Interview Q.) If we are all going to a University to learn how to pilot giant armed to the teeth mecha... where did we go for High School? A.) Mecha Lecka High of course!
We are still preparing Planet Romero for you - and so for this week we have continued our Buffs and Bugfixes while we're still getting things in shape on the new planet.
Buffs!
1) In the Dropship, the "Fly This Ship" minigame that you can play (go right till you find Worsh flying the ship) got a buff. I set it up so that it now gives much better credit rewards - for example, a score of 20 used to give you 20 credits but now gives you 200!
2) Tyranno Mecha - I made NEW level 14 and level 19 versions as well as the buffed-up level 10 originals - find them in the Repli-Mecha shops after completing the Museum Jobs for Val. blues designed the buffs, and Vivi coded them and has the following info on the new specials.
Specials are NSC (SC,NG) Head: ---> CD=5
- starts with 1.1 (1.3,1.5) times damage - general damage boost BoT of +5(8,10) per turn for 5 turns - frightening attack, enemy BtH reduction of -20 (30,40) for 5 turns - SC/NG only: Disables an equippable enemy's head
Body: ---> CD=5
- starts with 1.1 (1.3,1.5) times damage - combined HP/EP DoT (normal, 1.5 times, double) - Chance for double (triple,triple) EP regeneration. - SC/NG only: damages EP with half damage done
Arms: ---> CD=1
- rage attack: Damage increases by 10% (20,25) per use. Increases stack between the FA and BA.
Shoulders: ---> CD=2
- starts with 1.1 (1.3,1.5) times damage - Chance for an extra Hit with 50% damage - Chance for a HP Dot for 3 turns, stacking - SC/NG only: Chance for enemy EP regen stop for 2 turns
3) Soluna Battle Button!!??!!
Vivi updated the encounter list:
fewer Ghost types, so more chance of variety
At Level 25 and up, Advanced House Mecha opponents can show up
buffed 3 monster specials
Goliath A (flamethrower, bombs) Flamethrower: 120% damage with improved accuracy, inflicts a 1.5x HP DOT Bombs: Rolls between 10% and 50% extra damage, reduces enemy boost by between 8 and 15 per hit
Goliath B (machine gun, ground pound) Machine Gun: Damage and crit chance increased, Inflicts a DOT with strength based on number of hits Ground Pound: Damage increase between 20 and 40%, reduces enemy bonus by between 8 and 15 per hit
Turret (small attack, big attack) Small attack: Less damage than usual, first hit deals EP damage equal to half damage done, second through fourth hits each lower defense by between 8 and 10 Big attack: Increased damage, if all 5 hits connect it attempts to stun you
Thanks, Vivi!
Bugfixes:
1) Korin fixed an issue with the menu bar disappearing from the interface and messages of "undefined" (required another engine change, so please clear your cache and reload).
2) I fixed (with Vivi's assistance) the Hazuko series weapons that were causing NaN values
Hazuko Machete
Hazuko Katana
Hazuko Staff
Hazuko Sai
(Note: I am still working on a head fix - the Tremendous Lightning still gives NaN for now, but I'll get that fix rolled out soon too)
3) Vivi fixed a NaN issue with the Morehawk (which was actually for last week but got included with this week instead)
...and last week some fixes for which I didn't get you Design Notes written:
NaN issues with Korin Bag head series, Subzero Gaze heads, and the AC-490 mechas
SC Xtreme Challenges Necryptos X-A and X-B (rolled Saturday) - losing no longer takes you back to the intro & kicks you out of the quest
I *think* that covers everything we've fixed & buffed so far! More fixes are on my list, and we have other improvements in store - we're eager to bring you new content and it's on its way! It's been an insane few weeks with the pre-production of the new planet getting a couple of delays, but this is actually turning out to make it better that it would have been. Ok - I think that's all from me for now. Have a great weekend - have fun - and of course, thanks for playing MechQuest!
K&S! The long-awaited Knife & Spork Challenge Updates have begun! If you have completed the first set of ten Grand Opening Challenges, click the new "More" button above the Contest button to access the second set of challenges, called the Advanced Contest. Challenges 11 and 12 are playable now, with more in the works.
Challenge 11 is a special feature, incorporating the winning designs from a forums contest to Build Your Own Mecha, held 'way back in 2010! Maverik, Vadriel, Bling bla, and Lyris (who entered that contest before she joined the MQ team) finally got their designs in game! It is recommended that you be Level 28 when facing these enemies. Defeating them all opens up a shop with a higher-level Pan arm and also unlocks Challenge 12.
Challenge 12 gives you a series of L30 opponents - one from each House with some customization and stats trained, and a couple of students with Anniversary models and trained stats.
We had a blast pretesting this. One of the Contestants was a little crazy at first - he equipped mini-mechas to his mecha! (That's a byproduct of the intended weapon being the default to a different chassis rather than a standalone weapon.) So Vivi grabbed the screenshot and after we laughed our heads off for a while, I changed things up a bit - we still used the general theme of Bling bla's winning entry as inspiration.
Updating the K&S has been promised for ages but now that I'm able to set them up myself, I'll keep adding new challenges for everyone - and keep your eyes on the forums because I'm going to be looking for more of your setups for new Challengers!
Wrangler Buff! And now from Vivi, the Wrangler mecha buff details:
Specials are listed as NSC (SC, NG) FA, 3 Hits: ---> CD= 2 - Hit 1: +30 (40,50%) damage - Hit 2: +55 (65,75% damage - Hit 3: High (Guaranteed, Guaranteed) chance for a crit
There's a chance the gun will jam - when it does, no damage is done but there's a good (guaranteed, guaranteed) chance for a stun and your bonus increases by 10 (15, 20) for the rest of the fight
BA, 2 Hits: ---> CD= 2 - Hit 1: lowers immo resist by 50 ( 80, 120) - Hit 2: Good (guaranteed, guaranteed) chance for a crit, tries to stun
Shoulders, 5 Hits:---> CD=2 - in creasing damage by +5 (10,+15%) for every Hit - Good (high, guaranteed) chance for an extra Hit, extra Hit crits ( same base damage of Hit 5)
Head, 2 Hits: ---> CD = 5 - Hit 1: blinding NoT, - 5 (8,10) BtH per turn for 5 turns - Hit 2: normal (1.5 time, double) HP DoT for 5 turns SC / NG only: - additional Hit 1: general damage BoT, +8 (10) damage per turn for 5 turns NG only: - additional Hit 2: 1.5 time EP DoT for 5 turns
Thanks for the details & for coding them, Vivi!! And thanks to blues for designing them!
Persistence Bonuses! Korin went through a TON of early quests and added persistence bonuses, so doing the jobs will go faster. I think after we rolled I updated a total of 15 quest names - the Museum quests, the Police quests, and the Hospital quests were all on the list. Thank you, Korin! We have plans to improve the Ghosthunting quests by changing how soon you earn the rewards - and long-term ideas about making that Ghosthunting training pay off.
New Planet Coming Soon! Lyris and Minar and Arklen have all been working on assets for the upcoming new planet - for which Lyris designed the concept & storyline. I've been working with Lyris on some of the script details while she does cutscenes - Minar has some backgrounds in the works and Arklen & Korin are working on vectorizing & animating some NEW enemies drawn especially for MQ by Thyton!
Thanks for playing MQ - don't forget to send your referral links to your friends and family so you can earn bonuses when they play - and have a great weekend!
Friday the 13th - You can replay Friday the 13th events on the News Screen sidebar buttons!
Tek's Mechs - New Head Weapons suggested by YOU! Many thanks to you for your suggestions! Credit goes to G.E.A.R.S. student MachineMaster for the Cranium Phaser (Star Captains only), .R.M. for the Hyper Helmet (Nova Gem model), and ultimatenoobowner for the Smilie Face (available to all players). You can find these heads at Tek's Mechs. (This shop focuses on low-to-mid-level player equipment, since off-planet shops provide a wealth of equipment for levels 20+ but you will find some higher-level weapons here in various slots.)
Cranium Phaser Series:
Each hit increases damage of next by 12%
"Cranium Power! +X to Boost!" - Boost BoT of +10 per turn for 4 turns
Hit 3: "Armor Penetration!" -30 Defense for 4 turns
Hyper Helmet Series:
Starts with 1.25 times damage
Each hit has a chance for a Critical Hit
Hit 1 general damage BoT of +12% per turn for 4 turns
Hit 2 enemy BtH reduce NoT, -10 per turn for 4 turns
Hit 3 double HP DoT for 4 turns
Smilie Face Series:
Hits may increase your Bonus to Hit by +10 BtH, stacking
if hit 3 is successful, chance for: 1-turn stun, or damage BoT, or enemy damage NoT.
Thanks to our 'Pedia Archknight golden1231 for the assistance with the specials details! And thank you all for playing MechQuest!
The War Is Over! Rewards are all unlocked already!
You can still play through it so don't worry - it's just all unlocked and here is how it went down. Freddy Yeti was trying to send you tech as a Frostval present, and Mr. Z sent EC units to intercept the shipment and get hold of it for EbilCorp. There was a war - and you won it in what just might be record time! You went out on Thoh to find the parts that went missing when the starship crashed, and you had to fight mini-bosses to get each piece of the mecha. (You can still do this.) You are able to collect them for a build-a-mech style or just to use as weapons as you go along - and if you can defeat Mr. Z you open shops with a chassis (NSC, SC, and NG versions) and a fully-decked-out mecha model (for Nova Gems only).
Happy Frostval to All! You really pulled together and fought valiantly - great job!! This release was a lot of fun to put together. It was kind of crazy and a lot to do - and with it being a short week & people on the team having limited time with school committments, travel, computer issues I have to say I'm amazed & proud of us for getting this release out to you! Also even knowing that, for some reason I decided I should make a bazillion levels of everything so everyone would be able to have nice rewards so I gave myself a ton of extra work - but it all came together in the end! I like to try to fill you in on who did what, and I'm hoping I don't forget anyone's contribution... Lyris did the opening cutscene and Korin set up the mecha & did the war questing. When Korin finished vectorizing and animating, Minar shaded & colored the mecha. I learned how to break off the weapons to make into standalones and also how to make an empty chassis. Vivi's laptop is having serious issues so I asked blues for relatively simple specials design & then I coded the weapons with Vivi's help when he could get online on his family PC, and then when Korin finished the quests & came back from a bit of Christmas shopping, I turned the chassis (body attack) and fully-equipped mecha over to Korin to code so I could do some Christmas shopping. Vivi & Korin are really good teachers and Warlic laid a good foundation in helping me understand the basics - not that I was writing new code or anything, but you have to know what to modify and where it belongs in order to get things working as intended. The worst thing that happened (that I know of so far anyway) wasn't a coding issue - I made some kind of weird error when setting everything up in the database and for a few hours the weapons were unsellable and un-destroyable. That's fixed now, though. I'm hoping there aren't any major bugs with any of the specials!! If you find one, please let us know on the Gremlins forum.
A facebook friend of mine, David Lark (a.k.a. davids8765 if you play AQWorlds), helped me with names for the rewards - huge thanks!! The language of Latvia is featured - and it's my fault if anything is misspelled! Also a forum member, Master Merlin, mentioned on the forums that he had suggested pricing the Build-a-Mecha chassis the same as a standalone weapon - I used that concept (& it may be that others have suggested the same but his came to my attention) with a bit of tweaking from Vivi to keep it affordable and in line with our 1000-NG pricing of a completely-built model.
Specials:
FA Sniega Lielgabals SC only ---> CD=0- starts with extra damage- adds +20% damage per use (only the weapon), caps at 300%- adds +10 BtH per use (only the weapon), caps at 100 BtH
BA Ledus Bumba (NSC, SC, NG) ---> CD=3- starts with extra damage- normal (NSC) /1.5 time, double) HP DoT for 3 turns- SC and NG only: 20 roll for stopping enemy EP regen for 3 turns- NG only: 40 roll for a crit
FS Laasteka Shot (NSC Only) ---> CD=3- starts with extra damage- Chance for a 1.5 time EP DoT for 3 turns- chance for a critical strike
BS Laasteka Shard (NSC, SC, NG) ---> CD=3- starts with extra damage- Chance (NG guaranteed) for a normal (NSC) / 1.5 time (SC) / double (NG) HP DoT for 3 turns- SC and NG only: chance for a crit- NG only: chance for stopping enemy EP regen for 3 turns
HD Sniegapika Volley (NG only) ---> CD=5- starts with 1.5 times damage- general damage boost of +12 per turn over 5 turns- general BtH boost of +15 per turn for 5 turns- defense BoT of +10 per turn for 5 turns
Chassis Milziiga Sniegapika (NSC, SC, NG) ---> CD=5- Uses 0 EP- gives the mecha higher EP reserves. - starts with extra damage- NSC & SC have a chance and NG guarantee for damaging also EP with half of damage done to HP- SC and NG only: double HP DoT for 5 turns- NG only: chance for a critical strike.
If you have the fully-equipped Nova Gem model, in addition to the NG specials described above, the weapons which don't sell as standalones for NGs have the following: FA: - starts with extra damage- adds +25% damage per use (only the weapon), caps at 300%- adds +15 BtH per use (only the weapon), caps at 100 BtH FS: starts with extra damage- double EP DoT for 3 turns- chance for a crit- additional chance for damaging EP with half of damage done to HP
Ok I think that should cover it all! Oh - also if you are a Star Captain be sure to grab the gift boxes - they will open on gift-giving day which is traditionally New Year's Day so I'm shooting for that as our deadline for having them all ready but if we have to be a little later this time it'll still be early January - and the wrapped gifts are fun to play with before they open, anyway!
Have a very happy Frostval! Thanks for playing MechQuest!
We are kicking off Frostval with a trip to Planet Thoh where you may go back in time to replay events of past years. You should go all the way back to '08 and visit Dr. Kringle in that first cabin in town - his NG Holiday Weapons shop is now stocked with 3011 versions of these classic designs: "The Kringler," "Candy Cane," and "Mint-Zooka." This year they come with a new feature - along with their new specials, if you have the head, the arm, and one of the shoulders equipped, you get a Set Bonus! Each use lowers your opponent's stun resistance for that turn and attempts to stun. So it's definitely worth getting the whole set.
You will also find a L45 version of the Magic Bag arm (non-Star Captain) in the Arm weapon shop in '09, and there is a L45 Face of Frostval Past in the NG '09 Vilmart Back Room shop.
Star Captains have a new mod this year - you'll find it in the YourZelf mod shop at Freddy Yeti when you arrive in Frostvale. You may want to keep it for its benefits, or you may want to use it in the Merge Shop to merge your old Zorbo into this year's model. Caution: merging will REMOVE your older, RARE Zorbo from your inventory, so DO NOT merge if you want to keep your older Zorbo!!!! We have made one available for Nova Gems for the people who like to collect rares.
I had fun turning Zorbo into an elf! His specials remain the same, but he looks a bit different. I love how I get to do a little bit of all sorts of different things. Vivi sent the new code for the set weapons before he got on the road to travel and Korin helped me figure out how to tweak things so that it all functions as intended. And if something doesn't work quite right, Vivi will be around to fix it on Monday, or to explain to me how to fix it, so thanks for your Gremlin reports on the forums - they really help!
We're also working on the new Frostval content for next week - there is a new mecha on its way, and Korin has a screenshot of the work in progress here!
Good luck to everyone with final exams and safe traveling to everyone with holiday travel plans! Thanks for playing MechQuest - please don't forget to tell your friends how much fun it is to play!
Travel back to Planet Liath via Val at the Museum in Soluna City West to find out what we added this week!
Prerequisites: To access the new content, complete Val's previous missions (main entrance of the Museum, all the way West in Soluna City, to the left of the Art Museum). Also make sure that you have completed all the missions from Dean Warlic to reach the Kingadent, and have received flight clearance.
This week, there is a new puzzle designed by Korin, and then there is a quest - and Verified players can open a special shop back at the Museum after completing them! (You need to be Verified to open the shop - inside the shop if you are Verified and a Star Captain there is something for you, and if you are Verified and want to use your Nova Gems as currency, there is also something for you.)
Still to come (in relation to this section of the Liath storyline) is an animated cutscene of the airship landing - cutscene by Lyris and Liath Cityscape by Minar. I'll get it put together for next week so that you will feel like you glide into the city before you just appear there.
I don't want to say too much about today's release because of the spoilers - so go to the Museum and travel to Liath and see for yourselves!
There is more to come on Planet Liath in the upcoming weeks, and Frostval is on its way - we've got a lot of things in the works, which we're really excited about!
Have a great weekend and thanks for playing MechQuest!
Flavescent Friday! The Event section of the Shops interface is where you will find the Flavescent Friday Discounts and Rares! There is a limited selection of Rare mecha models as well as non-rares. The non-rares are 50% off the normal selling price! The weapons selected are 50% off as well. The version of the RARE Chronomech that is in the shop is not quite identical to the one that was offered with the 3011 Calendar. It scales only to Level 50 and has been named differently to help distinguish it from the promotional version.
We took your input on the forums and considered the pros and cons of everything you said you would want to see (and not to see) in the shops this year. It turned into a lively debate again, and it was fascinating to see what interests you. Honestly I was originally considering limiting this year's offerings to mechas only, but everyone was interested in having a weapons shop - and I'd like to remind you that we have the Salvage quest in Soluna City which really does fill that niche nicely. This year's selection of weapons is mostly for over level 20 - but you can stock up now in advance for when you attain that higher level! (The level range is my fault - I was so focused on getting just the right mecha models selected that I ended up putting weapons on the back burner.) There is a chance that I might add something for the neglected levels, as suggested by ZamuelNow on the forums - Korin gave his blessing so it just depends on how the weekend plays out. I do love the name "Saturated Saturday" that ZamuelNow came up with!
Korin & I decided that Flavescent Friday will last for the entire weekend, so you have time to decide what you'd like to add to your inventory! Keep an eye on the shop, in case we have time to add anything. No promises, but if I add something I'll put out a quick Design Note!
Planet Liath: The Black and White Planet! Liath is now open to everyone who has completed Val's quests at the Museum and also has flight clearance! There are now Non-Star-Captain shoulders in the reward shop (the Nova Gem Preview weapons are Rare FOREVER) and Star Captains still have a nice shoulder in the shop as well, although it is a bit different from the SC Exclusive Preview version. blues designed the specials and Vivi coded them up - and Vivi also made their database entries and did the shop work! Huzzah! (Debut in the database!) (And many many thanks!)
Minar arted up the cool and all-new backgrounds for the town and new element for the new quest, and there's an 'establishing shot' he also made that isn't LIVE yet, because we are adding a landing cutscene next week. (I'll be plotting that out next, along with a little extra dialogue.) Many thanks to Minar for being such an integral part of our dev team while still going to school, etc. !!
Korin let me put together the general visual design for this planet and much of the storyline planning and specific dialogue - I tell you this because I am starting to hear that people don't know who does what, and I generally tell you what everyone else does but not too much about what I do. We do a lot of collaboration as well. So for example I'm hoping Lyris will have time to work with me on one of her awesome animated cutscenes for the landing ...
Korin has introduced a brilliant feature in the quest after you arrive in the town - making rolls to advance much easier and more hopeful - it actually made me not care about rolling under the required number while testing, because I was given hope that I'd succeed and the end was really in sight - and it was! What do you think of this new feature? The new 'organic' dinosaurs are Korin's brainchild (or should that be "brainchildren") too!
*Teaser*Arklen has sent along a something that is animated and relates to Planet Liath... something blues and Vivi will definitely be involved in working on, and something I'll have a hand in... speculations welcome, but no further spoilers are forthcoming anytime soon!
Have a fantastic weekend - thanks for playing MechQuest!
ONLY available from release time today (Friday the 18th of November - whenever everything is ready) to noon Server Time (Eastern Standard Time) Monday (the 21st of November)
priced at 594000 credits
a Star Captain Exclusive Super-Ultra-Uber-Rare Back Shoulder weapon.
a Level 45 version of the Star Captain Bazookas rewards for the SC Sneak Peek of the Black and White Planet
visually 'shinier' than the 'normal' SC version
costs much, much, much more than the 'normal' version due to a pricing typo that I sent out in the weekly newsletter
So what's this all about? As usual, I put together the weekly newsletter - and I heedlessly sent it upward without triple-checking my figures. Even when my new Gremlins ArchKnight, NaturallyMaria, said something to me about the crazy-high pricing on MSN, I was oblivious. You can read about it while the thread is still active here. The reaction on the forums upon seeing news of a weapon priced at 594000 credits was fascinating - players with insane amounts of credits stockpiled were simultaneously going O.O and interested in having a limited-time insanely-expensive weapon for rarity/novelty value.
So Korin gave the go-ahead, and I - well, the technical term would be "recolored" but ... let's just say I - changed the look of the weapon slightly.
The 'normal' SC weapons are going to be in the reward shop for the duration of this Star Captain Sneak Peek. After the new planet opens to everyone, this version of the SC shoulder will go rare forever. Nice stand-alone weapons that become insane in synergy with the Nova Gem Front Shoulder counterpart. Their levels and pricing are
7 - 2100 credits
10 - 3000 credits
13 - 15600 credits
19 - 22800 credits
22 - 26400 credits
26 - 31200 credits
29 - 34800 credits
32 - 38400 credits
37 - 44400 credits
41 - 49200 credits
45 - 54000 credits
The Nova Gem Front Shoulder weapons synergize with the SC Back Shoulder weapons to create insane power! They are good stand-alones, but amazing as a pair!! These shoulders will also go rare forever after the new planet opens to everyone. Levels and pricing:
7 - 84 NGs
10 - 120 NGs
13 - 156 NGs
19 - 228 NGs
22 - 264 NGs
26 - 312 NGs
29 - 348 NGs
32 - 384 NGs
37 - 444 NGs
41 - 492 NGs
45 - 540* NGs
*(Newsletter also had a pricing typo, stating the cost as 594 Nova Gems. The correct Nova Gem price for the Level 45 version is indeed 540 NGs)
I'd like to send a shout-out to Warlic and superjars for the proofreading and editing work today!!!!
NOW back to breaking everything before it's time to release it!!!
Art Museum Exhibit Six! The Art Museum's sixth exhibit is now on display! Go West in Soluna City to see the amazing NEW artwork by:
blackshock (2)
Bomber of Justice
dragonie_em
kaibinlore
lordkaho (2)
Plasma Charge
Rikyri
Ronoroa Asero
Congratulations to all of our new exhibitors, and thanks to all of you for your submissions! It wasn't easy to choose from all the wonderful entries ... don't forget that you can buy one of the limited-edition prints for your own starship! Just visit Circe's shop in the Art Museum. Are YOU inspired to submit your own artwork for consideration? We're looking forward to seeing your cool entries in the submissions forum!
3011 Mogloween Portal for your Starship! Check out the Starship Items shop on Planet Mortis - the Phantom Portal will send you back to the 3011 Mortis Mogloween events if you pick one up before the planet orbits away for another year!
Korin taught me how to update the Art Museum from start to finish without needing him to step in and handle any of the steps involved! So keep those submissions pouring in and we can roll out frequent updates to that exhibit area - let's Art ON!! I really enjoyed learning this - Korin is a fantastic teacher so it feels like it's super-easy, actually. After giving me the basic rundown, he often lets me figure out stuff on my own and just ask questions if I'm stumped, which is really the best hands-on way for me to understand things. That's actually how the portal item happened - I just wanted to see if I could do it, and tested it, and it worked, so I emailed Korin to let him know it was done & ready for testing. Other than any lingering bugs with the Live town and quest, there are no NEW Gremlins showing up in the portal item. (But if you find any, please don't hesitate to report them!)
Happy 11-11-11 !!! (MechQuest is reserving 12-12-12 for our coolio special in-game something-to-commemorate-the-crazy-date thing thing. (I actually took a stab at making a cool energy blade but it lacked the cool factor I was aiming for, so it went to the scrap heap... haha) Check out Adventure Quest Worlds for a cool 11/11/11 release!)
We're working on the setup for the new Black and White planet that is coming soon (Star Captains may get a sneak peek quest as soon as this upcoming Friday if all goes well) and here are a few bits of info:
The main quests on this planet will be accessible to everyone who has completed Val's current Museum missions AND has flight clearance to travel off-planet
We are working out the details of what you might call an 'extra' mission that will have an extra requirement or two - requiring you to complete something on a different planet before you can access that part of the Black and White planet's content.
Korin just finished vectorizing one of the art assets from Thyton and is sending it over to Arklen for animating!
I guess that's all of the bits of info for now! Come visit the forums to get more little nuggets of information and participate in the discussion! Thanks for playing MQ - please tell your friends, submit some cool artwork and weapons suggestions on the forums - and generally have fun this weekend!
This has been an insane couple of weeks! Sorry I haven't had much time to write you notes. Here are some quick ones for now! The 3011 Mogloween event with Trick or Treating is still happening - if you are having a hard time with the clues, just keep going straight for that candy by the Bay Doors in Trick or Treating quests - if you fight the same person a couple of times in a row it is most likely an NPC with a clue and you should go explore his or her starship. There is an image of what the clue looks like by Jack in town on Mortis (orange fingerprint).
The old Hospital mechas have gotten some nice buffs to make them more useful and powerful.
Last weekend I worked on a whole bunch of Gremlins - got some fixed - and was completely mystified by the Mecha Fryer crashing the game. Korin took it apart layer by layer this week to find the issue - and he has fixed it! Huzzah!
Salvage Quest: Joey has Heads - four models that are all completely new to the game, plus I selected a variety of heads that were either rare, seasonal-rare, or available somewhere in-game for each tier.
Special thanks to Gibby for compiling the list of Starship IDs for me last week, and to Kamui for helping us with pre-testing this week! And a huge thank you to all of you for playing MechQuest! Have a great weekend!
News from blues! This morning, I got a transmission from blues!
Dear Players!
Long time no see :P
We all are pretty busy with the upcoming events and here are some news from behind the scenes.
Our Mecha buffing project is ongoing and next buff will go to the Hospital Mechas. Specials are ready, they just need coding and some testing. Next one on my list is the Westion Sheriff Mecha.
All the promised buffs for the Promo Mechas are also ready and await coding. They will be significantly better and I´m sure you´ll like them. You will see better damage, lower or even no rolls and some additional specials.
Next major project are the new House Mechas. I already have a plan and I´m working currently on the raw specials so that we can discuss them next week. The main themes will stay the same. Wolfs will be offensive with high damage, Hawks will be a defensive powerhouse with lower damage and Ravens are somewhere in between with more ranged attacks. Power will be around SCMM standard so quite good. It´s not possible to balance them exactly because they have different themes. So, when you love hard hitting Machines with a lot of damage, then Wolfblade should be your first choice. And when you are more the chilling player who loves to have a good defense and nerf his enemies Runehawk is the House for you. In case your undecided, then Mystraven is always a good choice.
I talked with Vivi this week and both of us can´t wait to create the new House Mechas.
Aaaaand... better late than never (but I already did this via MSN) : Happy Anniversary Vivi!
I can´t believe that you are already coding for one year!
Working with Vivi is really fun and he always finds a way to get all my fancy ideas working. Kudos to him and all the best for the next Year!
That´s all from me for now.
Enjoy playing MQ, your weekend and as always: Have fun!
Thanks, bluesy! And three cheers for Vivi!
Tonight's release brings you new Front Arm weapons in Joey's Salvage Quest. There are never-before-seen weapons for all players of all tiers, and along with the usual gamble there is a grand one: in some of the tiers, you have the rare chance to Salvage the ultra-powerful Nova Gem BallDrop Mace!
Mogloween Mecha! Korin asked me whether we had told you that there is a new mecha in the works for this year's Mogloween event ... and I don't think I've said a single word about it yet! Thyton drew another amazing one - I hear good things about it - I mean, it sounds awesome - it brings sweet music to my ears... I imagine it to be hauntingly beautiful, though I wouldn't want it to hit a sour note... anyway, enough of that, haha! Korin got a head start on setting it up and he's sent it off to Arklen to add some of his cool attack animations. You'll want to stock up on credits and you might even want to grab some Nova Gems for this new Holiday Rare Mecha!
More Mogloween News: This year's event integrates the new Starship Trick-or-Treating-styled feature into the continuing Planet Mortis holiday storyline. If you are a qualifying Star Captain, or are able to become one by Thursday the 27th of October 6:30 PM Eastern time (Server Time), then you will be able to give players from all over the world (or, should I say, the multiverse) the chance to visit your Starship! Head on over to the MechQuest Forums, see whether you qualify (Nigel needs to give you approval), and post your Character ID Number and Character Name http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=19701667
Lyris has already put together a fantabulous animated intro cutscene and is working on more, I'm working on writing and laying the groundwork coding for the Starship Trick-or-Treating and other quests (and Korin & Vivi will help get them functional and refined) and Minar has been designing cool new Starship Items! (Don't let me forget to make an Action Figure of the new mecha, ok?) We are all really excited about this year's Mogloween!
So if you are a Star Captain, have fun decorating your Starship - and don't forget, everyone still gets the Anniversary XP and Credits Bonus in battle this week so that you can stock up on credits for the Mogloween Event rewards!
Early Release Today! All the stars and planets seem to have aligned nicely - tonight's release is Live already, so log in NOW!
Salvage Quest: (See Joey standing in Soluna City, to the right of Tek's Mechs.) The Salvage quest has now been updated with chances for Back Arm weapons to drop! I don't want to give away too much yet, so I will just say that there are NEW Never-Before-Seen Back Arms for NSC, SC, and NG at every tier, plus some other "Oh I have one of those / OOh I was wanting one of those" Back Arms scattered among the possible drops as well. Huzzah for Korin getting the new weapons all vectorized and animated and coloratizized, and grazie to bluesy for the specials designs, and to Vivi for codings - and yours truly set them up with all their numbers and descriptions and that sort of thing.
Star Captain Club Extreme Challenge: This new "Bragging Rights" option lets Star Captains battle the featured - and extremely tough - "Boss" - we are kicking this off by featuring the un-nerfed, super-powered, unleashed Teravolt! There was a little mix-up in the initial communication of specials planning for the Zargon Wormhole battle, so the original Teravolt came out as an opponent who was ... basically unbeatable by what I'm guessing would have been 999 out of 1000 players. I haven't found my strategy for beating him in the Star Captain Club challenge yet, in fact. (Feel free to discuss it on the forums, but please use spoiler tags if you come up with a way to defeat him before the end of this weekend...)
We're working ahead on Mogloween (MQ's Halloween) with some very cool plans - continued Mortis-related storyline with new animated cutscenes, all-new quests and in fact we are already working on the backbone for a "Trick or Treat" style quest! Are you a Star Captain? Has Starbuck approved you for PvP (at the Stadium at GEARS University)? If not, there is still time - the deadline is Thursday the 27th of October 6:30 PM Eastern time (Server Time) You may submit your Character ID and Character Name on the forums in this thread so that players from all over the world (and from everywhere in the galaxies) can have the chance to visit your Starship this Mogloween!
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend - I know I will! I am getting IRC queries about having no Design Notes up yet, so I shall wrap up here and post them for you! I will be immersed in music and artwork when I am not doing home maintenance and not playing our games or visiting with you on our forums - and on that note... TTYL!
The Floorivator is Working! Go to Tek's Mechs in Soluna City and use the Tour button to get down to the party! Play the Scrap's Delight minigame to earn Golden Tokens for the merge shop - this year's Anniversary mecha model is the Golden Katana series. This classic design has been revamped - Korin added new features including head and body attack animations. Vivi tweaked the game engine (be sure to refresh your browser so that you have Gamma 3_9_8) to implement a much-improved Dodge. The Golden Katana series body weapons have a built-in addition to Dodge - note that we are easing in to introducing the improved function, so we kept the numbers conservative. Non-Star Captains get +8, Star Captains get +10, and Nova Gem models have +12. Blues designed the specials for these Katana mecha models. I made a gazillion versions of them so you should all have something either to use now or to level up and use soon. Speaking of leveling up - Korin showed me how to implement the Experience and Credit boost feature in the engine, so enjoy that added celebration bonus this week!
*INCOMING TRANSMISSION*Vivi says:
Our upgrade to Engine 3.9.8 has brought a new function to the Dodge and Hit stats. They don't affect attack accuracy anymore, but now they will protect you from your enemy's status effects or make it easier to inflict your own statuses! The rules for these stats are simple:
They only work on statuses that would show up under "Resistances and Statuses" on your battle sheet. Things like Bonus Damage and Healing cannot be defended against.
They only work against statuses inflicted by your enemy, so you don't have to worry about dodging your own buff effect.
The chance a dodgeable status will be inflicted is [100-(Target's Dodge)+(Attacker's Hit)]%.
With Defense and Bonus fulfilling the same roles that Dodge and Hit used to, these stats have seen little use in MechQuest. After this change, expect to see them used a lot more! If you think the Dodge bonus on the Golden Katanas is too small, don't worry just yet. While we're very excited to make use of our newly adjusted stats we're also making sure to ease ourselves into them to preserve balance as best as possible. Who knows what we might do with them in the future?
Thank you, Vivi, for this fantastic update and for the added details explaining the Dodge feature's function!
Korin is working on brand-new weapons for the Salvage field, which we'll be updating again in the upcoming weeks. He took the time to teach me the process of updating Soluna City to have the fireworks feature, That actually taught me a lot more than the one specific thing - it's always good to be able to do more.
Minar made us some new Starship items! Get a Confetti Cannon, Cake, Presents and Balloons while you're 'downstairs' on the Floorivator. I added the code to make the Confetti Cannon interactive (just run up to it and you'll see) and I also made this year's Yearbook (easy) and the Golden Katana Action Figure (amazed that I remembered all of Warlic's instructions since I couldn't find my notes).
Birthday Mecha Model: Golden Katana! This year, the Katana is getting a huge makeover to celebrate MechQuest's four-year anniversary. Korin is creating new animations for its new head and body attacks, and has updated the look and action of the arms and shoulder animations. This model will have default weapons in all slots. Blues has designed exciting specials with Star Captain and Nova Gem exclusives. I'm putting together the merge "recipes" for the NSC and SC versions and setting up the Nova Gem pricing and levels - there will be lots and lots of levels so there's something for everyone. This year's NG models will be priced at 800 Nova Gems (previous years' models prices will remain unchanged) - so if you grab one of the 2000 NG packages you have a lot left over to use for commemorative Starship items, or Salvage quest weapons, etc. Don't forget you can also use your Artix Points- you can still earn points via the Ballyhoo ads in Cinemech in Soluna City (or in the Dropship) and of course earn via the Portal where you can also purchase Points.
Another Anniversary: Vivi! I haven't kept detailed records about the MechQuest team member dates, but a phoenix happened to scrawl a fiery message across my screen that tomorrow, the 6th of October, marks the one-year anniversary of Vivi's MQ coding debut! He's been an enormous asset to the team and in fact thanks to him, the Dodge function is getting an update this week! Keep an eye on the Design Notes this week and don't miss the Birthday Celebrations for more about Dodge! He's been coding all the weapons and mechas and also has been coding some of the quests - and now this update to the MQ Engine really marks another milestone. Hooray for Vivi!
Fireworks, Birthday Boost, and More: Friday will bring fireworks to Soluna - AND with the engine change for the Dodge update we're also going to roll an XP boost! Star Captains will get NEW starship items, and you'll all be able to get mechas from the previous birthdays like last year.
Also I wanted to mention that I have gotten a lot of questions about the ETA for the next SCMM - Arklen has been busy with the 3 new House Mechas of course, and that comes with the Level Cap raise to 50 - so we're estimating that the next SCMM will be sometime in November.
We're finalizing plans for all the Fall and Winter holidays that come along so quickly - not just the MQ Birthday but also Mogloween, Turkey Day, and Frostval - along with all the permanent content updates listed in the Coming Soon section of the newsletter - so Korin and I have been working together on juggling it all to set down into dates for the team. We have a lot of things in the works for upcoming releases. Lyris is prepping for more of her awesome animated cutscenes, I'll be writing some quests, we'll be collaborating on some - blues has been working on updates to some of the older mecha models and the SC Xtreme Challenge - Vivi coded up a tough Boss version of one of our recent quest encounters so I will be setting that up as an SC Challenge... we're looking at your suggestions for Tek's Mechs and more - much, much more. The year ahead is shaping up to be exciting already! We're excited to bring it all to you - log in Friday to kick off MQ's New Year with a brand-new mecha!
MechQuest is Four Years Old Today! The Gamma Launch of MQ was October 1st, 2007. It's hard to believe it has been that long - I guess time really does fly when you're having fun! I am re-reading the Design Notes from the past anniversaries and also a wonderful birthday thread created by skyvolt666 on the forums. Follow the link to participate in the birthday discussion! What are some of your favorite moments from the past?
Let's Get The Party Started! (Soon!!) I had actually hoped to have a fireworks display in Soluna City last night, but there just wasn't time to add that to everything else we released yesterday. We do absolutely plan to have a nice party when we get Tek's Floorivator running next week - complete with one of our classic Mecha models getting goldified and revamped for 2011's Golden Token merge shop. I will keep this short & sweet so that is all I'll say about the party plans for now.
On behalf of the entire MechQuest team I would like to thank you for believing in us - you are the reason we continue to bring out new releases and it is your support that keeps us going. Thank you so much for playing MechQuest!
Arrrr ye ready for more booty, me mateys?!!? Check out the Event tab in the Shops button for some higher-level versions of weapons from TLAPDs past! There's a L43 Colichemarde for NSC, a L45 for SC, L45 Parrot shoulders for NSC, SC, and NG, and L45 NG Schiavona arm & Rhubarb's Mortar shoulder.
Avast, me hearties! Holiday Boost Extended! Enjoy th' extra credits 'n experience for the rest o'th'week! Ye can rack up an overflowin' chestful in preparation for the numerous holidays that Autumn brings to MQ, so keep a-battlin' all week and tell yer mates.
After a few sentences, I kind of run out of piratey lingo, so I'll just go back to my normal style here... we're already at work on something Korin has in the wings that's brand-new for everyone for this Friday, and planning ahead to add the promised next stage of the SC Extreme challenge for next week.
Also I wanted to clear up a bit of confusion I've seen on the forums regarding the new streamline shop view. The streamlined style of shop is only for permanent shops like Tek's Mechs (and in the future, possibly the Star Captain Club shops, for example - only for equipment that is intended to be available permanently) so you will still be able to see and buy all levels of Holiday and One-Day style rares. (And by the way, thanks for the bug reports in Gremlins - this morning, Korin fixed the issue where nothing was showing up in your inventory - you might still see an error message flash sometimes, but check your inventory after your Tek's Mechs purchase and you should have your new equipment.)
Hope you arr havin' a fine time talkin' like Pirates, and gatherin' Pieces of Eight!
DragonCon was awesome this year! You can read a detailed rundown on the AQWorlds site
Char took an amazing photo of MQ's intro to the MechQuest portion of the panel - we gave away hand-painted t-shirts and called all the recipients up to the front! Korin's Minions en masse!
There is a story behind the shirts, actually... They were having a sale at a craft store that isn't far from where I live , and when I saw the brown shirts I bought... all of them! I believe the final count was 18, which accounts for the ones given away to Korin and Lyris plus I'm not sure who was too shy to come up to the front for the panel. I made a few here at home, but was nowhere near done by the time I got on the plane for DragonCon. The bus from the Secret Underground Lab arrived a couple of hours after I landed in Atlanta, so that gave me time to sit in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis and letter all of the shirt backs with www.mechquest.com in (theoretically) glow-in-the-dark fabric paint. I got a few of the faces finished - but the bag outline is puffy paint, and takes a while to dry, so I saved that for later. I was planning to recruit Charfade and Jemini and others - but everyone went to bed early, and Korin & I were the only ones awake! So, we sat outside my hotel room up on the 32rd floor of the Marriott (so as not to awaken Geopetal) and drew Korin bagheads under some very hot lights. Korin was wearing this awesome shirt that looked like a horse converted into a dragon - well, we had some visitors who saw us making the shirts & stopped to comment... turned out that one of them actually printed the shirt he was wearing! What are the odds of THAT???
Minions all in a row!
Korin quietly handed the finished ones to me and I lined them up to dry on the floor of our room - I'm hoping the image I uploaded isn't too big to fit on DNs. Anyway, again in theory, if you got a t-shirt we did some of the eyes in what they call glow-in-the-dark fabric paint so you might also have glowing eyes!
So what's up for this week & upcoming releases? I just finished the newsletter which you should get soon, and then Korin said this on the forums, in case you missed it:
I'm working on another quest that should prove to be a good grind quest because it will give you the chance to get salvage weapons for nearly nothing. The idea is that you'll play on a map and every kill you get will have a drop chance. You can claim the drop but it won't be functional. Take it to a repairman and for a small fee, blam. Potentially powerful weapon. The weapons will display the level tier that they're in such as 11 meaning it's 11-20, 21 meaning 21-30, etc. It will also let you know what the equip slot the weapon is. So if you're grinding for a weapon, and you're finding weapons that aren't needed, you can just sell the junk without redeeming it.
I'd love to get it out next week but if it doesn't look like it, we have other plans for that. I believe we were plotting for TLAPD. Thiw week we're trying to build up Tek's level 10+ shops for the new interface. This should help the teen players and we're also trying to dip into the suggestion weapons for it albeit we started a little late on that D:
Meanwhile, Arklen has the other 2 house mech files and is currently working on them. Runehawk's animations were shown off at DragonCon and everyone was super impressed.
Anyways, I have much to do in the background to make this new loot function work so I'll get back to it. This week will be Tek weapons (which I believe some are now getting specials) and next week will be TLAPD! And arrrr it'd be a shame if ye pirates didn't earn any extra booty for TLAPD weekend, wouldn't it?
Thanks, Korin! Yes indeed, we are plotting for Talk Like A Pirate Day for next week's release, for the whole weekend!! For this week we are buffing some of Tek's existing weapons - a couple of them are getting specials designed by blues, coded by Vivi (which I might also help with if I finish with the bugfixing to the Alamonia and Khaeldron files) and I will set up some for the "teen" levels to fill some of those gaps as we go along. Minar - despite our late start for the week - is working on drawing a couple of the player suggestion weapons, and Korin will animate those - so if all goes well those will appear in Tek's with the Friday release too! (If not this week, next week.)
I'm going to be the "best man" in a wedding next week so I think I'll need to have all the TLAPD stuff completed by early Thursday. (Bachelorette party is Thursday evening - I pick up my dress from the tailor Friday - yep, wearing a dress, not a tux - and there's a rehearsal dinner Friday & then the wedding is on Saturday. So another hectic and short work-week on my end again, but I'll be back on the forums and facebook and twitter and all, as soon as things calm down a bit!) Thanks for playing MQ!
So this week's release is(was) (it has already rolled Live) tonight - Wednesday! We heard you like a lot of experience and credits when you play, so there is a new permanent quest for you to have the chance to gain a LOT of both!
Susie is standing to the left of Tek's Mechs in Soluna City. It used to be that all she wanted to do was to duel you - but now she has a mission! If you talk with her, she'll tell you about her Senior Project. If you will go on patrol looking for the ultra-rare Berserker Shadowscythe Hound that sometimes attacks in an area of Loreon known as Sector Sixty-Seven - and if you find the rare Amanita Warp Disc* that powers this unstable monster, Susie will give you a massive reward - an astounding amount of experience and credits! There is a Skip button so you don't have to click through a ton of dialogue - the common Shadowscythe enemies give normal rewards, and the quest brings you back to a point where you can replay it over and over in quick succession, hoping to encounter that Berserker.
Why a Wednesday release and nothing on Friday?? Because we** are going to DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia (USA)! Come hang out with Korin, me (Maegwyn), and more members of the AE team including Artix himself, in the Artix Entertainment Suite at the top of the Marriott (Room 4724) on Thursday night from 8 - 10 PM for a super-casual all-ages pizza party! Then come to the AE Panel on Friday at 2:30 pm at the Sheraton, Savannah room. (If you have a costume, this is a good time to wear it.) MechQuest is creating a special mod for your mecha as a souvenir if you are able to attend!***
And ... wait for it .... there's MORE! We also have a Fan Table in the Hyatt this year! Stop by each day for a visit with different members of the AE team, and to get a special ribbon to hang on your DragonCon Badge, specially made by Jemini - a different dragon for each day! (Come early - supplies are limited.) Bring your artwork for the drop-box, too! Char, Korin, and I will be "manning" the table on Sunday, September 4th from 10 am to 12 noon!
We're really excited and hope to see as many of you as possible! Can't make it this year? It's an annual event, so start planning for the future! See ya!
*Can you guess why the component has that name?
** "We" includes more than just MechQuest's Korin and Maegwyn - some but not all past and present members of the MQ team such as Char, Jemini, Thyton, Lyris, and even J6 - and lots of AE staff members representing all of our games!
***If all goes as planned, the MechQuest team just might have a special few-of-a-kind unique hand-painted t-shirts to give away - I made a prototype and got a couple more done in between working on releases and fixing bugs, but I'm not entirely satisfied with the fabric paint performance so we'll see what happens. If nothing else, I can give someone the shirt off my back****...
**** I will of course be wearing layers if it comes to that :]
During this thrilling Grand Finale you will view and participate in exciting cutscenes, challenging fights including a never-before-seen very tough Boss, and you can earn the right to purchase a powerful Nova Gem mecha. (Next week, you will be able to buy NEW reward weapons with your credits, too. The bossfight will actually unlock the weapons shop as well... It's just locked at the moment because it's still empty.)
When you discuss this on the forums, please use spoiler tags!
Huge round of applause for Vivi, Minar, Lyris, blues, Arklen - and me, Maegwyn. Korin let me coordinate this while he's working behind the scenes on some exciting developments for MQ.
Next week we'll get those weapons into the Zargon Wormhole Bossfight reward shop - I'm trying to keep my committments fairly small for that week as I'm throwing a bridal shower (I'm actually the "Best Man" and the bride's brother is the "Maid of Honor"). Next week I have a ton of "real life" stuff to do besides MQ work - I'll need to get some "Mad Libs" style games put together for that, coordinate the food and decor, and finish figuring out the little shower gift prize thingies. Plus some of the team goes back to school soon, some of us are going to Dragoncon... a bit of a breather might be in order as before you know it, it'll be time for MQ's Anniversary, and Mogloween - and the holidays just don't stop once they get started, do they?
Anyway have a great weekend - thanks for playing MechQuest!
There is a NEW Star Captain Back Shoulder weapon in the Traveler shop!
The Grapnel ALB series is a powerful grappling hook styled weapon that has 0 cooldown, increases in power with every use, and has a good chance to deal an HP and EP Damage over Time attack that also increases over time.
You will also find a new shipment of the TNSEWP series including a NEW Level 45 version - and in the Nova Gem shop, the Serious Gatling series has returned!
Screenshot Contest Winners now on the Screenshot Page! Check them out here
Congratulations again and thanks again to the winners:
BILF BELF Blackshock Brownie crazy penguin DiEgO26 EinhanderX01 golden1231 Leon~o Lord Crepe Matri Myra RRR2ok Sarnagon Selutu shattered17 Sparticus Sudz16 WAR, Terra THIS_IS_SPARTA Wizard Man Xrazoc
(note that the screenshots don't appear on the page in this order)
As you might have guessed, we are working on the Finale of the Zargon Wormhole for next week! This release features intense cutscenes, a new challenging boss battle, and lots of excitement. I know, we've left you in suspense over what will happen with Zargon... no spoilers coming from me!
We've got a lot more plans for MechQuest coming along after this Wormhole wraps up, too. I'm really bursting with excitement about everything - I can hardly wait for next week and beyond! Huge thanks to everyone on the team making all of this happen - but most of all, thanks to all of you playing MechQuest! Hope you're having a great summer - or winter, if you're in Australia for example - and enjoy your weekend!
NEW Wormhole Quest (access it via the Dean Warlic button in Soluna City): It's a race against time - can you get to Starstorm before Boltavolt does? (Cliffhanger...) The cutscenes in the Wormhole this week are the simple style, rather than the animated, to give Lyris some breathing room. The backgrounds - specially destroyed by Minar - have some animated fire effects. Note that this can cause a bit of lag in the quest, but shouldn't affect your ability to complete it.
Here's Vivi with the specials he programmed into the new Star Captain Monthly Mecha, the Dharmahp, according to blues' specs:
BA - 2 Hits --> CD=2 Both hits do increased damage First hit lowers immobility resistance by 100 for 3 turns Second hit attempts a stun
FA - 2 Hits All hits do increased damage First hit lowers enemy bonus by 30 for 3 turns Second hit lowers enemy defense by 50 for 3 turns Chance for a third hit
Shoulders - 2 Hits ---> CD=1 Alternating damage buff. Start with 125% damage and add +15% every turn, caps at 250%
Head - 3 Hits Increasing damage per hit Hit 1: Chance for a Bonus BoT, starts with +10, adds +10 every turn, lasts 5 turns Hit 2: Chance for a double HP DoT for 5 turns Hit 3: Chance for HP drain of damage done Damage BoT, starts with +10%, adds +10 every turn, lasts 5 turns (not tied to any hit, activates at the end of the attack)
Body - 2 hits Both hits do increased damage Critical BOT. Starts with 5% and adds 5% crit chance every turn, caps at 75% (not tied to any hit, activates at the end of the attack)
Thanks for putting that together!
We had lots of time for testing and tweaking, so we hope you won't find any Gremlins - if you do, please report them via the Gremlins forum
Have a great weekend - stay cool if you're in a hot climate, and keep warm if it's your winter! Thanks for playing MechQuest!
The latest SCMM is animated, thanks to Arklen, and colored/set up for color-customizing, thanks to Minar - with specials designed by blues and coding by Vivi, and I've got them set up with numbers and names and descriptions in the database - and it's only Thursday?? Minar actually wrapped this up last night and sent along this sneak-peek for you!
Behold the Dharmahp!
Vivi & I will be tweaking and testing it for power-balance and Gremlins over the next hours so that it will be as close to perfect as we can get it for Friday's release! This is a damage-dealing dynamo!!
I'm working on the quest for tomorrow & need to get the town file set as well, so I'll keep this short. Will get a newsletter out as well & I'm sure we'll put something about the quest in it - so check your emails in a few hours (and the MechQuest General Discussion Forum for a topic about it)!
When Char opened the wormhole and it led to... Zargon, in the VERY recent past, this created the possiblity of averting catastrophe. But, the Queenadent wants you and Sys-Zero to avoid getting involved with events because Chronal Paradoxes are unpredictable and dangerous... You will be faced with a choice: what risks are you willing to take?
With more amazing animated cutscenes by Lyris, rewards drawn & animated by Minar, coding by Vivi and me, Maegwyn (quest by Vivi incorporating an idea of Minar's, arm coding by Vivi, specials designed by blues // enemies coded, stat setup, and re-color, & town file setup & coding by Maegwyn) this was a fun collaboration! I really enjoyed coordinating everything and pushing my limits a bit, too. We miss Korin & hope he's having a nice vacation!
As you explore the Lair, you have the chance to pick up a key card each time you battle one of the Guard Drones. After you complete the quest and return to Sys-Zero, you'll see that he has a new shop - if you don't want to spend time questing for a key card, you may purchase one for Nova Gems!
This quest has three new swordfighting enemies - if you are not a Star Captain, this will be your first encounter with an opponent who can actually pause to regenerate mana points! There is an A, a B, and a C - one of the three is quite dangerous, especially if you are not prepared! (Hint: if you think you encountered the most dangerous one, you may or may not be right.)
Note that there is a Gremlin (a bug) at the engine level - if you have a temporary sword equipped, such as the Yokai Blade, and you find the key, the shop unequips your Energy Blade. So if you are a non-Star Captain, you will want to use one of your strong blades such as the Ultraviolet from Necryptos...
If you can find the hidden shop, the rewards are a hand-to-hand Energy Blade and a mecha-equippable Front Arm, both drawn & animated by Minar!
The hand-to-hand energy blades may seem similar to the ones you can buy on Necryptos at first glance. There is one for Star Captains and one for NSC players. There are two differences: the Volt Spike and Bolt Spike are compatible with the Yokai Ninja Uniform's Magic attack, and they also give you a little buff to your Power Stat when equipped!
Let's go to Vivi for the run-down on the specials on the mecha-equippable Volt Strike series that he coded from blues' specs!
This sword is available to all players, and has SC-powered specials even for NSCs!
Against Equippable enemies: 125% damage Chance to disable a weapon each use on hit. Order is FA/BA/FS/BS. Star Captains ONLY: Starts with the head instead, and you get a guaranteed stun when disabling it. Every other use of the weapon attempts a resistable stun with immobility resistance lowered by 50.
Against Unequippable enemies: 125% Damage Chance to inflict an HP and EP DoT. These DoTs grow more powerful each time you inflict them.
Thanks, Vivi!
So it looks like, unless everything breaks unexpectedly, we'll actually have an early release so we can head over & check out the Arc Attack special event in AQWorlds! I am a huge fan of Arc Attack - I saw them at DragonCon one year with Artix & a few other people from AE! (Have you been watching the behind-the-scenes happenings on the Play by Play at that link?) So maybe we'll catch you online in AQWorlds a bit later, or on the forums as usual!
Thanks so much for playing MechQuest! Talk to you again soon - have a great weekend!
You'll need to go see Dean Warlic via the button on the main Soluna City menu on the right side of your screen - if you played the quest already, just one more time! There are lots of Skip buttons for that Prequel so it won't take you long. And that button will take you to the NEW installment of this Wormhole - which is Part One and will be continued in the upcoming weeks.
Lyris put together some more great cutscenes, Vivi connected them to the awesome quest he "reskinned" and added some features - I set up the town file and worked with Vivi on the quest a bit, worked with Lyris on dialogue ... too much to list.
Minar, who had a birthday July 10th (Happy Birthday!) drew and animated some really great weapons to reward you for Part 1 of the saga. He also colored and made some tweaks to the new enemy you'll face here in the quest. blues designed specials and Vivi coded these - I did some preliminary coding on the monster file and set everything up in the database. Korin checked in while on vacation and offered to help - I told him he could name the weapons... somehow right after he saw how many there were, he suddenly had to go... hahahaha! It didn't take me that long to do once Minar helped come up with the names - but that's because I'm used to it. There really are a lot of weapons! (And I'm just teasing Korin... )
We've got big plans for the next installment of this Wormhole chapter of the Dragonoid Saga, and we're already working on it. So that'll be in the next week or two. I'm not sure whether I'll receive the elements for the SCMM while Korin is away or if that will have to wait but we're prepared to release it for you if it does come down the pike this week. I know a lot of you have been waiting for it.
Then I mentioned that Minar is working on a Sekrit Projekt and some of you began to speculate really big things - I really wanted it to be a surprise so I don't want to say what it is, but everyone on the forums who has guessed so far has not been anywhere NEAR close. But actually people on the forums did mention it in another context. It's something for Star Captains, it's not a new game feature, and it's really cool!
I need to write to you guys more frequently on the Design Notes! For now, I have to dash. Whatever happened to all those questions you were all asking? Did I answer yours? Well thanks for playing MechQuest - please tell your friends, use your referral link, and stuff. And I'll talk with you again soon! Time to go for a ride in the VW Bug!
The Traveler Gets a New Shipment! A Star Captain Head complements the Ring shoulder series, and a Nova Gem and a non-Star Captain shoulder also arrive!
The Star Captain Macabre Circlet series: Each of the 4 hits has a chance for a critical hit. Can nerf enemy damage by -10% for 5 turns. Can reduce enemy Bonus to Hit by -10% for 5 turns. Has the potential to do HP and/or EP Damage Over Time for 5 turns.
The Nova Gem Poison Cannon series: May add +30 to your Bonus to Hit for 3 turns. Good chance to do critical damage. May mergepurge all Bonus to Hit nerfs affecting you; can also mergepurge all Damage nerfs affecting you.
The non-Star Captain Flamethrower series: Does extra damage. Good chance for an HP DoT - decent chance for an EP DoT as well. Also has the potential to blind the enemy with a Bonus to Hit Nerf over Time (-10 per turn for 3 turns).
The 4th of July Mecha Models stay in the shop over this weekend! NG and SC get a buff! A lively discussion of the power level of the Deflagrator models is underway on the Balance Discussion Forums. After some mid-week Staff discussion of your comments, we decided to buff the Star Captain and Nova Gem models a bit - the Star Captain models now have a chance to get what was previously the Nova Gem exclusive special, and the Nova Gem models have a greatly-increased chance of that special. So we are keeping the shop open this weekend for you to pick up a Deflagrator.
Char is working on opening the wormhole... but...
This is a sneak-peek from one of the upcoming cutscenes in the newest Wormhole chapter of the Dragonoid saga! Lyris has been putting together some epic scenes and we are working on quests, enemies, and ... rewards! Thyton is drawing up something amazing, and as this unfolds over the next few weeks we think you will be on the edge of your seat!
Minar, meanwhile, is working on an exciting top-secret project in his spare time, while keeping busy designing and animating weapons! Awesome art, as always!
I guess that's it from me for now - I feel like I'm forgetting something I meant to tell you, other than to thank you - and I'll see you on the forums (and facebook, and formspring, and twitter...)
