EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

January 07, 2013

It's 2013! Already? When did that happen? How does it feel to have survived yet another apocalypse? I think if you survive 12, you get a free cold cut combo with a drink and chips. That might not be accurate. In any case, we had a busy, bittersweet end to 2012. Our goal was to release Omega before 2012 at all costs, but after a serious dose of reality, we decided our goal in 2013 should be to make the wait for Omega worth it.

For the New Year

The future of EpicDuel post Omega will hinge on gameplay. When all the items in game suddenly become viable options, the dynamics of battle will shift to your build and what skills are equipped to your items.  We will work hard to make the battle engine, the core of EpicDuel, as dynamic and robust as possible to offer interesting experiences in every battle. Tournaments, new battle modes, and new skills will ensure that battles always offer interesting choices.

Omega Progress

Our Twitter pages have been quiet lately, but not for lack of working. The holidays offered a brief interruption in the development routine, and getting back in synch proved to be challenging. For this reason, we've been hesitant to drop more details. However, after today's intense Monday meeting, we decided that it would be best to keep everyone as informed as possible by posting Design Note updates every day until Omega goes live! It may be a tiny blurb or a massive, multi-paragraph summary of a feature. Many of you already know what's releasing in Omega, but I will try to be as informative and interesting as possible!

Although we do not have a formal deadline for Omega, we will inform you as soon as we do! Some have speculated that we will "surprise" you with Omega. This is a profoundly bad idea for such a massive release. We will absolutely inform you of the date as soon as we are confident in our timeline, but also understand that we will not and cannot release Omega until it is in a ready state. We may be able to find features to cut, but the largest part of Omega is the battle engine, and we cannot release a broken battle engine no matter badly we want to release Omega.

We thank you again for your patience, and we hope we can make Omega release to remember!

Golden Yeti Tournament*

Mention of the Golden Yeti Tournament in previous Design Notes may have grabbed your attention. We discussed it further. and we are making a few adjustments / clarifications. First, it will be a 2-week competition instead of a 30-day competition. 30 days is a long time to expect someone to constantly battle at 100% capacity, and seeing someone at the top of the leaderboard with thousands of wins might be discouraging to someone unable to participate at that level.

Second, we will not be offering the Omega Ticket with a promotional package after Omega is live. We are doing this because seriously participating will be more challenging the longer the tournament progresses and entering midway through the event would place a participant at a huge disadvantage. All those who preorder will be able to participate in this tournament as soon as the tournament goes live.

Participation will be simple --  if you preordered you have the ticket. Each PvP victory will automatically earn you points. These points will position you on a leaderboard with other ticket holders. At the end of the competition, the top 100 players in terms of point total will be awarded the Ultra-Rare Golden Yeti as well as a tiered achievement based their standing on the leaderboard. It's more of a competition than a tournament, but if it succeeds, it will be an important stepping stone to a fully realized tournament system!

Some have mentioned that it's not fair to the non-Varium players to restrict this tournament, but the tournament is a special reward for the preorder offer and making it available to everyone would defeat the purpose. Keep in mind that this will not be the last competition of this type -- future contests will be open to a much wider range of players!  

*As of January 9ths DN post, we decided will be adding a buffer of a few days between the launch of Omega and the start of the tournament. This will give everyone a chance to explore all Omega has to offer.

Wiki Recruitment

When we go live with Omega, the EpicDuel Wiki is going to need major help updating all the entries for items.  Stats and requirements as you know them are going out the window, so much of the existing information will be obsolete the second Omega goes live. We are constantly impressed by how quickly the Wiki updates with each EpicDuel release, but they are definitely going to need help for this one.

Please contact a member of the EpicDuel Wiki Staff to find out how you can join the cause and help to keep this great resource as accurate as possible while lessening the burden on the small but dedicated staff. Please do not contact the Devs about being a member of the Wiki Staff as we are not directly involved in it.

To encourage more participation on the Wiki, we will be increasing the value of the coveted Lore Master Achievement by 1000 Rating Points, as well as offering the extremely rare Rabble's Attack Tome sidearm for contributors deemed worthy by the current staff.

Please do not confuse Wiki Staff with Moderators or Developers.  They should not be contacted concerning bugs, account issues, or player reports. Also, please don't send them your passwords. They don't want or need your account information.

Become a Bug Hunter!

Artix.com just unveiled this snazzy new system for reporting bugs! No more tweeting at Devs hoping they'll see your report! No more trying to find the right place to post on the forums! This is your one-stop reporting zone. The bugs will never know what squashed them!

Charity Is Child's Play

One more item before I wrap up this DN post: Child's Play Charity, the charity that raises money year round for toys and money for hospitals around the world! This year gamers showed astonishing generosity and raised a grand total of $5,085,761! That's a lot of happy sick kids! I feel it's an incredible feat and definitely worth sharing.

Can this record be shattered in 2013? Given the track record for boundless gamer generosity, even in times when others are tightening their belts, I have no doubt that record will be obliterated!

Tags: Nightwraith Resolutions Omega Tournament contest Progress Report New Year Child's Play Charity Bug Artix

November 03, 2011

Hi there EpicDuelists, I am super-excited about all of the awesome things coming your way in the week(s) ahead! I don’t even have a witty intro paragraph- let’s dive right in!

Low-Level Love

As awesome and dedicated as our players at or near the level cap are, the vast majority of our players are in the lower levels, so to give new players a more dynamic EpicDuel experience, Charfade’s made a whole arsenal of low-level bazookas for your dueling pleasure! And I’ve written a bunch of new quests- available from Exile Soldier, Habuki, Steve 2.0, Junker 2.0, and ConductorBot- that should help lower-level players get their duel on! If you’re inexperienced, you cannot pass up these sweet rewards!

High-level? We’ll have some nice stuff for you too, especially with our next minievent. Although I suppose you could do these missions as well, there’s certainly nobody stopping you. And if there was, it would be the level 3 guards.

Remember, Remember...

Bonus! Celebrate Guy Fawkes Day a day early with these festive, but sinister masks!  "Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder Treason and Plot"

Harvest Wrap-Up

Harvest Wrap-Up, Harvest Wrap-Up! Let’s finish our Autumn cheer, ‘cause soon Winter will be here!

Harvest gear, quests, etc. will be available until 11/11/11- what’s so important about that day, you ask? Besides the fact that it’s made entirely of elevens,

I’m not sure what makes your face implode, but that’s how this is gonna work.

We’ll be working on a new, experimental feature coming soon to EpicDuel in the coming weeks. I’ll be working very closely with Nythera for this, and I’m actually not too sure how it’ll work yet, so watch this space as we hammer out the kinks!

Winter Preview

As we’re leaving the Harvest behind, we’re all ecstatic to get started working on the next big holiday.  Even in the Dead of Winter, Citizens of Delta V are still able to find reasons to celebrate, and Players will have much to celebrate, since we’ll be able to have full quest chains for this event!

We’ll also be introducing players to new people and a new (to the Players) world. During this event, you’ll be introduced to new allies (and new enemies!) and have a chance to permanently affect the planet’s balance by your actions!

If you follow Nightwraith on Twitter, you’ve been seeing some of his concepts for the new enemies you’ll be facing- the SnowHazards and Frostbiters. The SnowHazards are large and keep warm underneath their thick layers of soft, thick fur, while the Frostbiters are slender and well adapted to navigating the bitter cold ice floes. Both of these creatures were created much like the Hazards- wild creatures were corrupted by Legion scientists, and overtook the wild populations within a few generations. You’ll be called upon to challenge these horrifying Beasts soon enough.

It’s truly incredible to be making something that inspires so much creativity, and seeing the characters you imagined come to life. Nightwraith just showed me his sketches for some of the characters I’d created, and it’s a truly unbelievable and unique experience to see how he’s interpreted my words and brought them to life.

We’ve also been working on a special gift for the players for this release, but this is one we’ll keep tight under wraps!

Mod Packs and Artix Logo t-shirts available at HeroMart

Is your torso suffering from perpetual lack of coverage? Do you need a t-shirt? Maybe one that has a dragon logo on it? If so, then- by golly- you’re in luck! Artix Entertainment Logo t-shirts are now available at HeroMart. For $19.99 plus shipping, you too can look as cool as Dage the Evil!

In addition, the Artix Entertainment Trading Card Game Chaos Mod Pack and DoomWood Mod Pack are now available at both Toys-R-Us and HeroMart. When both packs are purchased, players earn the powerful Paladin Slayer class in Adventure Quest Worlds!

Child’s Play 2011

Tis the season for generosity, and yesterday marked the official launch of Child’s Play Charity’s Holiday Season. Founded by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade fame in 2003, the charity has sent close to nine million dollars in toys, games, and books to children’s hospitals worldwide. The Charity works in two ways: donors can view a hospital’s wish list on Amazon and purchase a gift for the hospital directly, or they can donate directly to the charity via PayPal. When gamers unite, they can make a huge difference, and we hope that some of our players with room in their hearts can spare a thought for a sick child. 

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Insects have limited ability to regulate their internal temperature, and have several mechanisms for surviving in low temperatures. One such mechanism utilized by insects and other arthropods is diapause- a state of dormancy characterized by the seizure of certain metabolic processes and lack of responsiveness to external stimuli. During the induction phase which occurs at a genetically predetermined stage of life, the insect is particularly sensitive to external stimuli in the form of light, temperature, or food chemicals. The Preparation phase follows the induction phase and is characterized by storage of food molecules within the insect’s body to prepare for Initiation of diapause. This is when morphological development ceases, and other physilogical changes take place to prepare the insect’s body for freezing cold. This may be accompanied by behavioral changes, such as the aggregating behavior of Monarch butterflies, who cluster together for warmth following a mass migration. The period of diapause is called the Maintenance phase, and when environmental conditions are once again favorable for growth and development.

Tags: Cinderella Child's Play Charity low level Missions Dage HeroMart merchandise bazookas