EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

October 17, 2012

The EbilCorp war is nearly over, and you have fought valorously against Chairman Platinum and his corporate ninjas in all of AE's games. Yay! EbilCorp was no match for our dedicated players. Congratulations! When the war bar reaches 100%, you can just click the “Claim Prize” button to claim your prize! What is your prize? IT IS A MYSTERY!

By popular request, Kimberly will by offering her One-Eyed Axes in energy and physical flavors as limited quantity item!

Aftermath

The Chairman may be down, but he's certainly not out. Alydriah has personally seen to it that his personal transportation off of Delta V is, shall we say, unavailable, and it would amuse her greatly if you and Kimberly would keep bashing him! You will be able to continue challenging Chairman Platinum for cheevos and lulz.

Being the opportunist that he is, the Chairman will be looking to enlist the help of Delta V's citizens to regain his strength and rebuild his forces. There will be credits and tokens in it for you, but is it worth making a deal with the devil?

Suggestion Shop

Nightwraith and Disturbed are still working on the Player Suggestion Shop, so keep submitting! As Char said during the Livestream, if you're looking to get art in the shop, think 2 holidays ahead!

Speaking of holidays and suggestions, the Head/Hairstyle design contest is still going on, so head on over to the AEF to check out the rules and competition! You have until 11:59PM EST on October 26 so hop to it!

On the Horizon

We mentioned on the Livestream that we're going to be doing some pretty exciting back-end stuff over the next couple months (which means that sometimes content will be lacking, but code will be abundant!) while we prepare to enter into a new development phase!

We're planning on reevaluating and retooling the early-game experience, with tutorials and such to initiate new players into an informative and engaging early game that is up to par with the latest content. EpicDuel has become a very complex game and new players can be easily discourage by the steep learning curve. We've already started outlining/writing the tutorial system.

Rabble and Titan are going to be tearing down the battle engine and retooling it. The ultimate goal is for even those of us on the creative team could create a new skill in the database! Weapons stats, skills, and enhancements will be completely retooled for greater flexibility, like we'd intended originally.

We'll also be "tightening up the graphics," as they say, in our ever present quest to battle framerate slowdowns and bring the older visuals up to par with the latest content.

And certainly not last or least, we'll be able to build at least one major feature (like, say, Tournaments) that are frequently requested by players!

Stay tuned for more developments as we finalize me details!

Said the Spider to the Butterfly...

I'm sure you all missed the insect facts! What, you didn't? Well, I want to talk about butterflies and will not be silenced! There are several examples of insects that mimic their predators in an attempt to avoid being omnomnomed. In the case of tephrid flies in the genus Zonosemata and metalmark moths in the genus Brenthia, markings on their wings and wing-flapping behavior looks very similar to the behaviors of jumping spiders. In laboratory tests, both of these creatures were eaten quickly by nonspider predators, but avoided by jumping spiders. In the case of the butterflies, jumping spiders even returned the displays, indicating that this sort of mimicry is effective against spider predators. Whether they win Halloween costume contests among the arthropods is still a matter of debate.

Tags: Titan Chairman Platinum EbilCorp harvest Ninjas suggestions Kimberly One-eyed Doll Artix

October 12, 2012

This is what happens when you trust executives...or at least allow them to remain on your home planet! The nefarious Chairman Platinum has assembled an army of Corporate Ninjas and freshly recruited Ebil Hazards to take Delta V by force! 

Fortunately for us, the Chairman's enemies are numerous and powerful. One such ally is the newly arrived Kimberly, Space Warrior and professional face-melting guitarist of One-Eyed Doll!

Visit Kimberly in Fortune City, who's happily wading through the Chairman's henchgoons, to receive your assignments.  Delta V has scarcely seen a threat like this and Kimberly knows exactly how to take the Chairman down!

However, before we can take the fight to the Chairman, we need to clear out some of his goons!  Scattered throughout Fortune City and Central Station are EbilCorp minions.  Challenge these minions to fill the War Bar and fire EbilCorp for good!  What is it?  You'll find out after you've expelled EbilCorp from Delta V!  Wouldn't want the Chairman to steal it from you!

Once the bar is full, everyone who participated in the War will receive a rare prize!  Defeating More challenging enemies will award you more points, and give you a better chance of gaining these:

They're barely worth the paper they're printed on, but they ARE printed on very expensive paper.  Sell them back to Delta V merchants for bonus credits!

This is it!  No going back!  Delta V and all of Artix Entertainment is counting on you to defeat EbilCorp!

Cheevo Get!

In lighter news, you can stop by any VendBot to pick up a new, free Achievement! This shiny little badge will show that you were present for this milestone! After the event, it will be gone forever (or until time loops around and we have another 10 year anniversary, but that could be awhile), and those who own it will receive a hefty Rating Point bonus!  Thanks again for letting us make awesome games for you and a pre-emptive thanks for helping us kick the Chairman's butt back into space!

I understand there is also another achievement lurking around.  What is its purpose?  It is a mystery!

New Livestream!

Join us this Sunday at 10AM EDT for a new EpicDuel Artists Livestream!  For those unfamiliar with the streams, we have the Dev team and several mods join us for a live Q and A while Charfade or I draw something.  You can check out some of the previous streams to see what you've been missing and get a feel for what they're like.  If you do join us, please be courteous as we will ban anyone for any misconduct during the stream.  If you miss out, the stream will be recorded for later viewing.

Suggestion Shop?

Disturbed and I are still busy bringing your suggestions to life!  If you haven't posted yet, there's still time to get noticed!  Remember to post your suggestions in the official EpicDuel items suggestion thread!

Tags: EbilCorp Ninjas Platinum 10 Year Anniversary AE Artix Kimberly OED Nightwraith