May 31, 2007
Rainbow Dragons of Darkness
Ack! For some reason the color customizable Dragon heads are going rainbow bright on us. Darkness dragons are getting splotches of yellow and pink and green and purple and MADNESS! MADNESS I TELL YOU! Someone must have let the paint fairy loose on our development server. While Zhoom is fixing your Dragons, Cysero is working on opening quests and Miltionous is building the cutscenes... We highly recommend that everyone drink milk while playing the hatching quests*.

* NOTE: This is in no way related to the bet we have going about making you shoot milk out your nose while playing the quest.

Deady Party in New York
Wow....famous people are cool! Voltaire is throwing a launch party for the Deady Minigame at a cafe in New York tomorrow. Issue #4 of his Deady Comic book is now out and for sale! Safiria, the Vampire Queen has been a long time fan of Voltiare and his dark and spooky style. It has been a dream come true to work with him on this game project. Visit us tomorrow as we release our new official minigames site featuring Jimmy the Eye, Valencia, and DEADY!

May 30, 2007
Deady the Evil Teddy
Wooohoooo I get to slay undead again! The official release of the Deady Minigame (Based on the original comic by [Recommended age 13+ to visit site] Voltaire and featuring the song "It's so easy when your evil") is finally being released on Friday! This is without question the best minigame we have ever made... it is a well blended mix of the best features from Undead Assault, Jimmy the Eye, and the boss fights from Valencia all into one chaotic undead destorying spree (My favorite type of game... even if I am playing a cute little Deady Bear... well, sorta cute.... *gulps*). The game was completed two weeks ago but a string of mysterious events made us decide to push it back. A staggering number of people from our team worked on the Deady game at one point or another.... we cannot wait to see what you think of it!

P.S. We know a few players caught an accidental sneak peek of Deady. All we can say is... we hope you liked what you saw and "psssst, Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!". It was all a wierd dream, go back to sleep, please move on, there is nothing to see here.

In Dragon-releated news
The 10th is a Sunday..... and our release days are typically Friday. How would everyone feel about launching 2 days early? (That would make the launch date ONLY 10 days away!!!)

May 29, 2007
Treasure Chests have opened
!
The six mysterious locked chests from last weekends treasure hunt have opened. Within, adventurers have found rare helms and wings that improved healing, resisted stun and shrink, and added chance to crit. Thanks to Razmos93 for linking this screenshot with his finds. See more on the Design Notes.

Dragon Eggs Hatch in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!
Special letter to the DF Team.

Greetings Team,

As you already know, we are less than two weeks away from the hatching of the Dragon Eggs. The success of our game will be determined by our hard work and creativity during this intense crunch time. There is an overwhelming amount of work to be done to finish the dragons, cutscenes, quests, items, customization, NPCs, and code the skills in time. This has been our most challenging project ever... and when completed it will take DragonFable to the next level! May the fates favor your talented hands smbDoll, Geopetal, Thyton, J, Miltionious, Arklen, Oishii, Rolith, Nytheria, Safiria, Zhoom and Cysero. The players are counting on us, and no matter what challenges hurl themselves at us... be it bugs, server crashes, hurricanes, power outages, zombies, ninjas, pirates or zombie-ninja-pirates.... we will not let them down! June 10th, the Dragon Eggs will hatch.

Battle on!
Artix

May 25, 2007
The Hunt is on for SIX rare chests!
The DragonFable forums are buzzing with activity as the players join forces and search for six rare chests that contain rare Treasure Hunt items. These chests (and the items wthin) will only be available during the extended weekend treaure hunt! Happy Hunting hereos! READ MORE from Cysero.


Sneevil says, "Oooooh... Dis box looks expenseeeeev!"

Rolly Polly Dragon Heads!
Sneak peek (because you asked so nicely!) Check out the first hald of the Dragon heads you will be able to choose for your full size Dragon with. They will be color customizable: Skin, Wing/Ears insides, and eyes! Alright, see the first batch of Dragon Heads!


WINNERS: Spoof & Original AQ/DF Movie Poster Contest

This contest made us laugh so hard that it is likely you caused us serious internal injury. Why do you guys have to be so talented? Everyone who contributed in this contest earned our respect and paise and are hereby declared to be just as "twisted and insane" as we think we are ;-) Good job! Being forced to pick winners is never easy.... I would like to give everyone prizes. So, we picked our grand prize winner (2,000 DC), and added ALL winners into the winners circle (Biggest winners circle ever, giving them each 1,000 DC)!

Category: Movie Poster Spoofs

Category: Original AQ/DF Movie Posters

We hope you enjoyed this contest... we sure did. Next contest coming soon!

 

May 24, 2007
"Bad Dragons"
Previously.... at the secret Underground Headquarters

<Thyton walks in and hands Artix a sheet of paper with a Dragon Head drawn on it>
Thyton: "How is this?"
<Artix stares hard at the sheet of paper for a moment then abruptly stands and grabs the paper>
Artix: Hmmm.... OK, now lets go Draw some GOOD dragons.
<Artix gets up and marches out of the room>
<Thyton & Zhoom & Cysero's jaws drop...... WHAT!? How could Artix be so mean? That is completely unlike him.>
.... Moments later in the Art Room ....

Artix: All of the Dragons you have drawn so far are bad.
Thyton: <Clearly mad*and trying to hold it back> Ah... ok... so tell me how a good dragon should look?
Artix: Well, good dragons have even teeth, are slightly less angular, and their eyes are a little more peaceful.
Thyton: So, should I just throw out the ones I did?
Artix: Huh? Why would you throw out the.....

... and there it was... the moment of realization.

We can blame English's many double-meaning words on this. But either way, this is going to be a long standing joke that we are letting you in on. The guys in the other room kept hearing Artix talking about how the Dragon was "BAD" over and over for about 15 minutes... which really sounded cold and insensitive, unlike anything he would normally say. Artix was refering to the Dragon being "GOOD" or "EVIL"... LOL .... not the quality of the drawing. So, haha, from now on we will be refering to Dragons... um... as looking noble or evil! Moral of the story: Contrary to popular belief, sometimes it is what you say, not how you say it.

Thyton is the amazing artist who has been working with us on DragonFable and MechQuest. Many of the (We think there is about 40 being made) Dragon heads you will be able to choose for your Dragon were drawn by him..... even his BAD Dragons are GOOD!

* And Thyton is pretty much the real life version of the guy from God of War so when he gets mad, he looks MAD!

May 22, 2007
Monday of the Mysteriously Missing AE Members
Cysero, Safiria, and I were all alone yesterday. It was universal "Everyone went missing" day. Everyone had a good reason... it was just weird that it happened ALL at once. It was a good day for Dragons though. Cysero and I sat at the large work table amongst stacks of Dragon-related books working on the customizable features of the full size Dragons. Our biggest stumbling block currently is the primary breath weapon. It would be silly to have every dragon breath fire... but it would be equally silly to have some head styles be element specific. So we were toying with the process of being able to load breath weapons like you load spells in AQ. Dragon Battles are going to be interesting. There are two major sizes of BIG opponents: Massive and Titan. For the record, DragonMaster Icescythe's Dragon was only massive (2 to 3 players tall.) Your full sized Dragon should be nearly two times bigger than that. Completely irrelevant forum topic.... what element do you want, and what do you want to name your Dragon?

AE Splashtime Player Guess Poll
It is 9am EST and your guesses at who took a dive with Zhoom into the Gulf are in....

  • Artix 22%
  • Oishii 12%
  • Cysero 51%
  • Geopetal 13%

Your forum posts made me laugh so hard I nearly sprayed my monitor with coffee this morning. The picture of Cysero's orb riding the Jet skii was priceless. <still laughing> 51% of you thought it was Cysero <BUZZER> Sorry, while Cysero did hit the highest speed of any of us... and while plenty of water got sprayed in his face... his face never got sprayed into the water*. 22% thought it was me.<BUZZER> See, this was a detective game. If it had been me I would have told the most embarrassing story of all time about how dumb I am in yesterday's design notes instead of running a poll**. Then there is Geopetal.... <BUZZER> Gotcha! She was not even there (I listed everyone who attended in the post). <So......> For the 12% of you who guessed Oishii <DING> <DING!> Congratulations! You win.. um.. a super special link to... um... this really old mockup animation! <Story Time> So Oishii, the super magical artist girl, rode her first ever ride on a jet ski with Zhoom. You know, Zhoom has his name for a reason -- whether it is programming, driving, sky diving, or whatever trouble he is getting into.... he goes fast! So, that day if you were anywhere near Clearwater beach.... and you put your hand behind you ear and listened to the calming sounds of the Gulf... You would have heard about 10 minutes of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" followed by a VERY BIG SPLASH. Later, back on the beach Oishii said to me something along the lines of, "You know, once you just give up on the will to live... it is actually kinda fun!".

* To those in Cysero's Defenders know that IF he had been the one to wipe out he would have had the best wipe out -- hands down!
** Besides, I had my lifetime of Martial Arts Ninja training to cleverly replace myself with a doppleganger jutsu if I ever did fall off <makes hand symbol>

May 21, 2007
Fun under the burning day star
I am not sure how to break this to you. I know it will be hard to believe. But you must look deep inside yourself and find a way to accept what I am about to tell you. <gulps> We actually went outside this weekend*. <Long dramatic pause> That is right, Zhoom, Cysero, Oishii, some friends and I hit the beach for for fun, sun**, and some jet skiing***. This was mostly in an attempt to correct the horrible farmer's tan I STILL have from that horse show nearly two months ago.... it looks like someone magically attached someone elses arms to my body (Think Full Metal Alchemist). The best thing about the beach is sitting at a restraunt's deck drinking exotic Non-alcololic beverages and laughing with good friends as the sun goes down in the distance.... we all agreed that we need to create a scene in the game just like that with multiplayer functionality where we can hang out with you too, no matter where you are. Or a teleportation device... either would work. We will work on the game if you work on the teleporter. Deal?

* IMPOSSIBLE!!! How can this be? We thought you guys were chained to your desk or something. I mean, how did you get past the dogs?
** Yes Artix, that is what the shiny thing that hurt your eyes when you looked straight at it in the sky was....
***Forum Quiz/Poll: Zhoom, notorious for "going fast" had an aerodynamic wipe out on his Jet Ski commedically hurling him and which other AE Team member into the unforgiving bay waters? Official Poll

  • Artix
  • Cysero
  • Oishii
  • Geopetal

P.S. Pretend the theme song from jeapordy is playing in the background

May 18, 2007
The Return of Xan
This week marks the return of DragonFable's most deadly villian -- XAN! The wicked Pyromancer is currently stirring up trouble in the previously attacked town of Lymcrest. Speak to Warlic and undertake the first step of the quest chain. Your rematch with Xan is inevitable!

DRAGONS! (A Sneak Peak of the Things to Come)
When the eggs hatch you will have your very own baby Dragon (Awwww, he is so adorable!) There are three major things that make up being a DragonLord..... first, there is your Armor. There are special DragonLord class skills which revolve around your ability to command the power of Dragons. Second... there is your Dragon! He is cute, but with proper training and a little customization he can be one mean fire (or any other element) breathing force to be reckoned with.

Finally... is the full sized Dragon! When your Dragon is full size you will be able to ride it... fly around in the sky in special missions and fight Titan sized monsters. It takes over 100 years for a Dragon to reach its full size... normally..... but that Dragon Amulet is sure going to come in handy!

 

Earlier Today....
It is 7am... and WAY too early to be awake. The proof is the ice cream I put in the fridge and the toothepaste I almost washed my hair with. Nevertheless I have an early morning meeting downtown... AND THEN I am coming back to Join Zhoom, Cysero and Geopetal in getting your release out today*.... Ooooooh, and XAN is in it!

* This afternoon, evening, night, worst case scenario..... tomorrow.... or Monday. Busy Tuesday?

P.S. Geo, can you write an email to the players letting them know what is being released this week and a little bit about what we are doing next week?
P.S.S. Hmm, which armor should I wear to the meeting? The gray suit matches my battleaxe.

May 17, 2007
I want to play too!
This new AQ/DF Movie Poster Contest is just too funny. We all want to play too (of course we are not allowed to win, and we have access to the raw files)... so, at 3am last night I made these.

Spoof of: Elf
Spoof of: DreamGirls
Spoof of: James Bond 007
Spoof of: lol... Scrubs!

May 16, 2007
Forum Contest: AQ/DF Movie Posters
This may be the best contest ever! The goal? Make a movie poster with AdventureQuest/DragonFable characters. Feel free to spoof movies or make your own original one.... we will be judging two categories!

What: AQ/DF Movie Poster Contest
When: Ends Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at midnight (Judged on Friday)
(Winners announced on Friday)
Where: See the official Forum Post
Two Categories:

  • Original MoviePoster
    This is a movie poster about AQ and/or DF with a theme and name that comes out of the games. (Example: Wrath of Xan, The Dragon Wars)
  • Spoof Movie Poster
    This is a movie poster based on a real life movie featuring our characters (Examples: Jaws <but featuring Akriloth>, Chariots of Fire <with Xan>, Saving Private Ash, etc)

Prizes:

  • 2,000 DC Grand Prize for 1st Place
  • 1,000 for Winners Circle
  • 500 for other Winners, as always additional prizes may be awarded for above and beyond.

Good luck everyone! Have fun with this one :-)

May 14, 2007
Happy belated mother's day!
I wanted to post to wish all of the =DF= mothers out there a very special Mother's day. I hope you had a great one!

Ambitious Plans: Take 2
Last week we shot for the stars*... and hit a tree. But this week I am pulling out a cannon! That is the one thing I hope you see in us**. We NEVER give up! That is why, even though you did not know I set a completely unreasonable agenda*** for the team, we are going to accomplish that list and so much more for you. DragonFable is going to be.... AMAZINGLY INSANE! This week, expect a release, the new minigame site, Deady, Jimmy the Eye, and to get an inside peek at the pencil artwork and concepts for your Dragons! (The hatching is getting closer every day!)

* Second... maybe third one on the right and straight till morning....
** Not cannons
*** Do you really know how to set any other kind? I mean seriously Artix... we read the Design notes.

P.S. We were pretty happy that you liked the random quests even though there was only three of them (We wanted a minimum of five!)

May 11, 2007
Friday Release!
Three new quests, 32 new weapons, and PvP arena weapon update!
We are trying something new.... use the portal to speak with Warlic about Elementals. You will be sent on one of three random quests. A special thanks to all of you who were on IRC for helping come up with the random names for boss monsters and the items you seek in the barracks! We also updated the PvP Arena adding the new "PvP Arena Fighter Shop" featuring new level 29 weapons for those of you who have achieved rank 10.

P.S. It is 8:44pm as we finally roll out the bug fixes for todays release. Thank you to Reens, Geopetal, Rolith, Alac., Westwind, Rayf, Kalanyr, and Seahawk for helping in our hour of need! You guys always save us in the nick of time *smiles*.

"A life of DragonFable"
Why do we love this game so much? Is it because it makes us laugh? Is it because we do something new every week? Is it because all of us (players and makers) feel like we are working together on it? Is it because of all of those times when we did things wrong... we actually listened then went back and redid them? Is it the cool art, bad puns, animation? Is it the fact that we actually have a plot (even though we just started it)? Every time I log into DragonFable I see the potential and can almost feel the world being worked on as I walk around in it. I can see everything that is coming in my head -- stories, characters, classes, houses/castles, puzzles, epic bosses, and magical weapons that talk you into doing things..... a lifetime worth of adventure that will just keep getting better every week. So... what do you like about DragonFable? - Artix

P.S. I know we have a big to-do list already.... but I want Fae's story, the full and finished version of the Artix story, and Galanoth's story to be done sooooo bad!

May 10, 2007
Dragon Egg Hatch Date -- revealed!
As a reward for winning the war against the Spidermancer the set-in-stone date for hatching the Dragon Eggs has been released. It will be exactly one year to the day that the DragonAmulets first appeared in our world.... the first official birthday of DragonFable! (It should be one to remember...)

Many are excited to finally know the exact day....
Many are frustrated because even a few days seems like an eternity to wait...
Most of the team is in a panic as there is still so much to do....
All us are anxious to see our eggs hatch.... and have our own Dragon!

Meanwhile.... new things coming weekly until then! <falls over dead> Not wars! Talking about which... OH NO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO RELEASE TOMORROW!? (Guess you will have to come find out)

P.S. Twilly is currently fixing all of the holes in the secret Dragon caves.... can you imagine all of the adventures on the side of this mountainous hill all poking their heads out. "Hey, whatcha doing?"... "Um, nothing.. just um.. exploring this very specific cave next to these other caves"... "Oh, yeah.. me too!"... "Me three!". Your eggs are safe and not in any way jubled and confused with some of the other players very simliarly looking eggs. Promise!

Except for King1216.... his birthday cake required two eggs and we only had one!

May 9, 2007

A day at the secret underground lab!
Yesterday felt like a pretty typical day. We have so much going on that my brain explodes regularly* ... however, from your side of the monitor it is hard to tell what all is going on. Today, along with the sneak peak pics I promised on the 7th is a look at... exactly what I did, yesterday! (P.S. Tuesday are typically... "other project" days)

* Makes you a less desirable target for brain eating zombies.

10:30 am - Picked up Warlic form the Airport. Perfect timing + 10 points!
11:30 am - Met with Cysero & Zhoom on Dragon Egg hatching plotline and progress. We are throwing everything we have at DF to get the art for 3 to 5 zones. Adding zone bosses and the titan bosses are going to rule. We are trying a new style of questing that introduces random quests from a single NPC the level range you are at. We have the baby dragon working, but he needs some serious alterations to fit smoothly. It is really hard to finish things in the week before our expected release dates so we have to do things in bite sized chunks. We spent the rest of the hour dividing up the work between us, smbDoll, J, Miltonius, Oishii and Thyton. Xan's volcanic lair is first on the list.
12:30 pm - Phone call with our Lawyer about continuing business work on the TV show stuff (takes eternity and a half to move any of this stuff), some papers we needed to sign for a minigame project (100% ebil), and finally we have something in the works that is long overdue, but I am not allowed to mention here.... except for to say, OH DEAR GOD THAT IS EXPENSIVE!
1:00 pm - We saw the new animated short that J made (Futuristic, OMG it is good) and then Zhoom.... who is caught up and very far ahead of schedule for the rest of us..... moved on to finish the engine for.... oh geez, I am not going to post this am I? Darn it. I did say it was coming about 3 years ago.
3:00 pm - Phone meeting with the business guys and our bankers about some upcoming trips we have to make. Warlic was making faces at me the whole time.
3:30 pm - Photoshoot at the Martial Arts school for the live action MA Minigame project. We took the greenscreen to the dojo.... we also had a mini-greenscreen which we used like a cloak of invisibility for an assistant to hold the actors leg up for the hard to capture high kicks. Warlic built a demo of the game about 3 weeks ago which feels (perhaps too much) like mortal combat. We really did not like the young students fighting eath other with weapons (Some used Swords, Kama, Numchuku) so we decided to use photoshoped monsters as the opponents.
4:00 pm Meanwhile, Cysero drew 32 new blades, 35 hilts and a dozen staff heads & weapon ordaments which can be combined into a thousand new weapons. These are for the 3-5 new zones that are in the works. Also, Oishii finished a Dwarven miner NPC and began work on Zhoom's NPC. Sasha scanned the never ending pile of new art from Thyton while Safiria and Nythera answered somewhere in the ballpark of 2,000 emails.
5:00 pm - We met with Voltiare to review the latest version of the Deady minigame we made for him. *moment of silence* Thumbs up! Voltiare is the dark & spooky artist / musician who did the song brains for the Billy and Mandy TV show (and the intro song for Billy and Mandy's big boogie adventure) on the cartoon network. Even though Voltaire and Artix are at extreme opposites on the brilliant evil vs dumb good scale.... wow, is it an honor to work on this project.
6:00 pm - Caught up on what the rest of the team was doing.... Galanoth is working on this weeks AdventureQuest release which is the Exodus War with a boss, four new monthers, and two new weapons. Hollow is working on new NPCs, Maxwell is on the fairwind puddle and upcoming saga, Falerin is working on the quest dialog with Maxwell, Cap'n Rhubarb finished his security audits and is updating the tracking system on the AQ and DF homepages, and there is some class planning happening for AQ too. I get that sinking feeling in my stomach that the comic, artbooks, and first 15-min aq/df short are going to take the backburner to the main AdventureQuest and DragonFable projects. One silly problem, Thyton finished the first few pages of the comic but they are on 16x11 professional comic artist paper and we do not have anything big enough to scan them on... I need to make the hike over to Kinkos sometime this week. Rolith, has the backend for the new minigame site jsut about ready to go and we got a design we liked last week -- so we should be good to go in week.
6:30 pm - Obligatory daily Ninja Battle
7:30 pm - Dinner! Mmmmmmm.......on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays... Zhoom, Cysero, and I go to the gym and do 1 hour of weight training followed by 30 minutes of cardio. Just because we are crazy gamers and work our minds like crazy is no excuse not to do the same thing with our bodies.and we are serious about this.... for example, when we have a late night here like many Fridays are... we go first thing Saturday morning. Zhoom already hit his first goal from our training. As you can imagine we spend the time in between running on the treadmill talking about what we have to do next on DragonFable and how to make stuff work. The Robina minigame physics was actually written on the back of a napkin while we were ordering protien shakes. Tuesdays and Thursdays mean... when I get home and boot up my computer my arms do not hurt when I type!
9:00 pm - Back to the bat cave! Sleep is for the weak (or for those who have not had an entire pot of coffee, 2 starbucks coffees, and a few sodas like poor Warlic did yesterday.... I exceeded my normal limit of "1 heavily saturated unit of caffeine" per day too. ) A little work on Jimmy the Eye followed by seeing "Alien Apocolypse" staring Bruce Campbell (Our hero) and well.....

... at least yesterday was not as busy as today is!

Battle on!
Artix

Sneaky Peak!
Minotaur
Jimmy The Eye
Fae's Story Page for website- Not at all accurate at all, or even typed right.
Waverider
Chicknight
Necromancer
Ninja

May 8, 2007
437 Pieces of Artwork In Progress
Monsters, weapons, dragon heads, wings, houses, dungeon doors, pets..... oh my! There were lions and tigers, but apparently we actually finished the bear. I saw on the discovery channel last night that in real life they combined a Lion and a Tiger and made a.... I am not kidding... a Lieger. It is supposedly a HUGE beast. The world is crazy! Also crazy... Warlic is in town! Despite being roomates in-game, this was the first time Cysero and Warlic met in real life. We brought a giant roll of white tape to divide the office in half just in case. Actually, it was his first face to face meeting with Nythera.... she introduced herself politely then handed him a cup of posionberrry* drink with a smile. To celebrate we are all going to work late and find more ways to overcomplicate the Dragon Egg project. For the record... we are totally pulling a "Voltron" for Full Size Dragon vs Titan Boss battles.

* Posionberries are the most lethal in early May

May 7* , 2007
Art Inventory Day!
Thyton dropped 100 new monsters on my desk Friday. Considering that we have not yet even colored the last 100 and that we had to buy a larger crate to store our artwork in..... well..... today we are going to figure out what has and has not been made yet. the has not pile is BIG! wish us luck.... and prepare for a few sneak peak pictures tomorrow.

* Silly time travel faeries!

May 3 , 2007
Arachnattack: Onslaught of the Spidermancer!
Falconreach has come under attack from Clan Chaos Weaver... a venomous horde of half-spider, half-DOOM subterranean monsters! They are coming up through the holes that are appearing all over town.... and one of them has your egg!

New Weapons with Specials!
There three brand new weapons that can be found during this speicla event. They have a very cool looking special transformation which makes them very effective against spiders and other bugs. The weapon drops are all level 10, but are upgradable to 15, 20, and 25 through the lost underground city.

The Lost Underground City (AKA The Chaos Weaver's web site)
Those with Dragon Amulets can go on a special quest into the lost underground city to... WOAH, WHAT IS ALL OF THIS IS UNDER FALCO... *sentence abruptly ended*

Bonus Prize: Dragon Egg Hatch Date
We have been hard at work on your Dragons and DragonMaster & DragonLord armors. The real prize for winning this war is that the boss monster knows something about the eggs that you do not... when they will hatch! The official hatch date announcement will be made at the end of this war for those of you with Dragon Eggs!

P.S. I was reading the forums and saw a post where I was called "a super cool guy". Thanks! I think you guys are cooler though. Battle on!

May 3 , 2007
May Day! May Day!
*Checks the calendar* Yup, and there are 30 other ones too! By now, if you have customized your DragonEgg, you have discovered your egg....dunnn dunnn dunnn... is missing! Falconreach has been attacked from west, the east, the north, the south, from the sk-eyes above, and the realms beyond... but a new race of monsters is preparing to make a tasty snack of Falconreach citizens.

Meanwhile, at the ol' AE HQ
Cysero is back today! He said thank you for the card you signed on the forums and is back on the Dragons. We have a fun weekend mini-event for you starting tomorrow. Someone on the forums said "Hey, that guy who said the stuff about them doing spider man related stuff was right!" Actually, it is quite the reverse. When Cysero was sick and I was left all on my own *does the famous Macaulay Culkin Home Alone scream*... I went on the forums and saw this post about how we were probably doing to do some spoof/pun spiderman thing this weekend. *Cough* This is the real danger of letting me do whatever I want unchecked *End cough* So, where was I, oh right, um, no.... the person who posted that did not guess what we were doing. Actually, by making that post he accidentally MADE IT HAPPEN. *smiles* I love our game and community. One of the prizes of this mini-event will be the official hatch date of the eggs. The other prize is a new specialized weapon that I made the special for.... hope you like it!

May 2 , 2007
Dragon Egg Safety and Security
The secret cave where you are hiding your Dragon Egg is the most perfect and secure location possible. The mountains above it protect you from the searching eyes of Sepulchure's undead dragon castle. The door is cleverly concealed and very difficult to find. The walls are thick making it impentatrable from the north, west and east.

So, in short... you are protected from threats above and all sides. Good job! Just to be PERFECTLY sure though... you should check in on your Dragon Egg.

Like now....

Seriously, stop reading this and go to your Dragon Egg RIGHT NOW!

May 1 , 2007
Sick'cero
We had to pry Cysero's hands off his keyboard and force him to go home yesterday. He was running a fever of 101 and looked undead*. He should get a medal just for driving an hour long communte with that fever to come in and work on the Dragons for you. *Cheers* Go Cysero! Now... go to bed Cysero! You should make him a special card: "Get well soon... or else!"

* He was not undead though -- I am highly trained to recognize these types of things and fully prepared to step into action with the "Artix Krieger's Undead Invasion Backup Plan 2B -- now with strategically located Malls!" when it does!

Attack of the Killer Surprise Meeting Day of Doom
It must have been the last day of the month yesterday. There was coffee, donuts, spreadsheets, businessy people and we all role played as characters from either the movie Officespace or the TV show, The Office. "BTW, yeaaaah.... did you get those TPS reports?" You guys have NO IDEA how hard it is to get a tie on around this Paladin Armor collar! The special ending to the day was a present from the folks over at Adobe who sent Cysero, Zhoom and I free upgrades to the new Adobe Flash CS! See, we had purchased Flash 8 when we did the huge Oaklore overhaul with bitmap caching. Then, less than 30 days later they released the new Flash CS. So thanks Adobe for sending us the updated copy, you guys rule! Meeting days typically require pretending you know what the mess of numbers on stacks of papers are supposed to read mean.... eh, seriously -- if it does not have pictures I am not interested! There are also at lots of things to sign, decisions to make, completely unreasonable deadlines to agree to, ninjas to fight, you know... the usual. "Yeaaaah.... so about those TPS reports."

Artix: "If I had a Nickle for every business meeting we have I would be..."
Safiria: "Um, everyone gets their paychecks on meeting days. Here is yours."
Artix: "Awesome!"
Safiria: "How much is yours for?"
Artix: "5 cents....."

OMG IT IS TUESDAY ALREADY! We need to get moving! So much to do, so little time