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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

October 31, 2012

Harvest Bounty

We're super busy getting this release out, so I'll try to keep these DNs brief. First, I would like to congratulate and thank all the talented players / artists who contributed their suggestions. It's always a unique pleasure and challenge bringing your art to life in the game. As a reminder, if you have suggestions in-game will receive the Epic Artist achievement along with your suggestion items for free!

Suggestions Part 1

Part 2

Without further ado, here are the artists with new weapons featured in-game:

..trizzzcentrino..

  • Infernal Cannon
  • Soul Raiser
  • Winter Slayer

 

Dillbagel

  • Blinding Blood
  • Blinding Spirit

 

nikzat

  • Shadow of Darkness

 

Vgvib

  • Trigger Buster Gunblade

 

xDeathGuardx

  • Monstrous Broadsword

 

Reki

  • Mecha Sword
  • Dragon Blade 3012
  • Dark Dragon Blade 3012
  • Dragon Battlegear
  • Dark Dragon Battlegear

 

Mieteor

  • Noxious Talon Set
  • Vile Talon Set
  • Azure Vertex

 

VectosAE

  • Vengeance
  • Dark Vengeance

 

Disturbed (not technically suggestion items, but they're going in regardless :P)

  • Ebil SMG
  • Ebil Energy SMG
  • Blood Katana
  • Soul Katana
  • Rip Sword
  • Vicious Rip Sword

You can pick these weapons up from Snork or Naomi. If you didn't get your suggestions in this time, it doesn't necessarily mean your art wasn't good enough -- we only have so many hours to render your ideas so there's always a chance your work will be selected next time around. Remember to submit your masterpieces to the Official AE Forums!

 

Contest Results

Now it can be told! It wasn't easy, but after much contemplation, our judges have finally returned with a verdict. The 5 winners who will be receiving 1,500 Varium, an achievement, and their style featured permanently in-game are: 

Vypie for his entry of the Conductor Mask!
Conductor's Mask 
Mieteor for his entry of Inferno's Guise

Hot!
Acid Rain for his entry of Serendipity

Serendipity
Peek a BoooooO!
Steal for his entry of Demon Reindeer

Demon Reindeer

 

The Grand Prize Winner for the Spooky Head Design Contest who will be receiving 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 he created added into the game permanently is:

Trizkial for his entry of Pandora's Vestige
Teh Winner!

A hearty congratulations to you all! Competition was VERY tight in this contest, and all the winners here were simply amazing. Please give us until the end of next week to render your entries and award your prizes. If you didn't win, don't fret -- we will be conducting more art contests in the future so keep practicing and Draw On!

 

Hurricane Sandy

As you may have already heard, Hurricane Sandy rocked the Northeast Coast of the US this week. The damage and loss of life was tragic, but recovery efforts are currently underway. If you live in this region, we hope you are safe and secure. Our own Practel was in the path of the storm and I'm happy to report that despite being without power for many hours, he's fine. Thankfully, the storm missed the Lab so we experienced no trouble here!

If you wish to donate to the recovery effort, it is possible to do so on the Red Cross's website.  

 

HeroMart

Heromart

Remeber, AE's own epic merchandise superstore HeroMart has just released THREE new items, two of which unlock a sweet prize in EpicDuel! Check them out now while supplies last!

 

Oversoul!

Do you like games? Of course you do! Otherwise, your visit to this site would not be very fruitful for your, no siree. Well, you'll be happy to know that Artix Entertainment is releasing a new game called Oversoul that's available for open Alpha. Check it out. I hear they have pie!*

*May not actually have pie

That's all for now! Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Tags: Nightwraith suggestions Items Achievements Halloween Contests disaster relief Hurricane Sandy


Cinderella

October 24, 2012

Happy Harvest!

In my part of the world, the leaves are changing, cool air is blowing on one’s face, everyone’s wearing (or, if you’re me, knitting) sweaters hats and gloves, and everything is pumpkin-flavored. Yes, it’s autumnn, and with the cool weather comes Nature’s bounty: a harvest. Delta V’s Harvest Festival is also soon approaching, with the return of last year’s Harvest content. This includes missions, the Harvest Husk, and the Harvest Reaper and Soul Reaper. These powerful limited rare mutating weapons include a 13% chance to attack your enemy with a rain of gourdy pain with the Jack O Fire skill!

The Return!

Remember these? 

The Harvest is also pulling up some new Harvest content, such as the Cardboard Crusader. This armor will be available for credits... though you probably shouldn’t wear it outside in the rain.

Don't wear it in the rain!

 

To commemorate the Harvest of Souls, Snork is forging an item commemorating his people’s history. What is it? Well, he hasn’t told me, but he did say that the most valiant warriors who can prove themselves in armed combat with him will have a chance to hold this mysterious rare item!

 

Oh My Gourd!

The amazing Charfade just revealed that she's created a big ol' pile of pumkins for your home decorating pleasure! Get your home ready for Trick and/or Treating this Friday!

Gourd gravy!

 

I Can Has Suggestions, Plz? 

But that’s not all! After sifting through the bounty of awesome player suggestions, the Player Suggestion Shop will once again be open! Everyone whose item was chosen will receive their item in their inventory (regardless of cost, level, or class) and the Epic Artist achievement!*

Suggestion Shop

*Massive apologies, but the Player Suggestion Shop will take a bit more time to finish. We tried to work through some technical difficulties, but ultimately couldn't finish it for today. We will have it out next Wednesday, fittingly enough, for Halloween! Stay tuned for more previews on Nightwraith's Twitter.

 

Spooooooky Countdown! 

The Spooky Head contest is still going on, but you’re running out of time- the contest ends this Friday, just before midnight Saturday. More details here: http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20723387

 

A Balanced Diet

Speaking of the forums, you may have noticed that, rather than cramming all balance discussions into one topic in EDGD, we’ve implemented a Balance Discussion subforum in the EpicDuel section of the AEF. If you’ve been on the fence about joining the AEF, now seems to be the best time to do so! http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tt.asp?forumid=415

 

Cover Your Torso!

As the cold autumn winds start to blow, now is the perfect time to acquire some coverings for your torsos! To help with this, HeroMart is introducing a new shirt to commemorate our 10 Year Anniversary as a company. Among the bonuses this shirt will give in the other games, in EpicDuel you will receive an exclusive sword, Artix's Triumph.  

Artix's Triumph

Stats

Level: 30
Damage: 32
Strength Req: 30
Dexterity Req: 30
Technology Req: 30
Support Req: 0
Strength +: 2
Dexterity +: 10
Technology +: 10
Support +: 2

 

Something About a Dragon?

In addition to new shirts, HeroMart will also be stocking One-Eyed Doll's latest Album, "Something About a Dragon" which includes music from AE's games! 

World Premiere!

As an in-game reward for purchasing the CD, in EpicDuel you will receive both One-Eyed Axes!  If you missed them in-game, this is the perfect opportunity to pick them up! If you already have them, you'll still have an awesome CD and two weapons you can resell for bonus currency!

One-Eyed Axes!

 

Onward! To Victory!

So, what’s next? After this week, we’ll be plunging into building the next phase of EpicDuel, along with a pretty cool winter event (will it involve yetis? Quite possibly!) and Nightwraith promised to have some preview art up for you guys. Obviously, we’re all very excited about this prospect and we hope our players will be as well! :D

What's this?

Revamped Mercenary concept by Thyton!

Tags: Cinderella Fall Autumn harvest balance Rabble Forums pumpkin Halloween Cardboard Crusader Snork Missions Seasons suggestions Shirts HeroMart


Cinderella

October 17, 2012

What Ebil Lurks?

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


Nightwraith

October 03, 2012

Ebil Dread

The Chairman has been on Delta V for nearly a week and already he grows impatient with his hosts.  His diabolical offerings have kept the citizens from expelling him thus far, but Baelius is still a no-show.  Shuttles are now approaching with a hoards of EbilCorp goons, and the Chairman's promises of wealth and power have swayed some locals to his cause.

Ebil Hazard

Events are escalating quickly as local authorities seem unable to make a move against the EbilCorp incursion.  Will Delta V be under new management permanently?  What are the Chairman's true intentions?  Who taught the Bio Hazard how to tie a tie?  All will be revealed soon!  

Epic Stylin'

'Tis the season to unveil new styles -- 18 to be precise (3 for each base class and gender).  These styles will have an EbilCorp flavor to them.  Visit any style change bot around Delta V to check out these sinister new styles.

Ebil Styles!

Rabblefroth has been hard at work expanding the functionality of our style purchasing system.  After this release, unlocking a single style will unlock all similar styles across all classes (i.e. wolf style, bio hazard, dragon slayer).  We will apply this retroactively to those who have already purchased styles, so you should notice way more styles unlocked when you change classes! 

To further satisfy your hunger for style, we will be offering a new bonus package that includes a jumbo pack of styles!  This promotion will includes new EbilCorp styles.  This does not mean that we will be removing any current promotions, just that we will be adding a new one.

So stylin'!

If you play as a Male Mage or Hunter, you may have noticed that you have fewer basic styles than Mercenaries.  Maybe you haven't.  In any case, we're correcting that oversight by adding 1 new default style to Mages and 2 new default styles for Hunters.  Huzzah!

 

Contest Reminder!

Existing styles not your...uh...style?  Remember, we're hosting a hairstyle design contest in the forums RIGHT NOW!  Submit your creations for a chance to win ALL THE STYLES available in game at the time of contest's end as well as seeing your own design used in game!  You have until the 26 of October, so sharpen those pencils and do your best!

 

Secure Decor

Secure Decore

In case you missed it last week, the seasonal Harvest Festival home items are now available for purchase.  You will also have the opportunity to acquire the beautiful winning posters created for our account safety awareness art contest!  Hang them proudly in your homes to show that you know how to keep your account secure, and encourage others to do the same!

 

Suggestion Shop

The weapons are not ready for this week, but we are currently culling the forums for the best item suggestions for vectorization.  I would like to remind all of those participating that plagarism will not be tolerated.  Furthermore, a comment from a mod or dev like "nice sword" should not be taken as a guarantee that the suggestion will be used.   Art posted on Twitter and FB will not be considered unless it is posted in the forums as well.

Also, be sure to follow our assistant artist, Disturbed's, Twitter for his progress as he vectorizes the best suggestions!  

Disturbing!

Suggestion shops are always a breath of fresh air into the game's expansive inventory and I wish we could do them more frequently.  That said, I have a feeling this shop will be the best one yet!  Thank you and good luck!

Tags: Nightwraith hairstyles contest suggestions promotions Chairman EbilCorp War

 

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