Dragon*Con 2012! We are going to be in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend for Dragon*Con. 

Artix Entertainment ALL GAMES Panel:  Saturday @ 5:30pm at the Hilton in Grand Salon E! 

We will also have a fan table (I haven't been updated with the location of it yet, so if you're going to be there, it will be an adventure of discovery... ) 

Special MQ-Themed Presents! Lyris designed some really cool nametag badges and I ordered badge holders & magnet backings and printed them out & put them together to give you! Each design is in very limited supply - who knew that printing at the maximum DPI would suck the ink out of cartridges so quickly? ... and also I ended up hand-cutting them because the template for printing on the special perforated paper I ordered refused to play nicely with the actual paper.  So it turned into quite the hands-on project, but luckily I started early enough to get everything ready for you in time!  We'll have some at the fan table while supplies last, and I'll save a few to give away at the panel on Saturday.

Dragon*Con Front Arm Weapon! Practel asked if we were doing a weapon for the occasion, and presented us with the basic idea for the dragon-themed front arm energy blade for your mecha. Minar took the concept and brought it into its amazing final arted/animated form for you! blues came up with specials and Vivi coded them in.  Here is what Vivi had to say about it on the forums:

For those of you that make it to the convention, a unique prize lies in store. It's called the DragonConquest Blade. This was once the weapon of choice for an elite commando squad in the war between the Dragons and the Shadowscythe. In her exploration of the universe, Val has uncovered a small cache of them in some ancient ruins, and one of them can be yours! 

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Knife & Spork Challenge! Go West in Soluna City to the Knife & Spork Diner and talk to me (Maegwyn) - if you've completed all the regular challenges, the "More" button opens up to give you a whole new round! And this latest one even unlocks a shop that holds a player-suggested weapon!

Thanks & congratulations to megaman3234 of the forums for the inspiration for the new reward weapons! Minar was so wonderful to draw & animate on short notice - a few tweaks to the original animation suggestion & specials were needed, and blues & Vivi did a grand job of balancing --  & Vivi's coding was Gremlin-free!

Mocha Cola Overdrive! 

• Hyper!!!: chance for +30 BtH for 3 turns 
• Dazed:when Hit 1 connects, chance for lowering immo res by 75 and chance for -30 enemy damage for 3 turns 
• Knock out!: when Hit 2 connects, chance for stun attempt 

(NG = best chance // SC = Great chance // NSC = Good chance)

We also drew inspiration from a forum thread titled "Your Powerful Mecha Builds" - a forum member known as Alex Wolfblade got some unexpected fame when his (or her?) build was used for an opponent in this challenge! Diner Contestant 61 is set up as per this build!

Chassis: Platinum Falcon-P 
Front Arm: Glowing Frying Pan 
Back Arm: Shadow of Doubt 
Front Shoulder: Talon Pulse Laser 
Back Shoulder: Talon Pulse Laser 
Head: Eye of the Falcon 

Thanks, and congratulations!

I keep "threatening" to post Design Notes more frequently, and I've got some reminders on my calendar now, so I'll make a point of heeding them as the weeks go on!

I have to go now so I will talk with you soon! Thanks so much and have a great weekend!