February 25nd 2010
Something's fishy around here

And it's not Rolith's cat food, either
Okay. So apparently there’s been A LOT of talk about a “Johnny Fish” coming up in this week’s DF release. By now, you should know that I spend most of my waking hours working on AQW. But all this hullabaloo about said fish has peaked my interest. And my tummy.

No one on the DF team is telling me anything more than you already know. And you’d think they WOULD spill the beans (or, I guess the worms??) regarding Johnny Fish. So, in retaliation, I have flooded the Secret Underground Lab with horrible fish-puns and tartar sauce.

Actually, I’m really excited to play through this week’s release. I have even brought my own weaponry, just in case things get off the hook.*

My idea of the perfect Johnnyfish =D

What do YOU think is going to happen during this week’s release? There have been some pretty “unique” ideas on the forums… but really guys. Really. A fish. Just a fish? C’mon. Seriously guys. Seriously.

*Does anyone actually use that saying anymore? Geesh I’m getting’ old…

P.S. - Alac didn't come right out and SAY it, but I am pretty sure I saw a bit of seaweed tangled in her hair when the DF team got back from the beach on Tuesday. And none of the other DF-ers would look her in the eyes, but they DID snicker quite a lot. Mysterious!

February 23nd 2010
Gone Drifter-in'

Time to put on my SANDals

9 AM
Helloooooooo from backseat of the Stonemobile (The only car where geopetal can put the pebble to the metal)! A beautiful, sandy beach just off the coast of Florida is our destination this morning as the entire Florida-based contingent of the DF team heads out to soak up some sun, have a lot of fun, and brainstorm some new puns on the drive down! Oh, wait. That would be work. No new puns until next week!

11 AM

I have a tall glass of lemonade, a comfy blanket atop some soft, white sand, and Rolith is blasting Johnathon Coulton's "Codemonkey" in retaliation for NOT being allowed to bring HIS laptop. Geopetal is nestled in the sand soaking up the sun (and being very careful not to get buried!). As for what Lim is doing:

Alac: If you were going to build something out of sand, what would it be?
Lim: A sand FORTRESS!
Alac: No mere castle for you!
Lim: Indeed.

Can you see Lim's little yellow bucket?

12 PM

Lunchtime! We debated seaweed soup and sandwiches just to keep the beach theme going, but the group consensus was burgers and fries at the shack on the boardwalk. That led me to break into a rousing parody of a well known beach song. My version? "Inside the Burgershack"!

Inside the Burgershack, no work was getting done.
Inside the Burgershack, Rolith had meat on a bun.
Inside the Burgershack, Geopetal was rockin'!
Inside the Burgershack, Lim's 'speriments were so shocking!*
Inside the Burgershack (Burgershack!)

1 PM

I had an idea. Ideas are good! It was an idea about something to do in the future. Talking about work ideas on vacation is less good! I got pelted with popcorn. /slaps own hand and munches popcorn

2 PM

We told Rolith this morning he'd have to put his feet up and NOT work, and he finally listened!

Codemoneky can code, we know that. But can he do it with his toes?

While I'm chilling with a really good book and geopetal is listening to some (what else?) classic rock, Lim and Rolith are lounging and chatting about D&D and debating whether the RNG** God would approve of sacrificing a golden 20-sided die in order to win his favor. I'm not sure how you would sacrifice plastic dice, but they seem very intent on their discussion, so I won't interrupt to ask.

3:30 PM Pop Quiz

Who woke up from a nap right before we left with a little hat made from the seaweed in the first picture?

• Geopetal
• Alac
• Lim
• Rolith

Answer will be posted tomorrow! We hope you've enjoyed our day at the beach. We certainly did!

I have to say, this week off thing is really nice, but I think we all miss working, even though it's only Day 2 of our enforced rest. It's FUN to make releases for you! Time to pile back into Geopetal's car and head back home! Our party's inventory gained +12 seashells and lost -1 little yellow bucket. Sadface!

But it's not like we're not releasing ANYthing this week! (Happyface!) You guys ARE getting the Johnnyfish, and it WILL be an awesome reward! We promise! I know the other teams are a little put out that we've taken the week off, but at least we're releasing SOMEthing! And it will be great. Just you wait!

* Ice cubes DO float better in saltier water!
** Random Number Generator

February 22nd 2010
Gone Fishin'

Reeling you in hook, line, and sinker
That's right, DragonFable is (mostly) taking a week off! As Geopetal said last week, we've been tossing some HUGE things at you recently. Between engine 9.0, the Ravenloss and ArchKnight releases and the holiday event, we've launched a boatload of new content at you. We figure you guys could use some time to catch up on your playing while we catch up on our napping.

That is, if the rest of the people in the Secret Underground Lab will let us sleep. I tried to doze off this morning and Beleen woke me up with a nerf gun shot to the forehead. I know all the other games have been working REALLY hard too, but nerf guns are not toys!*

Remember, though, we WILL have something to release this Friday. We aren't leaving you totally high and dry! You'll REALLY want to meet Johnny. Johnny Fish. And by "meet" I mean "catch". You REALLY want to catch the Johnnyfish; you'll get something AMAZING if you can manage to hook him. (What will catching a Johnnyfish get you? Guess you'll have to wait until Friday to see!)

The johnnyfish will be able to be found in both the Falconreach and Doomwood fishing locations, so pull on your waders, slap on your fly fishing hat, and open up a can of worms, because this Friday the Johnnyfish is coming to a bay near you!

Now I think if no one else needs me, I'm going to go find a quiet, undead-free corner and catch a few ZZZZzzz's.

* Oh... wait. They are. Shoot!

February 19th 2010
It's all about Ash

Ash, Ash, Ash! BOYS!
You know what I don't get? Boys!

You have a perfectly nice, normal, NOT FIRE BREATHING, OR FROGGY, OR ICY girl and do you even look at her a second time? No! Instead you focus on a girl whose name you don't even know, completely ignoring the girl you've known for YEARS, who has always liked you.

But do you ever talk to her? No! Instead, you ask Dragonlords and Guardians to help you rescue all these Princesses! Princesses that didn't even care about you, who prefer a smelly furball of a moglin!

And now this is the end of the story? And I never got to kiss- I mean, never got to be properly recognized by Ash? I mean, by boys? I mean, oh, I don't know WHAT I mean. Animals are SO much easier! /huff

Time to take the Design Notes away from Aria!
She's right, though. It IS the end of the ArchKnight Saga! Ash has gone on a long journey in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a Knight. Along the way, he's put princesses in peril, found a new friend, and quested along with your character!

We've introduced completely new features during the Saga (like logging in as a playable NPC and playing one character while your other character helps you!) and many, many puns! Crazy cutscenes and even MORE PUNS!

It's been a long (sometimes dusty) road, but you're finally nearing the end! If you're a DragonLord or AdventureQuest guardian, make sure to log in as your Ash character this weekend, because this finale will show you whether or not Ash fulfills his dream of becoming a Knight!!

The Destiny Weapons also received an upgrade! Look for the Pristine Destiny weapons series in the same merge shop as the others!

To get your own character the Blade of Destiny, after finishing the ArchKnight Saga, talk to Ash in Falconreach about being and ArchKnight, then click on the Reward button!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the release!

P.S. - Make sure you look for the Easter Egg (the hidden surprise) that Ghost stuck into the cutscene! It's had us all rolling on the floor laughing. (Yes, real life ROFL'ing. It's a pretty funny sight. And GREAT exercise. I highly recommend it!)

February 18th 2010
Continuing a behind the scenes look at DF!

Sharing is caring, right? Time for the rest of us to go, then!
Every day is full of things to do here at the Secret Underground Lab! From Monday through Friday, there's always something fun I get to do, whether it is building a quest for that week's release, writing quests or Design Notes or the newsletter, or playing with code or the database!

Right now I'm working on a few projects which are running at the same time: writing and building the Ravenloss Saga (working with Tomix on this is a blast. He's doing the art while I'm doing the writing; we're having a TON of fun making this chain!*); writing and building the Clashening chain (the idea for this came from Lim, Cysero, Rolith and I sitting around and making jokes. That's the best way to get ideas!); and then some side projects, one of which is restructuring the Quest Log

The Quest Log restructure should make much better use of the feature. Things will be arranged differently, for one thing. Main Storyline quests, side quests, badges, and other features will all have separate pages in the book.

And now an indepth look at what Rolith has been doing
Too busy to talk. Gotta get back to coding!

One more Designer to go!
Geopetal will add her perspective to the Design Notes later today, so be sure to look for it this afternoon. Don't forget that the ArchKnight Saga finale is set to release tomorrow! Ghost wanted me to show you this screenshot to whet your appetites. It's a special, final move by Ash!:

* You can bet you haven't seen the last of Riadne, for example. She appears in later quests along with new, never before seen characters!

February 17th 2010
The Soulweaver Speaks

Good evening!

My homework for today is to tell you guys what I've been up to recently and...not-so recently. You already know how busy we are doing Water Orb saga. Lim is doing monsters and weapons, Ghost is doing backgrounds and animations, Alac and Geo storyline and quests, Rolith coding and... where is my part there? I don't know yet!
And you know what? It's brilliant!

Doing already planned stuff is great, but doing stuff "along the way" is more suprising! Maybe I'll animate monsters. Or maybe I'll craft weapons. By the way, remember those Jova weapon set? It just...came out of nowhere, Alac wrote a great back story for them and they were in-game. They were exactly made "along the way". I just had an quick idea over the weekend, and there you go.

Man, you know how happy I am to work with DF team in out task to make DF better? Very! It feels totally brilliant when you draw or animate something and then you wear it/ fight it /play as it in the game! And read player opinions about it. Oh, I love reading opinions and criticism! Seriously, without your feedback, DragonFable wouldn't be as great as it is now. And I also love reading suggestions!

The idea of Ravenloss came out from suggestions on the forum. I had an NPC, but he was "homeless". And while thinking on where I could put him, I saw a thread on the forum about using the underground city again, talked to Alac, and bingo. I have come up with the name for it and the concept of dividing it into districts. As you are reading this, I'm sketching out the next place you'll visit in Ravenloss, namely the Market District. Alac is making the storyline for Ravenloss based on the scraps of info I gave her, and she is doing marvelous job! She is giving personality to characters just by writting their dialogues!

The story will get *really* interesting after 4th-5th quest, so have patience. I know, I know, Ravenloss quests aren't coming out regularly... that's because I'm quite meticulous about my art. Tell me to draw you a nice house and I'll make you a mansion, with fancy pillars, every pillar in groovy carvings...

You'll learn about Tomix's past (I plan to do it in separate cutscenes in the future, as soon as I'll learn how to make these amazing cutscenes like Ghost does), meet...no, I don't want to spoil anything, sorry about that.

SoulWeaver Class armor sneak peek!

But I *can* tell that Ravenloss quest chain is *not* the end of Tomix Saga. No no, you won't get rid of Tomix that easily! Ok, I'm done, I don't want to bore you anymore, back to designing stuff.

February 16th 2010
Busy bees are SCIENCE-y

Busy bee! Buzz buzz etc. Bees are really cool creatures, I think. You know they communicate by dancing, right? Imagine, mind control through disco... or breakdancing... the possibilities are endless! SCIENCE!!

Ahem.

More to the point, the Underground Lab has been an exceptionally busy hive of worker bees these past couple weeks. We've been hard at work, dilligently toiling away at the Water Orb Saga (which I maintain will never happen, but will infact exist). Ghost made some killer backgrounds, Geo's been writing up a storm, I've been designing monsters like none other, and Rolith has been yelling at lot (like normal). Buzz buzz. Speaking of monsters:

The BattleOn collectable card game that Cysero and I have been working on has been put on the backburner for a bit (busy busy buzz buzz), but I'm also collaborating with Thyton (and several others) on a new game prototype: SkyKnights (working title, insert cheesy 80's guitar riff here). It's still way off down the road, like the BattleOn CCG, but it's been a blast (sometimes literally) to work on, and it's still in its super secret planning stages... whoops! Perhaps I've said too much!

Oh what else, what else... so much to remember! Quest log! Yes, yes! Alac is revamping the quest log with lots of fun little badges you can earn for doing fantastic stuff, like completing sagas and quest chains, fully training the different armor sets, or collecting special items! Lots of organization, and art-ifying up all of those badges is going to keep your's truly busy for quite some time! Busy busy! Buzz.

Back to work. Pass the honey, please.

February 15th 2010
Leading up to a big finale

The ArchKnight finale is coming this week
So much time and planning, not to mention writing, drawing, and animating, has gone into the coming ArchKnight finale, and we're not even done yet! That, and that alone, will be this week's release because it deserves ALL the attention we can give it.

We promised years ago, when ArchKnight was still an unfinished minigame, that it's story would one day be finished here in DragonFable. The time has come for that promise to be fulfilled!

But ArchKnight isn't ALL we've been working to bring you. To showcase all the things we've had going on, and will be working on in the future, this week will see a new Design Notes post each day from one of the members of the DragonFable team!

Ghost speaks from the aether

Hola!

Hey Dragonfablers, what's shakin'? Today I get to fill you in on what I've been up to for like the past.. forever. Looking back, we've been insano-busy with weekly releases! * I've had the privilege to work on crazy fun cutscenes written by Alac and Geo, such as The Clashening, The Ravenloss Saga (One of the coolest sagas I've ever seen), The Archknight Saga, and a few days ago the Hero's Heart Day event. ** Who doesn't love a good romantic comedy? Well, actually I don't really like movies like that. See, this is why I don't do the DNs very often, I can't ever stay on topic. Ok.. moving on!

Recently I have read scripts for upcoming releases, and I can promise you they won't disappoint. Especially the Archknight Finale coming this week! WOW, can you believe it's been almost a year *** since we first launched Archknight in DF? And with all the hilarious, embarrassing and ridiculousness we've seen, it's really no wonder that it took us this long to tell Ash's story. I was a HUGE fan of the original Archknight when it first came out, and it has been such a rush to be a part of re-telling it… I really do work with a talented group of people. We've really been taking our time with the finale because we want to do it right, because It's gotta be EPIC! I really hope that it will be everything you want and more.. and oh yes, keep your eyes peeled for an easter egg. ****

Also coming up soon is the beginning of the search for the Water Orb! We've got some really cool plans for this. Lim just sent me some really cool monsters that he colored, and Thyton drew, and I can't wait to animate some or all of them. I dunno if I'm doing all of them, maybe I can get Tomix to help me out… but anyway this is going to be really fun. I even got to put together a little background scenery for one of the upcoming quests. And hopefully I'll be able to do some more as we progress with the saga. I don't know about you, but I love watching those documentaries about finding cool junk sunken to the bottom of the sea! Watch out for those sea monkeys though, they are a tricky lot.

The best part of being a developer for a video game***** is that you get to contribute to creating a world that is tangible, exciting, wicked, epic, fantasmic, and totally uber. And so, through all the craziness, I've tried to find some time to work on side projects as well. If you don't know this yet, I luvs me some side projects. Most of the time it's just a new weapon set, or maybe a helm idea that sounded cool to me, or maybe adding some background npcs just to make the world of Lore seem a little more 'lived-in'. But I sometimes find myself unable to restrain from putting in bits of stuff that seem funny to me, or are just plain cool no matter how close to deadline we are. (Woops, hehe.) And sometimes we get excited and they become full on releases like when we gave the base classes new animations and re-worked all the skills. That took like… *thinks*.. forever. Right now I've got a few on the go, but I want to talk about one in particular:

SUMMON GEMS!

Heck yes. Summon gems are trinkets that when used they summon something ELSE to perform a massive attack against the enemy party for you. What that means is a lot of new art, and a lot of fancy animation goes into making it happen so it's not something that we will do very often. But when we do it will be worth the effort to obtain it. Also it's important to note that they are not quick, so they probably won't help you farm for that ice katana any faster, or save up for that Doomie upgrade any sooner… but they are going to do some pretty awesome damage so it will be worth having around. Don't expect summon trinkets to be a big 'win' button that automatically wins the battle for you, because great power always comes with great responsibility, but who doesn't want to summon a giant crazy thing to shoot lazarbeemz and whatnot at the bad guys? Anyway, the coolest part is that you don't buy them.. or at least not the first one anyway. You gotta find it, so keep on the lookout over the next few months for your first one.

Battle On!

* I love it! Sure sometimes it's stressful but I wouldn't have it any other way. Except with MORE coffee.
** Sweet shadow puppet by the way.
*** March 27th, 2009 to be specific.
**** Not the kind you eat, or the kind you get as loot from quests. The kind that will make you fall out of your chair laughing.
***** Other than working in your pyjamas if you want.

February 12th 2010
Love is in the air!

It's Hero's Heart Day again, and it's time to get your groove on
Every year around this time, a plethora of pink things (like Big Daddy's Helpers and little moglins with hearts on their rears) come out of hiding in the Forest of Infinite Terror to wish you the happiest of Hero's Heart Days!

And it wouldn't be Hero's Heart Day without... Big Daddy! If you've never played this holiday event before, I'm excited to introduce you to the smoothest talking, loving-est cherub around! Big Daddy is a big proponent of Love, and he wants to make sure everyone in Lore gets a chance to be happy today.

When he hears there are two bright young ladies who aren't, he kicks his groove-maker into high gear, conscripts you to help with his plan, and sets events in motion to help Ophelia the Odd and Lazuli Doom find a hero!

And don't forget to check out the Snugglebear armor's newest dance move!

Psst, hey. Hey you! Go check out the Black Market!
There's a new Black Market in Falconreach between the Potion Shop and the old Barber Shop, complete with it's own proprietor. Heeey, does that moglin look familiar? Nah. You're probably just imagining things. But you're not seeing things when it comes to what he's got for sale!

This shady figure is selling name and gender changes... for a price. If you want to make a change to your character, think long and hard, then grab your Dragon Coins and go to see Moglin X (for lack of a better name)!

This week only, he'll be selling the name and gender changes for 500 Dragon Coins each! Next week the price will return to it's normal amount of 1000 Dragon Coins each. And NEXT week you'll be able to visit him and change your Base Class, as well!

Have a Happy Valentine's Day (or Singles Awareness Day)!
Whatever you choose to celebrate this Sunday, have fun and be happy! We're going to go raid the cabinet in the Underground Lab for candy hearts and overpriced chocolates now!

On the Topic of Changes!

Last week 9.0.0 went live, the culmination of 3 months of my behind the scenes work. While there’s lots more to build for you, we’ve made some huge progress on cleaning up a lot of the loose ends we’ve left hanging. One such issue was the fact that we had the engine capability of doing gender, name and class changes, but hadn’t designed an interface for them yet.

As Geopetal said yesterday, we’ll be releasing the interface for switching gender and name this week (Class will be coming soon!) The cost to do these changes will be 1,000DC each. (Each, mind you, repeated to avoid confusion.)

However, for the opening week, to reward all of you who have been patiently waiting for this feature, we are cutting the cost in half – to only 500 DC. So if you’ve got changes you would like to make, you should consider doing them during this first week.

Picking your character’s name, class, and gender are some of the first and most fundamental choices you make and are part of the process of connecting you with your avatar of choice on this adventure. Changing them isn’t something we encourage, normally, because it makes those choices weaker and less powerful. But the functionality was so widely request we decided to concede and give you what you asked for!

The process of enabling these changes was one of the bigger milestones in the development of 9.0, and getting them in game is going to put us one step closer to being finally done with the project.

Looking forward to going live tomorrow!

Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter)

Some Misconceptions Resolved!

Whelp, I’m alive, awake, and after 10 hours of sleep last night more rested then I’ve been in a LONG time.

9.0.0’s release went about as well as could be expected.  There were bumps along the way, but overall we’re happy with the way things are going.  So to help explain some confusion, I think it’s time we explain some stuff.

Dodge/Parry/Block got a good bit weaker for you guys since 9.0 came out, but also for the monsters.  A lot of the focus of 9.0 was to make battles feel more brutal, faster paced, and quicker overall.  Part of the sacrifice comes in losing some of dodge/parry/block’s effectiveness.  Weather these numbers are the final numbers is going to come down to how things continue to look over the next few weeks when we start getting more input from you guys.

Now on to stats!  Stats are a bit more tedious to explain, and I’m going to guess some of you are perfectly happy to accept the descriptions given in the stat trainer and be happy with the idea that bigger numbers are better! For those of you not interested in the nitty-gritty, I present you an adorable chickcalf!

With all that said, we’re still reading your guy’s input very carefully and working  to make the new verison of the the game as fun as possible!  We’d like to think we’ve made a huge step forward in focusing this game and making it as good as it can possibly be with this release, and we’re far from over!

Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter)