EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

October 05, 2011

I Hear the Wind Blow

Welcome to Autumn, Northern Hemisphere EpicDuelists! Here on Delta V, the planet’s axis is shifting, bringing colder weather to the main continent. This can only mean that the Harvest Festival is coming soon- nearly every culture in the known Universe has some sort of celebration to commemorate the harvest of crops, and when the colonists came to Delta V, they brought their old traditions with them. Here’s what players can expect in the weeks ahead:

Put it to the Test

We’re still hoping to have the retrain revamp done by Friday. For those of you who missed this page last week, the new system would allow you to level up with one click, and eliminate the need for continuous retrains, which can be especially annoying at higher levels!

Balance updates are still being built and tested, so I’m not sure if we’ll have them for Friday. One thing I’ll confirm (that’s been going around as a rumor) is that Field Medic will be getting an overhaul, and the Tactical Mercenary class will also be getting an overhaul. I know that this will upset some of our players (especially those who play as Tactical Mercenaries), but it really isn’t fair to players to have the entire game overrun with a single, very powerful class.

Stand On Your Own Head

The Candy Harvest on Delta V is a tradition where citizens all wear disguises and collect sweets and other prizes from business owners and other upstanding citizens. In antiquity, this was done to ensure generosity and prosperity for another year, but over the years it became an excuse for Delta V’s younger citizens to beg everyone around for confections. You can share in this tradition with new Halloween-themed hairstyles and armors.

This week, we’ll also be bringing back last year’s Halloween home items, and next week we’ll be bringing out the NEW home items and other awesome things for you.

Spoiler Alert!

We have plans for some new mutating weapons, seasonal styles,  class-changing armors (because why should only one class get all the fun?), and more!

Be prepared for some new missions as well- I’m working on my first missions for the game, and I have some pretty ambitious ideas I can’t WAIT to tell you about, along with fleshing out the world’s mythos.

Join Us!

As you’ve probably already seen on the AQW Design Notes, beginning Friday, October 14th, AdventureQuest Worlds will be hosting a very exciting Birthday Event, featuring none other than internationally-acclaimed, long-running alternative rock band They Might be Giants.

If you’ve never heard of TMBG, I can understand. They’re kind of a group that seem to be everywhere- they’ve done music for commercials (“Things are what we like to do...”), television shows (“you’re not the boss of me now, you’re not the boss of me now...”), and movies (“Making up a little song about Coraline...”), but remain firmly out of the mainstream. Their album Flood was certified Platinum (~20 years after its release), and they’ve won Grammys for “Boss of Me”, the theme to Malcolm in the Middle and Here Come the 123’s, and were nominated for Here Comes Science. You’ve probably heard the song “I am a Paleontologist” from Here Comes Science used in a shoe commercial. Founding members John Flansburgh and John Linnell have been performing together as They Might be Giants since the 1980s, and they released their self-titled debut album (known to fans as The Pink Album- I suspect that it’s Beleen’s favorite) in 1985.

So, Join Us!

Now that you’ve read the interesting bits of the DNs post-

I know that I’ve gotten flack from players before about advertising events from other games in the EpicDuel Design Notes, but I hope you can forgive me for this. As Cysero said in his design notes on the subject, pretty much everyone here at AE is completely obsessed with They Might be Giants, and for many of us they were the first band we really got into. I can’t really say that- I got into them about 4-ish years ago, when I was an undergraduate. I was able to acquire two free tickets to see them in concert, and at the time I was relatively unfamiliar with their work (I knew “Istanbul, Not Constantinople” and “Particle Man”, but little else). Nightwraith begged me for my extra ticket, and we went. Due to my high tolerance for pain, we were able to snag spots right by the front of the stage by sitting through a truly terrible opening act, and when John and John and Dan and Dan and Marty got on the stage, the power of live music took over, and I had an amazing time, singing along to “Why Does the Sun Shine?”, and Flansburgh even let me touch his guitar. That night, I bought Flood and The Else, which remains one of my favorite albums of all time. The band has inspired me greatly, with songs that make me laugh (“You’re older than you’ve ever been, and now you’re even older...”), cry (“It’s a new year, careful what you pack, there’s no turning back...”), fall in love (“Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch that watches over you, make a little birdhouse in your soul...”) or right out confused me (“I’m goin’ down to Cowtown, the cow’s a friend to me. He lives beneath the ocean, and that’s where I will be!”) I also largely credit the band for the fact that I’ve taken the time to teach myself guitar and bass.

So, assuming that most of that’s going to get cut, (or TL;DR) TMBG is a big deal for all of us here at AE, so I’m happy to squee over the band. 

The Bee of the Bird of the Moth

This week’s Insect Fact is close to my heart, since it involves members of the family Sphingidae- hawkmoths. There are several moths in Sphingidae that are known as “Hummingbird Moths”- across Europe and Asia the species Macroglossum stellatarum is called the hummingbird moth or the Hummingbird hawkmoth. Like all hawkmoth caterpillars, the caterpillars are green and have a curved spike on the posterior end, giving them the common name of “hornworm”, and the larvae feed on bedstraw (Robin run the hedge), while adults prefer Jasmine and other sweet-smelling flowers. The adults make a distinctive “humming” noise while hovering to feed. In the US, the genus Hemaris is commonly known as the Hummingbird clearwing moth, or the “Bee-Moth”, as  some species (particularly the Snowberry Clearwing moth) have coloring similar to bees. No hummingbird moths are considered pest insects, and are often a welcome visitor to night-blooming gardens, as they are important pollinators.

The song “The Bee of the Bird of the Moth” by They Might Be Giants appears to be in reference to these creatures (“It’s just a hummingbird moth acting like a bird who thinks it’s a bee”). 

Tags: Cinderella