EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

September 27, 2012

Hey there! Just to let you know, there a totally rad contest we're hosting in the AE forums!  Dust off those pencils and grab that printer paper because it's time to DRAW!

As many of you know, Halloween (or Mogloween) is celebrated widely among every single game Artix Entertainment makes! Delta V celebrates a Harvest Festival, but the spirit of dressing up in cool, scary and twisted ways is still a major part of the holiday. For this reason, the team and I thought it would be a great idea to kick it off this Harvest season with a contest. This contest is all about “Player Head Designs!” Since it is the time of year that Halloween rolls about, we are looking for some very awesome Scary, Funny, or Creative head designs. However, it is not required that it is related to Halloween. To be clear, all head designs must be drawn, either traditionally or digitally, but in-game screenshots are NOT allowed at all. To make life easier for you, I've uploaded head templates for all the classes and genders. You can deviate from the template, but it's a good place to start if you're running short on inspiration. I recommend printing them out and drawing over them using a lightbox to perfect your design. You can also import them into your drawing program of choice!

EpicDuel Male Template

EpicDuel Female Template

To award the wonderful artists of the community, we have the following awards to give out: 

1 Grand Prize Winner will receive 1,500 Varium, a very special 1,000 rating points achievement, all the hairstyles in-game up to the point the winner is declared, and the style they created added into the game permanently!

5 Winners will receive 1,500 Varium, an achievement, and their style featured permanently in-game!

The contest will run from Thursday, September 27th till Wednesday, October 26th at 11:59pm.  You have plenty of time to work on these entries to make thems as polished as possible so please use your time wisely!

The rules and guidelines are short and to the point, but we advise you to follow them otherwise your entry will be disqualified.

• Design must be inspired by EpicDuel
• Your entry must be entirely made by you, and must be original work.
• You must include your EpicDuel Character Name with your entry.
• You may use any form of media for your entry. (Pencil, Flash, etc)
• No Screenshots.
• Do not change your entry or edit your forum post until the winners are selected.
• Only ONE entry can be submitted per person.  An entire set of styles for all classes and genders can count as one entry.
• The head design must be made in the theme of Scary, Funny, or Creative
• Make sure that you provide a VALID URL to your photo. Try using a reliable photo uploader like Photobucket, TinyPic or Twitpic.  Entries without working links or entries requiring a login to access will not be considered.
• You have until 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, October 26th to submit your entry.

The team and I look forward to seeing all these awesome head designs, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Stay safe and good luck to everyone!
Nightwraith

Contest Entry Format (Can adjust for the contest)

EpicDuel Name:
Title of Entry:
Image:

Well, what are you waiting for?  Head to the official forum topic right now and get drawing!

Tags: Nightwraith contest Halloween styles Drawing Art Forums

April 10, 2012

Post PAX Preparations

First things first: welcome back Nightwraith! For those not in the know, our creative lead was away at PAX East over Easter weekend. He got back safely so we can all bother him to tell us all about PAX. Will he do a recap? I dunno. That's up to him.

Don't worry. I've written enough to punish him for having too much fun.

Roll On Roll Up Roll Out

We are finally moving the game to CS5. For realsies this week. If all goes well, you guys won't notice a thing! Maybe a reduction in lag, and better performance with Flash Player 11. For us it means enormous changes and vast potential for implementing all the cool features we've had to put off until we upgraded.

Some of you might be wondering why we didn't just use CS5 all along. Well, at the time EpicDuel was first being developed CS3 was new, and it was impossible to forsee it's limitations. This happens all the time in software development, but it was an extremely valuable lesson to learn and formidable challenge to overcome. Hopefully, we can wrangle Titan into giving us more details in the next EpicDuel Q & A.

Last week we also rolled out quite a few backend things. For example, you can now hit shift while you click to add or subtract 5 points from a skill. Armors got a little cheaper, and you can now buy misc or mission items with a full inventory.

Nerf a Derf

RabbleFroth is planning a nerf for Tech Mages. What is it? I dunno, nobody tells me anything. Watch here for details.

New Promo Packs!

I am sorry to report that these new packs will be delayed by another week. This week was very trying with all the CS5 testing, so we were unable to implement and thoroughly test the new packages. We really wanted to get this in, but it's not something that can be rushed out. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.

--Nightwraith

This week we will be adding new items to packs at different price tiers and different levels. This should increase the usefulness of promo items for our players who wish to upgrade but have not yet reached the level cap. In case you are wondering, the Bionic Battlegear will remain as promotional package for the time being. 

The new packs will include sets of brand-new weapons that can asist players who are having trouble climbing the ranks or finding just the right set of gear for their level. Behold!

These new packs will also give us more flexibility for players to mix and match Varium quanities with promotional items, and will allow us to give players more exciting options for packaged gear in the future.

Happy Dueling!

Bunnies!

We will be continuing the Bionic Battalion saga by accompanying Myxoma and the others on their mission to save little Lepus. While in the Biodome, the bunnies will discover the secrets of their origin. What else will the rabbits uncover in the Archives?

Maybe they know!

Addendum

Two points I want to address. Yes, I'm helping out with words on HeroSmash, but I am not leaving EpicDuel, as I know many of you were concerned.

Also, if you are a fan of EpicDuel on Facebook, you are now able to send me a direct message. I don't care if you use it to send reports, ask why you were banned, or things of that nature. However, if you have an account issue, payment issue, want to ask for free things/varium or send me death threats, please don't. Account issues must be dealt with by the help team (thru the help link on portal.Battleon.com) and I am not authorized to deal with master account issues. I also cannot give you free varium. Even if I wanted to. Threats, it should go without saying, are unwelcome and can lead to bans or worse if they're serious enough.

Mechachillids

When the first miners came to Delta V, it became increasingly apparent that Varium mining is not for humans. Varium does not form like a typical ore, and after one too many fatalities in the subterranean caverns, the workers began to imagine sentience in the stones themselves. In response, scientists and tech mages worked on a form of artificial life. The idea was for robots that could build and maintain tunnels, keeping them safe from the dangerous earth. But the mages took it one step further: the robots could replicate themselves, repair and evolve. The inventors were amazed that after only a few generations, the mechanical bees had formed a caste structure and had started building infants with different qualities: workers who dug the tunnels, repaired the machinery, nurses who tended to the sick and injured, and warriors who protected the workers from wandering Hazards. The mechanical bees were nicknamed "Mechachillids". For generations, the Mechachillids and mine workers worked in tandem, but as the human workers turned into slaves, they grew distrustful of the social robots, who recognized Baelius's authority without question. When the citizens were exiled by Baelius, the Mechachillids were forgotten by the humans, but happy to evolve without human interference. They've been working and living in the tunnels beneath the minetower for a while now, and mostly don't trust any animal who keeps their skeleton on the inside...

Wednesday Livestream at 4pm with Mido!

Mido comes to AQW! If you've played through Etherstorm, you'll have met him already. If you have only played EpicDuel, we can only assure you that he is an awesome artist and now you get to see his incredible art skills in action! This Wednesday at 4PM server time, log in to AQWorlds and /join stream to see Mido take YOUR suggestions and turn them into an awesome in-game item (AQW that is)!

Real Life Kraggor

Kraggor and her people are based on real life animals called Megachillidae: the family that includes mason bees and leafcutter bees. While Kraggor's people are eusocial, many megachillids are solitary, including the creatures which serve as Kraggor's visual reference: the orchard mason bee. This shiny bluish purple bee will find a natural hole or opening in which to build her nest, and she protects her babies by building a house out of mud bricks. They are gentle, industrious bees and rarely sting. They are cosmopolitan across North America, and are efficient pollinators, keeping the pollen on the underside of theory abdomen rather than on their legs like honeybees. They do not produce honey, feeding their young with pollen.

Tags: PAX East Cinderella Nightwraith CS5 Flash development programming livestream Art Bugs Bunnies Promo packs