Friday, July 18, 2014
FA/BA
CD = 3
Random damage boost between 10-20%
Stacking Boost nerf. Each use lowers enemy Bonus by ( -8 / -9 / -10 ) and caps at -35
FS/BS
CD = 3
Random damage boost between 10-25%
Stacking Bonus nerf. Each use lowers enemy Bonus by ( -8 / -9 / -10 ) and caps at -30
Head
CD = 4
+20/25/30% Bonus for 3 turns
+25/30/35% Boost for 3 turns.
Attempts to stun for 1 turn.
Body
CD = 4
Hit 1: 50% damage
Randomly picks 1 of the following to buff you.
( +20 / +25 / +30 ) Crit for 2 turns
( +25 / +30 / +35 ) Boost for 2 turns
( +35 / +40 / +45 ) Bonus for 2 turns
( +40 / +45 / +50 ) ImmoRes for 2 turns
( +15 / +20 / +25 ) Bonus for 2 turns
Hit 2: 50% damage
Randomly picks 1 of the following to affect the enemy.
Attempts a 2 turn stun at enemy current ImmoRes
( -30 / -35 / -40 ) Boost nerf for 2 turns
( -35 / -40 / -35 ) Bonus nerf for 2 turns
( -80 / -90 / -100 ) ImmoRes nerf for 2 turns
( -15 / -20 / -25 ) Bonus nerf for 2 turns
Have fun with the new mech, make sure to play the quest from last week while I design and work on the one for next week, and, as always, enjoy the game!
Friday, June 27, 2014
Colosseum Chaos
Star Date: 27 June, 3014
Happy Birthday, Korin! To celebrate, pick up a Ketchup Cannon in the birthday shop in Soluna City Main. It's also the perfect date for this week's main release, which
<bzzt>> Incoming transmission: Ash
Oh ha. Well I'll just let him do the talking!
Greetings! This week we have a somewhat larger release, at least it feels that way to me. Hah!
Last week I was talking to Mae about what we could do to give you all something larger than normal. I came up with the idea to do something for our players who have done everything in the storyline already and wanted something extra. This turned into something larger than I had planned and it pushed me farther than I've gone in a while.
Tonight we have an addition to Planet 51. It's a series of fights that you can access after you've beaten the current 51, finished Yokai, AND finished Necryptos. Once you've done all that you can use the button that shows up on Korin's list.
This has several fights, most chosen by players when I asked, as well as one final fight that I came up with myself. It will take a little thought and strategy to beat a couple of them, but if you can it'll be worth it.
I also did some updates to the old Planet 51 rewards that you'll find in the Arm reward shop once you win. There's also some new stuff too that I came up with just for this. Some of the rewards are hints about something I'm cooking up personally and something in particular gives a hint at where the storyline is going next. You might have to talk to someone once you win to find out what that is though.
I hope you enjoy it and I'm very thankful to Mae for letting me go all crazy and do this. Make sure to let me know on the forums what you think of the fights and the rewards!
I'm quite thankful to Ash for all the hard work he put into this!
Here's a screenshot for you
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Friday, May 16, 2014
Cookies and Bugs. What's not to like?
And now, a word from Ash.
bzzt
Greetings! This week Maegwyn was on vacation and left Vivi and I in charge. I was able to get to the T.V. remote, recliner, lemonade, and garage door opener first, so Vivi had to watch what I wanted to! Muahaha! I also totally didn't break anything huge while she was gone. Make sure to stay away from the Beta Quadrant when you're out exploring space though...I *might* have broken part of reality over there. No worries though, it'll be alright since I put a giant sticker over the hole. Just don't tell her.
Anyway! I worked on a few more small bugs that were reported. I got them taken care of and will keep working on some of the larger and more stubborn ones. Make sure to keep reporting any bugs that you find.
As a reminder, PLEASE put your Character ID AND your Character Name in the "Username" field of the bug report. That helps me to be able to check things about your character. Putting only your character name is helpful if it's the only one of that name. Since there are lots of names that aren't unique, having the Character ID lets me check and see what the issue is with that specific character.
Also, please give as much information as you can. Putting, "THIS MECH DOESN'T WORK!!!" tells me the mech doesn't work, but not much else. What about the mech is broken? Did you try it in a different quest? Are you using all the default weapons or are you using some other equips? This isn't only for Mech bugs either. Any bugs that you find, put every bit of info you can in the description so we know what to test and possibly what else might be causing the bug if it's not the mech. It might be the quest or it might be one equip you didn't think was an issue. If it takes a paragraph to really explain it, I have lots of time to read, so feel free to write it all out.
Now for this weeks item. Everyone likes cookies right? Who wouldn't? There are all kinds and some are even extra-dimensional in origin. Well, I decided to use one of those extra-dimensional cookies, found by Plasma Charge, to make a weapon. They are REALLY random, but if you're lucky enough you'll get a nice buff and inflict a nice nerf on the enemy.
(Yes this is a fun release and shouldn't be used to confirm the evidence of a "Cookieverse". I need to have fun occasionally too.)
Hope you all enjoy and I also hope you're in the mood for games. Yep, it's getting close to that time of year so make sure to pick a house if you haven't. Have a fun weekend!
bip bip pongggggg
Thanks, Ash! Enjoy your weekends, everyone!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Practel vs Korin War update
Practel has taken time away from his essay, "The True Swag of Abraham Lincoln's Beard" to issue you an update to the Practel vs Korin war.
Howdy, players.
Today I am the bearer of both good and bad news. First up, the bad news.
As of right now, the Practel vs. Korin war is delayed. While most of the art assets are created, a lot of the programming, quest creation, monster creation, etc... still need to happen. Since this was a project intended for me to learn and increase my knowledge with, I didn't want to hand it off to another team member to finish. I'm a firm believer of letting you guys know why it's not ready, and the truth is, I just got slammed with school. Unfortunatly, school is requiring almost all of my time everday. So, development is still going - just at a slower, more comfortable rate. I would wager that you can expect the war in around a month, month and a half's time.
However, onto the good news! Since the war is delayed, it will allow myself and the artists to do a lot more things that we initially couldn't with the time constraints. I really want to make this war ridiculously fun, and over the top. So, while it may be delayed, what you will get in the end is going to be amazing.
Anyways, it's time to get back to the grind. See you starside.
~Practel
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Exciting
Star Date: 18 August, 3013 transmission incoming
Hello, pilots!
Today I have some exciting news! Over the past few weeks the MechQuest staff and I have been developing a new WAR coming to MechQuest! This war has been really fun to plan, and we are excited to announce it today. Keep in mind that while it was announced today, it is not going to be released for a few weeks. There is a lot of work to do and I can't promise a date quite yet.
Without further ado, I give you... The Practel vs. Korin War!
I'm excited to show you guys more in the upcoming weeks!
Practel out.
Friday, July 26, 2013
A Bittersweet Post-Mortem of Sorts
Spoilers be in this post!
It's finally arrived. The bittersweet finale of the main storyline in MQ. While it's not the end of the game itself, nor the end of the MQ universe, it's certainly the end of an era. I figured I would share a few things that I've experienced over the 5 years that I've worked on MQ. I was actually hired to animate for MQ during the week that it was released to everyone which I believe was the last week of October in 2007. Since then I've animated several mechs and weapons which enabled me to learn basic Actionscript 2, initially to help make Warlic's job easier because I felt bad handing all these mechs and weapons to him to code. Eventually it got more complicated and I started coding towns and quests. Eventually it was decided that I would be a good fit to become game lead because I was able to dabble in a little bit of everything that was required to run MQ. That wasn't completely t rue but luckilly I had Maegwyn to step in and really help me in the areas I was weakest. Anywho, that's how I got here. I figure I'm going to post some observations I've made about the game which are in no way intended to be negative if they sound that way. It's just how I saw things and hopefully it helps fill you guys in on a lot of things. I'll take this moment to say I don't regret a thing and I absolutely loved working on this game with all of these great and talented people along the way.
What went right: The team. I think there was only a brief time where the team was essentially Maegwyn and myself along with a few people who would pitch in if they could. That was a stressful time but before and after that, our team was epic and very dedicated to the game. Yergen came in and added a huge amount of style to the MQ animations. Then Arklen came in and continued that trend. He animated almost all of the finale cutscenes that you saw tonight and I think he nailed it. Vivi has become a huge force to be reckoned with when it comes to programming things. I don't even have to touch the mech or weapon files anymore and he's doing things I never would've attempted. So the staff has always been largely dedicated to the game and I think it showed. MQ has a certain level of quality in one way. My next point will highlight where I think the quality suffered.
What went wrong: The lack of a clear story arc. When I first started, I remember that it was essentially announced that the ending of MechQuest would be the Great Reset. That always kind of bothered me because I felt like we gave away the ending. Wile developing the game, we kind of wandered from story to story, not worrying too much about the Reset. When I took over, I think I started running a little too liberally with that and ended up trying to add all of these different plots that would eventually come back together somehow. We ended up with a muddled rush to tie as many plot points together in this finale and also pull in random elements just to match up with the DF beginnings. We always knew the ending of MQ and at least I always believed I needed to throw more random stories in the mix or else it would be too predictable. So we had the beginning of MQ and the ending planned but absolutely nothing inbetween. We were winging a lot of things. In one sense, I loved that. In the other, I think it hurt the overall storyline of the game. My bad.
What went right: The art quality. I always felt the MQ had an art quality that was much higher than the other games. The mech designs by Thyton as well as a few guests here and there only got more and more complicated as time went on. Thyton at some point around year 2 was really striving to push the bar and I remember being like "Yo. We may need to start pulling punches, here. It's getting insane." He declined and said everything we make needs to be better than the last thing we make. The mechs certainly reflect that because they only got more complex and more flashy. It was beautiful. It also really pushed me to get better at animating. Back then I was always trying to catch up to J6 until I got caught up in the programming. Jemini has made some really beautiful backgrounds. Even Char pitched in for a little bit. Lately it's been Minar, Plasma Charge, Arklen, and a couple newcomers whom I don't recall their game names at the moment. I'm a terrible person and I apologize. Count that as something that just went wrong. D:
What went wrong: Not enough time to fully flesh out some features!! My main gripe has always been the swordfighting. It's such a key feature but it's sooooooooooooo basic! I've always wanted to liven it up and I really tried with the Ninja class from Yokai. I tried to take it a bit further but I lacked any database experience to set up the back-end for it and we couldn't spare the resources for someone else to do it. So I think that was the biggest issue. There were also a few optimization issues that occured. Someof them, I addressed and helped give the quest and town builders more control. I remember redoing the star map. It used to be 3 separate maps in 3 separate files. If you updated one, you had to update the others separately. When I redid the menu system, I made a unified map. Update it once, and it all updates the same. Alas, it was too little too late, I'm afraid. I really wish we had more time to really flesh those out more.
What went right: Minigames! Kind of. I thought we made some really fun minigames. The problem I would have with them is that they were unskippable at the time. We've put a lot of effort into adding options that let the player skip it after so many failed attempts. I think with that addition, the minigames are perfect. We have lots of fun games from a shoot-em-up game with Galactimecha to a cool card game with Tek's Decks (I still wish we'd sell those at HeroMart). I always like little minigames in RPGs because they break up the small bouts of monotony in doing the same actions over and over. It makes your brain change gears. At some points we may have over-used them but I think overall, they came out really cool considering what we had to work with.
I think I'll leave it there for now in regards to the post-mortem. Hopefully that helps you get a good idea on the behind-the-scenes of MQ. I want to give a big hearty thanks to everyone that's worked on MQ with me. I'd like to give a special thanks to Maegwyn because I guarantee without her, the releases would've been abysmal (if it released at all). She's been a huge help to me ever since she started helping me and I appreciate every bit of it. You all should thank her, too. She cares extremely passionately for MQ and she'll practically be game lead from here-on-out. I hope to continue to assist as I can but I can't guarantee my availability all the time for big projects. MQ is heading into new territory as we begin switching gears. The game will still receive updates but they might not be nearly as regular and they may not be as large. It's definitely a passion-project. In the mean-time, the resources that are being moved to other AE projects where we can learn new technologies and make some really cool new projects. We'll definitely be revisiting MQ's universe in the future in new games so don't fret. I can't wait.
Thank you so much for playing and supporting the game.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Bad Guys and Good Battles Contest
That's right folks. Apparently we're holding a contest! My head is currently shoved deep inside my bag figuring things out for the finale but luckilly, I don't need to have all the information because you can easily find it here!
http://artix.com/designNotes/post/19211/Bad-Guys--Good-Battles-Contest
Go, go , go!
Back to the grind.
Friday, June 28, 2013
March of the Shadowscythe Heralds End of Universe
Star Date: 28 June, 3013:
Beginning of the End! The homepage countdown has hit 00:00:00 - launching The March of the Shadowscythe! The End of the Universe??!!?? Queenadent Odessa has TWO brand-new missions for you at the War Camp - complete with NEW music, NEW enemies, and NEW cutscenes!
GEAR UP! Check out the Head and Shoulder shops in the War Camp & Soluna City for a new Exclusive Limited-Time Set. Valoth's Epic Destruction Head & Shoulder work together to create combos vs. those nasty Shadowscythe enemies!
Happy birthday, Korin!
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Here is a Sneak Peek
Star Date 21 May 3013:
Work continues: Our mission to deliver a Gremlin-free quest marches onward - here's a sneak peek at a battle that is working exactly as intended - set against a beautiful background from J6.
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Friday, March 1, 2013
WHY IS NOTHING WORKING!?!
Greetings. Things are not as grim as my title suggests. Unfortunately Maegwyn has been having power issues which has caused us to fall behind on this week's release! Obviously this is very unfortunate and certainly not something we're happy about but until I gain phenomenal cosmic powers, there's nothing I can do about it. :(
What I can do about it is give an extra EXP and Credit weekend. So I did. Right now you can get 50% extra credits and EXP. Technically you get 75% if you're SC. So it should be pretty sweet. It's largely untested for balance so it may be giving out too much. I have no idea but I figure if it does, then it's a database error in your favor(pass go).
So please bare with us as we conquer these technical issues and get back on track. Chances are the releases will resume next week. The boost will end Monday at the soonest, Friday at the latest. So get in there while you can if you're just starting up!
Once again, I apologize(have I apologized yet? If not, I should have which I apologize for that) for the inconvenience and I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Liath Rewards and more
Zeke has made good on his promise! Visit him now if you've helped him and he has a pile of brand new weapons for you. While we credit Zeke on these, we should also credit Minar for their designs and animations and Blues for the specials and Vivi for programming them!
So what's next!? Well, Liath technically isn't done but it's next part won't come until a little bit later. This is intentional so no worries. Meanwhile, we'll start on the next planet. We've had it planned for awhile. Now it's just gathering assets and trying to make it manageable. Lyris has a nice big script laid out and it looks good for the most part. This will be something to look forward to but I don't want to give out many more details than that.
Of course we're also wondering what to do about GEARS Games and the final GEARS Class as well as the next House mechas which have a few things to tweak before we really go full steam into them.
Look forward to more and I hope everyone's new year began with a bang.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Happy New Year!
Well, almost. Soon it will be a new year and to celebrate, we tossed up the fireworks again. Our main focus this week was Planet Liath which has received it's update. It will have loads of reward weapons next week while we start planning out the next planet that will be a part of the main storyline again which should be a doozy.
The reason we don't have Liath rewards this week is because there's just too much! We've got the gifts getting pumped out and primed for unwrapping and we have the calendar mecha getting prepped for its big switch. So if you haven't gotten your gift yet or you haven't ordered your calendar yet, better do it quick! Well I guess the calendar can wait a little since there's shipping involved but the gifts are happening now!
This year MQ went through a lot of changes and a lot of people have stepped up to help out. Everyone on the team right now is putting a lot into this and I think it's showing. Lyris has made some amazing cutscenes, Minar has made some amazing weapons and backgrounds, Arklen has been going crazy with these animations and you'll see that first-hand when you get a look at the new house mechas. They're coming soon. Blues comes up with some crazy special ideas that test Vivi's knowledge of actionscript which leads into how much Maegwyn and Vivi have stepped up. They've designed their own quests and towns before, and have even run a whole release on their own. They're a power team and MechQuest is lucky to have them.
So here's to next year. Thanks for playing everyone. And a big thanks to the staff for helping make this game awesome. Because it is awesome, right?
Happy New Year!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Post-Mogloween and Upcoming Stuff!
That's right. Mogloween is coming to a close. We haven't forgotten about a starship item to let you return to Mortis though! We'll be releasing it on Friday, likely in the shop panel. We haven't decided yet if we're going to axe Mogloween Friday or Monday so we'll see where things go but you will be well-informed.
The other thing is that you may have learned that we're building the next planet now! This planet is void of color. The reasons for that aren't anything evil. It's coming along so you'll get to see it soon! As for a fun little teaser for you guys, the conclusion has something to do with something in Soluna City. As for the story, think of old black and white monster movies. The pre-requisites will be finishing the museum quests and being able to fly to other planets. Artix's DNs may be implying that the official launch is this week. Chances are it'll be next week. We've started production on it but we've also added things to make it grander that require a little more time.
We're also working on getting some daily bonuses setup but I need to speak with Rolith when he gets back to confirm we're ready for them. And I haven't forgotten about adding an option to increase your chances of finding a certain weapon type in the salvage field but it might not be added until next week.
Art museum will be finally getting its update.
Also, the House Mechas have been animated! There're still a few little things that need to be tweaked and tested but it shouldn't be long now. I actually would prefer to do the next GEARS Class before the next planet after the black and white planet. We would also release the new House Mechas at that time.
So as you can see, a lot is happening. This week we should have functionality for daily bonuses, a new Mortis starship item to let you return to this year's Mogloween whenever you want, the art museum is getting an update, and we're building lots and lots of content.
Last but not least, looky what's now available at HeroMart! http://www.heromart.com/
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Friday, September 16, 2011
TLAPD 2011!!
That's right, folks. It's time for Talk Like a Pirate Day. Well almost. It's certainly close enough for us to have a nice weekend event about it. We have a 15% bonus for Star Captains in effect right now and a 10% bonus in experience and credits for non-Star Captains so start farming! I'm only planning on having the boost available the end of Monday. The event shops will remain until Friday. Plenty of time to get some cool stuff from yesteryears and this year.
Next week I want to get the salvage quest working which may require a few more happy new weapons and meanwhile, I'd like to get Maegwyn and company to start working on the next story content since we haven't had a chance to start yet.
Also, I heard your complaints and Tek's shop no longer removes items from the shops below your level. It only hides weapons that are above your level + 3 so as you level up, you'll be seeing cool new stuff pop in. I say "you" but I basically mean new players. I'm sure you understand.
So things are coming along. I hope you all talk like pirates. I'm terrible at pirate-talking. Enjoy the fancy new weapons. Minar colored the Blundergat and the Flintlock and I did a hack job with the colors for the Cutlass. I'm terrible with colors D: I did design the tresure chest for the minigame though. I think that came out pretty.
Enjoy your weekends!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
DragonCon 2011 and Upcoming Releases News
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???
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