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EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

Behind the scenes information about EpicDuel's development and releases, a real-time PVP MMO that you can play online in your web browser.
Nightwraith

August 08, 2013

Fire Ze Missiles!

Missiles Incoming

Covering Fire!

EpicDuel is finally rolling out the heavy artillery for the Dread War. Capture and upgrade turrets to fire upon opposition War Objectives within the various regions of Delta V. Turrets can be upgraded by filling the control bar. The more heavily an alignment dominates a turret, the further it will upgrade.

To fire a turret, simply click on it as you would an NPC. You can then select an option to fire the turret, select your target, then fire. The turret will fire in real time and those on the target screen will see the impact! Remember, you can only fire turrets that your alignment controls so it is imperative to capture and hold turrets to maintain a tactical advantage in any region in which they are present.

 

Titan's Triumph

Soon we will be celebrating the birthday of everyone's favorite Delta V demi-god: Titan. This mighty being uses technology so advanced, it is indistinguishable from magic. Some believe he created Delta V through sheer force of will. These people are quickly dismissed as fanatics, but there is no denying his awesome power.

Visit Titan in his Frysteland lair to collect new mutating weapons and a mighty new sword: Titan's Triumph. These will be limited in quantity so you had better be quick!

Titan Always Triumphs!

Hmmmm...seems a bit sketchy.

Energy Titan

Energy Titan

Also returning will be Titan's Burger Bike! 

 Omnomnomnom

Omnomnomnom.

The image speaks for itself.

 

Core Continuum

We are adding additional Active Cores to the roster of Charge Cores. Each use in battle will deplete a Core charge. We're hoping to have enough time to implement some completely new Charge Cores for your battling enjoyment. Could they be Titan-themed? Perhaps...

 

VendBot Upgrade

One of the oldest and most prolific NPCs in EpicDuel is the humble VendBot. These little guys have seen the evolution of EpicDuel from the earliest Alpha days to the modern Omega phase. In that time, they've traded their inventories of obsolete boosters to Cores. Their old technology can barely contain the demand so they've been refitted for extra capacity to provide you with the latest and greatest hardware upgrades, serving as a one-stop core shop.

VendBot Facelift

Someone's been working out!

Miss the old design? Don't worry, the original will still be around in a few remote places of Delta V. 

Tags: War Nightwraith Titan Birthday Rares Bike Mutating Weapons Turrets Objectives Cores


Cinderella

June 13, 2013

Daring Design Notes

The battle lines are drawn.

The Dread War is coming!  Tensions between Legion and Forces are at an all-time high, and Delta V is poised to explode into all-out war June 21st.  Will you fight for Freedom with the Exiles or battle in the name of Order alongside the Legion?  This Friday, we will be launching the complete Dread Plains area, along with a new map / navigation system. Travelling the entirety of Delta V has never been quicker or easier!

 

Choose Your Destiny!

Starting this Friday, all EpicDuelists will be called upon to select an alignment to participate in the upcoming war.  For those of you just joining us, this means you must choose to fight for the Exiles or Legion. I have taken the liberty of describing the corresponding alignments thusly:

Exile

Exile

The Exiles seek to overthrow Baelius and liberate Delta V from his tyrannical regime.  To cast off this oppressive yoke and ensure a future free of terror and corruption, The Exiles must first defeat Baelius’ fiercely loyal minions: The Legion. 

Legion

Legion

The Legion believe that obedience and order are the keys to Delta V’s salvation.  However, this dream cannot be achieved without first destroying the world’s greatest threat to peace and stability: The Exiles.

Choosing an alignment is not as simple as “good” and “evil” – both alignments have similar goals, but drastically different means of achieving them.  Choose carefully – you will be able to change alignment later, however, to encourage loyalty, the price will be steep!

 

Bye-Bye Battle Tokens*

After much deliberation, as of next week’s update (June 21) Battle Tokens are being discontinued. Initially, Battle Tokens were intended as a currency based entirely on a player’s effort alone, since they could not be purchased with Varium packages and could only be earned through battle victories. However, since we no longer offer credits with packages, making credits an effort currency, it no longer makes sense to keep Tokens. They will be replaced by credits at a fixed rate, so you'll see a nice little windfall based on how many tokens you currently have. Token Boost will also be removed, and achievements will cost credits rather than Tokens. Missions awarding battle tokens will be altered to award credits rather than tokens at a fixed rate.

 

War Banners*

As we phase out Battle Tokens, War Flags will be transitioned into War Objectives, which will be captured and controlled by Faction and alignment battles, not donations. For the time being, however, the top contributor of each War Flag will own the War Objective for that Faction's alignment. So, if the Legion Faction “The Sparkling Vampires” holds the War Flag in “The Land of Terrible Fiction,” then they would be the first to claim the War Objective for the Legion in that area. But we are making these Objectives more challenging than simply dumping Battle Tokens into a flag. Also, there will be a control cap on each Objective, meaning that an alignment cannot build and insurmountable lead on an Objective.

Control Array

These new War Objectives will come in the form of radar stations, turrets, shield generators, propaganda towers, and many other tactically valuable assets. Many regions of Delta V will have one or more of these Objectives ripe for the capturing. Some Objectives will even grant you bonuses toward defending or attacking other objectives, creating an interesting hierarchy of Objectives and adding new strategies to the global war.

*These features are still in development and the details may change by June 21st. We will keep you informed of any changes.

 

Delta V World Tour 2013

Map of the World

Travelling has never been easier. In order to allow players to jump quickly to each War Objective, we added multiple jump points on each region. You will be able to see at a glance which areas are contested, and which are firmly under Legion or Exile control.

 

Bike Night

Our special guest artist, the great Nulgath, has been gracious enough to lend his skills to EpicDuel for the construction of an epic new bike!  Strike fear in the hearts of your enemies as you tear across the battlefields in this demonic creation!

 

Insect Facts Yay!

Most people while visiting the plant store would be outraged to find a late-instar caterpillar on one of the store's plants for sale. Most people however, are not me. Papilo polyxenes or the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly lays its eggs on members of the Apiaceae or carrot family. I discovered my new friend happily nomming on some curly parsley, but females will oviposit on carrots, dill, Queen Anne's Lace, and fennel but will also accept rue as a more novel host. The early instar caterpillars resemble bird droppings in shape and coloration, but after molting are characterized by black bands and yellow spots. Short-photoperiod (fall) caterpillars that will overwinter as pupae are brown and long-photoperiod (summer) caterpillars who do not pupate so long are green. One pretty cool thing about these guys is that the caterpillars have a gland held behind the head capsule called the osmenterium. It's an orange, forked gland that resembles horns or a snake's tongue (swallowtail caterpillars tend to have characteristics that are snakelike to fool predators) and smells pretty terrible. After the caterpillar has eaten all he or she can possibly eat, it will pupate within a suspended chrysalis, which can be either green or brown depending on the environment. Upon eclosion (emergence from the pupal casing) the butterfly's gender can be determined by wing markings. Wings of both sexes are mainly black with a conspicuous orange spot, but males have a yellow band at the bottom of the hindwing and females have an iridescent blue band. This species is common throughout the North American continent and is the state butterfly of Oklahoma.

Tags: War Cinderella Legion exile PvP Flags Alignment Nulgath Bike


Cinderella

July 17, 2012

Break on Through to the Other Side

Go, Exiles, Go...#RandyNewman

Congratulations, Exiles, for felling the second Vault door. With things as they stand right now, it’s anyone’s game and the Exiles and Legion will both have to work hard to punch through the remaining doors.

Before going on, I want to clear up some rumors that have been floating around. No, the Administration is not playing favorites with alignment. Both Exiles and Legion had equal chance to get the Vault Breaker II Achievement, and yes, Legion had to wait 2 extra hours to unlock level 35. There was also no help from the Administration for the Exiles- we did not orchestrate the Exiles winning one Vault.  We want this war to be fun and fair and we will not do anything, nor have we done anything, to artificially alter the course of the War. This is all you, guys!

That said, let’s get into the meat of it!

 

Vaulting Vaults

This Vault Door will be the final Vault Door before the Big One. The Alignment that breaks down this door will have exclusive access to the Vault Breaker III achievement, as well as the powerful Magma Grenade, which weakens the Vault’s shields and makes subsequent attacks more damaging!

Magma Grenade

Both sides will have access to new Auxiliary weapons in both credit-only and varium flavors: The Mecha Disintegrator and Mecha Launcher, Super Mecha Destroyer and Super Mecha Launcher. These weapons will have the special ability Infernal Spirit, combining with the sidearms and Mechachillid armors for maximum damage and defense against the Vault!

Mechachillid Bazookas!

In addition, you’ll have access to the Mechachillid Cruiser! Vroom Vroom!

Vroooooom *scuttle scuttle scuttle*

We will also be adding TWO additional tier to the Vault Cracker achievement to reward players who are really, REALLY punishing those Vault doors!

Vault Cracker 2 and 3

 

New Missions

Having trouble getting bombs to drop? Well, Players should report to their Lieutenants (Valestra for the Legion and Ulysses for the Exiles) for mission chains that will award all kinds of grenades, as well as some insights into some of the characters’ motivations. I had great fun thinking about Habuki and his character, his past, etc. This chain will unlock another short arc about the St. Alban family and their issues, including some answers about why Cinderella supports the Legion, while her father and sister support the Exiles. This chain will also award more war grenades.

 

Security Awareness Art Contest Winners!

Thank you to each and every one of you who entered the Art Contest! We’ve gone through every submission; we saw a lot of great art, and a lot of... interesting art and finally narrowed it down to the winners! So, without any further ado, congratulations to the following players!

First, the Honorable Mentions. These players will be awarded an achievement reflecting their excellence!

 

Wind: “EpicDuel Moderator Squidlings, Working Hard to protect you”

EpicDuel Moderator Squidlings, Working Hard to Protect You

 

Ddog 81: “The BAN-HAMMER!”

The BAN-HAMMER

 

Shadow2221: “Free Varium... are you kidding me?”

Free Varium...Are You Kidding Me?

 

Blocky Bounty: “Nothing in life is free”

Nothing in Life Is Free

 

luminitos: “EpicDuel’s Ten Most Wanted List”

EpicDuel's Ten Most Wanted List

 

The First Place Winners will be awarded an achievement plus an exclusive home item and 1500 Varium!

 

2046808: “Authority!”

Authority

 

mieteor: “My Precious”

My Precious

 

Battle Elf: “Don’t let evil trick you!”

Don't Let Evil Trick You

 

And finally, the Grand Prize Winner, who gets the cheevo, home item, and 10K varium package is...

Be Smart, Play Safe!

..trizzzcentrino.. for the entry “be smart, play safe”!

 

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks again to all who participated. Also, if you didn’t win, don’t get discouraged- it doesn’t mean that your artwork was bad or sub-par, only that it wasn’t what we were looking for at this time. Thank you for participating!

*Achievements and in-game home items won't be awarded until the release on Friday.

Tags: Cinderella Grenades Infernal Infiltration War Auxiliary Bike Exiles Legion


Cinderella

February 22, 2012

The Heart Breaketh

Heartbreaker Saga Continues

For this round of missions, report first to NegaWraith for your orders. This will be a very dangerous endeavor for all those involved, mostly because you will be tangling with Alydriah's fearsome Alydroids! However, bringing down Alydriah’s citadel is worth the effort and the risk.

The time has come for action, Exiles. Administrator 12’s Legion Resistance has made all the necessary preparations. If you haven’t completed the Heartbreaker missions thus far, you’ll want to complete these missions prior to going forward.

This will also lead to the explosive conclusion of the Heartbreaker Saga, and its associated rewards.

 

From Broken to Mint

It seems like a lot of players are really enjoying the PvP drops. Have you won anything awesome this week? This week, to increase the excitement, we are adding a new class of item to the PvP drops: broken items! This may not seem like a bonus at first, but these weapons will be versions of Varium weapons, and some genius- say Ulysses- might be able to repair them to full functionality for a small Varium fee that is a % of the regular purchase price.

 

Founder Appreciation

With the EpicDuel anniversary coming up, we would like to give our Founders a special reward. In thanks for supporting us when we were a small project made by two young men working out of a two-bedroom apartment. Today, our staff has doubled and we work out of a small office. Movin’ on up, baby!

In appreciation of those who supported us in the early days, we are giving every Founder and Elite player a special item: the Founder Bike! Those with the Founder achievement will be able to ride in style on this exclusive hoverbike.  You can acquire this exclusive item by visiting Negawraith (who has been kind enough to stash these bikes) in Fortune City and taking the bike from his inventory.

Founder Bike!

Tags: Cinderella Heartbreaker NegaWraith Founders Broken Weapons PvP Drops Missions Bike

 

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