Zombies Everywhere - Unreleased Design Notes from 4/20/3012

The thing about progressive releases is, it's hard to write Design Notes without giving away spoilers about the revealed storyline.  So you should log in and go to Romero and be sure you're up to date with finding out whether there is a cure for Artix! 

Now I will just regale you with the pitfalls and crazy stuff that went into this week's release.

Funny story: so, I was the one who sent off the request for the new cutscene - and I forgot to send the art for a couple of the NPCs who feature in it... I guess it won't spoil anything to tell you - so the first iteration of the cutscene basically had Dr. Johnson & Dr. Johnson obviously having sampled some of the Fountain of Youth Elixir - mfg of course by EbilCorp (TM)

bzzt  crackle zap ttttyl 

And MQ exploded and broke when I rolled the release, and I forgot to ever come back to finish writing you Design Notes!

You know what I like to say about that... #BlamePractel!  

Seriously, though, we had been working on some engine changes that Vivi wrote up, to get the Zombies working right, So when I rolled the code, there was also some stuff that Korin had been working on ... that ... wasn't quite ready. I put the engine back to its previous version so that we could all stop blackscreening, and Korin got it all fixed up & rolled the shiny new version - and for that, I definitely #BlamePractel - but in the sweetest way possible, of course! 

Today and Soon:

I got up at an hour that I call "stupid-early" this morning ... yes, I'm crazy enough to start work at 4am - and that was awesome because I went chatting around the globe! Started off checking in with Gibby over in Australia, who is the Head Moderator of MQ's Q&A forum and a great asset to the MQ team.  He pointed me to a thread reminding me that it had been ages since I put up Design Notes for you.  Then I got to check in with Arklen, who is on the West Coast of the US.  He is animating the Maypril mecha that Thyton drew for us.  Arklen also vectored and colored it.  Then a bit later I got to chat with blues over in Germany, and circled back to the US later to talk with Korin & Vivi.  Of course I wasn't just chit-chatting - I was working on some bugfixing and some setups for upcoming releases, and most of the chats were in relation to coordinating elements of those releases. Fun stuff!

We're working like madmen - and madwoman - to get you the Maypril mecha! Did you see the countdown on the homepage?? Shop is scheduled to open at midnight April 30 and stay open for 48 hours and when it closes at the end of Mayday (May first) this mecha will go rare forever!

All of these models are level-with-you style.  The Nova Gem models are all 1000 NGs.  

NG Levels

• 11 (to 20), 
• 21 (to 30), 
• 31 (to 40), 
• 41 (to 50)  

The credits models are priced the same as last year's Mayprils, at the same levels.  Pricing in credits

• 10 (to 14)  30000
• 15 (to 19) 180000
• 20 (to 24) 240000
• 25 (to 29) 300000
• 30 (to 34) 360000 
• 35 (to 39) 420000
• 40 (to 44) 480000
• 45 (to 50) 540000

zccheng97 on the forums noted that it would be helpful if the scaling mechas that are set up as non-Star Captain but with SC-exclusive specials could be labeled somehow with a note that if you are a Star Captain, the HP and EP values of the chassis will be as stated on the mecha equip and shop window - and they will change to lower values if you are not a Star Captain.  I'm hoping we can find a workaround to it this year. It's my dream to give those of you who haven't been able to upgrade yet not only a taste of Star Captain damages but also the survivability boost that SC HP and EP chassis provide. If it's not possible, I guess that being able to that perk would just be an incentive for people to upgrade!

You should definitely log in on the first of May this year, because there is something happening... I'd say to expect that to go Live sometime around 6-ish or 7-ish server time but it could end up being earlier or later.  So keep an eye on things!

So we've been asking you for your suggestions - this week new at Tek's Mechs is a Back Arm weapon brought to you by a suggestion from .R.M. of the forums! Congratulations and many thanks! Minar drew and animated these Scissors series - blues was inspired on his specials design by .R.M.'s suggestion. Vivi coded them & I did the setup.  There are several levels in each of the three Arm shops - mainly focused on the lower-to-low-mid levels as that is Tek's specialty.

Specials details are in the weapons' descriptions, I believe!

bugfixes:

• Braddock Steele should now stop talking about Rainbows (thanks for the messages)
• The Egg mechas should (in theory) now scale properly as described
• The Crow's Cannon now scales as intended
• Wasn't there something else? ...might have to get back to you on that haha - there was more I wanted to fix so we'll just keep plugging away at that list

One more thing: What's Warlic's password?

Ok - I had better go for now. It has been a long day! Thanks for playing MechQuest and have a great weekend!  

It's no yolk that we've got some eggcziting new Spring Holiday weapons - you'll have to crack the egg to reach the shops inside. You can replay the past years' quests and pick up Holiday Rares, too.

Here is Vivi with the Design-Notes-Friendly specials - thanks to blues for coming up with them and to Vivi for coding them onto the weapons that Minar designed, drew, and animated!

Head (CD = 3): 
Good chance for a crit 
Each turn, randomly applies one of these effects (good effects go to you, bad effects go to the enemy). The first effect lasts for 3 turns, the second effect lasts for 2 turns and the third effect lasts for 1 turn. Specials listed are NSC (SC,NG) 
- general damage boost of 30% (35,40) 
- defense boost of 30 (40,50) 
- damage reduction of 30% (35,40) 
- general BtH boost of 30 (40,50) 
- normal (1.5, double) HP DoT 
- normal (1.5, double) EP DoT 
- blinding effect, -30 (35,40) enemy BtH 
- -60 (-70,-80) immo res and stun try 

Back Arm (CD = 3): 
- Good chance for a crit 
- First hit: chance for a double HP DoT 
- Second hit: chance to heal Level*1.5 HP 
- Third hit: chance to heal Level*1.5 EP

We pushed out a fix to the 0-Damage issue that cropped up on the Egg mechas (and monster) - it was the result of an earlier fix, actually. Similar to those NaN issues Vivi has been fixing. 

While I've been writing we've also been fixing little issues that slipped through the initial roll, so BA now really does 3 hits, Egg enemy doesn't NaN its Bonus... 

I had hoped also to bring you a new installment of the Romero storyline this week - a few technical difficulties delayed the storyline and quest (which are coming together nicely but not 100% ready) - but we DO have an update!

When you visit Vend-O-Tron, his (its?) shop interface has been streamlined so you don't have to wade through a bazillion weapons to get to the one you want.  Many thanks to the ArchKnights of the forums for pointing out this issue!

Have a happy Spring Holiday if you are celebrating in "real life" and enjoy the MechQuest spring holidays in-game! 

I got a PM (Private Message) on the forums, begging me not to take away Back Arms.

Don't worry! It was an April Fool joke! I replied to that person via PM, but figured I had better let you all know that MechQuest will continue to have Front AND Back Arms.

And if you haven't already, check out the Jack in the Box arm in the April Fool shop when you log in / on the Mission Log News screen - shop will go away when this Friday's release rolls Live.

After listening to you on the forums, I have convinced the entire MechQuest team that you all hate back arm weapons with a passion.  I decided that there was no way we would release any more back arms. Not even one. Front arm weapons ONLY.  What would you think of removing all the existing back arms and converting the mecha chassis to equip one arm only?  Or do you think that would be underhanded...