Artix

Friday, October 10, 2014

Happy Birthday, Community!

It is our 12th Anniversary-- and we hope you enjoy this year’s cross-game event, “Phantom of the Pixel!” The idea of cursed items crafted from dead pixels is…. spine-tinglingly awesome! The event spans AQWorlds, EpicDuel, DragonFable, MechQuest, HeroSmash, Oversoul and the original AdventureQuest. With the coming of the new mobile games, it might be too hard to have another full cross-over games event like this… so do this one while you still can!

I would sincerely like to thank you, and everyone who has been a part of this incredible journey. Thank you to you and all of the amazing gamers who login and battle in our video games. Thank you to all of you who give us encouragement and much love on the forums, twitter, facebook and all of the other ways you talk with us. Thank you for not just playing the games but contributing your creativity and clever ideas. Thank you to everyone who believes in us and supports us by upgrading or buying things in the video games—because of you we can afford to keep the lights on and the server hampsters running at full speed. It has officially been 12 YEARS of weekly, non-stop updates! THANK YOU!  

Our video game’s “weekly new releases” — where we add new quests, maps, monsters, weapons & content to the game — is something that is really special about our community. AdventureQuest classic was one of (if not the) first to do it. We have been compared to long running shows like The Simpsons, Southpark, and Saturday Night Live with our game’s history of weekly releases. But there is one big difference… TV shows run in seasons and the cast and crew… take breaks. We do not. We never have. As a whole, the AE team has delivered a new video game update/release every single week for 12 years. Our games never take holidays off — the team and I actually work harder and have larger releases during them!  

Because of that, I would very much like to recognize and thank the AE team — all of the artists, animators, writers, coders, the moderators, the forum staff, and all of the volunteers for their hard work. I am extremely proud of these passionate super heroes. Thank you all, too — players, team, and all the people who love us and put up with our crazy video game habits — for making Frogzards, Moglins and DoomKnights a part of our everyday life!

Battle on!

Artix

P.S. Ooooh… NEXT year will be our 13th Anniversary… we should up the bar and change the format. Better start brainstorming now. Open to ideas!


Maegwyn

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Battle Gems Founder

Star Date: 18 March 3014

Lucky Days AND Battle Gems 

Lucky Days: 

NOW: See Braddock Steele in Soluna City to travel to the Rainbow Road & fight Lucky Warriors and Leprescythes while collecting Clovers to open the reward shops.  Apologies for the issue causing a black screen while you were collecting Clovers - that issue is now FIXED.

WEDNESDAY: A brand-new mission launches! As for new equipment? We've got Lucky Mechas on their way to you, including Elite House Mecha models for the high-level players!  The Advanced versions will scale to higher levels, too. There's also a surprise model on its way, thanks to Ash!

Happy Birthday to Gibby! The Giblet Skewer is coming back to the Birthday Shop in Soluna City to commemorate the happy occasion.

And now a very important announcement from Artix!

Battle Gems goes LIVE on Apple App Store! 

It just went live! Be the first to play our 1st major mobile game, AdventureQuest: Battle Gems! It is available right now for free on Apple’s App Store

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Maegwyn

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from your video game family here at Artix Entertainment! Even when you are not on our servers, you are still in our hearts. We have done so much together this year and made so many great memories... and we could not do it without you! 

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Artix

Thursday, August 8, 2013

The Future of MechQuest

I applaud Korin's brutally honest post about the end of MechQuest. It was from the heart, and in my opinion, extremely accurate. It shined a light on the things we did right and the mistakes we need to learn from as we create games in the future. Which is what I would like to talk to you about today.... The Future of MechQuest. Which, of course, depends on Project: Omni....

What is "Project: Omni"?

For the past year we have watched as more and more of our players moved away from playing video games on web and are now playing on their iPhones, Androids, iPads and other mobile devices. This has created a challenge for us because Flash does not run on most phones. As you know, we created our games including MechQuest, DragonFable, EpicDuel, AdventureQuest Worlds & AQClassic using Adobe Flash. Futhermore, Adobe seems to have 'thrown in the towel' for Flash & Air on mobile. As a result, we have started Project: Omni. It is not a game. Omni means "all." It is the code name for our new method of creating creating games. It will allow us to create games that run on the web, iphones, androids, windows, tablets, toasters, etc. We call them... omni-games.

Can MechQuest become an omni-game?

It most certainly can! I saw this with a lot of enthusiasm but everyone needs to understand. Everything needs to be re-created from scratch to do it. Some of the things that were really easy to do in the Flash version of MechQuest are border-line impossible to do in an omni-game.  However, somethings that were border-line impossible to do in Flash... are now possible! (It is a super weird but liberating trade off.) So... if we have to recreate everything and make a "NEW MECHQUEST" to go mobile anyway, we might as well brain storm with the sky being the limit. While the current Flash version of MechQuest will live on forever, updated by Maegwyn and her team, the NEXT version of MechQuest could be a huge step forward for us.

If the sky is the limit... what should MechQuest 2 be?

What would you actually love playing in the next version of MechQuest? A 3D mecha simulator? Dragons vs Mecha? A tactical stategy game? An expansive universe where you can pilot ships, drop mecha on planets, and then battle for the planets? A pvp game? Old school anime or crazy new 3D style?

I feel that we should have a lot of conversation about what to build next. You are the best person to have it with. The people who are reading this are the serious fans of MechQuest. The people who want to see it live on into the next century. (You probably want to play it on your phone and then be able to log onto your computer and continue where you left off with better graphics.) So please kick off the conversations about what we should build next. And if someone says something REALLY GOOD... please... for the love of all that is explody and awesome.... send me a link on Twitter, Facebook, Email, or via a smoke signal!

Battle on!

Artix

Monday, February 4, 2013

End of the Universe

In the busiest street of Soluna City, a cyber-Moglin holds up a battered sign reading, “The end is nigh!”

http://cms.mechquest.com/mq/images/MogbotFinaleStart-300.jpg

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Artix

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Gamocide!?

Ebilcorp Sabatoaged the 10th Year anniversary!

WHAT!? All six of Artix Entertainment's games are now under attack! Ebilcorp has sabatoged our 10th anniversary by unleashing millions of corrupted monsters into each of our games. According to the  video, unless we can defeat all of them by next friday... they will trigger "gameocide" and destroy our entire game network!

Gameocide

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Maegwyn

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Wed release of Susie quest in Soluna and DragonCon 2011

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 :]


Artix

Thursday, February 3, 2011

GAME-TASTIC!

The ENTIRE AE Team is taking a one week break from making games... TO MAKE GAMES!

Yes my friend, you read that right! Next week, starting on Monday we are having the 1st ever one-week-long AE Game Making Challenge! Sound crazy? ... well, then maybe you should join in too!

WHAT!? You are making 7+ new games next week?
The entire staff (everyone from AdventureQuest, DragonFable, EpicDuel, MechQuest, AdventureQuest worlds) will be forming into small teams of 2 to 3 people. Each team's goal is to create a new game in only 5 days. The rules are: Anything goes & make anything you want! So far there are 7 teams. The competition starts on Monday and ends Friday night... at which time we all get to play everyting that they make! If you can program or draw, you are hereby invited to create teams with other creative players and create games too!

How will the contest be judged?
You and the staff will both judge. We are going to post several polls on the forums which will rate the completed games in different categories (Overall, Fun, Graphics, Sound/Music.)

Is this a good idea?
100% YES. After doing the weekly releases every week, for so many years, the team needs to mix things up and get their creative juices flowing. That is something that all of the big games will benefit from in the following weeks. Also, it will be really interesting to watch and see what happens!

What will the games be like?
Everyone is making whatever they want... so your guess is as good as mine, LOL! But there is only one week to make the finished game so they will likely be mini-game sized or prototypes/alphas for larger game concepts. Teams can create their own artwork, sound, and engine from scratch or are free to use things thay have already made. The goal is to be as creative as possible and have fun, there are no rules... just games!

Can I watch?
We would love for you to watch and help us with ideas while we are working on the games! We are going to post a special design notes for all teams and we are going to periodically stream live video in AdventureQuest Worlds. (A sneak peek into the secret underground lab... about to be 3.14159% less secret.)

What about the normal Big Game releases?
This Friday (just like every week) we have exciting releases coming out for you. Next weekend the games will all be running their special Valentine's Day events. So this really was the perfect time to do this. The best part is... if all team are successful, you could get 7 new games to play next Friday too! Maybe we can add achievements for beating all of them to the Master Account?

AWESOME! I cannot wait!
Enjoy the releases this weekend. Starting Monday... we are making some games! (I cannot believe how much I am looking forward to this. It feels like Christmas.)

Artix

Friday, August 6, 2010

Win An iPad Thingy

SuperRewards, the company that provides the 3rd party offers in AEXtras, is doing a iPad giveaway promotion. One lucky player of our games is going to win an iPad*. Yes, they set aside one just for our games so we are guaranteed to have a winner. All you have to do is complete any offer between now (August 6th) and September 6th, 2010. The more offers you complete, the higher your chance to win.

 

iPad Ballyhoo

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Maegwyn

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Multi-tasking

Artix has pictures and stories from Metrocon here http://www.aqworlds.com/gamedesignnotes/metrocon-pictures-and-stories-185

I was so excited to hear about the many die-hard MechQuest fans there!  I know from the forums how intense, loyal, and dedicated you are - thanks for turning out for the convention!  I wish I could have been there myself - but I am planning to go to DragonCon this year, and couldn't do both. Are you going to DragonCon?

The MechQuest team is super-excited about a ton of things - Korin & I were just talking about the new Museum exhibit while getting some testing done on the new weapons for Planet Yokai.  And doing a bunch of other stuff.  We're big on multi-tasking - I'm eating cherries while doing stuff in the database and reading the Gremlins and General Discussion sections of the MechQuest forums, while waving a magnet over my ear, thinking about typo-fixes and pondering what Gianna Glow might have meant when she said, "Otter Bomb"...  and if I told you what Circe & I were considering, I might... have to... nah, couldn't do THAT!

So yeah - the MQ team is also working on the SCMM - the Cosmic Talon!  Korin & Arklen are working together on animation/attack-related things so that either Korin or I can get the number of hits/animation description for each attack over to blues so he can design the specials.  I've got the basics set up in the database, though the default weapons names and descriptions have to wait until I see how they look and what they'll do - then we'll work with Vivi (and whoever else on staff is around to help) to get it all tested & balanced.  The plan is to have it all set for Monday.

I'm insanely excited about the AE CD, "Critical Hits" - by the NPCs!  We've got some cool promo weapons planned for the CDs.  I can hardly wait for the premiere of the new HeroMart Store (which I've been told will open shortly) - and the new ChickenCow Shirts!  

Well, blues wrote up specials which were supposed to be posted early last weekend except that Korin was at Metrocon & I was swimming ... and ok, also I goofed off a little playing AQWorlds ... we jumped into this week with both feet and suddenly it is Thursday somehow!  So read the post below this for the info blues prepared & wanted you to have on Saturday!  If you haven't read it already.  Because I spent like 2 extra hours agonizing over whether these DNs were funny enough/informative enough/tooooo boring to post ... what do you want to read?  Please tell us on the forums!

Artix

Monday, July 19, 2010

Target is offering 10% off!

Special in-store only promotion  

As announced in the Target stores circular (much better than a square-ular) starting today there is a special promotion! You can get any of our GameCards in Target stores at a whopping 10% discount. ( Off their end... not ours! So go for it!) Get $20 worth of upgrades for only $17.95! Do not forget you can finally stack up cards to get bigger packages in the BattleOn Master Account System. This Target promotion ends on July 31st.


New "BattleOn!" cards will start showing up on store shelves too!
We really need to do the "BATTLEON SITE SWAP" soon...

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Artix

Friday, May 21, 2010

Parallel <s>Universes</s> Logins

Greetings and salutations friends! I wanted you to be the first to know about a horrifyingly scary, highly technical, and possibly universe destroying change coming to the MechQuest login screen. It will either be the coolest* thing we have ever done... or the worst use of our last two months ever! Behold! In just a week or two you will be able to login in to the game with your normal MechQuest account OR the new BattleOn account "One Login to Rule them All!" on a single screen**. Here is a picture of the prototype that we currently have working. There is more than meets the eye to this new feature. It is the final step before we are able to add things like scratches out a bunch of cool technical stuff that no one cares about and skips straight to cross-game achievements! Which means things you do in MechQuest will unlock special titles, items and other unlockable rewards that you can use in other games... and even future ones! (Oh, Warlic's 1st person swordfighting game, Bladehaven will be coming out soon after this too.) The achievement system will be able to scan your account and see everything you have already done in MechQuest and give you the achievements for it. I think it will be really fun -- but first things first, we have to make the login work***. Take a look at the screenshot above, and please let us know if you have any ideas to make the login even better. Battle on!

* Even cooler than when you tried to stop global warming by leaving your freezer door open?
** Which sorta makes it the "TWO logins to rule them all"
*** Integrating 5 different databases containing over 101 million registered accounts, multiple entry paths, account management, and ~500 million characters.... hah! No problem! (P.S. Why are you not done yet?)