EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

August 26, 2011

Titan vs. Adobe

After a struggle spanning many days, from the darkest cavern, to the highest peak, until at last, Titan threw down his enemy and smote its ruin on the mountainside! That is to say, Titan and our wonderful crew of testers made it known to the software behemoth that their latest "update" was ruining performance in EpicDuel (and a few other Flash-based MMOs) so they essentially released an update just for us! I'd call that a WIN. Get the latest version of FlashPlayer here!  Thanks Adobe!

We've also been making some important changes to the backend of the game -- changes we can't go live with until they are completely.  Because of this, we won't be releasing until later tonight.  I'm predicting a... *summons the guidance of the mischievious time faeries* 9-10 PM EST release time.

Localization

As a byproduct of the efforts to optimize EpicDuel and streamline performance, Titan has been replacing all the interface components in the game.  This paves the way for another very important feature going forward: localization.  Soon* EpicDuel will be available in multiple languages, starting with Portuguese. It's a good thing we don't have as many quests as the other AE games, or that task would be monumental!

*Soon as in sometime in the future that may or may not be near at all we don't really know

Ye Olde Fortune City

Tonight, you will be introduced to the newest area of Delta V, or is it a sub-area?  In any case, Old Fortune City, the current headquarters for the Exiles is accessible through the staircase in the back of Hank's in Fortune City.  All the new equipment will be there, so you'll want to hurry if you want to be the first to check it out!

New Gear!

Of course, we didn't forget all the lovely implements of destruction we showed you last week!  They're still coming, and thankfully, there's plenty for Varium and non-Varium players!  You might also check out the Limited Quantity Shops.  Just sayin'.

A New Champion Rises

We've been teasing at a new character to be introduced to EpicDuel since the early Delta previews.  We're finally ready to drop him in game, but not quite ready to reveal his true identity.  Some of you may already have figured it out, but the explanation will shock you!

DragonCon 2011!

It's that time of year again, folks!

Time to dust off your plastic lightsabers and Doctor Who fezzes and join us for the 2011 DragonCon in Atlanta, GA! This will be AE's 7th consecutive year attending and if you plan on going, we would love to meet you!  

What is DragonCon?

It's basically a four day long, 45,000-person costume party with games, comics, anime, robot battling, art galleries, vendors, concerts, celebrity guests, and panels on everything from how to swordfight, write novels, make costumes, meet the cast of your favorite TV series…AND you can go to our panel and meet US! DragonCon is for audiences age 16+ (unless accompanied by a parent.) DragonCon is not run nor operated by Artix Entertainment.

PIZZA PARTY!

Thursday Night at 8pm to 10pm
Everyone is invited up to our suite at the top of the Mariott (Room 4724) on Thursday to eat pizza and hang out with Artix, Cysero and the team. This pre-DragonCon party is for ALL AGES and is very casual and informal.

• Meet the Staff
• Mmmmmm.... Free Pizza, Soda, Water and Air.
• No costumes. You can dress up if you want, but you should save yoru costumes for the AE Panel that happens the next day!

ARTIX ENTERTAINMENT PANEL (Main event!)

Friday at 2:30pm at the Sheraton, Savannah room
Join us as we kick off DragonCon's gaming track with the official AE panel. It will take place on Friday at 2:30pm at the Sheraton hotel, in the Savannah room. If you brought a costume, dress up for the panel!

• Meet the AE Team!
• Learn... secrets......
• See brand new cheesy videos
• Quiz questions for the audience with prizes and giveaways!
• Yes... the rumors are true. We have ONE, still in shrinkwrap, 2011 Calendar with the Chronomancer class that we will give away during the panel. (For those of you who cannot attend, we have one more that we will be running a contest for in-game)
• X-treme real-life Moglin Punting!
• Bring things if you want them signed by the staff. (This year we are making sure we have PLENTY of time to hang out after the panel and talk and sign things.)
• Bring your art to drop off in our art box
• We received a letter from EbilCorp that Chairman Platnum is going to "stop by" our panel.
• Official release of the game *shivers* Ponies vs Ponies!

Fan Table

Also this year, there will be an Artix Entertainment fan table located in the Hyatt. Stop by each day for a special ribbon to hang on your DragonCon Badge (Jemini made them... there is a different dragon for each day!) There are limited quantity of badges for each day... so first come first serve! We will always have two members of the team and any volunteer players who want to hang out and play battle cards with us. There will also be an art drop-box on the table if you want to submit any of your artwork in person.

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Pack your energy drinks and assorted totems of nerd culture and join us for the biggest AE party of the year!  Remember: what happens at DragonCon, stays at DragonCon...until it's posted on the Internet!

Tags: Nightwraith DragonCon Titan adobe flashplayer localization fortune city

August 12, 2011

Flash Fight 2000

Just when we thought we were making some good progress in improving EpicDuel's performance, Adobe swoops in and releases a sneaky, ninja update to Flash Player of their own that is just crushing animation performance in EpicDuel.  Titan is talking with Adobe to find a solution to the problem, but it may take some time, especially if the problem is on their end.

We first noticed this while playing EpicDuel on Chrome, which installs the latest version of Flash Player (10.3.183.5) automatically (convenient, right?).  Firefox and Internet Explorer worked fine until we updated Flash Player on them.  

Until this issue is resolved, you may want to try a different browser without the latest version of Flash Player, or try uninstalling Flash Player and then installing an earlier version of the program.  We apologize for the inconvenience, but this issue seems to be beyond our ability to control.  Such is the double-edged sword of Flash game development.

Balance Update

With this release we are rebalancing all skills that have fixed effects by adding a improvement faction based on level.  This includes buffs, debuffs, shields, damage dealing skills that have fixed damage, and a few other skills that see limited use at higher levels.  The net result of this is that all skills affected will be slightly weaker at lower levels and stronger at higher levels.    

For those who want a complete list of affected skills, here it is:

Because of this huge, sweeping change, and because we've spent so much time combatting Flash's performance issues, we have decided not to raise the level cap this week.

ADDENDUM (red means important!)

Due to the unexpected performance problems form Flash Player and the extensive nature of the balance changes, we have decided to postpone the release until next week (mid week) to include more thoroughly tested balance changes and actual content.  We'll be usuing this weekend for additional balance testing in addition to solving the Flash Player issue.  Again, we apologize for the inconvenience, but this time it wasn't actually our fault!

Tags: Nightwraith flash player adobe balance lag