Project News
Design Note Archive - See the good, bad, and the buggly -- all the way from the start!
Code Monkey
Rolith
Icecream! Pink-mancer
Beleen
COFFEEEEEEE!

June 30th 2010
On vacations and other matters

*Brushes the dust off the design notes* Whoo, been a while. Bet you didn’t fancy seeing ME here on sneak peak Wednesday. Why I’m doing the post instead of Alina? Well, the mission she undertook for the Ficus last weekend has left her with a case off poison ivy the likes of which I’ve never seen. She keeps talking about getting back at Wayne Enterprises or something. Hopefully it clears up soon, because Geo’s taking some time off this week herself!

Soaking up some rays

That’s right, we’re actually taking some time off here in the underground lab. (And NO, we're not talking Johnny Fish time off this time. Actual time off.) Last week I spent the weekend back home to the land where all great programmers come from, Rural Pennsylvania, and the land of Chocolate, Hershey. This week Geo’s taking the opportunity to take some time off herself, and next week Alina is going to head back to the great and mysterious land of the wild mid-west.

That doesn’t mean that we’re taking things easy here at DragonFable by any means. This week, we’ll have the next Clashening! Lim SAID he wanted to see Cysero show you some magic, and now Cysero is going to do just that! The Clashening continues, now with MORE ELBOWS! (They make better spell components then knees, something about bees. I didn’t pay attention in school.

CLASH!

Coming this weekend DragonFable will see the return of the Liberty Day Shop. We’re celebrating the US’s Fourth of July as well as Canada’s Canada Day (July 1st!) with a shop in Falconreach!

We’re also continuing the judging of the Great Dragons Naming contest. Geopetal’s now got the short list of names involved, but the final selection’s going to have to wait until she’s back.

With that said, I’d also like to announce a BIG, Artix Entertainment Wide, contest. I’ll let Beleen Introduce it: (Hold on to your hats, there’s a LOT of pink coming.)

Make us LOL & win big time

Grab a pencil and your sense-of-humor and prepare yourself for AE’s first ever Comic Contest!

A perfect Comic Contest example made by Lim!

This Contest is open to all players and has just begun on the AE Comic Contest Thread! Before we get into specific details, let’s first discuss what everyone wants to know: the prizes you could win!!!

The Grand Prize is 4,000 BattleOn Points!
The two Runner-ups will receive 2,000 BattleOn Points
and Honorable Mentions will get 500 BattleOn Points

…soooooo waait what are BattleOn Points? Glad I forced that question out of yah! BattleOn Points is the newest way to Upgrade your account with the Master Account Login system. Obtaining enough Points allows you to get Game Currency in ANY of your favorite AE games and even Upgrade your account to Member Status!

BattleOn Points is also how you will unlock features, powerful items, and magic spells in the soon-to-be-released-brand-new minigame, BladeHaven! So what better way to get a head start in BladeHaven than with your Contest prize earnings ^___^

Rules Rule!

So now that you know what you’re competing for… on to the Comic Contest rules! I’m only ganna say this once (…and then copy-paste is everywhere else…) so pay attention because ALL OF THE RULES need to be followed for your Comic Entry to be eligible. So if you wanna win, make sure you’ve actually read each rule BEFORE submitting your entry, kthx =D

  • Your Comic MUST BE created by YOU!

  • You gatta have a Master Account Login, since the BattleOn Points prize will be awarded to it

  • You may only submit ONE (1) Comic to be judged (if making a Comic Strip, please condense it into a single jpeg/png/gif/swf/etc)

  • Your Comic MUST have your Character Name (NOT your Master Account Login name) written/typed/signed somewhere on the picture to ensure that it really was YOU who made it! Any Character Name from any AE game is acceptable. Comics without a Character Name clearly displayed will result in an automatic disqualification.

  • Your Comic must be “AE themed”… this is an AE Comic Contest after all! Your Comic can contain ANYTHING from AQW, MQ, AQ, WF, DF, and ED!

  • You can create your Comic using any medium you choose. Hand draw it. Photoshop screen shots together. Use a fancy photo-editing program. Or whatever else you can think of to make a hilarious Comic.

  • Make sure to post a VALID link to your uploaded artwork, or else we can’t view it!

  • Make sure the Link actually works before hitting the “submit” button!

  • And most importantly: have fun with your Comic! If your Comic makes you LOL, it will most likely make us LOL too!

This contest begins today, June 29th, and will end at 11:59pm EST on Sunday, July 11th. That is a pretty long time to submit your awesome Comics, so I expect to be roflol’ing by then!

Here is another example of a Comic that Randor the Red did. It’s great… and huge!

Winners will be announced Friday, July 16th and Prizes will be awarded then as well. A special page will be made announcing the winners, and we will provide you with that URL on the Portal Site and your favorite game’s Design Notes and/or Homepage!

We cannot wait to see what artistic lol-talent hides behind that avatar of yours. Head on over to the AE Comic Contest Thread and post your Comic today! Or tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next… or the next… or whenever it’s finished!

Good luck to all, and let the LOL’s commence!

Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter)

has blue eyes
Alina
Go team!

June 26th 2010
World Cup Tournament Capes are live!

Go team go! BZZZZZZZZZ!*
It's Saturday*** and the level 60 World Cup Tournament capes are here! The teams which made the tournament (and will have their level 40 capes upgraded into level 60 ones) are:

  • Uruguay
  • United States of America
  • Paraguay
  • Argentina
  • Germany
  • Netherlands
  • Brazil
  • Spain
  • Korea Republic
  • Ghana
  • England
  • Mexico
  • Slovakia
  • Chile
  • Japan
  • Portugal

To MAKE the merge, you'll need 1 level 40 cape from any of the above teams AND a Yellow Card merge item. The Yellow Card item costs 100 Dragon Coins and can be found in the original World Cup shop (all the way at the bottom of the list).

Support your team by wearing their country's colors and cheering with all your might. Goooooooo Tean!

* It's SO good that the Design Notes don't come equipped with sound. That buzzing noise the vuvuzuela makes sounds like a herd (flock? school?)** of angry bees descending on your head.
** Brain spasm. A group of bees is called a swarm.
*** Geopetal was right yesterday. I am on a secret mission for the Ficus. All hail the ficus! More details on Monday IF I'm allowed to talk about them.

   
has blue eyes
geopetal
is it Friday already?!

June 25th 2010
So Much To Do....

It's been a crazy Friday! Between the live musical event in AdventureQuest Worlds, Rolith and Alina both getting kidnapped (seriously?! Where'd you guys go? I blame the ficus) and Lim having World Cup Fever, it's been a busy day. Luckily I was able to trap Ghost and wherever Rolith went he forgot to unlock Khelios!

Dragonsgrasp: An Icy Wind
The Dragonsgrasp Saga has officially begun! Visit Inspector Doyle in the Baker Street Inn to play through the first quest in the epic DragonLord chain. An icy wind has started to blow through Lore... at the beginning of summer?

Nythera
Help Nythera escape from the Void! Can she make her way back home without Elysia's help?

Cape Upgrades!
The cape upgrade shop will go live tomorrow morning! Show your support for your favorite team!

The Programmer Formally Known as Personator... is Khelios!
Khelios has been a busy, busy apprentice this week (Well, every week since he has to do what Rolith wants him to do...)! He's been working hard on...

Cracking the case: The meanings of the Eggs
by: Khelios
So, the pattern of colors on eggs must have some significance, and having read in many legends, stories, and myths about them, I can safely assure you that the designs on these eggs all have a hidden meaning that you may not be aware of.
So, what exactly have I found? Dragon eggs with these patterns give them a significant advantage in their fighting abilities that exceeds that of normal dragons.

Egg 1: This egg swirls with toxic and sickening colors that, when unleashed, are poisonous to your foe, giving them a severe allergic reaction to it.
Egg 2: This egg hatched into a dragon cool and collected under pressure. Even the most patient creatures are subject to intense bursts of anger...
Egg 3: The initial view of the egg seemed to indicate that it was covered in lava. Having been exposed to extreme heat, this mysterious pattern actually keeps the owner cool and focused in the heat of battle...
Egg 4: This egg ripples out from a central point. Strange phenomena, such as shockwaves and quakes, are experienced when the egg is mishandled...
Egg 5: Part of this egg seems frozen, cold, and unrelenting. That very unrelenting presence has been known to upset migratory creatures and send a cold chill down the spine of even the strongest of beasts.
Egg 6: Like flames rising, the power within this egg grows more and more brilliant over time.
Egg 7: The swirling void on this egg seems to sap energy and life away from those around it.
Egg 8: I could hardly find information on this egg - if it exists, it is well hidden. It is a very inconspicuous egg that may harbor some surprises...
Egg 9: This malignant egg seems to thrive on the pain and suffering of others.
Egg 10: The symbol on this egg shows an enormous projection of energy exploding from a central point. One could guess that this egg stores power and suddenly expels it.
Egg 11: A sense of peace and tranquility emanate from this egg. It is rumored to cure diseases and restore life to the dying.
Egg 12: The wisps of color are said to be dictated by the flowing of the wind. The egg itself is as light as a feather...
Egg 13: This egg is sparkling just like solid gold. It is said to be able to put any passerby into a trance...
Egg 14: Shadows float around this egg at their own will. The shadows are rumored to harm both the physical being of an opponent and their very will to live...
Egg 15: The spots on this egg may have resulted from the egg's struggle against a disease. The magic appears to be keeping the disease at bay; however one must be careful in handling it to prevent catching it themselves!
Egg 16: This egg glows with a sickening green color. If exposed to wildlife for too long, rumors run that the wildlife will become mutated.
Egg 17: It has been hinted at in legends that this egg grows brighter in color when it is not threatened.
Egg 18: Is there anything worse than being hit by a biting wind on a frigid day? Well, the very design of the egg seems to have been sculpted by buildups of ice and snow blowing about it...
Egg 19: The wisps in this egg appear to ebb with clockwork regularity. They infrequently speed up to twice their normal speed, but the significance of this virtually unknown.
Egg 20: Some say this egg can produce a wide range of frequencies of sound. The locals have reported deep throaty rumbles and shattered glassware ever since the egg was brought near the town.
Egg 21: The pattern on this dragon egg is a fairly archaic pattern used in some magical trinkets to increase luck significantly.
Egg 22: All that is known about this egg is found in healers' diaries. All written information about it gives little information about its power, apart from its ability to heal deep wounds over a large amount of time.
Egg 23: In myths of old, great villains tried to break open this egg but were harmed by the very damage given to the egg. Despite being slightly cracked, it remains intact.
Egg 24: Violent patterns swirl around this egg, much like a vortex of air.
Egg 25: Many writers describe the markings on this egg to be similar to an ink blot. One famous writer in particular, Edgar Alton Prose, believed this egg to be discovered in an evil house belonging to a person who helps you find your seat in a play. This startling fact may give this egg some unknown sense of evil...
Egg 26: Some say that great magic is under the swirling smoke of this shell, while others think it is just a cheap parlor trick. It could be the ace up your sleeve...
Egg 27: Stories speculate that this egg could be dropped off the tallest mountain and would not crack due to its protective shell.
Egg 28: Three distinct lines run down the sides of the egg. They are said to drastically increase reflexes and greatly hasten the user to do normally impossible feats! However, such impossible feats come at a price...
Egg 29: The very color of this egg can drastically shift one's mood, causing anywhere from mild to severe anger spikes. Not one researcher has studied it enough before getting angry and burning all the materials they found, so it remains a mystery.
Egg 30: Rumors speculate that the colors dripping down the egg become more intense each time the egg suffers damage.
Egg 31: The grayness of the egg is speculated to come from the shadow of the moon mixing with the brightness of the sun. Is believed that both the shadow of an eclipse and the sun's halo around the moon affect the egg's strength.
Egg 32: Many arcane Mathemancers have argued for centuries over what this egg's symbol means. Not one seems to be able to find the exact value of this symbol.
Egg 33: The runes glow glaringly as if they contain numerous spells built up from over the course of thousands of years. You should be glad they aren't targeted against you...
Egg 34: The arcane symbols have been dissected by mages and found to affect many tactical aspects of fighting.
Egg 35: No legends anywhere mention anything about this egg. What it could do is virtually unknown.

I hope you all enjoy this week's release! The summer is just beginning... and I think it's going to be unseasonably cold....

   
has blue eyes
Alina
is glad it's Monday!

June 21st 2010
Another big week coming at you!

We'd better get to work!
It's the final week of DragonFable's birthday celebration, and we're going to go out with a BANG! We've got a present for non-DragonLords AND a present for DragonLords!

Have you every wondered what your egg choice meant when you first did the Dragon Egg Saga? After 3 years of waiting, this week you'll find out! Khelios is coding that part of the birthday surprise while Rolith works on the other half of the DragonLord gift.

Lim is making the non-DragonLord gift (possibly as we speak. He looks like he's concentrating pretty hard over at the other end of the table...).

Release news about this week's quest!
This week in addition to the birthday presents, we'll be having two brand-new quests! The first DragonsGrasp quest will finally be released and the third Nythera quest is coming, as well! Are you ready to get a glimpse of Vilmor* and see Nythera's reaction to Elysia's sacrifice?

* If you read this and thought "new minigame!" you were right!**
** At least, that's the plan! Mondays are full of plans!

See you on the forums, Twitter!

PS - The Color Custom DragonLord helm has been adjusted so that the eyes will match the color of your trim. That fix will roll later this week!

 
has blue eyes
Alina
recolored her character's armor.

June 18th 2010
The month of DF birthday gifts continues

It's party time for DragonLords!
Party over here! Raise the (thatch) roof! DragonLords have THREE new birthday gifts this week to continue the month-long birthday celebration!

The first of the gifts are upgraded DragonLord weapons! You might remember finding the DragonLord's Loss, DragonLord's Prize, or Staff of the DragonLord as a low-level character. They were level 1 weapon which have had new levels made! You can now talk to Lim in his Falconreach Weapon shop to access the DragonLord weapon shop! It has levels 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60!


Mmm. Not a lie!

Cysero also has a gift for you in his Superstore of Savings! You can purchase levels of the Mirrored DragonLord Helm from him and, even better, they're all color-customizable! We know you've been asking for this one, so happy birthday! (You probably want to take your helm off before eating any cake. When frosting dries on armor, it takes forever to get it polished again!)

And last but not least, visit the Armor Paint Fairy at the portal in Falconreach to check out the new colors you can paint your armor! We have many new colors for you to choose from, both lighter and darker shades! From reds to purples, blues and greens, and especially shades of brown for you rogues who want more choices of leather-looking colors!

DragonMage raging!
We've got the second quest in the new Nythera Saga ready for you this week! Nythera wants her magic and she's NOT just going to sit back and let Warlic tell her she's not ready to handle it!


Together can they find someone to help Nythera?

Play as Nythera as she heads to Sunbreeze Grove to get some help from more dragon-friendly people! Surely THEY will be able to help her, right? And if they don't know how to, well, SOMEone must know what Nythera needs to do in order to get her magic back! And Nythera is bound and determined to find them!

An unexpected trip lands her in hot water, though, and you're going to have to stay on your toes and keep from getting blasted if you want to ever get Nythera's magic back!

Silver weapons drop from the Nythera quest this week in levels 53, 43, and 33!

  • Elucidas' Mithril Sword, Dagger, and Staff
  • Elucidas' Platinum Sword, Dagger, and Staff
  • Elucidas' Silver Sword, Dagger, and Staff

The hunt is on!
Head to the Hunter's Paradise Inn and talk to Karina to begin hunting the cave-dwelling troglomite! You'll know you've found it when you find yourself drawfed by a pile of fur and eyes! Oh, and it wants to eat you!


Can you imagine the hairballs this thing makes?!

You'll be able to talk to use the Troglomite Eyes and Troglomite Pelts which drop from the quest in Teral's merge shop to create a wide assortment of items!

The Card Shoppe is open for business!
Be sure to make your way underground and go exploring in Ravenloss. A new shop has opened in this almost-deserted city. For unknown reasons, the CardMasters (a group of adventurers who love risks and taking chances!) are looking to raise some gold to fund their expeditions and they're willing to sell YOU some of their extra gear!

You'll find helms, capes, trinkets, and weapons in Ellial the CardMaster's shops! The weapons are in levels 14, 24, 34, 44, and 54. The trinkets are all level 50 to account for the high amount of stats they raise.

  • Hearts series: fire element
  • Clubs series: stone element
  • Spades series: water element
  • Diamonds series: wind element
  • Ace of Heart trinket: 6 crit, 4 bonus, 5 dodge, Ice 10
  • Ace of Clubs trinket: 4 crit, 6 bonus, 5 dodge, Wind 10
  • Ace of Spades trinket: 10 END, 5 dodge, Energy 10
  • Ace of Diamonds trinket: 10 WIS, 5 dodge, Stone 10

Father's Day shop is here!
Father's Day is this Sunday! Does YOUR dad play DragonFable? (My dad's a MechQuest fan.) If he does- or even if he doesn't, we've got some GREAT weapons for you to celebrate just how awesome your dad is! And whether or not he's a master BBQ-tician, these grillicious weapons will be sure to put him in the perfect mood for a Father's Day cookout!

  • Dad's Meat Mallet Mace I, II, III, IV, V
  • Dad's BBQ Fork Daggers I, II, III, IV, V
  • Dad's Spatula Wand I, II, III, IV, V

And for MY father, I just wanted to say: I love you, dad! I hope you can take a break from running barbed wire around the new pasture on Sunday! And thanks for never using grillware as weaponry in REAL life, though I have a sneaking suspicion you've already considered doing so.

Some help with next week's birthday gifts!
Next week is the LAST week of DragonFable birthday gifts, and there will be something for both DragonLords AND free players! For the DragonLord gift, Rolith could use your help. Specifically, he could use your opinions. He's created a poll and he'd like YOU to answer it. Find it on the forum here!

Have a great weekend and happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

See you on the forums, Twitter!

 
has blue eyes
Alina
has a hot doughnut

June 16th 2010
This is what a Sneak Peek Design Notes looks like.

It has pictures and text with teasers and hints for you!
Who's ready for some sneak peeks? You? Most exxellent. I'll get right to it, then!

First up is a sneak peek at an outline of an NPC you'll meet this week in the Nythera quest, "No Loss without Gain."

If you've been pining away, hungering for more dragons in DragonFable, the above teaser should be reassuring!y

Next up is an image that comes from Ghost, and will give you a glimpse of what you'll be hunting in the Hunter's Paradise quest this week!

You've never encountered troglomites (no relation to togs!) before, so you should be prepared for ANYthing!

And last but not least, we have an image straight from Tomix which will give you a preview of some of the weapons and items you can expect from the Card Shoppe in Ravenloss this weekened!

Featured above are the Sword, Dagger, and Staff of Hearts as well as some of the helms and capes that Ellial the Card Master will be offering for sale!

We hope these images have whetted your appetites for this week's releases! Check out the Newsletter for more information on this week's coming DragonLord birthday gifts!

See you on the forums, Twitter!

 
Code Monkey
Rolith
Go BOOM

June 15th 2010
Interrupted THREE times just while writing this

So, today was a fun day. I got in the office fairly early, said “Hello” to those who had managed to beat me to the Lab. Alina reminded me that I was supposed to share my to-do list with you today too.

Then, well, before I could pour a cup of coffee the wall of interruptions washed over me.

Zazul’s internets were clogged. Maegwyn needed access to something. Warlic and I were talking about two entirely two different problems on a project we’re both working on (If you’re both working on a project together, it’s a good idea to be working on the SAME project). Safiria wanted updates on my progress on various behind-the-scenes projects. The shop Alina was working on was blackscreening. Lim’s pet was, well, Lim’s new pet had some behavioral problems that resulted in some funny animations involving accidental monster dance parties. (That last bit may or may not have happened, but it’s funnier to imagine than me having to go line by line in Actionscript to fix a freezing bug.)

Needless to say, it’s now pushing past 4pm, and the number one item on my to-do list, hop on here and write a quick design notes post, is left undone. Let’s fix that shall we?

I don’t think I’ll bother posting the to-do list, as it exploded in a crater after today’s many, many, many, MANY distractions.


My to-do list was here.

But what I will do is let you guys know that the plans to go ahead in DragonsGrasp will be put off one additional week; Geo and Ghost are both hard at work on the big event for DragonLords this summer (the Vilmor Saga is going to be BIG), but they want to do it right so they’re going to take the extra time and make it even better!

One nice thing about having so many projects going on is that we are able to make up for delays like this with a little creativity and lots of overtime. That said, along with the next Nythera quest, the DragonLord presents (yes, plural, and no you guys don’t know all of what’s coming), and the RavenLoss card shop, we’ll be releasing another quest in the Hunter’s Paradise zone.

There’s some other projects I’m working on, but if today’s lessons taught me anything, it’s best to keep in mind the clock’s hands and make sure I get things done instead of explaining how awesome they’re going to be. (But oh man, they’re going to be so awesome!)

Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter)

 
has blue eyes
Alina
has a giant lollipop.

June 14th 2010
Roses are red, violets are blue...

It's Monday today and there's so much to do!
Hi guys! It's Monday again! First thing on my agenda each Monday morning is making up a To-Do List for the week, and then dividing the work into days. I thought I'd share some snippets from my list for this week with you all!

Alina's To Do List for the week of June 14
Monday

  • Add in lines to cutscene about Void to explain its nature
  • Meeting with Ghost
  • Meeting with Tomix
  • Meeting with Geopetal about brand-new secret surprise gift
  • Meeting with Lim about Father's Day weapons
  • Talk to Rolith about addition to list of birthday gifts for this week
  • Fix Ghost tog pets coloring/animation issue
  • Upload Tomix's weapons
  • Monday Design Notes

Tuesday

  • Work on Nythera quest file for this week
  • Edit Ravenloss town file for the new card shop
  • Work on the birthday gift for this week
  • This week's Falconreach town file

Wednesday

  • Dive into the database. Come out with 26 new item entries.
  • More database work! Father's Day items in DB.
  • Write the DragonFable newsletter
  • Work on the map for next week's Nythera
  • Cutscene for next week's Nythera
  • Work on secret project. Ask Galanoth when we can announce it.
  • Sneak Peek Design Notes (come up with SOMETHING for this!)

Thursday

  • To be determined
  • Anything that comes up
  • Surprises
  • Unexpected additions to the list

Friday

  • Miscellaneous release work
  • Testing my quest
  • Testing geopetal's quest
  • Friday Design Notes
  • Icecream or sushi. Or both!


As you can see from this behind the scenes look at a week on the DragonFable team, Mondays are full of meetings and plannings and pre-work getting ready for the rest of the week. Tuesday is a Flash-heavy work day where I'm in and out of the Flash program (and hoping it doesn't crash on me!). Wednesday I usually create whatever anyone needs in the database. This week there are at LEAST 25 new items coming out! I also try to work ahead on the next week on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday is a hodge-podge of a work day. Surprises often happen, where people come and say "Hey, can you do this by Friday?" And Friday? Friday is a FRANTIC day full of testing and Design Notes and Rolith throwing bananas at Lim. I love Fridays! And bananas.

What's coming THIS week!
We have a TON of new stuff for you this week. A whole BUNCH of new things, including quests, presents, weapons, helms... SO much for you to do and see and buy! It should be a great week!

We'll have the FIRST quest in the Vilmor Saga! If you haven't checked out the new layout in DragonsGrasp yet, you won't have met the newest NPC there, Lestrad. He and Doyle have some really important information to share with you; details you'll NEED to know for the storyline. So make sure you talk to them!

The second Nythera Saga quest will also release this week! You'll meet a brand-new NPC, who is much more than he appears to be. You'll learn more about the Void, including some things that Warlic DIDN'T know! There will be battles and information and new Wind weapons releasing from the Nythera quest this week!


The suits of cards in this shop will look VERY sweet!

A completely new, unexpected, VERY sweet Card Shoppe is coming to Ravenloss! It will be run by Ellial, a CardMaster! She's got 18 new weapons, two capes, and four new helms in stock for you! All are based on different suits of playing cards (Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds)! She'll also have some super stat-raising trinkets for you, sold for gold to DragonLords! Some of her helms will sell for Dragon Coins, too! (She must have a deal going on with Cysero.)

And last but not least... Birthday presents!!! We've got a 3-part gift for you this week! Three smaller things, but things that you've been wanting for a while. One of them is color-custom! Try to guess which!!

Daisies are white, carnations are pink...
So head to the forums, and tell us what you think! About the information in the Design Notes, that is! Also, be sure to wish Ghost a very Happy Birthday by posting in this thread!

See you on the forums, Twitter!

P.S. - Head to the AdventureQuest Worlds Design Notes to read all about Cysero's wedding!

 
has blue eyes
Alina
is still cheering for Team Cysero!

June 11th 2010 Part II
Into the Void, Into the Void...

And home before dark!
Anyone else really love the musical "Into the Woods"? I used to sing that all the time in elementary school. But enough reminiscing (for this paragraph, at least!), it's time to talk about this week's releases!

Rise of the DragonMage: Nythera's Saga, part II!
The start of our first Summer storyline happens... NOW! You'll get to play AS Nythera as Warlic takes you into the Void itself! He says you're ready to start learning more about your magic, and he's starting with lessons in the Void element!

Warlic is unable to affect anything in the Void because he's not attuned to that element like he is to Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire, so it will be up to you as Nythera to handle the battles with the Void Elementals and Void Elementals (called Void Spawn)!

No one- not even Warlic- knows what lives in the Void, so there's no way to tell what ELSE you'll encounter. But the Void is such a twisted and corrupt place, you're sure to run into SOMEthing that you'd rather not face.

A late release is better than no release!
Rolith has been frantically typing away at his keyboard (and occasionally playing fetch with his cat) while I sit here and watch stand-up comedy and eat leftover Italian. It's all in the name of team unity and support! (And Italian food. I love me some good Italian food.)

Sometimes he has had me test his quest and I have got to say, it's REALLY fun! It makes me want to go hunt down other old text-adventures and play them to see what he's based thinjgs off of. So, just how do YOU get to play his awesome quest?

Head to Oaklore and talk to Captain Rolith! Click on the Quests button, then click on the Pactogonal-tastic! You'll need to be at least level 20 to do this quest.


If you like nostalgia, you'll LOVE Rolith's new text-parsing adventure quest!

Once you're in the quest, after the cutscene plays, hit the Enter key on your keyboard, then type Help for a list of useful commands. The aim is to beat the monsters, but how you'll need to do that, YOU have to figure it out! One key that will help you in playing the game: when you go to use something, the syntax of the command is "Use <X> on <Y>".

Rolith: Make sure the players are aware this MIGHT blow up. It IS one of my releases, after all! If it does, I'll fix it in the morning.
Alina: Rolith, it's after midnight.
Rolith: Morning only comes AFTER I've slept. I'll fix any problems after I get some SLEEP.
Alina: Sounds like a plan! But I'm sure nothing will break! /grin

Also, the quest does not work in fullscreen mode, so you'll need to play in regular screen mode. Quest rewards will be pet versions of the monster bosses, and they are pretty awesome! They really bring back some old-school arcade game memories!

DragonsGrasp's revamp (and MUCH more diaogue) is ready to go!
Head to DragonsGrasp and go exploring! You'll find a new NPC named Lestrad. He has a TON of VERY important information for you. If you're interested in the Vilmor storyline, you'll definitely want to talk with him before next week!

And the revamp of the town file is looking great! This should help people who were confused by the perspective shift in the center of town. Geopetal says there is new dialog with Baumbard, the Barracks is open, there's upgraded security outside the jail, brand new dialog with Captain Lestrad and Inspector Doyle, and the winning contest banners have been hung! Let us know what you think on the forum!

Don't forget to look down!
At the Design Notes post below this one, that is. We released THIRTY-TWO scarves in team-themed colors to commemorate the beginning of the 2010 World Cup! You can show your support for your favorite team (or teams) by puchasing one of these level 40 scarves for 100 DragonCoins at the shop in Falconreach!

Teams that make the Tournament** will have their scarves in DragonFable upgraded to level 60! All you have to do is purchase the level 60 scarf and use the free Soccer Cleats item and merge them together for the higher level item!

We also put items in-game to celebrate Cysero's real-life and in-game wedding to his bride, Nursey! You can see pictures of those helms down below: the Cysero's Wedding Tophat and Nursey's Wedding Wreath. They come in levels 30 and 55 and sell for either 100 or 300 DragonCoins each! You can purchase the items to show your support and happiness for Cysero and Nursey by talking to Cysero in Falconreach and looking through his Wedding Shop!

* In DF, that is element ???! (Remember the Braydenball? Ooooh yeah, it's Void element!)
**
Rolith tells me that is like the Play-offs for the World Cup.

 
has blue eyes
Alina
is cheering for Team Cysero!

June 11th 2010
A World (Cup) of Love!

It's a Pre-Release release!
We have some REALLY special things to celebrate this weekend! The World Cup has started, which is very exciting! But even MORE exciting (to me, at least) is that Cysero is getting married! To celebrate both of these super-amazing events, here at DragonFable we've made some commemorative (and RARE) items.

Cysero's getting married!
You know him as the Green Mage, DragonFable's Mad WeaponsSmith. It's Cysero, and he's getting married THIS WEEKEND! (And not just in-game!) This weekend the whole team is going to trek to Cysero and Nursey's ceremony to help them celebrate their wedding.

But YOU can be a part of this happy, happy occasion by celebrating with them in AdventureQuest Worlds! Just log in at https://www.aq.com and go to the main event!

And because Cysero was originally the head designer of DragonFable (and still offers us ideas from time to time), we thought it would be great for all his DragonFable-based fans to be able to celebrate with him, too!

Earlier in the week, we asked Lim to make a Cysero Tophat and Nursey Wedding Wreath, and make them drop little green socks. They look greentastic! (My character is wearing the wedding wreath right now!) You can see them below:


Join us in celebrating this joyous day

From the entire DragonFable team, we'd like to offer Cysero and Nursey our best wishes for their future together!

Who are YOU going to cheer for?
The World Cup is ON! Rolith has the match between Uruguay* and France playing on one of his three computer screens while we work towards getting tonight's release out. And this morning he had the awesome idea of making a cape for each of the 32 teams in the League play!So he just about tackled Lim as he walked into the room this morning and said:

Rolith: Hey Lim! Ol' buddy! Pal! Compadre!
Lim: .... Hi Rolith.
Rolith: How would YOU like to make THIRTY-TWO capes?
Rolith: For tonight's release?
<Rolith big grin>
Lim: Oh hey, what about "N-
Rolith: They're for the World Cup teams! So the players can cheer their favorites on!
<Rolith double thumbs up sign>
Lim: Actually, I love that idea. Lets do this!
Lim: But who will make ALL those database entries?!
Rolith and Lim: Heeeeey ALINA!
<Alina flees and is plopped back down in front of the computer>


Mexico, USA, Germany, Switzerland, and Greece's scarves!

So there you have 'em, 32 different team-themed scarves that you can wear as capes to show your support for your favorite Football** team!

The rest of the release is coming in a few hours!
We'll have the Nythera quest and the Captain Rolith text-parsing adventure AND the DragonsGrasp restructure for you in a little bit. We just wanted to get these items out to you NOW so that you can start celebrating!

* Rolith is cheering for Uruguay. Go team!
** By "Football" I mean "Soccer." In the US, we like to rename things. And sometimes respell them.

 
Artix
Artix
Congrat-adin

June 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th* 2010
Happy 4th Birthday DragonFable
Celebration AND Color custom evolved DragonLord Armor!!!
Congratulations everyone! Today, the eternal Dragon of time prepares to blow out a special cake with 4 candles** on it for DragonFable. To celebrate, the team will be releasing a gift each week of this month for you. Starting today with Color custom evolved DragonLord! Meanwhile, our epic summer storyline is about to unfold. Whether you started playing at the beginning, or are just joining us now... you are part of something truly special. The first 4 years have been an incredible journey. To everyone who supported the game by helping on the forums, visiting sponsors, or becoming a DragonLord... thank you. Thank you for making DragonFable possible for so many happy players. I would like to recognize the hard working DF team for successfully doing a new release each week... and every week... for 4 years! Great job guys! Please join me in a toast to honor DragonFable's Birthday, all of our fellow players, and the friendly DF team <raises mug*** and smiles warmly at Geopetal, Alac, Rolith, Lim, Tomix, Ghost, Thyton> ..... BATTLE ON!

Color Customizable Evolved Dragon Lord Armor
Color custom evolved DragonLord
This upgrade is available for 20K gold through Lady Celestia (Where you train your Dragon)

* Time Travel Faerie says, "Teehee, Missed you... so i've been saving them up!"
** ... what if he has FIRE breath!?!?!? You need to think these things through!
*** Mmmmmm.... chilled Moglinberry juice smoothie with hint of chocolate.

Baloon ChickenCow
Baloon Chickencow sez, "Eat more Bacon!"

Forum Question: What was your favorite DragonFable memory so far?

Code Monkey
Rolith
Jamming Out to Kansas

June 8th 2010
Something you don't see anymore!

So after the response to yesterday's design notes, and the general "huh" response to the Nightmare quest during the Water Orb saga, I figured I'd do some research.

"King's Quest" came out in 1984, a year before I was born. Even "Quest for Glory 2", the first game I ever remember installing myself and the last Sierra game I know of to use the text-parsing engine, came out in 1990.

In other words? I'm old. And the fact that most of you have never played a text-parsing adventure game isn't that surprising.

So, it's time for me to fill you in on the joy that is... one of the most frustrating game concepts ever released. In a good way, I promise!

Text-parsers can be explained in 4 words:

Get Torch, Use Torch... to burn things!


It's a simple concept, but it's also one of the more frustrating (in a good way, promise!) gameplay mechanics ever devised. You look around your surroundings, trying to discover items then try to figure out where and how to use them to move the story forward.

I'm not sure I'll be able to convey the frustration caused by, or the joy resulting from solving, some puzzles in these games. That's why I'm not going to try. No, I'm going to make you discover it yourselves!

While not eligible to be a Pactogonal Knight Proper (King Alteon himself appoints us, and you much better serve the Kingdom in your current travels), I have decided to let you try your hand at the challenge all Pactogonal Knights must solve before they join the ranks in Oaklore Keep. Just for fun or not, you will face a unique challenge like no other in all of LORE.

Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter)

Discuss This on the Forums!

has blue eyes
Alina
thanks for the reminder, Dwelling Dragonlord!

June 7th 2010
Ghostly foes, Nythera grows, and laptop woes

Poetry is nice, it adds a little spice.
I wanted to make this Design Notes post ALL in rhyme*, but the people at the in the Secret Underground Labthrew things at me**. Sadface!

I am typing this on the backup-spare-extra-auxiliary laptop, which I have named Glimmer because it is so shiny. My normal laptop came back from the store where it was getting repaired but was still broken! We booted it up and it kept typing tttttttttttt, even after they replaced the keyboard. Fail!

But on to happier news, like what we'll be releasing this week!

Release news so you're not confused!
Hey, hey, guess what? We're releasing things this Friday! Surprise!

Of course, if you've been around for a while, you know we release things EVERY Friday, but you won't know what until I tell you! Which I'm going to do right now. So get ready to get informed! (You might want to write this down, because it's pretty awesome.)

  • The first quest in the second part of the Nythera Saga! Learn about the existence of the Void and- if Warlic will take you- try to travel there!
  • DragonsGrasp gets a makeover, which should help un-confuse few people who are perplexed by the town's layout, and more/new dialogue!
  • Captain Rolith will offer a text-parser quest in Oaklore based on an old arcade-style game! (Think of something similiar to the text-adventure from the Water Orb Saga, but with walkaround maps!)

 

It's going to be a GOOD week, I can feel it! Geopetal has a secret project she's working on, which is why she's not putting out a quest this week, but with Rolith's quest, you'll still have two to do this weekend!

DragonLord birthday present, week TWO!
Whoops! I almost forgot to mention this. Thanks MegaMage! We WILL have another birthday present to celebrate DragonFable's birthday (which is this week!)

The gift this week is one that you've been asking for since the birthday release TWO YEARS ago! (And if that's not a good enough hint, you'll just have to wait and see what's in the gift box!) Lim will be working on the gift tomorrow, and we'll have it ready for you this week. Enjoy speculatinjg!h

DragonFable contest judging continues!
We're working on it! The forum moderators are awesome and went through all the FORTY-FIVE pages of posts. And at 25 posts a page, we have over 1100 entries! And at around 5 to 8 names an entry, that's a LOT of reading!

We will try to get the long list made by the moderators into a short list we can pick the final winners from! Remember that we will always reward creativity that goes above and beyond the normal contest-amazingness!

See you on the forums, Twitter!

*My character in Rolith's role-playing game spoke all in rhyme. It drove Lim's character crazy but was a REALLY fun challenge to try and pull off!
** Throwing nerf missiles by hand is ineffective but still sends your message loud and clear, Beleen!

 
has blue eyes
Alina
hails the ficus tree.

June 4th 2010
It's a random (quest) weekend!

Are you ready for some randomness?
Then make sure you stop by both DragonsGrasp and Ravenloss to do the newest random quests in each of those towns!

In DragonsGrasp, you'll be able to talk to Knox in the Armory to help quell a riot in the prison in the first random quest. In the second, you'll be able to go on a training quest with Jonath where you battle illusions of past boss monsters!

The rewards for the training quest are level 50 reforged versions of old war rares (with changed titles, so rare collectors can tell which are which). Old rewards are:

  • Reforged Boreas, Notas, and Zephyrus (from the Assault on Popsprocket)
  • Reforged Magelord and Warlord Scepter, Prince's Dagger (from the Pirate vs. Ninja War)
  • Reforged Spectrus Sword, Dagger, and Staff (from the Assault on the Necropolis)

And in Ravenloss, you'll need to talk to Tomix to do his newest random quest. You'll be defending Char, one of the children running wild in Ravenloss*, from the denizens of this dark city. And if you're feeling generous, buy some merchandise from Char's Chest so that he and his little brother, Kinder, can make some money to buy food.

Char will be selling:

  • color-customizable bat wings (are they chameleon bats? Do those even EXIST?!)
  • spiderweb capes (so appropriate for Ravenloss, now with new, higher levels!)
  • invisible helms and capes (for people who want the stats from items, but don't want to change their appearances!) **

Check out the Pet Shop!
After you discovered Sepulchure's Spy in Falconreach (and found out some other startling information) by doing the Spy quests the past two weeks, we feel that it's time Grams moves out of the Pet Shop in Falconreach.

Aria will take over her shop. She might be young, but Grams has been training her in the ways of pet training, and her lessons were true, even if her motives were diabolical. The Spy of Falconreach quests will now be available in the Pet Shop if you'd like to redo them!

We know that some of you want us to make it so that Grams is still in the Pet shop if you haven't done the Spy quests. Although we were able to do something like that for the Nythera Saga (as you guys noted on the forum), we aren't able to do that here. The reasons are long and technical, but just take it on faith that if we COULD, we would consider doing it that way.

This will roll later tonight, so be sure to check back in a bit!

Week one of the DragonFable Birthday Extravanganza!
Get ready to rip off the wrapping paper***, DragonLords, because it's the first week of gifts to celebrate DragonFable's fourth birthday!

Don't try to eat the cake, though. It's still only batter.

If you have a Dragon Amulet, this week you'll be able to use the Baby Dragon Elementalizer available from the DA symbol in your game interface! You'll be able to use this anywhere inside OR outside of battle. No more having to run all the way to Sunbreeze Grove!****

Next week's birthday present is something you've been asking (and asking, AND ASKING) for for years now. (Two years, to be precise.) And we're ready to give it to you!*****

It's my unbirthday! And probably YOURS, too!
There. I think that's enough asterisks for THIS Design Notes post! On that note, I'll wish you a great weekend and many happy birthdays (like this wish to Anonymus: Happy birthday Anonymus! Have a great day!) and even MORE happy unbirthdays!

See you on the forums, Twitter!

* Do not actually try to tame wild children. They bite. Hard.
** You're so vain, you probably think this cape is for you. (For you!)
*** Don't try to eat the cake, though. It's still only a wish and a bowl of batter.
****
Remember to thank all the players who suggested this on the forum! Great idea, guys!
***** That's a half-truth. We're not ready to give it to you YET, but we WILL be by next Friday!

 
has blue eyes
Alina
loves giving presents!

June 3rd 2010
A whole MONTH of DragonFable's birthday

That's right, it's GOOD to be a DragonLord!
DragonFable officially released on June 9th, 2006. That's almost FOUR years ago, and what a crazy four years it's been! Full of dragons, magic, dragons, enemies, dragons, titan fights, dragons, orbs, dragons, cliffhanger endings... (are you picking up on a theme here?)

Dragons! DragonFable is all about dragons! And if you think that there haven't been ENOUGH dragons in DragonFable lately, just you wait until this Summer's storylines start. We're exploring the story of DragonsGrasp as well as Nythera's quest to regain her Dragon magic while helping the Void dragons!

In yesterday's Design Notes we asked you what you'd like for this year's birthday present. Whoooo boy, did you guys come up with a TON of ideas! So many great ideas, in fact, that we couldn't decide!

We were going to run a footrace and the winner would get to pick which idea to do, but there was a huge thunderstorm outside, so we couldn't do that. Then we were going to have the members of the DF team each try to pick the number Galanoth was thinking of and THAT winner would decide what the gift was. That didn't work either, because Galanoth's number was "Dragon." So no one got that right.

Then we decided that the BEST way to pick would be for everyone to battle to the pain over the last container of Cysero's yogurt, and the one who got it would get to pick the gift idea. But once all the dust and nerf weapons had settled to the floor, we looked to see who had the yogurt and found Cysero in the corner with an empty yogurt carton!

So geo looked at me, and I looked at Lim, and Lim looked at Rolith, and Rolith looked at Cysero, and Cysero looked at the ficus tree in the corner, and we all simultaneously decided that we'd do FOUR gifts! One each week of June!

  • Week 1: baby-dragon related!
  • Week 2: SURPRISE!
  • Week 3: SURPRISE!
  • Week 4: SURPRISE

We hope that gets YOU excited about being a DragonLord, because we're really excited about the gifts we've picked for you! And if you're not a DragonLord yet, now is the perfect time to become one by upgrading your account!

Let us know what you think of our plans for June! See you on the forums, Twitter!

 
has blue eyes
Alina
snuck a pre-peek

June 2nd 2010
Sneak Peeks of the Nythera class

Do you remember what she did LAST Summer?!
If you haven't played the first half of the Nythera Saga, head to Warlic's zone and talk to his purple-pated apprentice! You'll soon learn she talks a LOT, is assured of her superiority, and absolutely hates doing mundane tasks. That's where YOU come in!

You got to play AS Nythera, and we're bringing back that functionality, in a slightly different way this Summer! You'll still be loading the Nythera class, but it will be a NEW Nythera class, completely remastered thanks to Tomix's hard work!

This time around Nythera isn't tackling any higher powers, she's just trying to regain HER powers! You'll start the class off with some basic attacks as well as the elemental skills that she's learned while acting as Warlic's apprentice:


Her wind attack will blow you away!

Over the course of the quest chain, Nythera will unlock NEW skills as she regains more and more of her magic! And it won't be just ANY magical skills she unlocks, but her Dragon and Void magic powers, so you'll definitely want to play to see what she can get up to using THAT kind of magic!

New Pet Shop coming to Falconreach on Friday!
With the revelations we've had recently about Grams, it's time that she was removed from the Falconreach Pet Shop. In her place, Aria will be taking over! We'll also have the "Spy of Falconreach" quests available for you to play through so that future players can see the treachery of Sepulchure!

DragonFable's birthday is coming up!
As you guys have already noticed on the forums (man, you guys are QUICK!), DragonFable's birtthday is coming up in a few weeks! For the first birthday, we released the baby dragon pets. Last year we released toddler dragons as pets and guests.

The big quest is, what do you want THIS year? We've got a few ideas, but we really want to see what YOU guys come up with! Be sure to post your ideas in the Design Notes thread on the forum!

See you on the forums, Twitter!

 
has blue eyes
Alina
needs your help!

June 1st 2010
Spy of Falconreach information help needed

We could really use your help, guys.
DragonFable is almost five years old and, in those almost-five years, we've put out a LOT of content! The newest content we released last week ties up the loose ends of the identity of Sepulchure's Spy in Falconreach.

We are going to take Grams out of the Pet Shop in Falconreach (we should have done that LAST week, but we ... forgot. Whoops!) and put Aria in her place. We'll also be adding the two Spy quests there. We'd ALSO like to add in ALL the quests/cutscenes where the Spy is mentioned. We think that'd go a long way towards helping new players understand what just happened these last few weeks.

There've been a few places in-game where we've mentioned the Spy. Do you know them all? (Who's going to be the first to list them all? We know you guys remember!)


Helpers get a slice of Internet Cake!

You can list where you've found mentions of the spy here, and we'll look through it and put together the quests today, and release the new pet shop this week.

What's coming this week?
We've got a whole slew of things planned for this week, starting with today!

  • Tuesday: Snuggles and Cuddles pets are being sold for Dragon Coins in Cysero's Superstore of Savings RIGHT NOW!
  • Wednesday: The new Pet Shop with all the in-game information about the Spy of Falconreach
  • Friday: a release full of new content and rewards (more on that in tomorrow's Design Notes)!