Korin

Friday, July 9, 2010

C-Mail, Art Museum and Arcade Game!

Hello all! We're a tad late but that's nothing new :P We have some good functionality updates this week.

Anywho, we now have a fancy new Story button in the C-Mail which will let you view the status of various storylines. Now, Westion Chapter 2 is not a code-written requirement yet but I must warn that people will need to redo, BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT you only need to start from the Mobile Shadowscythe Base hunting missions. Complete it 15 times and then the War Boss and the 3rd mission, you win.

The Art Museum is officially released. There will be purchaseable versions of the art work this upcoming week. I just ran out of time to get it out today. If you follow the blue arrows in the museum, you will find the 10 chosen pieces of art for this week. I won't lie, it was hard to choose 10. Please continue submitting artwork!! I look forward to seeing more of it. Also let me know how well it works in the large version of MQ because I haven't checked that yet... >__>....

Also, the fancy-pants minigame from 4th of July is now purchaseable for your starships the same way as the Braddock Steel game was. So grab that up quick and get the highest score! Something I'd love to implement would be a leaderboard for scores so we'll see if that can happen.

Also, the Liberty mech is up until Monday so grab it while you can! This will be your last chance to get it before it's gone forever!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Maegwyn

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

C-Mail System Improves!

The first step in improving C-Mail is the addition of a Storyline button. This will advise you of what you should do next to progress in the requirements for accessing the next quest. Some people are missing something that is required for access to the Dragonoid Saga, for example (although currently everyone can use the New Release button to access Yokai when there is a new Yokai release, this new feature is designed to keep you moving along with the actual storyline).

The C-Mail messages that we're also working on, which will come a bit later, will tell you about the non-essential quests as well. Lyris and Vivi have been working closely with me to set things out in documents for Korin - who is setting up the mechanics of the interface.

So, the requirements for the Dragonoid Saga will be in the Storyline section, and that is the first improvement you will see. This is being set up to track each character's progress, to show you step-by-step what you are still missing from the required quests.

We will be adding new actual C-Mail messages as the next step. When both of these improvements are in game, they will work together to help you do things in order and help keep you from missing something (whether it is an actual requirement in the Story button or just a C-Mailed directive showing what you should do next for the best understanding of the story).

Maegwyn

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Unbugglifying... Wednesday!

We had a "Buggy Monday" that was tested further on Tuesday, with typofixes added, and then finalized and rolled Live on Wednesday this week. When you log in, here is the list of what we've fixed:
Fixes:
House Mascot weapons now work properly when you are in the correct House, and disable properly when you are not
Exiting the Dojo on Planet Yokai now properly loads your character into the scene, so you're not invisible.
Circe's Museum Map dialogue no longer cuts off when playing in the smallest resolution.

Typofixes:
Zargon Comic Issue #5 - now displays player name on 'page 2'
Police Zone - Many typos fixed, in the police station and within the quests!

Along with all this fixing, we've been working steadily on this week's upcoming release and continuing to prepare some of the things we've been hinting at in Design Notes and Newsletters..

The Story Project continues (in-game instructions for meeting the requirements for The Dragonoid Saga) - this involves such things as recording the technical details of precisely what opens up when, taking account of people having done quests in a non-linear progression. O I got SO MAD at Mayor Roy Silver! 4 steps ago, the new Story Buttons told me: "Qjik-Han needs some help with a project. He's just west of Arin-Ha and Jhaek-Ha in the Khaeldron Research Labs. " Then I completed Catch a Thief - and he told me to... go help Qjik-Han at the research labs...I was all yelling at him, "I JUST DID THAT, IDJIT!"

However, after further testing of possible quest completion sequences, Vivi assures me that my "Wait, WHAT did you just say?" reaction was a fluke...So yeah, we're working to get this properly accurate progression-wise, rather than pushing something out telling you to do x when you know nothing of y as of yet. Because it's not just about what you need to do - it's a matter of when, and why! (Huge shout-outs to Vivi & Lyris & Korin for the team effort here!)

Another thing we've kept hinting at is a Star-Captain-Only quest. It's been "Coming Soon" in the newsletter for weeks now. The pre-planning on this has resulted in its turning into an awesome quest (if I do say so myself) - and it fits better into a timeframe that is still a few releases away. So yes, it is coming soon - when the time is right!

Khelios (formerly known as Personater) is the Head Moderator of the Mech Quest Art Museum Submissions Forum - he told the entire AE staff about the REALLY awesome submissions coming in already! So please check out the art your fellow-players are submitting, and don't hesitate to post your own! We're all insanely psyched about the Art Museum displaying your selected submissions!

Now, speaking of the Art Museum... many of you have been hunting madly for the 'hidden feature' - those boxes that say, "Do not kick," and that one next to it that says there's a noise coming from it? If you're there... you're in the right place. Reading the anticipation on the forums, I'm rather certain that some of you have found the existing 'feature' already and were perhaps expecting something spectacular when in fact it is currently set up as "amusing...." It was something I had to position just right for it to work at all,.. but in fact, it's not like it turns into a Jack-in-the-Box or anything. It's just a combination of 'possible action' plus 'mouseover' that's funny...

Have fun - be safe - and don't forget to add a little ketchup!

Korin

Monday, May 17, 2010

Another Buggy Monday and more

Before I get into the bug fixes, I want to point out that AQWorlds is updating their Verification Shop! This means that by upgrading in AdventureQuest, DragonFable, and MechQuest, you can get access to THREE (3) brand new classes this weekend in AQW! You don't even need an AQW membership to get them! Each class will also have it's own unique skills!

If you have already purchased a membership in DragonFable, MechQuest or AdventureQuest then you will need to verify your accounts in AQW, which you can do HERE.

If you are having trouble verifying your memberships in one of the other games, CLICK HERE for help!

You may find more information in the AQWorlds Design Notes which can be found HERE.

On to Buggy Monday.

NO MORE Blackscreen when leaving Yokai and trying to walk out of the Dean's office fixed (you now go outside the University instead of into the Dean's Office).

Fixed over the weekend: issue with swordfight enemy freezing.

Mechas that prevented you from going to the next screen in walkaround quests fixed: The Psychic Wings, the Eggs, the original Werewolf series and also the newer Werewolf series

Jawseph's Acid DoT now works

Energy Vein no longer carries its damage boosts to the next battle (both arms)

Plasma Guns now do the correct damage for each of the 4 hits (the last 2 were doing lower damage than they should've been)

Lucky Blademasters now changed over to Bladestorm name and description; body animations fixed and everything should now be working as intended.

NSC and SC Mechula head: incorrect numbers in description of head's 2nd hit changed to 15 as intended - also, Front Arm special for all 3 versions of the Mechula now has a popup.

We got a good chunk of fixes out of the way today and it felt great. Now for this week, the Dojo at the far end of the town in Yokai will be explored. You'll fight a brand new enemy as you begin your hosile takeover of the town to return it to it's rightful citizens. There will also be more new weapons and hopefuly we'll get those alternate Sam Rye versions out in time.

I understand many of you are still having trouble finding your way to Yokai. We're working on a big improvement to the C-Mail system that will let you see exactly what you're at in each required storyline. This is the perfect opportunity to introduce our latest friend to step up to the plate.

Vivi is going to be helping us out with a lot of testing and possibly more but he'll be especially valuable because, and he may not even know it yet, he'll be helping us get the C-Mail system in working order! We should optimistically have it up and running next week or the week after that. This week would be fantastic but I have no idea if it's possible yet. So big thanks and congratulations to Vivi.

As for everyone that's having problems, please bare with us. We know it's frustrating and annoying but we really think it's good for the game's integrity to have a storyline and this new system should REALLY help out. Until then, I do greatly apologize for the inconveniences. My advice would be to simply go back to the required planets and try beating the final bosses/quests again.

In either case, hope everyone had a great Monday. I also hope the rest of the week gos great as well. As always, thanks for playing.

Later.