Technomancer is being released for ALL players this weekend! (Tomorrow, though, NOT tonight.) We've tweaked the skills and fixed the problems, and it's time for everyone to get to play with just a little more pewpew and zzzzzzzapp! But that's not all Rolith has for you; there's also a brand new minigame for you! It's a shooter game, the first of its kind to be put into DragonFable! Click the mouse to make Drakkonan shoot great balls of fire at oncoming enemies.

We also have some new shops for you! The Fourth of July shop is ready to open today, so those of you going away tomorrow and this weekend can have a chance to buy the new weapons and trinket available. The trinket will make you go "oooooh" and "aaaah" (and make you that much more visible to enemies). There is a summer housing shop which will offer some new, summer-themed landscaping for your DF house. Ghost has done up a tricky thing for the Sneak Attack Landscape item. There's rumors that it comes complete with pond monster, so if you wait around for a minute or two, you just might catch a glimpse of it!

Popsprocket's Housing Shop has also opened! Head to Popsprocket, then take a left at Yix and go see Lowe's Housing Shop. He'll have a brand new house type for you, a human-sized version of the homes the gnomes use as well as a background which will make it look like you're living right in the center of town. Added to those are things like a mana-powered lava lamp, the Flying Eyeball with a camera attached (comes complete with perch), a water heater, and Yix and Balthar plushies, his shop is stocked!

For Canadian players, I hope your Canada Day celebration was awesome. For the US-residents, have a great Fourth of July weekend. Me, I'm going to go make some homemade pasta salad and see if I can set up with grill without too many explosions. Have a great weekend!

P.S.: Check back on the Fourth of July for the yearly tradition of lighting the town up with fireworks!

Alac
is an art-lover

June 30th 2009
Did we publish an artbook? Why yes, yes we did!

Who loves art? I know I do! And if YOU do too, then you'll love the MechQuest artbook that we've self-published. It goes on sale on July 10, 2009 and is chock-FULL of oishii-goodness, Thyton-insanity, J6-jokery (ok, ok, enough is enough) and will have things like a "How to draw mecha" art section, some amazing never-before-seen sketches AND the secret of transforming starships! And as an added "thank you" from us to you, you'll be able to use a unique code a unique code that unlocks unlocks the EXCLUSIVE Skullcrusher Mecha in both MechQuest and AdventureQuest Worlds! (To see the Skullcrusher mech in action, go here) and for all the information we have about the Artbook itself, check out this page: MechQuest Artbook!

On to what we'll be releasing this week in DragonFable! We will have another quest for you, of course, but just what that will involve, you'll need to wait and see! It WILL release on Thursday, though, so you'll get to sate your taste for DF a day early this week. We'll also have a whole steamhouse full of stuff for you to buy for your new Popsprocket-themed house! Things will include a Popsprocket background, steampunk-themed furniture (every house needs a water heater, after all) and a TV for you media junkies (like more than a few of us here at AE). We'll also have our holiday shop full of new weapons from level 10 through 50. And oh, say, can you see that new trinket? You'll be able to once the shop opens! And that's not all; Rolith is planning on having a brand-new minigame ready for you this week and, from what I've seen so far, this is the first of it's kind attempted for DragonFable. (Don't let that alarm you, though. Honest.)

I hope you're enjoying the start of summer, favoritest season of sunscreen manufacturers and ice-cream truck drivers everywhere!

Alac
is not the director of Gnomeland Security!

June 26th 2009
Set the Alert-level to Puce!

Are you Primed for this release? I know I am! We have some fun things for you this weekend, so lets get right to the run-down!

First up is the PenPal quest! Zapp has been attacked! Or possibly just 'napped! It doesn't matter which, because he's GONE! Who took him and why? To find out you'll need to head to Popsprocket to get the quest, then travel to the jungle to find him. Zapp is such a friendly fellow, it's a shame such a predicament had to befall him.

We ALSO have the conclusion of the Energy Orb saga! Talk to Yix to replay the Assault on Popsprocket (which has been removed from Falconreach as of today). You'll need to gather five Gears of War by fighting in the War waves to unlock the boss battle and cutscenes. All war rare weapons have been removed from the quests, so give yourselves a pat on the back, rare-hunters! For this week only, because we just finished fighting the war, you won't need to re-play through the war to unlock the titan battle. In "The City Fights Back!" you'll pick up where the final war cutscene left off, with the N.C. Positronic Guardian Alert system kicking in and warning the Gnomes. If I were you, I'd get ready to evacuate, because you DON'T want to be on Popsprocket when the Orb's defense system activates. (BIG Hint: DF has never seen a transformation like this before!)

For rewards, we've got some nifty dropping this week. Wigs (yes, wigs)! From the static War quest in Popsprocket, the boss battle will drop wigs modelled after gnome hairstyles for free players, and DA-only wigs will drop from the titan fight quest. There are also two helms modelled after the titan boss! If the best Transformers hide in plain sight, this one has GOT to be good. No one expects the water heater!

For those of you getting excited about the DA-only testing server, you'll need to wait just a bit longer, sorry. We still need to get all the numbers from our number-crunchers, and then Rolith needs to implement them. But once he does, you'll have a whole server all to yourselves to play with the new base class skills and to preview the changes to the stat system.

Have a great weekend!

P.S. - The Fourth of July is next week in the United States, which means a Holiday shop! Since so many of our US players will be away on the July 3rd and 4th for family events, we will TRY to have the shop out by July 2nd to give you guys a chance to get the rares. And if we can't do that, we'll keep it around for a few days after the holiday ends so that everyone has a chance to buy some summer memories.

Cysero
Feels Safe.

June 22nd 2009
Happy CyDef Day!

Cysero's Defenders are having their third anniversay today and I just wanted to give a huge shout out to Anoril and the other loyal Defenders.

Who Are the Cysero's Defenders, you ask? Let's review shall we?

Here is a quick history lesson for you: This was the post found on the design notes on June 22nd, 2006.

June 22nd 2006
(Artix)
Problem at Cysero's DragonCoin shop?
Our community is insane. 'Nuff said.

Buffing up the Warrior and Rogues!
It looks like the bug fixes went smoothly, but by fixing a few bugs in the Warrior and Rogue they got weaker. Instead of weakening the Mage to even them out... *glance*.... we are going to make combos like the multi-strike and rapid-strike work off of any "attack"! So you can use any attack for your opening move, then unleash your combo.

More Rogue fixes : We are going to double the damage of the Rogues throwing technique (wild daggers) so it is on par with the Warrior and Mage. Also sneak attack is going to be fixed so that it does both attacks instead of the single one it is doing now.

You see, I was having fun with the players back when my shop was stationary and they defided to revolt against my DC pricetags. A few of the players, banded together and started a small rebellion and Artix and I thought it was so great that we placed them INSIDE my shop, having taken over completely.

Eventually Anoril and some other forumites decided that anyone who could take a rebellion with a sense of humor deserved defending rather than rebelling against. A counter-rebellion had begun.

It was a LOT of fun but the havock is wreaked on the forums resulted in the No Rebellion rule which is still in effect. it is a bannable offense.

Let's jump ahead 1 year.

June 22nd 2007
Friday Release
Baby Dragon Feeding and The Official Punt Twilly Minigame!

UPDATE: The Baby Dragons have woken up! They are hungry and need you to teach them, so go see Lady Celestia in Sunbreeze Grove today and give them something to chew on, besides Twilly.

This and MechQuest news + Answers to Oishii's final exam coming soon..... *whispers* You Dragons are going to be SCARY powerful over time as you feed them. I was actually intimidated looking at the spreadsheet Zhoom and Cysero made on Baby Dragon skills.

"That's no castle... it's a Space Station!"
According to Anoril (Who, as one of Cysero's Defenders, I am obligated to trust with my life... or else he will kill me) today is the 1 year anniversary of the so-called "Great Cysero Rebellion" . For those of you who weren'r around let me recount the tale, in all of its glory.

~~~~~There I was in my shop...
When suddenly the door was blown open and the hallway became a storm of laser fire between my shops loyalists and the invading rebels. After the firefight Lord Asparagus entered my shop and lifted one of the loyalists by his neck.

"What have you done with those plans?" He demanded.

"We intercepted no transmissions. Aaah....This is a Dragon Coin shop. Were on a diplomatic mission." Answered the loyalist with his last breath.

"If this is a Dragon Coin shop...were is the proprietor?" Asked Lord Asparagus, and tossed the loyalist aside like a rag doll.

I knew that it wouldn't be long until they found me, so I placed the plans into the memory banks of one of my orbs. I placed the orb in one of the escape pods. I sent it to find Lady Celestia, she was my only hope.~~~~~~~~

Shortly thereafter I was taken prisoner and held captive until Artix, Zhoom and Twilly, and Lady Celestia snuck into and freed me from the Deathst... a big castle. That's how I remember it anyway.

So that is the tale. Sort of. Maybe last year's DNs post will shed some light on things.

Nope, we were right in the middle of a war, racing you guys to the finish to see if we could get the end of the war done before you finished it so there WAS no entry last year. Yeesh.

I guess you're just going to have to look it up on the DFPedia or join Anoril for his yearly retelling of the saga on the CyDef forums if you want the whole story.

Let's talk about this week's release. We're short on animators this week. Tomix is MIA for a few days and poor Ghost (who is getting faster and faster at making his amazing cutscenes) is nothing more than a frazzled stump of an animator and we need gi give him a week to recharge his ghostly power cells. THIS week we've got another Pen pal quest in Popsprocket and the PockSprocket Titan Battle!

One of the players wrote me and actually guessed what the titan battle would be, which surprised me as much as it will hopefully surprise you!

Happy Birthday CyDef!

Alac
loves sneevil-speak.

June 19th 2009
You make done war! REAL good!

I love the way sneevils talk. Writing their dialogue makes me laugh* every time. I sat here and said it to myself a couple times, then forced myself to stop goofing off and go make the commemorative house item as a special reward for finishing the war before the deadline. That's right, you can find a War Rare House shop by clicking Yix's "Talk and Shops" button! Now, on to our Friday release!

We have, to start, a new Konnan quest for you! You know who likes caves? Spelunkers.** Also, guardians. Guardians in the form of a new, never-before-seen DF monster! So talk to Konnan and head to the caves to continue your questing in the Akriloth/Konnan storyline!

And, of course, the Assault on Popsprocket has ended! Your deadline was to have it done by tonight's release and wow, did you ever manage to do that! The Undead meter was at 100% by Wednesday and the Cyklon meter hit that mark this morning. You guys rock! (Rocking out at stuff is endorsed by geopetal.) For the war's end, there are 9 new weapons that drop from the boss quest, a new necklace which pays homage to the RNG god in Yix's war shop, and the Beacon of Hope trinket, which is also still available in the shop. The end cutscene... just go watch. I guarantee, you won't have seen THIS coming!

Tomix and Rolith have also finished getting the Technomancer ready for full DragonLord testing. All the skills are unlocked so you can see just what the gnomes' magitech science has wrought! Lasers, blackholes, grenades... LOTS of tech-y goodness in this armor. The armor will be available for all players in the near future.

And don't forget, Father's Day is this weekend, so make sure to give your dad a hug (and possibly a powertool, if he likes that stuff). I know I'll be calling MY dad on Sunday to say "Thanks for putting up with me!"

P.S. - Expect a Father's Day Shop later this weekend!

* Laughter has been proven to be medically beneficial!
** Spelunking is a VERY fun word to say. I am not sure I'm brave enough to try it, though.

Alac
went through plans A and B already.

June 17th 2009
Reserve Plan C-3P0 Phase 1 is... complete!

Which means Phase 2 has begun! Phase 1 required Sepulchure's army of Undead Minions to be utterly annihilated, and boy, did you guys ever do that! We planned on Phase 1 and Phase 2 being finished on Friday, but wow, you guys rallied together and demolished those undead!

That means it's time for Phase 2, for the Cyklons to be recycled into scrap metal (just think what Yix could make from all those loose cogs and gears!).

P.S. - Boy, Sepulchure is NOT going to be happy. Not at all. Who knows WHAT he'll do in retaliation?!

Alac
went through plans A and B already.

June 16th 2009
Initiate Reserve Plan C-3P0!

The war is nearing it's end! Wave after wave of the undead have been demolished and their side is rapidly approaching the 100% mark. Not only that, but between the heroes of Lore, the togriding army and Sepulchure taking out squads of Cyklons (thanks to Dave v384.16's prediction), the Cyklon army is being handled, too! You guys have been whipping through these waves so fast that Ghost, Rolith and I talked to revisit and finalize plans for the end of the war. And so the button triggering Reserve Plan C-3P0 was pressed. We won't tell you all the details of the plan, just know that by the time Friday rolls around, the war WILL end, you WILL face a boss, and you WILL find out what happens to the Energy Orb!

Yesterday the Togriders snuck in a surprise mini-assault and took out a fair-sized chunk of the Cyklon army, hoping to boost everyone's morale. In thanks, WE boosted the Togrider pets' damage just a bit. On the forum, posters have been rallying to both sides of the war, valiantly boosting each others' morale with battle-cries, words of encouragement, and even setting lyrics to Ghost's soundtrack, War By Candlelight! You guys have done an excellent job so far, just another final push or two and you'll have wiped out the undead AND the cyklons!

That's not all we're working on, though! The next quest in the Konnan storyline will come out Friday, and Rolith and Tomix are busy working away at the Technomancer armor. I've seen previews and wow, do things ever go BOOM (Also PEWPEW!). It's a busy week! See you Friday!

Rolith
Is Sushi-full

June 13th 2009
A very special Saturday Design Notes

It's late Saturday Night, and I just wanted to check in on you guys, and the war for Popsprocket which is still raging as despirate as ever. you guys are putting up an amazing effort, and me and Ghost have plans to give you guys some structure and goal on Monday or Tuesday.

Speaking of Ghost, not only was this week DragonFable's Birthday, not only was it your dragon's... It also contained the Apprition Animatior's! Ghost's skills continue to marvel me, producing some of the most jaw-dropping cutscenes I've ever seen over the past several months, he's helping set the stage for bigger and grander things to come! Make sure you guys stop by on the fourms and wish him a happy birthday!

I've been working on a couple of projects on the backend that you guys will hopefully start to get to see the public face of soon. I've always wanted to do something along this line for a while now, and I finally am going to sit down and get it done, even if it takes some of my free time to finish up. Prepare for some shiny.

Rolith
Is Distracted

June 12th 2009
And the War for Popsprocket...Continues...

I have had the good fortiune to be surprised by the love and dedication you guys show towards this game over and over again over the past couple of years, and this week has been no exception. The Popsprocket war has shown the best of our gaming's community. Rallying Calls, Orginization, and moral boosting are all what the war threads in DFGD are all about. You guys have reached the halfway point, and unleashed upon the enemies of Popsrpcoket and the Gnomes a impactful blow with the tog-mounted sneevils. The war, however, is not over and we must continue to stand.

Ghost informs me, for those of you with sharp eyes, there's a special treat hidden in the Secret Attack cutscene, the Mages and Warriors shown have on display some special new animations he's been working on in preperation for the base class tweaks, and this is the first chance you guys will get to look at them.

Demento has traveled north, and you with him, in search of the ultimate ice element weapon, which will hopefully let you turn the tide on Akrlioth. See the first part of this journey this week. Keep an eye on this storyline, as it's leading up to one of the biggest events in DF's history. We're pulling out all the stops this summer.

One final thing. Technomancer Armor entered testing today.

Tomix unleased this beautiful armor with it's first four skills unlocked for everyone to see. The armor will undergo pretty through additons and modifications until we're ready to release it sometime in the future. Testing during this phase is for DragonLords only, make sure you let us know what you think on the forums.

Cysero
Has A Dragon
Named Yix.

June 10th 2009
Happy Birthday DragonFable!

Actually, it was yeasterday.

DragonFable went live on June 9th 2006 and has been growing stronger every week. I came into Artix Entertainment when the engine was an angry knot of jumbled code written by Artix and Zhoom and started making weapons and animating monsters, when the only monster in the baby game was the fire elemental. The Sneevil was the first monster that I animated.

The DF quickly grew, as Geo came to work for DF (she was a long time player and forumite), helping us with our weekly releases and evenutally making some quests of her own. Ghost quickly followed suit, having his art and animation skills noticed on the forums. Rolith was next, also a player of the games and member of the forums who was noticed for his skills and asked to come help us. Not too long ago, Tomix who had been floating around the forums was brought to our attention and came to help with his amazimg art and animation, and finally Alac who had been helping us from afar on the forums for more than a year, was asked to bring her writing skills and tireless work ethic and come work on DF.

Not to mention Reens, Seahawk and Maegwyn's army of forum mods and AKs helping us all keep in touch with the community, helping us knit a tigher game community than any on the web, and helping us find the largest, scarriest bugs that they can.

Notice a pattern? Everyone on the team was already a member of the AE Community when they were asked to come work for DF!

Everyone here at Artix Entertainment does the work of 3 normal game developers with our weekly releases, but I'm really proud of the DF team and all that we have acomplished, continue to accomplish and have planned for the future of Falconreach and its surrounding areas.

Thanks for 3 amazing years guys. We couldn't have gotten here without you giving us your ideas, playing through our silly stories, exciting adventures and terrible puns. Thanks to each and every one of you for hanging out with us for this long.

To celebrate DF's 3rd Birthday, you can visit Lady Celestia, click on the Train Baby Dragon button and click the Grow Dragon button. If you can afford the hefty gold pricetag then your baby dragon will become a TODDLER dragon.... and the best part is that it new loads as a GUEST, which means you can adventure with your Toddler Dragon AND your favorite pet by your side at the SAME TIME!

This will seriously increase your damage output!

Enjoy!

Cysero
Wouldn'T Hurt
A Fly.

June 9th 2009
Life Is Fun!

This morning before work I did some stuff around the house.

First off, we had a fly. It got into our apartment a few days ago and it's been buzzing around ever since. I thought "It will just die eventually," but it didn't. It just kept pyssing around, following us from room to room and landing on our ears while we slept, like it wanted revenge for something. Normally I can reach out and grab flying bugs but this guy had some serious fly ninja training. My kung fu was simply not strong enough.

This morning I sat down on the couch with a pillow on my lap holding a glass bowl over my head... and waited. I knew the fly wanted to spend time around me and it was just a matter of time until it landed on the pillow. In a smooth motion I quickly lowered the bowl onto the fly and let him go back outside.

It may have been a little more complicated than a flyswatter but I didn't have to wash bug guts off a wall, and I got him out of the house without killing him which I always consider a plus.

I ALSO discovered that my fiance's flat iron (turned OFF) is a great way to get that last little bit of toothpaste out of a dying tube. See diagram below.

"Empty Toothpaste Tubes Are The Mother Of Invention"

Anyone who says that everyday life is boring needs to spend a little more time having fun with it.

THIS weekend we will have a quest and HOPEFULLY an armor for you to test.

Following the destruction of Konnan's home town and everyone's defeat at the hands of Akriloth, Demento decided that the answer lies in the frozen northlands. He requires your help to assemble the parts of a shattered, legendary weapon... it might be your only hope of defeating Akriloth and saving all of Lore from firey destruction.

Yix and his gnomes have been working day and night on ideas to help you defeat Sepulchure and the Cyklons. They have finally got a human sized prototype of the Technomancer Armor ALMOST working.

This Armor Will Pop Your Sprockets Off!

With a little luck you will be able to test out the first few skills of this amazing new armor, drawn, colored and animated by Tomix... But remember, armor testing is for Dragon Lords only. If you want to be ones of the first to use this powerful armor and help us balance test the skills then you will need a Dragon Amuet!

Rolith
i've got nothing

June 8th 2009
Akriloth Is A Guy...

It isn't often we get as mixed up as we were over Akriloth in the underground lab. LORE history almost got re-written in a very unusual way. Whoops. Fixes to the cutscenes to make sure Akriloth appears to be a guy will go live Friday.

So remember the mention of the tweaking of base classes I mentioned a few months back? Lord Barrius, Aelthai, Alac and I have been working on and off, and we're starting to have some stuff to share.

We've defined the three core classes by basic playstyle elements for each... there are a lot of details still to work out but here are the three base classes and what we want to change in one sentence each:

Warrior:
To increase the power and balance out the skills, making it more focused on doing a good deal of damage to single opponents.

Mage:
To reorganize the skills so that they focus more on mage aspects, including giving elemental spells additional and different attributes, making them more effective.

Rogue: To redesign the focus of the class, making it more oriented towards stealth and damage over time.

Again we're still a ways off of getting things to a place where we can show them off to you, but we're definately moving forward. As soon as we have a finalised skill list, I'll make sure to let you guys see it too.

Popsprocket's war has been raging all weekend and you guys are starting to establish a foothold between two raging seemingly countless forces, and as things progress we'll become more and more clear about exactly what it'll take to save the gnomes and try to protect the energy orb from our most fatal foe.

We've got some serious surprises for you guys as the war progresses.

This week Alac is taking time off of quest-creation to work on a side project for Cysero as well as modifiying some existing monster sets to use the new Monster AI (Mana usage and cooldowns) that I made a few months back. She's also been looking out for quick easy bugfixes to make, too, so I wouldn't be surpised to see some gone with this week's release.

The Prologue to the Great Fire War Saga has begun, and will continue this week. We're moving north. Demento thinks he's got a lead on a most powerful of Ice weapons, powerful enough to defend against Akriloth? We'll have to wait and see.

Alac
is ready for war!

June 5th 2009
Let loose the togs of war!

Welcome to the weekend! Are you ready to fight?!

War has finally come to Popsprocket, and now Yix and the gnomes need you to fight your hardest! You can access the Popsprocket war by clicking on the button in the center of town. This IS a war you can lose; the final cutscene after the boss battle will depend on whether you've defeated enough waves!

In your planning with Yix, you figure that it will take a couple of weeks in order for Sepulchure to plow through all the Cyklons that have started rapidly replicating. That gives you time to battle the bots AND take on Sepulchure's minions as they go after YOU! You'll have waves of Cyklons to fight, waves of undead to fight, AND you'll be able to take on the persona of one of Sepulchure's minions in a new version of the latest minigame. Sepulchure has sent you and Drakath to hunt Cyklons, and he will be most displeased if you let him down. All three of those quests will count towards the war meter. There is also a DA-only quest for upgraded members while will answer the questions about why Dr. Voltabolt hasn't been involved in the Popsprocket saga! Can you convince him to help you?

Ghost has made a new pet that can be found in the Defender's Rares shop: to make a Togrider, you will need Gears of War and Defender's Medals. to make higher versions of the Togrider pet, you'll need the lower version, plus Defender's Medals. Tomix and one of our art interns have made weapons to drop as rewards; Metal weapons drop from the Cyklon waves and Wind weapons drop from the Undead waves. In addition, Yix, the gnomes, the sneevils, and the togs are all working feverishly to plan the secret attack, which will be revealed in a cutscene once they are ready. And as soon as they are, the cyklons and undead better expect to fight harder than ever, because once they're ready to set it off, things are going to get FIERCE!

And if you thought that was all we had for you this week, guess again! We ALSO have the beginning of a new quest chain that will lead up to this summer's main event! You'll need to help Konnan, Yulgar's assistant in his weapon shop because he's found out that his home town was attacked by a fire dragon. You've seen the banner on the home page, so that should offer you a clue about where this will go. It's going to get hot this summer!

Have a great weekend!

Alac
can't believe it's Wednesday already!

June 3rd 2009
We all live in a yellow submarine...

Or DO we?! The Beatles' just came on last.fm and, really, you can't beat the Beatles for groovy music. Now, if only Yix and Co. could make a submarine. Then again, you don't need one, you can breathe underwater.

On to what's happening this week! The assualt on Popsprocket will begin in just a few days, so ready your weaponry and charge up your spells, because this battle's going to be BIG. And not only will it be big, but if you lose, the entire future of the game will. Be. Changed. So make sure you don't lose! There will be the normal waves to fight as well as a DA-only quest AND an alternate means of getting Defender Medals which WILL count towards the waves (and can be played by everyone).

Not only that, but coming up will be a quest which may begin to give you some insight into AdventureQuest's past. I won't give anymore details than that, though. It would just ruin the surprise. And we DO like surprises!

See you Friday!

Cysero
LOVES the
Evolved
Chickencow
Lord Armor!

May 29th 2009
Friday Night Lights And Darks In The Same Load Of Laundry.

SO it's Friday. We've got a LOT cooking (fishing actually, no cooking this week) so let's launch already.

FIRST, there is a brand new Ash quest which you will really appreciate if you're a fan of classic games. You WILL get new armor out of this for Ash, HOWEVER, I assure you that the turtleneck is still there...

For now.

Next up, Yix has a new Popsprocket quest for you which you will appreciate if you're a fan of certain sci-fi and action movie series. This quest drops several brand new weapons that you won't want to miss.

We are ALSO launching the much-anticipated Evolved Chickencow Armor! You can get the new armor one of two ways. You can either complete the Zeuster chain and hand in your old Chickencow Armor for the Evolved version... OR, you can just buy it from my Orb in the Superstore of Savings. That's a shortcut for those who haven't completed the Zeuster chain (which you should really complete, it's super fun and hyper funny).

Finally we're releasing Doomwood Fishing! This new fishing spot is just to the left of Amityvale (Talk to Thursday if you get lost) and features 40 brand new fish, a entire new aquarium, 10 new fishing ranks, and 5 temp items that you can use to help you in battle!

If you fish long enough you might even catch the super rare King Crabcake!

Reminder: The new fishing and the Evolved Chickencow Lord armor are only for Dragonlords (Unless you buy the version in the Superstore of Savings... anyone can use that one)! If you don't have a Dragon Amulet then you're missing out!

Enjoy the release guys!

Cysero
Has To Find
A Safe Place
For His Pin
Collection.

May 26th 2009
Jacon 09 And Things To Come.

Miss me?

Yeah, me either. But I'm back on DF this week nonetheless.

Before I get to what you can expect this Friday I'd like to talk about our JACON 09 Panel in Orlando this last weekend. If you missed it then you missed out... and I imagine that rather a lot of you missed it, but we DID see some faces that we recognized.

Obishawn and Mighella who came to our DRAGONCON panels last year, made the trek from Georgia to see us again, and Puritykeeper DROVE 17 hours from Texas JUST to see us. Now THAT is a fan. Sadly his friend Stella_Eterna was sick but she called in to the panel so it's ok.

I'd also like to mention superfans Roshuno and Afilova. Roshuno made Artix, Galanoth and I our in-game weapons out of foam, duct tape and love and Afilova actually dressed up as Thursday and recognized us from our Dragoncon pictures!

What made the panel such a success, you ask? Balloons is the answer you'll get. Yara, the newest addition to the AE team is, among other things, a very talented balloon artist! She made us a 3 foot long BALLOON DRAGON! The dragon didn't really do much but he spent much of his time at the panel GUARDING ME.

This thing got us so much attention that half the people at the panel were there because we mentioned that we would have a contest to win said Dragon. After one of the audience won him in a Twilly Golf contest (using the hammer that Roshuno made me as a golf club) we never saw him again but I am certain that he had many great adventures as the convention continued.

Since the dragon was such a hit we decided to make a special Balloon Dragon pet in AQW and give one to every AQW player who was at the panel.

We also asked the crowd to help us pick the Art Contest winners and we used Artix's camera to make a little movie of the crowd cheering for the amazing artists. Artix will announce the winners on the AQW Design Notes, as well as linking to the movie a little later today!

That's great, you say, but enough about AQW. Let's hear about DF!

As you wish! Here is what we have planned for this week:

A new Ash quest, A new Popsprocket quest leading up to a new kind of WAR in which YOU will decide the fate of the Energy Orb.

We are adding an all new Fishing area to Amityvale (complete with temp item fish that will help you in combat, much like potions but with different effects). There will be 35-40 brand new Doomwood fish, a new aquarium to put them in and 10 new fishing ranks, but this new fishing area will only be for Dragon Amulet Holders! If you're not a Dragonlord, then you're stuck fishing in Falconreach.

Finally, we will be adding several new kitchen-themed House items to the House Items shop in Popsprocket. You wanted matching appliances and cookware... you got it.

If we have time, There will be new fishing music for the new Doomwood and we might add some new recipes to cooking!

Alac
is posting. Again!

May 22th 2009
Hot time in the Saga!

It's Friday! Again! We have many things this weekend, and even more that we wanted to release but couldn't quite finish in time. As the earlier Design Note said, we will NOT be releasing the Evolved ChickenCowLord armor this weekend. We're really sorry, but between the coding and animation, we just couldn't finish in time. We are planning on releasing it next week, and we'll keep you posted!

Now, for what we ARE releasing! There is a new Ash Dragonblade quest for you to check out! You'll need to travel to the jungle and from there, things might just get a bit hot! But you'll be with a REAL princess! W00t! The Popsprocket chain is also continuing. Talk to Yix, then you'll be on your way to Oaklore to try and recruit the Pactagonal Knights to come and battle in the coming war again both Balthar and Sepulchure. Can you convince them? Better try hard, the gnome's city rests on your success!

Rolith has whipped up a brand new minigame this week, DF's version of Checkers! You and the Knights of Oaklore will need to trap a bandit on a checkerboard, so make sure you're thinking strategically! Head to Oaklore and talk to Captain Rolith to play our newest minigame! We also have a holiday weekend shop that will be open until Tuesday morning! There are MANY weapons from levels 25 through 50, as well as two new capes for you superhero wannabes!

Not only that, but we are having a Gold and EXP Boost Weekend! You'll get 10% more gold and exp from battling! So make sure to Battle On! Also, if you're in the area, be sure to come see us as we'll be attending JACON this weekend! You can find more information here: AE goes to Con!

Have a great weekend!

Alac
brings you an early update

May 22th 2009
Evolved Chickencowlord IS coming, but not tonight

There's good news and less-good news in this Design Note. First: the release is on track for tonight! (Mostly.)

I'm sorry to say, the Evolved Chickencow Armor is NOT going to be released tonight. Which means, yes, there IS going to be an Evolved ChickenCowLord class! Tomix has done an awesome job with the animations (can you say tidal wave?), but the coding is taking longer than expected, and we've run into some bugs. Blame falls squarely on my shoulders, since I did the coding. (Rolith has to sleep SOME time, after all!)

Now, the good news. We have a TON of stuff coming out tonight, including two quests AND a holiday shop AND a surprise by Rolith! (Not a togicide, this time.) Who likes board games? We'll go into more detail when the release is ready!

Alac
is posting for Rolith

May 20th 2009
SOON = DOOM, trust me

Rolith is knee-deep in a new project (isn't he always?!), but wanted me to post to keep you guys updated. So, a couple days ago Rolith posted a Design Notes asking for help choosing a name for his massive, single-player, rolith-coding list (MSPRCL, it's like an MMORPG but more work. He only needs to kill five more bugs on it to level up!). We had tried coming up with it ourselves, but we just weren't finding the right name. Then, after you guys on the forum posted a bunch of suggestions for the list in swenson's thread, we went through it and were laughing ourselves silly. There were a bunch of really good ones (I liked MechaKnux4's"Rolist" [eerie2 has good taste!]), but he ultimately liked Valnos' idea for the "NBoD," the "Never-Ending Book of Doom/Dreams/Destiny/etc" with a small change.

Rolith's To-Do list will now be called the Never-Ending Book of SOON. And believe me, if we pushed things out sooner than we do, DOOM just might follow! Valnos, if you ever manage to battle your way past the hordes of undead and make your way into the Secret Underground Lab, Rolith owes you a cookie.

Alac
is plotting

May 19th 2009
Not bricks in the wall OR cogs in the machine

Welcome to Tuesday! We're all working hard, consulting to-do lists and bouncing in and out of IM meetings trying to organize this week and next week.

I'd call us all cogs in the machine except no one is small enough or interchangeable to fit inside one. The absence of even one person is noticeable. And speaking of...

Everyone tell Cysero to feel better; he's not feeling so well, and hopefully he'll get better as soon as possible.

On to what we have planned for the week: things are stirring in Oaklore! If I were you, I'd be prepared to head back there. But you should expect that already; Yix DID tell you that you need to recruit the help of the Pactagonal Knights. You'll need to talk to Knight Captain Rolith about having him deploy his un-Sir-prisingly adept Knights to help the Popsprocket Gnomes. Ghost and I are working on that this week and preparing for what is coming next in the Popsprocket chain. We have another quest in the ArchKnight saga that geopetal and Ghost are putting together. Tomix is working on that surprise for the Armor Merge shop. I don't want to give TOO many clues, but you should prepare yourselves for what Tomix is going to unleash upon you.

As for Rolith, he's got that as-yet-unnamed To-Do list in front of him. I think there must be To-Do List Fairies, too, because his just keeps growing longer. Ghost made this up to illustrate the evil grin Rolith gets when he figures out how to smash a particularly troublesome bug. You can't really see the glint in his eye in this picture, but the wide grin isn't too far off.

Alac
knows the secret

May 15th 2009
Can you handle the truth?!

Welcome to the weekend! We have a TON of stuff in this release for you, so lets get right to it.

After five months of laboring at the tasks Zeuster gave you (if you weren't worthy before, you are now!), Zeuster is finally convinced that you deserve to know the secret of element Bacon! He and the Head Magepriest, Archimoodes, are prepared to tell you the whole greasy tale! They'll finally put to rest all those bizarre rumors surrounding element Bacon, not to mention explaining just why Zhoom is so sensitive to it. Fair warning: you just might have more questions about Bacon once the cutscene is over than you did before you watched it. It's just that delicious.

At the end of the cutscene, a shop will open with NEW non-DA Bacon weapons (those of you who wanted a Flaming Bacon Lance? Oh yeah, we totally made it) and a DA-only Bacon trinket! Be sure to bring your gold-filled wallet, because Zeuster doesn't take LORE Express. DA versions of the new Bacon weapon as well as a range of older Bacon-related weaponry have a small chance to drop from the cutscene, as well. AND Cysero's Superstore of Savings will also have a new Bacon pet for you: Pigasus. Now pigs really CAN fly.

And if you have a Dragon Amulet, after watching the cutscene and learning the secret, you can unlock a DA-only battle that will tie up some loose ends from earlier in the quest chain. Triskylos, the three-headed dog-beast who guards the gates of the Underworld, wants his child back and he wants him back now! If you want Spots, you'll have to fight for him!

After weeks of working on it, the Bakery is finally open and there is a friendly Yaga ready and willing to teach you how to train your Cooking skill! Head over southeast of town to the Sugarbread house (you'll smell it before you see it) and talk to Gretel. You'll be able to learn a wide range of very tasty recipes like scrambled chickencow eggs! You also have a chance of making temporary items (Dragonlord-only) which can be used elsewhere in the game to give your strength a boost, depending on the dish!

That's not all! There is ALSO a new PenPal quest if you go and talk to Zapp in Popsprocket! He's not finished seeking out penpals, so he has yet another letter for you to deliver, if you would be so kind. Maybe in your downtime, you should look into starting a regular mail-delivery service.

PS: If you are a DragonLord, you will definitely want to check back with Valencia next week, because there is ooooooone more surprise left in the Zeuster chain. That armor merge shop button? Oh yeah, it'll open. And that blacked-out shape next to it isn't a clue or anything. We wouldn't be so obvious.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rolith
is just as big of a nerd as you guys expect

May 14th 2009
Cooking is so fun!

Well, here it is, another late Thursday night, and I'm looking at a LATE night, but this time it'll work out well! I've got the first two of what I'm calling micro-games done for cooking, and ready for release. Fast, addictive, and increasingly challenging they may be an apt challenge to those of you who like minigames and tests of reaction.

You'll be playing one of the two games as you assemble the ingredients to create unique dishes. Some of these dishes (read the high end ones) will sometimes result in special temporary items that if ingested during battle will likely have unique...interesting affects. Like fishing, this first release is only to whet your appettie for more and we'll be extending the ingredients list as well as recipes as we move forward. I TOTALLY didnt ask Tomix for a Sgt. Pepper for future use, nope.

Lately, I've been taking to breaking my never ending to-do list into daily lists of goals that are actually achievable. The goal is to get better at assessing how much work I can cram into a day. That way I will know my limits, and not end up in situations like this(Read: 11PM ULT* and working in a frenzy).

This has resulted in two things.

1) I've actually managed to compile most of my long term and short term goals and notes about them into a singular physical book.
2) I have been trying to come up with a name for said Notebook.

All I've got so far is LAST List - Long Assembly of Serial Tasks. A bit dry. Though, I do love a good acronym. Any ideas? Cya on the forums. And I'll definatly see you tomorrow. Goodnight!

*(Underground Lab Time).

Alac
is not fond of Time-travel Fairies.

May 13th 2009 (not the 8th!)
It's Wednesday, no thanks to Time Travel Fairies!

It's Wednesday already! We have a big week ahead of us (well, what's left of it, anyways), but those cursed time-travel fairies never let up. This morning they played a very cruel prank, so everyone join in and /fistshake at them in unison.

I was up most of the night taking care of my sick dog and so I didn't sleep much or well. When I DID finally wake up in the morning, I was sure it was Friday. I'd overslept and so I panicked and ran through my morning routine - shower, coffee, check on pets, coffee, boot up the PC. It wasn't until I looked at the calendar on the wall that I saw it was Wednesday. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry or go back to bed. I settled for fistshaking at the fairies and had another cup of coffee.

The good news is, it IS Wednesday! So not only do we have more time to work on this week's release, but this week's release is almost here! Not that that's oxymoronic or anything. We definitely have two very exciting releases coming up for you! First up is the next installment of the ArchKnight saga. You've messed up Warlic's spell, petrified a girl, used basilisk mucus as mortar,kissed a girl-frog (frogette? Frogina?) even though you aren't a prince, can you even guess what's coming next? While it might be fun to TRY, I'm betting you will still be surprised by what geopetal has in store for you this week.

And... it's FINALLY time for the Zeuster finale! You've waited since the beginning of January and now Zeuster will actually, really, finally tell you what the secret of the bacon element is. I've been reading the thread in the DragonFable General Discussion board trying to guess what it is, and some of your guesses have a) been really surprising and b) made me laugh out loud. I loved this one, by Gramis, though I'm definitely NOT ebil enough to do it:

You: "so what's the secret? where does it come from?"
Zeuster: "It comes from the bacon orb."
You: "Where's the Orb?"
Zeuster: "You asked where bacon came from, and i answered. If you want the location of the orb... you have to do 12 more quests"
You: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! ...I hate you"

There will be 1) the finale cutscene where you'll learn the secret, 2) a DA-only quest which will tie up some loose ends for you, 3) REWARDS! and 4) a surprise for DragonLords which will come NEXT week. Ghost has made some really awesome rewards for you this week, both non-DA and DA-only, which will be in a shop at the end of the cutscene. And Tomix will have the surprise ready for you next week. You will need to have the reward from the DA-only quest in order to make the surprise, though, so be sure to save it!

See you Friday!

Alac
loves her mother.

May 8th 2009
Happy Mother's Day Weekend

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers among our players! And if your mom doesn't play DF, now would be a good time to show her the game! Moms love cute things, right? And what's cuter than a baby dragon?

To celebrate Mother's Day, we have a shop FULL of gifts just waiting for you to browse through it in Falconreach. It has 12 different weapons, 3 necklaces, and a rare "junk" item put in for you collectors! (I recommend the Macaroni Necklace of Power +3. Mothers LOVE macaroni necklaces, or so my mom convinced me back in third grade.)

Ash has a new quest for you this week, and believe me, you will NOT expect the ending. I guess there really aren't any coincidences in life, as Rolith can attest to. Log in as Ash and head to the southeast fountain in Falconreach, then talk to yourself. Unfortunately, there was an error with last week's quest and you'll need to redo that before beginning this week's event. We're sorry about that, guys!

There are THREE new random Popsprocket quests, all of which drop one of six DA-only weapons! You guys keep asking for higher level weapons, so these are levels 44 and 46 energy weapons. Help Yix take care of some little problems around town to earn them!

We hope you have a great weekend! I'm off to spend some quality time with my mom.

Rolith
Did NOT scream like a little girl.

May 7th 2009
How Rolith's Night Went

When I signed on to work at Artix Entertainment, I knew there'd be nights like this... which is kind of astonishing, actually.

So, the basics of the cooking art is done, the designs for the minigames are done, and all that's left is for me to do my bit of coding. Tomix and Geo worked extra hard and I had a good bit of the files in front of me from Wednesday on, and we're getting well under way. However, I've just been unable to get to a point where I'm happy with releasing it, and it looks like we're going to be holding it off for a week to get it finished and as polished as we'd like.

Sorry you guys. We've still got three new Popsprocket quests, and a new Ash quest coming out (along with the first set of new skills for Ash's armor). Tomorrow's still looking like a very full day.

Also coming in the next few weeks, prepare to see the continuation of Popsprocket's core storyline, and Ash's growth as he faces even more daunting (and hysterical) challenges in the pursuit of rescuing a princess will be continuing as well. We've come to the end of the Zeuster Saga, and both Ghost and Tomix are pulling out all the stops for the finale. And we've even got a few surprises up our sleeves as we head into the summer.

As for the weirdness that was my night, it's story time. Some of you may recall last year about this time, Artix had a little visit from a frog in a very unusual place. (See June 6th, 2008 Design Notes) Now, to start off the night of working at home trying to get Cooking ready to go as well as Ash's skills out the door, I stumbled across a frog sitting in the dead center of my toliet, looking right up at me. Bravest frog I've ever see, but as I literally heard my cats (Pandora and Nyx) licking their lips in preperation for a feast, I thought it best to evacuate him to the pond out back of my house.

It took two plasic cups and a sturdy stealth and dexterity roll, but I managed to nab him in a plasitc cup and shuffle him out the door. My cats are not happy with me taking away their planned midnight snack.

Alright, so I figured I'd let you guys know that Cooking wasn't going to make it into this release. Back to working on the Ash class, and I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night.

Rolith
Can Be Tired!

May 5th 2009
Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Woah, my profile's gathered a little bit of dust. Sorry! I've been very busy, MechQuest.com saw it's debut on facebook, DF got some behind the scenes database improvements, and I've even managed to improve the network situation here in the underground lab, ya know, a bit. Productivity is remarkably high... unfortunately the to-do list has just grown to reflect that, and the to-do list is as long as ever!

Geo, while helping design and lay out the baking minigame, has been working on the next part of the ArchKnight storyline. She's been pretty tight lipped about what's coming, but from what I know, she and Artix are leading us down a very amusing, epic path.

Along with the quest, HOPEFULLY this week we'll finally see the addition of the first set of Ash's new skills. I say first set because well...Ash isn't going to train like a normal player class and be limited to 14 skills. Thanks to Ash being his own player character, he will eventually be able to train his skill slots to contain a mixture of magic and specials, much like the original ArchKnight game - only expanded upon, picking and chosing the skills he wants to keep and pass on from a laundry list. The first 10 are designed, animated, and just waiting for my coding work, and HOPEFULLY will see release this week. Once we've finished the next set of skills (not this week and probably not the following) we'll unlock the advanced training section.

Baking should also be seeing itself finished this week if all goes well. Tomix is working hard on interfaces and artwork, some of which looks delicious. I'll hopefully have time to put all the peices together this week as well. Looking foward to putting your Chef's Hat on and testing your skills in the kitchen?

The Zeuster Saga has just the finale left (as well as the DA-only battle), and both Ghost and Tomix are hard at work on the art and animation for it, but it's simply too big to fit in one week's development cycle!

Alac, though, is not sitting idly by, but instead is whipping up THREE new quests for Popsprocket. Short, sweet, and a lot of fun, they should provide an adequate distraction while we wait for that storyline to continue. I can't wait to see your guys faces when THAT happens.

Don't forget to wish Randor the Red a very happy birthday on the forums, as well!

A lot of what's on my plate isn't 100% going to make it out this week. There's a LOT to do before Friday. I'll keep you guys informed of the situation as we move forward, though. Cya Later this week!

Alac
has to buy a new calculator.

May 4th 2009
Re-balancing Re-done

We mentioned in Friday's Design Notes that some accessories were going to be re-balanced due to errors made when they were first statted. When we make mistakes, we're sometimes willing to leave them in-game if they're in your favor, but when those mistakes break the game (and these did), we make sure to fix them so that the game is as fun as we want it to be for you. This rebalancing wasn't brought about by complaints that items were overpowered, as we saw on the forums some of you thought. This all happened when, on Friday afternoon, we caught the mistake and went "Oh nooooo!"

Faces were palmed, calculators were smashed, etc etc. But now the rebalancing is done and, while things were nerfed, they are now more in line with other items in the game, and not so incredibly, game-breakingly unbalanced. Accessories which were adjusted include: the Mushroom belt series from Sir Ano's quest, the belts from the Queen of the Jungle quest, the SandSea helms, the helms/capes from Death's quests in the Zeuster chain, and the Imitation Chickencow Wings.

Note: In the not-too-distant future, we will be increasing the impact of the Ranged Defense and Magic Defense stats, so many of the above items have had points put into those.

Again, sorry about the mistake, guys. But we want you to have as much fun as possible when playing DragonFable, and if items make it so that the game isn't challenging for your character, it's not as fun as it could be.

Alac
won't eat schnozzberries.

May 1st 2009
Beginnings and Ends

Welcome to the weekend!

First up is the Zeuster quest; you are on the last of your tasks and it's time to tackle a titan! Zeuster let you know someone has chicalf-napped some of their precious golden eggs, and it's up to you to get them back. It's up to you to track them down, but in order to get to them, you're going to have to go through Medewwsa, drawn and animated by Tomix, one of the grossest (and most petrifying) monsters we've had in a long time! There is a titan fight for DragonLords as well as free players, and if you haven't finished the Dragon Egg Saga yet, you can always try your luck at detecting the secret entrance into the Garden.

This is the last quest before the finale cutscene where you'll finally learn the secret of the origins of element bacon! We would love to release the finale cutscene PLUS a DA-only quest PLUS a special surprise next week, but the end of this chain has been a long time in coming, and we want to make sure we do it right ,so you might need to wait just a bit longer.

Next up is the ArchKnight saga! If you thought you knew where the story was going... guess again! There will be more than a few surprises (and maybe a miffed NPC or two). You'll get an offer of help from an old friend, too. You won't believe who shows up! Lend Ash a hand as he struggles to overcome the obstacles that keep falling right in his path; who better to help him than you? This is just the beginning of all new developments in Ash's storyline.

Ghost did double cutscene duty this week, animating both the Zeuster and ArchKnight cutscenes. He deserves cookies, but the UPS doesn't ship to the Underworld. Rolith, amidst a ton of other things we kept throwing at him, made good progress on getting Ash's skills ready. Look forward to those in the weeks to come, as well as the cooking minigame!

P.S. - We haven't forgotten about Popsprocket! New quests in that chain will be released in the weeks to come!

P.P.S. - A small rebalancing of some of the recent helms and belts is taking place this weekend. There's nothing wrong with having strong equipment with great stats, but when the stats are TOO overpowerful, things need to be corrected. A note of reassurance, though: none of the DC items will be altered.

Alac
is helping Tweak things.

April 28th 2009
Got Bacon?

We've heard that after yesterday's Design Notes announcing that there will be a titan fight this week, some of you have grown concerned that only DragonLords will be able to finish the Zeuster chain. While there WILL be a titan fight in this quest (probably not the titan fight you're expecting, though!), we want all players to be able to finish the chain and discover the secret of element bacon.

If you have finished the Dragon Egg saga as either a DragonLord or a free player, you will have access to the titan fight! If you haven't done the Dragon Egg saga, you'll need to use your wits and keen eyesight to detect the route to the end of the quest. (Not that oddly sparkling bushes are a dead give-away or anything, nope!)

Tomix is busy finishing the monster for the titan fight while Ghost is working on the cutscene for this week. They've also both got orders for what will be needed for the rest of the Zeuster chain. We are hoping it will come out next week, but there's a good chance it might not.

We have some really awesome plans for the end (some of them you guys have asked for, but some of them will likely come as a surprise) and we want to make sure we do them right.

It's been a long time coming, and I'm sure some of you thought pigs would fly before the Zeuster chain ended, but the finale is in sight, so stay with us as your character gets ready to take on the last challenge needed in order to convince Zeuster to divulge his secrets!

Tweak News: Rolith and I met with Aelthai and Lord Barrius last night to continue work on the stat redesign. Before we get any actual numbers finalized, we're going over each of the base class skills and determining whether they should stay the same, be completely changed, or simply... tweaked. So far we've gotten through two of the three classes, so we're making progress!

Rolith
Has productivity!

April 27th 2009
It's Monday!

I'm guessing you guys have noticed we're trying to be a bit better about making sure you know what's going on with the releases in DF. Last week we had a new design notes every single day, and I'd love to see that happen again this week... Sick of us yapping yet?

Today will see another meeting with Me, Alac, Lord Barius and Aelthai discussing details of The Tweaking. We hope to have the base classes sketched out and awaiting specific numbers by the end of the week, and I'd like to see some forward movement on it soon.

The tweaks to stats are going to be more in-depth then a lot of you guys on the forums are assuming, but keep in mind the formulas used for DF are kept hidden. We don't reveal specifics for a reason, because it's fun to make you guys figgure stuff out.

That said, as we have details, we'll be giving you more information, if not specifics, about what we're planning. Keep in mind, while the changes may not be exactly what you want, we're not going to stop until we've made a better, more fun game. Once the designs are done, I'm going to get started on re-working the stats system and the battle engine. This project's still a good few weeks out, but planning should be progressing nicely, even if my schedule is still jsut as full and actually making the changes will be a long-term project.

There are lots of OTHER things in the works for this week. Ash not only should be getting some skills (in a fun, interesting new way we haven't tried before), but he might be running into someone you're VERY familiar with. VERY. Seriously, you totally know this guy.

We're also coming to the conclusion of the Bacon Saga, and you DragonLords will be getting a Titan fight this week, though probbly not the one you're expecting. Alac's been writing this weekend and I can't wait to see your guys reaction this week.

We're also well under way designing the Cooking minigame. Geo, Tomix and I are working on the tradeskill's design and concept. If things go well it'll see the light of day this week, but again, like fishing, we won't settle for putting something out that we don't find fun and engaging.

So, what kind of ingrediants do you see around LORE? we have a few, but I'm curious what you'd like to see. Cya on the forums..

Cysero
Blak5

April 24th 2009
The Braydenball Cometh!

Here we GO!

This week we've got a lot going on. There is a new Zeuster quest in which Zeuster asks you to get a guard dog for him, but no ordinary guard dog will do! Make your way to the underworld and nab one its guardians to be Zeuster's pet and hope that Death doesn't notice. Some pretty sweet rewards drop from that quest too.

In Popsprocket we've got 2 new quests fro you. The first is from Zap, who would like you to cut through some red tape and deliver a special something to a special someone for him. Of course you'll have to fight some of the game's most powerful heroes in PVP battles to get there.

Yix also has a quest for you. The mini-magic-eye is strapped to the flying eyeball and now you get to sit back and listen in on a conversation between Drakath and Sepulchure. What will be revealed? Some very high level rewards drop out of this quest, so be ready to catch them.

Lastly, my shop has a few new additions to the pet section. The first are a few of the puppies from the underworld.... NOW YOU CAN HAVE YOUR OWN!

The second.... is the Braydenball. They're cheap. 25 DCs (as simple as one or two AExtras) and you can have one. These little guys....girls.... things.... whatever... don't act like anything in any universe that I've ever been to.

Play with them for a while and see what you can find out about their attacks.... they are chock FULL of mysterious mysteries. Their actions are unpredictable. Their origins are unknown and no one can seem to figure out anything about what they might one day become. Warlic and I have been up for 3 days straight trying to learn something. Anything. So far we've learned exactly nothing.

I'm usually up for a good mystery but these things just SHOULD NOT BE. Buy one. Buy them all. Just get them out of my shop.

Blak5.

Rolith
Can Be Busy!

Cysero
Is Creepeed
Out.

April 23th 2009
It's still being planned!

There have been a LOT of projects happening behind the scenes lately. A few of them are starting to come together to the point where we can pull some curtins back. Today is going to be a GREAT day in the minds of a lot of players who love stratagy.

Last night, long after the underground lab was emptied of most of it's occupants, and the sock cages were chained shut, I sat down and chatted with Alac, Aelthai, and Lord Barrius to discuss the core balance and mechanics of the game and how we could make them more fun.

What resulted is that we'll be tweaking!

Yes, tweaking. Over the next couple of months we'll be orginizing a series of tweaks to pretty much everything.

What this'll imeditatly mean to you guys is the three base classes will be getting rebalanced and refocused on what they're best at, resulting in three equal but different playstyles that will take full advantage of the strengths of each skillset.

Other changes we hope to make when the first set of changes rolls live:

- Every character will get five statpoints to spend per level allowing for more customization.

- A new stat will be introduced called Wisdom, which will be the base of all different class's mana instead of Int.

- Such major changes to stats system means we're going to be refunding all stat points (and gold spent on them) when this rolls live.

A lot of what's coming is still a while away. A lot of things require not so little changes to the game's core engine, but we felt it very important to get you guys in as soon as we had any kind of decsions made. These changes are a starting off point for a lot bigger and better things in the future, and are long overdue.

Remeber, they're not coming any time soon, we're still in the early stages of planning on these, and none of the details are set in stone. I'll see you on the forums!

Tell ya what. These things... I think they're called Braydenballs, don't ask me how I know....they give me the screaming heebie jeebies. I don't like the way they watch me. Seems like they've stopped growing but I think they might possibly change further in the future. Maybe.

I just want to get rid of them. I'm going to start selling them tomorrow in my shop... cheap.

If you decide to take one home.... play with it for a while. Try things out. See what you discover about them and let me know.

Cysero
LOVES ALL
ART BOOKS!!!

April 22th 2009
Art Books, Updates and Bradeynballs

Let's talk about the MechQuest Artbook.

I'm sure most of you know that we're very close to publishing our first book of AE Art Work.

This book contains about 120 full color pages of some of our top artists best work, including art from J6, Thyton, Oishii, Aisha, Korin, Jemini, Miltonious and even Artix himself (who is not technically one of our top artists). You also get sneak previews of things to come like the Transforming Starships and the MechQuest Comic, a how to draw section.

You ALSO get a special code that unlocks the mother of all mechs, the SKULL CRUSHER in MQ as well as unlocking the Skull Crusher ARMOR in AQW!

Keep in mind that there is no publishing house backing us so we're doing and paying for this entire thing ourselves... we are SELF-PUBLISHING the art book which is not easy or cheap. We're trying to get the book and all the extras to you for as low as $19.95 USD.

We know that not everyone is into art books as much as we are, but every one of our artists has about 15 art books on their shelves from their favorite games and artists and we want to know if this sounds like a deal to you?

Let us know on the Forums!

I wanted to let you guys know that there have been a few changes to the line-up this week. We will still have another Popsprocket and Zeuster, Ash will be replaced with a new Pen Pal quest from Zap in Popsprocket, and cooking will have to be put on hold.

We have just been leaning on Rolith for everything lately INCLUDING trying to fit some of our games into Facebook as apps so we decided that he needed a little breathing room before we killed him.

Speaking of curious, inhuman creatures from the space between realities... Grams came to me yesterday with the oddest box of.... things. I don't know what else to call them.

I've never seen anything like them before which worries me. I've seen a LOT of things that no one ELSE has ever seen before.

I wouldn't say that they are evil exactly, but they simply pulse with a kind of wrongness. Being near them gives you the same feeling as seeing the color hot, or tasting things with your finger tips. It's a very powerful kind of "just not right".

Want one?

Cysero
Will Accept
The Burden
Of The
Braydenball

April 21th 2009
What Are These?

"I'm not sure. Someone just left them on my doorstep. I was hopin' you could tell me."

"Was there a note?"

"Nope, No note. No Nothin'. Just a box full of 'em."

"...What was the box made of?"

"Does that matter?"

"It might. It might matter very much. Have you tried to... feed them?"

"I've TRIED. They don't seem to eat but they're gettin' larger. What kind of livin' thing gets bigger without eatin'?"

"Oh, They're not alive."

"You mean they're undead?"

"No..."

"They can't be robots, can they? They're too... bouncy"

"No, they're just... something else. They're smart. Have you tried to train them yet?"

"I... I tried to train one of 'em."

"What happened?"

"Nothin'. It just sat there and watched me."

"It was learning. It's probably taught the others by now. If you try again, you'll get better results.

"You think so?"

"I know it."

"How could you know anythin' about them if you've never seen them before."

"I can smell the concepts they pass between them. They just figured out what the concept "time" means."

"Do you know where they're from?"

"I only know where they're not from. The Universe. Bring them back Friday and I'll make a place for them. Oh, keep them in their box and don't let them bounce too much."

"Why not?"

"If they grow without eating, they probably get stronger when they use more energy. Not sure what'll happen. Be careful but have fun.

...I know that they will."

"Now you're just trying to scare me."

"Is it working?"

"....Yeah."

Rolith
May Be On An Anime Kick

geopetal
totems, TOTEMS, TOTEMS!

Cysero
Is Issuing
A Warning!

April 20th 2009
Cooking is so fun! Cooking is so fun!

There's a bit of a short-notice anoucement I've got to make. We're going to be at Jacon in Orlando this May 23rd. We'll be holding a pannel for AQW (though Cysero and I and a few others of the AE staff will be there for the rest of the games too) to be held at noon. For more information on Jacon check out Their Website, and for more information about our panel (location at the con) check out the panel page!.

This week things are getting off to a quick start, as we all have a general idea of what we're working on. I've got a few behind the scenes projects in the works that will be taking up a big boatload of my time, but also am trying to make time for another tradeskill minigame. We've wanted to do Baking/Cooking tradeskill for about as long as I can remember. We've got a LOT of fun ideas for this minigame and I'm not going to rush it out, so I won't hesitate to not release it this week if it's not ready, but it's in the works. Fishing isn't done either, as a side note, we're working on making it bigger and better moving forward as well.

Cysero is also working on the next quest in the Popsprocket chain, and had me laughing pretty hard when discussing where he wants to take this chain before it's all said and done. I'm looking forward to where he leads us.

Geo's also working on the next Ash quest. For those of you playing along at home, you should realize we're getting pretty close to the point where the old-school ArchKnight ended and where we'll get to move forward into the unkown. Geo and Artix are working together closely on this too, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Alac is also moving forward with the Zeuster chain, and all you fans of greek mythology (and who isn't?) will also note that we're running out of tasks for Zeuster to send you on. This one, however, will be a big one. Zeuster is starting to be impressed by your skills, and has a rather intemidating task laid out for you.

I'm sure they will be chiming in during the rest of the week to fill you in on what' they're working on. See ya' on the forums.

My friend, Pancing, has recently started playing DragonFable again. It's been sooo much fun answering his questions about the game and seeing it again through his point of view. He made me literally laugh out loud today (as he usually does) when he pointed out today:

Pancing says (1:09 PM):
I like
how death
can be hit with metal

So, now Death has a weakness for metal. \m/ O_o \m/

...

It is coming. Beware!

Beware...the Braydenball!

Cysero
Knows How
To Make An
Omelette!

April 17th 2009
!ereH erA uoY

"No matter where you go, there you are.' -Buckaroo Banzi

I'm sad (happy, actually) to report that if you are the proud owner of the You Are Here trinket... you will have to live with the face that if you turn to the left, you see the back of the sign and the words appaar backwards.

Rolith assures me that there MIGHT be a coding solution to this graphical glitch but A) It would take a lot more time and energy than any of us want devoted to fixing it and B) it's pretty darn funny the way it is!

So it stays.

The forum responses on the OTHER hatched treasures seem pretty favorable which is great because we really wanted to come up with stuff that would please most of you.

If you happen to have gotten the Chickcalf... just equip it, take it into battle and wait for a while. He's SO CUTE!

We have more releases today too! Ash is going to face Klatuu, the 3rd and final necromancer as he continues his silly quest to save a princess.... ANY princess. If you're a fan of Archknight you know that we are reaching the end (sorta) of the original tale but we have all new chapters coming to you that were never in the original Archknight! We've been working with the original script writer (Artix), the original artist (Artix) and the original coder (Artix) and gotten the whole original team back together (Artix) to continue Archknight with the same insane flavor!

ALSO don't miss the next quest in Zeuster's chain. You must REALLY want to know the secret of the bacon element because you're still completing Zeuster's impossible tasks. This week he has sent you to the Queen of the Furies (Not FURRIES) to retrieve a very special fashion accessory. Valencia will be waiting for you in the usual place to start your adventure.

Enjoy the releases and the newly hatched toys and have a GREAT WEEKEND! OR ELSE!

Rolith
can has new laptop!

April 14th 2009
It's Like the Plague, only spread by game developers instead of rats...so exactly like the plague!

The laptop that I've had since I started working for AE finally started to show signs of the constant abuse I've delt towards it over the past few years. So, after almost 3 years and thousands of hours of my life, it is time to say goodbye to the beloved laptop named Red Dwarf, and say hello to the shiny new TARDIS*! I've been on a British Sci-Fi tilt for naming my computer devices for a while now (My MP3 Players have all been named Starbug).

Silly names aside, I've got some curious news. Artix's Office Exorcism (say THAT three times fast.) didn't seem to stick quite so well, as it appears Cysero, Geo, and Alac are all still suffering from the Underground Lab's Undead Plague, or it's afteraffects, still. Ghost, Tomix and I the only one of the DF's team sttill standing come 3pm this afternoon. Be sure to wish them well on the forums!

As for some big annoucements about what's coming this week, we'll have to play it by ear. Hopefully everyone will be up on their feet with a day or two of rest and we can finally declare the plague dead!

Due to Geo being sick, the eggs lasted a bit longer then intended. They've been removed now.

*Sorry BBC!

Cysero
Warned You!.

April 10th 2009
Egg Hunting TIme!

Welcome to Friday! We've got a pretty big release today but not as big as we had hoped.

Sad to report there is no Zeuster quest this week. Alac fell ill and wasn't able to finish it but it will be ready for next week. It will actually be nice to have a little head start for her! Everyone say "FEEL BETTER ALAC!"

We DO have a holiday egg hunt on! There are 27 seperate quests which contain eggs, All of them contain more than one egg but No single quests holds ALL the eggs. If you want the full collection you'd better get hunting!

Or you can buy them from the hgoliday shop for DC's if you don't want to put in the time. Kinda defeats the point of a treasure HUNT tho, right?

Either way, get them THIS WEEKEND! Monday the eggs and the shop will vanish! And you'll have to wait until next Friday to see what's inside! Heehee, we're evil sometimes.

Remember to check the forum to see where other players have found their treasure eggs!

In Popsprocket, Yix has a plan for spying on Sepulchure. Do you trust gnomish technology enough to try to sneak into Sepulchure's flying fortress and convert a flying eyeball into a spy for you?!

Probably not. I mean, who would. Do it anyway. it's fun.

Finally Ash continues his less than metoric rise to Archknightdom as he seeks the necromancer Verata in this week's quest. You can also find some of the treasure eggs in HIS quests if you want to see if he can use anything that hatches from them.

Have fun guys, LET THE TREASURE HUNT BEGIN!

Cysero
Hunts
Treasure.

April 9th 2009
Community Matters matter

Got some updates for ya, warm up your reading eyes.

FIRST, some of you may have noticed some changes to the DF Pedia, our forums own best resource for all things DragonFabley. The pedia is undergoing some construction to help keep the spam posts out of it and help keep the wonderful pedia staff (PaperClip, pjc, latedog and Andy8... thanks for all your tireless work guys) a little closer to sane.

Some of you were afraid that our pedia would become like AQ's pedia system, and that no one would be able to make individual posts or be the first to claim pedia rights to a new addition to the game.

This is not so!

Seahawk and Maegwyn, the recently promated co-heads of the forums, have decided to give birth to the Dragonpedia Masters! This is a new elite group of forumites, just like you, who can contribute freely to the pedia, as much and as often as they want... Want to know how to become a member? (it's free!) Click Here and let the mighty Seahawk explain...

The AE Community (you guys) are really the most important thing to us. We shape the games around your wishes, try to keep it fun for you and try to listen to your suggestions whever we can. Without you playing the games... there would be no games.

We know how much fun the pedia is, but some people tried to use it for discussion, arguments or plain old spam. We need the pedia to be a magnificent archive of your heroes adventures, and the world they live in and we want everyone to be able to feel connected to that world by entering in pictures and descriptions of new items, people, places and events as they occur.

We really want you do everything that we can to keep everyone talking, coming up with ideas, making suggestions, and basicly helping to build the world of Lore into something we can all be proud of and claim a part of.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the pedia so far and I hope to see every single one of you in the Dragonpedia Masters continuing to archive and record the world of DragonFable for future generations of heroes!

In other news... Tomorrow we've got some more Archknight, a new Popsprocket quest AND one of DragonFable's own TREASURE HUNTS (VERY limited time.... one weekend only!). Get excited.

Cysero
Is Goin'
Fishin'!

April 3rd 2009
ARCHKNIGHT continued, Inns and Fishing!

We spent a lot of time this week fishing up some unfinished business! We've got 3 pieces to this weekend's big release!

First is the continuing tale of Ash Dragonblade as we we-live (or, if you've never played it... just live) the hilarity of Archknight. This week, Warlic sends the young knight-in-training sends you to stop the necromancer Nicto from turning himself into an undead Liche (not lich). Once again Ghost and geo have worked tirelessly to recreate the original adventure with better graphics and comedic timing (poor, poor Twilly!). Remember, that this adventure is ONLY for Dragon Lords or Varified Guardians so be sure to pack your Dragon Amulet. Adventure awaits ash!

Next, Alac spent the week fulfilling a lot of unfulfilled promises that we've made. Namely, a few inns and a shop that has been closed too long. Popsprocket's Inn is now open, where you can set your hometown, refill your potions, take a nice restful nap and maybe get a little information. Meanwhile in Dragesvard, the Inn at the top of the town has finally opened THEIR doors as well. Curl up next to the fireplace with a nice warm cup of cocoa or a nice hot cup of tea. Again, potions and a night's rest are free! Lastly, Happy Hatshepsut's Helms is now open at long last in The Sandsea. Stop in and browse through her HUGE array of new, interesting, powerful and colorful helms but be sure to bring your Dragon Amulet... because they don't accept American Express.

Dragon Amulet, It's Everywhere You Want To Be.

Finally, one of my personal dreams is coming true as we add fishing to DF!

This is just a simple minigame for people out there who want to take a break out of grinding for gold or slaying monster. People like me who are addicted to collecting things...

You will be able to get to Falconreach Bay directly from the button in town OR take a stroll down the new path next to the entrance to Surewood Forest. There any player (free or DA) will have to purchase and equip their angler armor to begin fishing. There are 20 fish, and each time you catch a new one it will be added to your aquarium where you can watch them swim around happily. There are also 20 fishing ranks and each rank makes it harder for you to miss catching a fish. Each fish is worth a certain point value that get added to raise your rank and the higher you go the better fish you can catch! your Luck plays a part in how often you catch valuable, rare fish. You might even catch a bag of 300 to 500 gold! People are always throwing the oddest things away in the bay.

Don't forget to turn on your music option to hear Ghost's happy, peaceful fishing song. Can you catch all 20 fish, including the ultra rare Mr. Fish? Can you get to rank 20 and become a Hook Lord?!

This is just the beginning of fishing. We will be adding shops for different fishing ranks, more places to fish all over DragonFable, special fish that go into your temp inventory that have special uses like the Crit fish that ads to your crit score for a few rounds, or even an XP fish! In the future you might even pull a gilled monster from the depths and battle using him your Angler skills (which you will be able to level and do battle with anywhere)!

Enjoy the release guys and have a good weekend!

Rolith
caught a FISH...

March 31th 2009
It's Working*!!!

That's fishing, I mean. I was up late last night working on getting the fishing mingiame working and out for testing. It's got a few small bugs left but most of them are superficial. Fishing introduces to us several big new features, the largest being that we've introduced the ability to attach experince to items. Fishing will require you purchase the Angler armor, which you will need to keep in order to save your fishing level and experince. This is the only item in game that currently uses the new system, but I bet you can see why I'm so excited by it.

Me and Cysero have been working on some changes to Falconreach. The code-side is normally been handled by me and the design by him, but Cysero, being contrary by nature, has decided to flip things around. He's been trying his hand at programming lately, and insists I get some experince laying things out in attractive manners. I guess he'd know best. Expect the tweaks to get released sometime tonight.

We're looking forward to Friday, and we'll be sure to fill you in on what's going to make it out this week besides fishing once we figgure it out ourselves.

*You know... Sorta!

Cysero
Is Sad About
Fishing.

March 27th 2009
ARCHKNIGHT!

We are Live!

First I'd like to point out that Fishing is not coming out today. Rolith lost some work on Archknight, which is today's big release so we are going to get that out next week.

We DO have a very very special treat for you guys. We are very happy to release ARCHKNIGHT in DragonFable. Archknight was the semi-game that Artix built by himself between making AQ and DF. Archknight tells the story of the young Ash Dragonblade and his adventures as he tries to become a knight. All the art has been redone but the story is as classic as ever and if you like the AE style of humor... you might not after this. The phrase "Too Much Of A Good Thing" comes to mind.

In order to play Archknight, you will have to talk to Ash in Falconreach and activate him on your character screen. You will only be able to do this if you have a Dragon Amulet or you are a Guardian in AQ who has verified their guardianship in DF.

Once you have activated Ash, just go back to the Character select screen, and choose ASH, down there at the bottom of your list!

Archknight is a completely seperate part of Dragon Fable, however, playing as Ash you can still come to visit me in my Superstor of Savings, buy DC weapons to equip and you can even buy Inventory slots!

We promised this to you a LONG time ago and thanks to Geo, Rolith and Ghost (who animated ALL of the hilarious cutscenes in Ash's adventures) we can finally say that we are living up to that promise.

This is just the beginning for Ash. This is JUST the opening quest of Archknight and we have a lot more coming for you next week!

Remember that this is for both Dragonlords AND Guardians, so if you haven't upgraded EITHER of those accounts yet... what are you waiting for? You really don't want to miss living Ash's adventures as they are released! Although, Ash will be in the game to stay... Playing this release with everyone else, AS IT IS RELEASED is a once in a lifetime oppritunity and I promise you that you don't want to miss it.

In other DF news, Zeuster is continuing to test your determination to find the origins of elemental Bacon! This week his task is a simple one... babysit some chickencow hatchlings. That's it. Just take them to visit their family and don't lose any of them along the way. Simple.... right? .... RIGHT?!

Make your way east from Falconreach and talk to Valencia to start or continue the Zeuster qyest chain which is just getting better and better.

I'm sorry that we don't have a new popsprocket quest for you this week either, but we haven't forgotten about Yix and the other outcast gnomes. We will return to the steam-punk gear-powered city soon.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy Archknight and the new Zeuster quest!

Cysero
Is A Suitor!

March 26th 2009
Mrs. Cysero

I wanted to tell you guys that fishing is coming along SWIMMINGLY, Archknight is kicking some serious Ash (to Rolith's chagrin), and the Zeuster quest has uh... it's, like... hmm... I can't think of a Chickencow pun. The Zeuster quest is doing fine.

I'm excited about the release but let's talk about something that is even MORE exciting, to me. I got engaged yesterday.

Let me set the scene for ya: Yesterday around 9:30 PM my girlfriend arrives at our apartment to find that I had spider webbed the entire apartment with red yarn!

"What's all this?" she asked, grinning.
"I made you something fun!" I answered, grinning even more."You start there where I tied it to the door handle and follow the yarn, see what you find!". This is how the mind of a video game designer works, I suppose. Everything has to be a game.

Here are some pics of my apartment all yarned up.

Yarn1
Yarn2
Yarn3

She followed the yarn until she got to the coffee table where she discovered the top portion of a letter explaining exactly what an amazing person she is, how rare and beautiful, what a great friend and why I have never been happier and could never be with anyone but her. The rest of the letter had been ripped off at the first paragraph... she kept following the yarn and found the next part of the letter inside the fridge, the next was on the shower head, the next was inside our closet and the final one was in a high cabinet above the stove.

The letter ended with "I have almost all the answers I need, but that only leaves just one question unasked..."

She turned around to see my hand raised in the air between us above both of our heads. I opened my hand and out dropped a diamond ring, tied to my ring finger by another small piece of red yarn.

I dropped to one knee and asked her if she would do me the imense honor of becoming my bride and wife, and allowing me to be her husband. She said yes, and my girlfriend became my fiance'. Funny how one questions can change so much.

It was a complete surprise to her! She's a very smart cookie and fooling her was one of the greatest acomplishments of my life. How did I pull it off, you ask? Let me tell you.

Last Saturday I told her that I had to help my mom move some boxes full of papers from her office, so I vanished for a few hours. Actually I went to the jewelry store and I picked out the ring that suited my girlfriend, and the diamond that she deserves (i'd been through a lot of interesting ring options for the last few months but I kept coming back to a perfect, brilliant diamond of rare quality... because that's her to a T. Perfect, Brilliant, Rare). I knew what I wanted when I got there, more or less... it was just a matter of finding it. When I came back to our apartment, she was suspicious... but my story was very reasonable so she put the idea of a ring in the back of her mind, thinking that she was just being overly romantic. She was trying not to get her hopes up.

Heh.

Monday Night, we went to dinner with my mom and my mom dropped a casual "Thanks for helping me with those boxes on Saturday," out there. That confirmed it for my girlfriend so she let go of the idea entirely. The trap was set.... all too easy.

I told her that I had to go in early for "Meetings with Artix" both Tuesday and Weds. In reality, Tuesday morning I was buying a billion meters of red yarn and some nice parchment for the letter. Weds morning I was picking up the finished ring.

I knew that she didn't get home until 9ish on Weds night so I left the lab early and went to her family's house. She has a large family comprised of one mother, four sisters and one brother... They all mean the world to her so I gatherd them all around and asked each one of them if I could marry her. In turn they each excitedly said yes. I stood up, clapped my hands and said "Ok then, this thing is on like Donkey Kong!" and I rushed home to set up the yarn with a few hours to spare.

I finished at around 8, tied the ring to my finger and stuffed my hands in my pockets. That hour and a half wait until she got home was the longest wait of my life. I literally looked at the clock once every 2 minutes, hoping that at least 15 minutes had passed.

Then she finally did arrive, and navigated my yarn maze like some sort of magical ferret or something. She was jumping yarn hurdles and sliding under yarn blockades exactly as deftly as Rolith wouldn't (Rolith and graceful don't get along).

After she agreed to be my wife, we called up a few friends to celebrate with us and went walking around downtown St. petersburg until about 3. After that we headed to an all night diner for some grub and kept celebrating until 7 AM.

I'm very sleepy but I've never been happier.

I would have told you guys what I was planning but she reads the DNs too so I had to keep it hush hush. Very rarely does a plan work out so perfectly.... even the paper ripped exactly the way I wanted it to. Yesterday was one of the happiest, most perfect days of my life and I'm really happy that I can share it with you guys. Thanks for being here.

I love you, Rebekah.

Rolith
has been listening...

March 25th 2009
*Grumble*!!!

The forums seem to have stumbled upon Artix's design notes the other day. Yes, we're hopefully going to get ArchKnight out for you guys this week. We've also decided that all you guardians out there shouldn't be left out of the fun, having made the original Archknight possible! If you've got a guardian-verified DF account you'll going to be able to share in Ash's adventures too

Things are going...well... Engine build 8.0.0 has been up for testing for a few hours and we're looking at fixing all the bugs as we find them. There are other features planned for this engine release, but we're not sure how many we're going to get to.

Ash's adventure gets started THIS WEEK. Can't wait to see your reaction.

There is also a lot to be said towards our fishing minigame. We've all met Mr. Guy, the world famous character stand-in, but have you met Mr. Fish-Nope. You haven't. Cysero just made him. He might show up as an ultra-rare catch though when fishing is released (hopefully) this week.

Also planned for this week is the next part of the Zeuster chain, Alac has a great release planned, but I really don't want to spoil anything, the jokes are too lulz.

ArchKnight and Fishing both have been plans since long before Beta came into existence, and are continuously at the top of our feature request lists from you guys. Adding them has been an extremely rewarding experince, and I'm very happy to get to work with Geo and Cysero to be a part of it. Thank you guys for making it possible, and see you Friday!

Note: To verify your AdventureQuest guardian account, head to this page: AQ Guardian verification

Alac
Was up early...ish

March 22th 2009
Enter the Queen, and prepare for your Doom (or Destiny)!

Wow, we did not expect the war to end so fast! Great job, guys! The Boss war glitch is fixed, and you can now see Safiria in all her dark glory as she swats Zorbak's oversized ego back down to size. She's the war boss, so once she's done dealing with Zorbak, she goes looking for... you. Good luck! The Doom and Destiny weapon upgrades are available now as the war rewards. The new art by Tomix is amazing and can be seen by upgrading to one of the Doom weapons in the Heartless series. If Light is more your style, head over to the Necropolis and see about purifying a Heartless Doom weapon into one of the Brilliant weapons now in the Destiny series.

Have a great rest of the weekend, and we'll see you Monday!

Cysero
Is Not Easily
Boared. HA!

March 20th 2009
SURPRISE! WE'RE EARLY!

How is that for a shock. We spent all of this week working on the fishing Minigame (we now have a a Mr. Fish, who I suppose is Mr. Guy's pet), Archknight (See what Rolith made at 3 AM last night? You need to click on it.) Popsprocket, Rolith's secret project (Adding Mechquest to Facebook... the whole game), The War ending, the new Zeuster quests, the weapons that drop from it, the new weapons for sale in Yulgar's shop and the new Doomies (see below).

That is a LOT to work on and as a result, we nearly killed Ghost with the work backlog. We hit a few snags with Archknight so it won't be released this week... but only because we want it to be perfecto. No new Popsprocket this week, and next week depends entirely on how fast we finish fishing (which I personally have wanted in DF for nearly as long as I've been working on the game).

The end of the war is waiting for you along with the new Doomies (and the new higher level Destiny weapons... no new art for those guys yet) so keep fighting!

This week we've got a new Zeuster quest from valencia where you get to see Yulgar kick a little tail, and you get to clear Falconreach of it's unexpected Tuskmonger infestation. This new quest drops a TON of new weapon rewards, not to mention Yulgar's shop has also had some new cool (and silly) weapons added to it, totaling more than 25 new weapons!

That's a buncha weapons.

Have a good weekend, guys!

Cysero
Knows That
Intruders
Come...
In Thru Der
Windows

March 19th 2009
DOOM

You guys have asked for a revamp of the doomies so Tomix and I (mostly Tomix) were happy to oblige.

New Doomies!

These will be the newest, highest level, MOST POWERFUL doom weapons yet and these upgraded versions will be available for you to upgrade to as soon as the war has been won!

Speaking of weapons, between weapon drops from the new Zeuster quest and new weapons being added to Yulgar's weapon shop (for gold, not DC), we have a grand total of 25 new weapons coming to DF tomorrow! This is one of the biggest weapon caches ever released into DF.

We deffinately have a new Zeuster quest for you, we deffinately DO NOT have a new Popsprocket quest for you (sorry, we hit a bit of a roadblock in production) and we MIGHT have a very special release for the DA holders (Fans of Archknight will be sitting on the edges of their seats for this one), but that really depends on fixing a lot of bugs. We want Ash's adventures to be as fun as the originals and as close to bug free as possible so we may have to postpone the first DF/Archknight release for a week. Keep your fingers crossed and we'll let you know as soon as we know for sure.

I'm sorry that I haven't been writing in the Design Notes as much as usual lately, but some things are changing in the Underground Lab. First I want to congratulate Alac for finally being brought onto the DF staff full time (it's about time) and congratulate Geo as she now has a LOT more creative control over DF. I want to let you guys know that I'm still the final word in DragonFable and I will still be giving it a lot of love. (In fact, I've been thinking about my own Cysero quest string), but Artix has gotten to the point in AQW where he needs a little help or his head will explode.

My new position is Co-Head Of Artix's Head Not Exploding.

Some of you might have noticed that I've been spending more time with you in AQW (usually in Yulgar's attic where I like to hide), talking to you, answering your questions when i can, getting your feedback on what would make the game better, telling you that I won't give you free upgrades and telling you that you can't be mods.

I just want to reassure you that I will still be writing gags and quests and making weapons when I can for DF, but A little more of my brain is being moved into AQW so if you notice things getting a bit sillier there... that's probably just me.

Wanna hear something funny?

I was checking my personal E-mail which is (My Real Name)@gmail.com and I got a letter from UPS telling me that my order from MMO Golf was on it's way to my home in Evans, GA.

Only problem is that I have no interest in golf, I've never been to that site and I don't live in Georgia. I figured there there was someone else out there with my name, so I spent a few minutes using his addresse to track him down and then I gave him a call.

He wasn't there but his mom was. It went like this:

Not My Mom: "Uh... Hello?"
ME: "Hiya, is (Guy's Name Identical To Mine) there?"
Not My Mom: "I'm sorry No, he's in the Bahamas... This is his mother. may...uh.. May I ask whose calling?"
ME: "This may sound a little weird but bear with me. My name is also (My Real Name), the same as your son."
Not My Mom: "..."
ME: "You see, I got a e-mail that was intended for him, and I just want to forward it to him so I tracked down this number to ask for his e-mail address"
Not My Mom: "Ahhhh! That expains it! I saw my son's name on the caller ID but you're not him!"
ME: "No Ma'am, I am very nuch not you son. I have my own mother who isn't you."

She was kind enough to give me her son's e-mail, to which the errant e-missive was forwarded. We talked for a bit about our family name and where her family was from and where I and my family were from. Good fun.

I concluded this: The only thing stranger than talking to someone who has your name, is talking to that guy's mom.

geopetal
/cough

March 17th 2009
The Luck of the Sneevish!

The sneevish are coming out of the woodwork today! Log in now to check out the special holiday mini-zone! It features a new random quest made by Alac as as well as a fight through gold laden sneevilchauns and a Holiday Challenge fight against the Fightin' Sneevish himself!

The wins against the Snulk will count towards the war counter as well! Whoever is in change of those vampiric ghouls is not going to be happy about Zorbak using them...

Rolith
Is Scared...

March 13th 2009
Boo!!!

The sun sets over Falconreach, and we are going live with this month’s Friday the 13th war!

Most of you already knew that one was coming... SURPRISE for those of you who didn’t.

Anyways, as a lot of you know, the Doom and Destiny weapons will be upgraded with this event, however, the upgrades themselves won’t be unlocked until the end of the war. Upgrading the doom weapon will require 13 undead essences, and Artix will be able to cleanse the even more evil weapon for the usual 10 undead slayer badges. How much more powerful can they become before they start affecting you?

The event sees several holiday-themed item shops and quests and we’ll be seeing more as the week passes. We’ll also be releasing a few mid-week next week to go along with our other holiday coming up.

Also this week, we’ve got a new quest at Aeris’ Battle Spire. Akira has been annoyingly boasting about his power to anyone that’ll listen, and to more than a few that couldn’t care. Aeris wants you to show him a thing or too... but can you?

Akira will offer you a trinket if you manage to impress him by surviving his wrath for 5 rounds. 200DC will buy you a trinket that manages to do up to 50% dmg to the enemy.

Rolith
Is SHOCKED...

March 12th 2009
When did Thursday Start?!

Today's a lot later in the week then I thought it was. I genuinly woke up this morning and thought it was Wednesday. I sat at my computer all morning and most of the afternoon thinking it was Wednesday. I worked with the idea that it was Wednesday in mind.

So... It's Thursday. Whoo!

We're going to be releasing the Friday the 13th event tomorrow evening, as the sun sets over the underground lab. Ya know, Hopefully. I'm not looking forward to being around the lab after dark on Friday the 13th with Artix so distracted by his release in AQW so lets see if we can release before 7 server time tomorrow. No promises, but we'll try..

Alac has taken the week off of the bacon chain to help with the Friday the 13th event, but will be adding a bunch of Zeuster-Chain themed items to the DC House Item shops as well as some Sneevilchaun-themed Items for next week's holiday event.. Ghost is also working on a special DC-Only trinket available after you've proven yourself to Akira, the boss in this week's challenge quest created by me, so you KNOW it's going to be hard.

Akira

We're tentatively calling the attack that the trinket unlocks a Chi Bomb, and it will randomly remove up to 50% of the enemy's health, and knock their power down a good bit. Definitely a powerful skill to add to any class if you're a Dragon Lord.

With all the DC content coming out, keep in mind if you're low you can always pick up a few using the AE Extras third party offer program, or picking them up here.

Alac
is far from bored

March 10th 2009
Ask yourself: Do you feel lucky?!

Well, do you? You definitely should, especially if you like more strategic battles, because I've heard some of the plans Rolith and Ghost have been making for the challenge he mentioned in yesterday's Design Note and man, you are going to have FUN! You might want to head over to Reens' Alchemy shop and work on maxing your potion strength a bit, because you are going to need the help.

Speaking of needing help, Zeuster won't be needing yours this week. It's a ChickenCow holiday ("The Festival of Udder Delight" is a huge celebration) and he is focused on letting his supplicants properly adore him. While he's off enjoying the fawning and compliments, I'll be preparing for the rest of the quests in the Zeuster chain. Ghost has a cutscene for next week's quest that he's working on, and I think it will keep you from being boared. Er, bored.

If you haven't guessed yet, all 12 of the Labors of Hercules will be referenced in some way, one quest per labor. That means we're almost done with the chain, but we have a ways to go yet! With Tomix and Ghost churning out fantastic cutscenes, art, and animation for it, you have a lot left to look forward to!

Friday the 13th is almost here, and you better prepare for Doooooomtastic damage, because the Doom weapons ARE getting buffed. You'll want to have a Light weapons on hand, though, because war is coming to Falconreach! It's been a while since the last Friday the 13th war, and the undead are restless.

St. Patrick's Day is also coming up! There will be at least one or two mini-quests for you to do once that holiday arrives, along with rewards for it.

The Popsprocket, PenPal, and Zeuster quest chains will all resume next week, so prepare for some funny and fantastical stories in the weeks to come! And don't forget, the start of Archknight in the next few weeks.

Rolith
Is still caughing....

March 9th 2009
We're Un-Live

This week’s going to be FUN

Cysero is off, taking a much deserved and needed vacation. He’ll be gone all week. That means there will be no continuation in the Popsprocket chain until next week.

The Underground Lab’s Undead Plague hit me over the weekend, but I’ve recovered thoroughly enough to be in the office today, but a few members of the team weren’t as lucky as I and haven’t recovered enough to be back to the lab. Geo happens to be one of them. Wish her well on the forums!

So... No Cysero... No Geo... Huh... Why do I have the urge to laugh manically all the sudden?

Of course, Alac’s also working on her stuff, but me and her are the only developers working on DF today. She’s working on Friday the 13, and perhaps another Zuster quest this week.

We were supposed to be releasing the fishing minigame this week. It was going to be my project while Geo worked on the Friday the 13th event and doom weapon upgrades. However, before Cysero left for his vacation... I sorta... perhaps forgot to get the art resources we’ve been accumulating for the past few weeks from him. Rather than trying to re-gather them and risk missing one of his or Tomix’s great catches I am going to put it off for the week when Cysero gets back.

What that does mean, is I need a DragonFable project this week, and seeing as I’m pretty much evil, I’ve decided to do something for those of you who are asking for increased challenges in the game. Togicides are fun forum challenges where you all get to work together to solve a collective puzzle, but that’s not the point of this challenge, which will pit you against a monster that will grow in power each time he is defeated in battle. How long can you go? How much power will he obtain before he can best you?

Find out, on the next release of DragonFable!

Rolith
Is Sleepy.

March 6th 2009
We're Live

This week’s release is live!

Popsprocket has two new quests. Yix has you attempting to block Sepulchure’s advance into the city, fighting perhaps one of the funniest monsters in AE history, in spite of the fact that it’s also one of the laggiest monsters in game so far too. Also in Popsprocket, we’ve got another episode in the Penpal storyline. Zapp, scorn by Snou, has found an interesting botanist that you may have met before. Since you’re the reason his last correspondence went sour, he expects you to carry his first letter for him.

We’ll also be seeing the release of the Gnomish Personal Steamtank, a extremely powerful armor full of some exceptional skills. Art was done by Tomix, and it was animated by Ghost. It’s going to go on sale inside the Weapon shop in Popsprocket right after release for a price of 1500 DCs (Previously I had said the price was for this weekend only, I was mistaken, the price will be at 1500 DCs permanently. Sorry for the mix up.)

The next quest in the Bacon quest chain is one I’ve wanted to see done since the storyline was first proposed. A lot of you have seen this coming since you first figured out the theme for the whole thing. Death’s Relm, we’re finally going to see it! And perhaps someone’s going to cash in on a favor or two. Or since he’s death? Maybe he’ll just decided to maw you a bit.

Thus ends the normal release design notes… now on to something a bit weird!

Tonight... On Behind the Developer...

Back in 2007, the world was fresh and new, the bugs were plentiful, and the schedule was tighter then even now (Which is saying something).

In the Lime Light, the Developers and NPCs took the glory and admiration in good stride. They did however, seldom mention the little people that made it possible. Little People like “The Underpaid Test Guy”

Mr. Guy got some recognition, the red blob that filled in behind the scenes, letting the Player Characters sit in their comfortable trailers, watching TO (TeleOrb) and talking on their magic mirrors. He made brief appearances on the Design Notes, as well as the forums before doing the normal talk show, fan art, and fan fiction circuit. His short lived rise to fame, though, was more than The Underpaid Test Guy could hope for in his long career of taking test hits from monsters.

Ghost, Test Guy’s father of sorts, needed a person to assure proper camera angles and perspective during the countless action scenes that litter DragonFable on any given week. Of course, this was more stress and strain then the elite NPCs and PCs could take, so it seemed another job for a faceless helper-character to fill. Mr. Guy was stuck in a California Star Trek, Star Wars, Anime, 80s Cartoons, and Flash Based Video Game convention, and couldn’t be flown in for it... So Ghost was forced to McGiver it, grabbing a helmet and the failed cloning device, he disappeared into his mountaintop lab for a afternoon and emerged with UTG. Some say he was a failed experiment.

Some say he can beat anyone still left in American Idol (How shocking... all he would have to do is NOT sign.). Some say he's the smartest person on the planet. We just call him the UTG.

UTG has no sense of pain, or time. He cannot feel lonely, or loved. But does that mean he couldn’t feel death? Well... Uh... Ghost didn’t think so. Perhaps, though, the last monster he was up against may have been a bit too much.

Rolith
Finds the underground lab creepy at night...

March 5th 2009
So this happened:

Most of you guys realize that on a typical Monday, when we arrive for the long elevator ride down to the secret underground lab (It’s bigger on the inside then on the outside) we usually aren’t exactly sure what we’ll be working on that week. Sure there are some long term projects (Dragesvard Inn, Warlic Zone revisions, Fixing the Quest Log), and some LONG LONG term projects (ArchKnight, Fishing Minigame, Mana Potions) but the typical week involves a lot of responding to demands, needs and who’s available to work on what.

That’s one of my favorite parts of working at Artix Entertainment... and least favorite at the same time. And that’s why I’m both terrified and extremely excited by the calendar which Geo has claimed her own, though indeed is full of long term and short term deadlines for yours truly (as well as the rest of DF staff). Cysero suggested getting strings and hanging it from the roof over my head so it matched literally and physically.

We now have a clear plan as to when ArchKnight will finally get into game (Mark YOUR calendars for the end of THIS month, cause you’re not going to want to miss this if you’re a Dragon Amulet holder!) as well as longer-ranging plans for how extremely busy we’ll be when you guys get out of school. That’s right, when you guys are getting to enjoy a nice long break, we gear up, apply our caffeine buffs, and make sure our laptops are in good repair for our biggest releases.

Forum question: When does your summer break start?

As for this week, as its Thursday there’s a rough idea of what’s getting released. I’ve just finished performing a nice little buff on the GPS Tank that will be released this week (1500 DCs for THIS WEEKEND ONLY, then it increases to 2000DCs). I’ll post details on the buff on the forums when I’ve finished testing them. We’ll be seeing another quest in the Pen Pal chain.

The next quest in the Bacon saga is also coming out. Zuster’s feeling the itch of benevolence again, and since the ointment didn’t work, he’s decided to just scratch it. Wonder if you’ll get out of this one alive… not that it’ll matter where you’re going.

Artix let the news slip a little early on the AQW Design Notes, but next week we will indeed be buffing the Doom weapons! How much more powerful can they get before their darkness begins to be more then the hero can take? We will be seeing a more...traditional...Friday the Thirteenth event as well. That's not saying it dosn't have a twist or two up it's sleaves though.

Cysero
Is Not A
Fan Of Price
Gouging.

March 3rd 2009
How do we do it?! VOLUME!

In response to popular demand, and the fact that that price was a little unreasonable... we've decided to cut the price of the Gnomish Personal Steamtank (or GPS for short) by 25%.

Yup. the price is going from 2000 DC down to 1500 DC. It may seem like that is still a lot but knocking 500 dragon coins off the price is actually pretty good.

It's still worth the price, but hopefully this will make it a little more affordable for most of you.

Rolith has asked me to add the missing skill to the list.

15 - Scatter Shot - 100% attack normally, 150% attack to Blinded enemies.( 0 Turn Cooldown, 0 Mana)

Tomix wanted to tease you guys with a little sneak peak of one of the upcoming enemies in the Zeuster chain. Some of you may recognize him from AQ (i'm sure you're very good friends) but he has a brand new look for DF.

Don't Fear Him

Rolith
Is humming the Doctor Who theme(Thanks Cysero)...

March 2th 2009
Sorta Normal Monday Post!!!

 So a lot of you have asked for details on the Gnomish Personal Steamtank I’ve been working on throughout the weekend.  Just for a warning, the Numbers given below are FIRST ROUND OF STAFF TESTING.  They’re subject to change.  We’ll keep you informed if we do any buffs/nerfs to them. Remember, this armor will go on sale this Friday, and will cost 2000DCs.  Looking carefully, the strategists out there will see stacking a few of these skills together will lead to some epic damage numbers, unleashing walls of destruction on your enemies.

GPS Skills:

1 - Attack –100% Ranged Attack

2 - Shield –80% Block 2 Turns
(5 Turn Cooldown / 20 Mana)

3 - Cannonball Run! –Charges into the enemy, dealing 2 hits at 75% Dmg each(150% Dmg Hit).
(3 Turn Cooldown/10 Mana) - Available after any successful attack.

4 –Stun –100% Hit, Stun for 3 rounds.
(15 Turn Cooldown/20 Mana)

5 –Fire AOE –100% Fire Dmg to all monsters.
(5 Turn Cooldown/10 Mana)

6 –Frighteningly Big Gun –100% Crit, 5% Bonus Damage
(20 Turn Cooldown/10 Mana)

7 –Nanobots –5 Turn H.O.T. 10% Health Regained a turn
(10 Turn Cooldown/30 Mana)

8 –Blind –-50% Bonus to enemy for 2 turns
(3 Turn Cooldown/10 Mana)

9 –Biohazard –5 Turn D.O.T. 10% Weapon Dmg / 5 Turn Mana H.O.T. 5% a turn.
(6 Turn Cooldown/0 Mana)

10 –Boiling Point –70% Dmg attack + Consumes Biohazard and deals rest of it’s dmg all at once.
(10 Turn Cooldown/30 Mana)

11 –Pew! Pew! –80% Dmg attack, -20 to boost -10 to bonus 3 turn debuff.
(5 Turn Cooldown/10 mana)

12 –Burn –75% Dmg and 2 turns of 10% dmg (5% bonus if Pew!Pew! debuff is active.)
(0 Turn Cooldown/5 Mana)

13 –Overdrive –3 turn 100% Crit buff.
(10 Turn Cooldown/25 Mana)

14 –Self Destruct –125% AOE Attack (10% Bonus for every DOT on target)
(20 Turn Cooldown/0 Mana) –50% health lost.

Rolith
Is REALLY into stats...

March 1th 2009
Super Special Sunday Design Notes!!! (SSSDNs for short)

Now, I'm sure a few of you are curious why I'd be posting on a Sunday. Well, as I'm finishing up the GPS(Gmonish Personal Steamtank) skills I figgured I'd take some time and fill you in on what's on my plate this week.

It's not even Monday and I've got several projects lined up on my plate. Just a note: Just because they're on my plate this week dosn't mean we'll be seeing them released.

First of all, we'll be testing the GPS mount all next week to make sure it's fully functional and well worth it's cost (2000 DC). Trust me, Ghost's animations are ROCKING and this class will have some of the best stategic skills in game if you play your turns right.

Next - Cysero, Tomix, and I have for WEEKS been working on and off again on a Fishing minigame. This will take place on the waters behind Falconreach, both Cysero and I are HUGE fans of the fishing minigames in other video games, so we both have wanted to see this happen for a long time.

The minigame in the Pipe Dreams quest has gotten a few interesting comments, and I'd really like to build it out into a full minigame, or at the very least add a few more levels and hopefully release it as a house item.

There are also plans for a large amount of work to be done on some zones. Cysero and Me both want to see lag reduction in both Falconreach and Warlic's zone. Hopefully we can make this happen. Also - We'll be changing some back end functionality to stop a lot of the glitches that happen when you start in a seperate town and return to Falconreach.

Again, these are my plans pre-Monday planning meetings. They're all subject to change as things often do, but I've been out of the loop and figgured I'd share what I'm looking at with you guys.

Cysero
Is Going
On A Boat
Ride.

February 27th 2009
Popguns, Burgers and Collectibles.

Figure that one out. Let's try something new

1. Pick a Noun
2. Pick an Adjective
3. Pick a Noun
4. Pick a Plural Noun
5. Pick a Noun
6. Pick a Noun
7. Pick a Plural Noun
8. Pick an Adjective

Now fill in the blanks with your selections. have fun!

Hey there friends and ____(1)_____, welcome to the this weeks ___(2)___ release! We've got three new quests for you, although one of them will be coming out a little late.

In Popsprocket, we have the grand opening of Gnix's weapon shop with ____(3)_____ for sale for free and DA players! Yix has the next storyline quest ready for you. He may have an idea that will leave the cyklons frozen in their _____(4)_____, and feeling a bit drained.

In Valencia's zone, the next Zesuter quest will take you to a maze where you will have to face down one of the mightiest ____(5)_____ of mythology with one of the lowest self-esteems.

COMING LATER TONIGHT: The next quest in Zap's chain will be coming out, where you uncover the_____(6)_____ of what his penpal, Snou collects!

Between all the released there are 18 brand new weapons, 3 new quests and one brand new helm making this one of the biggest ____(7)____ that we've had in a while.

Stay tuned for more info about Zap's quest and have a ___(8)____ weekend!

UPDATE! The Zap quest is now LIVE in Popsprocket. Ghosts says "sorry for the hold-up."

Cysero
Loves Class
Projects.

February 24th 2009
Vehicle Class Project

We've been working on this in secret for a while. I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure that we could do it.

We've always wanted "mounts" in DF. Hourses or other creatures that you could ride around the world but it seems kind of silly to have that when you can run across most frames in under 4 seconds. Why cut that down to 2 seconds?

But we never gave up on the idea... we just altered it. Right now we're working on a hybrid of mounts and class armors called a Vehicle Class.

The first one will be sold in ther weapon shop in Popsprocket.

This is the Gmonish Personal Steamtank, designed by Tomix and animated by Ghost!

It will work kind of like a class, it will have a full set of skills like any armor except you WON'T HAVE TO LEVEL IT UP!

That's right, this baby comes fully loaded with all skills unlocked and ready to rock!

It will be one of the strongest classes in the game, both offensively AND defensively!

You will be able to load the Steamtank DIRECTLY FROM YOUR BACKPACK (Amazing what gnomish technology can do, ain't it?) and drive it around the world or through your favorite quests (some of which will look pretty funny.... like sitting at Warlic's breakfast table... in a tank. yea, we went there.)

This Vehicle Class will be NON-DA so ANY PLAYER can purchase and use this new vehicle class!

Here's the catch... because of it's power and accessability, it will cost 2000 Dragon Coins so If I were you, I'd start saving up or hitting the AExtras page.

Because this is going to be a DC item and there will be NO DA ONLY testing for it, we are working to make sure that it is as well balanced as possible so no nerfing will be necessary.

This will NOT be released THIS Friday, but will become available from the Popsprocket weapon shop, the following Friday, March 6th.

Don't get confused. Technomanser class is still coming to Popsprocket and will be a fun class armor like every other zone has, The Steamtank will be an optional extra, and the first vehicle Class that we've ever done.

This weekend we have another all new quest in the Zeuster chain, (new mosnter designed by Oishii and animated by Ghost) A new quest in the Pen Pal chain from Zap in Popsprocket and a new quest from Acting High Technocrat Yix as well (New cyklon robot monster designed by Thyton and animated by Ghost), plus the weapon shop with several brand new weapons designed by Tomix!

Cysero
Is A . . .
Whatchacallit
. . .
Idiot

February 20th 2009
Another Late One

Popsprocket is now LIVE. Take the gryphon from Falconreach and check it out. The main npc, YIX, has the first quest in nthe storyline chain and a lot of useful info on the gnomes of Lore.

It's also got a minigame that looks a lot like THIS.

Around popsprocket you'll see a lot of shops that will be opening in the coming weeks and you MIGHT ever find another quest hidden somewhere around town.

In Valencia's zone you'll also find the next Zeuster quest, complete with 12 new weapon drops and a pair of chickencow wings!

Enjoy the release and have a good weekend guys!

Alac
doesn't know the words

February 19th 2009
A Heapin' Helpin' of Musicality!

So, it's not every day that I wake up singing, but this morning was special. Rolith and I were up late discussing how the big battle in this weekend's Zeuster quest will work (and oh man, will this be a fun, strategic boss battle when he's finished). Maybe that caused my subconscious to start churning. Or maybe it was the leftover pepperoni and pineapple pizza I had late last night. Either way, as I got out of bed today, I was singing this classic Beverly Hillbilliestheme song with new, more bacon-y (and therefore excellent) lyrics:

Come listen to a story 'bout a god named Zeuster.
Body half a cow and the other half a rooster.
You want to know 'bout bacon so you asked him for a favor;
He'll tell you what he knows, but first you'll have to labor

For bacon! That is,
Fried gold!

That's as far as I got, though, and I've been singing it over and over as i sit here working on the quest. I'm open to ideas on how to end it, though, if anyone wants to take a shot at finishing it. If you're feeling creative while you wait for this week's release, take a minute to post your version HERE.

Also, In the Facebook Friends Battle between Rolith and Cysero, Cysero maintains the lead at 498 - 495. I on the other hand, am a bit behind. But above the whole competing over who can have the most friends, make sure you're a fan of DragonFable. Or become friends with our MySpace Page,

Rolith
Is Trailing Cysero.

February 18th 2009
Still Friday...Sorta...YAY!!!

My Facebook has fewer friends then Cysero's. Just saying... Feel free to help fix that.

Yesterday I released new bank inventory slots, as well as converting Nythera's Storm War into static content.

Today's mini-release revolved around Characater pages. Your item count is now displayed and your inventory and bank items are now divided. Also, if you're A DA, you get to show off which house you own and the items that it may contain. These were just a few of the changs I wanted to make to this page, but all I had time for today. Stay tuned for more.

As the new front-page banner indicates, this week we'll also see the release of Popsprocket, one of the quests will feature a minigame I've wanted to make for a long time and finally got to.

Also, this week's Zuster quest will containe more new battle-engine goodness that I hope you all enjoy, as it'll be what takes up the majority of my time tomorrow to get finished.

Remember, every day this week is Friday, and that EXPECIALLY includes Friday. See'ya then!

Cysero
Less Than
Three's Love .

February 13th 2009
Hero's Heart Day vs. Friday the XIII!

Originally I was going to do a Mad Lib design notes, and I've had a special request to do a Day In The Live Of An Ae Employee DNs but ... FORGET THAT!

It's 9 pm here in the lab. Only Rolith and I remain standing (after the AQW release... everyone was blown away but we couldn't afford to be). Hero's Heart Day is LIVE. You can play last year's you can play this year's. and this year has NEW RARE PETS, a DA ONLY, DC TRINKET that stunns your enemy for 2 turns.

This may not seem like much but really smart players will recognize HOW powerful an on-use stun, that can be equipped to any armor truely is. That's whay we made it a Holiday rare, Da only and DC trinket.

You will also find the Friday the 13th weapons hiding in this year's quest chain.

Also, please take a moment to apprciate Warlic's Hero's Heart Day theme and Ghost's Snuggle-Gram delivery theme entitled "Let's Share A Milkshake" cause he's really that funny.

Now, I go eat. Happy Hero's Heart Day!

Rolith
Is sniffling..

February 11th 2009
Friends, LOREians, Falconreachers…Lend me your ears!

I come to Burry Typos, not to praise them.
The confusion mistakes cause lives on,
The snirks are offt interred with their bones.
So let it be with Typos. The Nobel English Majors
Hath told you Typos were crimes against language:
If that were so, it is a grevious fault,
And grievously hath Typos answered it…
Here, under leave of Alac, Cysero and the rest,
Come I to speak in Typo’s funeral…
They were my friend, amusing and harmless to me:
But English Majors say they were confusing
And English Majors would know these things…
They have fixed many a confusing line in quests
They have helped many players enjoy the game;
Did this in Typos seem threatening?
When the players have yawned, Typos amused:
Confusion should be less amusing.
Yet English Majors say they’re confusing
And English Majors would know this.
You all did see that in Togicide
Typo in cutscenes caused no end to laughter,
Yet English Majors say he was confusing,
And English Majors would know this.
I speakl not to disprove what English Majors spoke,
But I am here to speak of what I know.
You all did love Typos once, and without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for them?
O Judgement! Thou art fled to nerdy beasts,
And men have lost their reason…Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Typos,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

*sniffles* Alac has corrected many of the typos in game, and for that I am both sad and grateful at the same time. The corrections will go live Friday.

Cysero
Has Always
Been A Fan
Of The Short
Races.

February 9th 2009
Gnome For The Holidays

I'm feeling much better now. -The Sixth Sense.

Thanks for all your well-wishing and all the get-well-soons on the forums, in my e-mail inbox and on my Facebook page.

I thought I'd tell you a bit about the next new zone coming to Dragonfable.

The gnomish city Popsprocket has long been the central hub for science and technology in this region of Lore. Something about their curious minds, pragmatic natures, racial insomnia and tiny, deft fingers make gnomes natually predisposed to the mechanical arts.

Tiny Townsfolk

Unfortunately most of the mechanical wonders developed in the last few decades have gone un-noticed by the human world due to the fact that nearly everyone who vists the town gets blown up at least once a week on average, making it a less-than-ideal vacation spot.

Just the other day Ash ran up to you, out of breath and started chattering excitedly. After 15 minutes you were able to calm him down enough to understand that a mechanical gryphon landed in Falconreach with a letter addressed to you.

"Dear Hero,

I hope that this letter finds you in good health. Our town has always been a peaceful town dedicated to improving the quality of life for every citizen of Lore through the perfect harmonious blending of magic, science and technology, but finally one of our own has turned against us.

A mid-level steam-tech named Balthar has found a way to create a mechanical army and used this army to take over most of Popsprocket. The few brave citizens who have decided not to flee have been forced to take refuge in a sealed off section on the outskirts of the city, while mad robots roam the streets freely! It's unbearable.

I'm not sure how Balthar found the power to create this army, but I think he must have discovered the lost Elemental Orb of Energy rumored to be hidden deep within the steam-tunnels that power our city.

We have tried everything that we know of to stop these clockwork wonders (I have to admire them), to no avail. We need your legendary battle prowess to help us retake our city!

Please hurry. I think Balthar's use of the orb may have drawn someone else's attention... I saw a red flying eyeball scouting the city just yesterday.

Please, if you are able, come to popsprocket and help us!

Scincerely, Yix
Acting High Technocrat of Popsprocket."

I hate to say that the Steam-punk themed Popsprocket will not be released this Friday but that's only because this friday is Friday the 13th AND the day before Hero's Heart Day. This year we will be combining the two celebrations. The vampire lord, Frydae XIII has never, in his very long unlife, found any evidence of true love. He's sick of Big Daddy making piles of money off the lonely and delusional and sick of Big Daddy painting the Forest of Infinite Terror (which is located very close to Doomwood) that horrible pink.

You will have to play through last year's Hero's Heart Day event to get to this year's event, and if this is your first Hero's Heart Day... it's about time that you started delivering your share of the Snugglegrams!

Rolith
Is hiding from facebook..

Alac
Is a shape...

February 6th 2009
Falconreach…3.0? I’ve sorta lost count…!

The construction moglins are done and Falconreach is being reborn. Things are sorta in a state of quantum flux, though. The new harbor is awaiting inspection (and some final pieces of art by Cysero) before the heroes of Falconreach can inspect it. We’ll be sure to shift things around based on your guy’s input too, but I think it’s safe to say Geo’s outdone herself with the new city. It really feels like the crossroads it was meant to be now, and once the harbor is finished construction, we’ll be able to physically travel to every city in the game from Falconreach without the Gryphon. Let us know what you think on the forums!

After you've visited the new Falconreach, head over to Valencia for the latest Zeuster quest. It's been a team effort, and a real labor of love, because boy, did we cut it close! Your task from Zeuster this week is to head to his favorite high priest's temple and give him a hand. It's not quite the same old kill'em, loot'em, and leave'em quest, because you have a plan for the monsters you defeat. Also, if you've been wishing for some good vs. evil choices, we are here to satisfy your urge. At one point in the quest, you'll need to make a choice, and if you choose evilly, you may be in for some pain! Ghost did a phenomenal job with this quest's cutscene animations, and Tomix made the water weapons, all FOUR of which are gorgeous.

Enjoy the release!

Stay tuned next week for the hopeful release of the Steampunk city Cysero has been working on for weeks now along with the Harbor in Falconreach.

Update:

Uh...whoops. Our bad. restarting your browser should resolve most bugs in Falconreach.

Rolith
We have fans...

February 5th 2009
Bearer of bad news!

So Cysero's out sick (why you didn't get a design notes post from him lately.) He's been in the office working all week, but feeling progressivly worse, so he took today off. Be sure to wish him well on the forums!

I'm blown away by how many of our fans use Facebook and MySpace, and how awesome it's been to get to know you guys a bit more. Be sure to get your friends who play our games and use Facebook to sign up for our group too!

We're all working hard (even Cysero from home) on this week's release, but a few things are looking outside our range. Togicide is going to be delayed again. The engine that drives this one is a far far more complex beast then I imagined when I first started making it. Also, Cysero being sick might mean a delay in the new steampunk-themed town opening, but trust me, this place is AWESOME and the wait will be worth it.

Looking forward to seeing you this Friday!

Rolith
Was up kind of late last night..

February 2th 2009
But The Office was worth it!

So it's not very often that I get to reveal new things to you guys online... and this is no exception.

Apparently the fact that AE games are now on Facebook and My Space has become sort of public knowledge and my Rolith profile has over 40 friends. I'm guessing more then 40 of you guys play DragonFable and have Facebook and/or Myspace accounts though. So I thought it'd be a cool idea to post a note here showing how to check us out

Dragonfable's Facebook page can be found HERE.

The MySpace for DragonFable can be found HERE.

Remember, Facebook and MySpace are social networking sites that COULD reveal personal information about you to others, so make sure you read the rulesand follow directions and if you're young enough to need it, have perential permision before submitting any personal details. And remember to use common sense when communicating with others online.

Still, the profile's really cool, right?

If you're interested in a little bit of inside information I'd keep in eye on the status updates of some of the staff members on Facebook as they might just slip in that they're working on something for the upcoming release! At least I know I've been caught doing it.

As for what's coming this week? Geo's working on the rebuilding of Falconreach with the Moglins, and Cysero is working on the upcoming new zone. Weather that will be ready for this week is very much up in the air, as there's still a lot to do on it before it's ready to go. Alac is continuing with the Bacon/Zuster quest chain and the art I've seen so far looks AMAZING. I'm working on some engine changes and bug fixes that will help things run more smoothly next time we want to do a complex battle like the one you saw last week. Sorry about the bugs!