AQ3D Design Notes/News/Patch Notes

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
Artix Krieger | Monday, July 24, 2017



Posting just BEAK-cause
When is the last time we just, you know... talked? If you just want the cold hard development progress posts, please check back on the next post. This is for those of you who are here for something more. I am not even sure what we are going to talk about yet... but a hundred gold says we will know by the start of the next paragraph header. >_>

NOPE!
Well, it was a nice try.

3rd Time's the charm!
Being 100% serious, I think the #1 secret to accomplishing anything you want in life is persistence. For a good reason too! If you really want to do something-- you need to, you know, actually go do it.

If you are like me, then you have so many ideas that a library full of books could not contain them. But when you go to start doing one... you get a better idea. And a better idea. Or something interrupts you. For whatever reason, it just ends up never happening. Ever have this happen to you? My guess is yes-- this happens to all of us creative types. You may already know this, but just in case you did not... I made nearly one thousand unfinished game projects and experiments before I finally made the original AdventureQuest. (A few a week for fifteen years-- more clumped in bursts than a steady flow.) I had the passion for creating games, but back then, I was not disciplined and persistent enough to finish one. That was until I found myself at a cross-roads and made a very different decision.

Is Artix telling the story of how he almost deleted, and never released the original AdventureQuest?
There was one moment nearly 15 years ago, with my finger hovering over delete key of the L.O.R.E. folder. That was the original name of the AdventureQuest Project. I had just shown the prototype of my game concept to my closest 100 online friends from my Krieger guild's chat. (Ultra weird fact, Edward Snowden was in my guild-- we used to play EverQuest and a private Ultimate Online shard together.) The reaction from my friends was-- not good. Dryden say, "Uh, Artix... I don't know how to tell you this. But this is the worst game I ever played. No one is going to play this." The other comments did not argue with his statement. As you can imagine, I was pretty disheartened.

Continue Game? > Y/N
So as I was hovering my finger over the delete button thinking the exact same thoughts that had kept me in the endless loop of, "Oh well, I will just delete it and start over... maybe next time." I suddenly made a very different decision. Maybe it was because I listened to one of those Tony Robbins tapes. Maybe it was because of what my girlfriend at the time said back to me. Maybe it was the way the actual puppy, Daimyo was looking up at me while I was feeling at my lowest. But I decided that.... "SURE, THIS IS NOT THE GAME I WANT IT TO BE RIGHT NOW. BUT IF I KEEP WORKING AT IT... I CAN KEEP IMPROVING IT UNTIL IT BECOMES THE GAME I AM DREAMING OF. I WILL JUST KEEP MAKING IT BETTER EVERY WEEK."

100 Players
So I made a simple goal so I would not embarrass myself too badly. I said, "If I can get 100 players to play 3 times each... (because if they played less than that they really did not like it) ...then I could consider this a real game, and check it off my bucket list!" Of course, as you know we did not get 100 players. The strange and unusual game attracted tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of players. 15 years later, the original AdventureQuest 3D is still being updated every week. Got our cards in most major stores, got an action figure of my character in Toys"R"Us, got invited to almost every major studio you can think of from that era-- and even got to turn down a signed term sheet for $84 Million dollars. More important than any of that, I live in a world where you, our other online friends, and my team are still creating amazing things every single day. Can you imagine how different life would be if I.... I... had just hit that delete button?

...and done nothing?

So, what are your most precious dreams and desires?
I think there is something to be said for keeping your goals secret. It is almost like telling other people dooms the dream a little. If you know what you want, what you really really want (sorry if that song just got stuck in your head), but are not doing it right now... then you are the person I posted the story above for. This is a little different strategy than Shia Labeouf's super-saiyan-esque pep-talk video. Except you really do need to just do it. I was talking with an aspiring video game maker this morning and after telling me all about the game he dreamed of making, I asked him what his plan was to create it-- because he was super serious about making this game. He said maybe next year >_>. MAYBE NEXT YEAR!? Then proceeded to tell me ten million reasons why he could not do it now, and how he had to wait until all the conditions where right. I politely (ok, maybe a little sternly), told him that what he was doing was the equivalent of waiting until all of the lights were green on the roads to Chicago before driving there. It will never happen. If you want something so badly, then you really, truly, honestly, need to start now. "But I do not know how to do X yet?" O_O ...then go learn it! I had bought him an online Unity/C# course (actually got it for a few people) but like the others he did the first few sections and then stopped. (Yet his played time on a few Steam games is awfully high >_>) If what you are ready resonates strangely familiar... please read the next paragraph carefully.

Three of my favorite quotes

• 100% of arrows never fired... never hit the target
• An Airplane is off course 99% of the time (That is why they have all those controls... to keep re-adjusting)
• The extreme seems to make an impression (I really loved the movie Heathers)

Life is like the original Mario Brothers
In the original Mario Brothers, you started small with 1 health point. It was hard. The better you did, you got bigger, and shot fireballs from your mouth, and it got easier. Sorta... the better you did, the better you do. Life sure seems a lot like that. If you learn how to do something, it sorta sticks with you and gives you an advantage. No matter what it is. But if you want to get good at something that will give you the ultimate advantage-- get good at finishing things. Lots of people start things, but all the great ones finished and released them. So if there really is something deep inside you that you must do in life-- accept this real life quest of doing a small, easy to achieve goal as your first step of it. Turn the quest in when you finish it. And if this message is not for you, then thank you for reading and being so supportive of the those who are undertaking their personal adventures.

Me too. I need to finish my new Goals
Trust me when I say, I know what I said above is not easy. I am 100% committed to completing my goals and promises. It may be taking me longer than expected, but I certainly will never give up. Ever.

May we all be relentlessly persistent.

 

Probably one of my favorite design notes from Artix

 

MASTER VAULT NEWS
Artix Krieger | Thursday, July 27, 2017



One word.... "Keysword!"
If you also want a second word, "Keystaff!" -- The Bank is almost ready, and with it will be the Master Vault. This area was not in the original design of the bank, but after listening to early feedback we created it to give the Bank its own questing area. Dage created a few new reward items that you can earn by completing the Master Vault's storyline.

Bank Development Progress
We have been in heavy crunch time on this new area. We were supposed to go live yesterday. *looks at watch* And then today. *looks at watch* But since we are still fixing and adding things to make it better and more fun... so tomorrow sounds good to me! Keep an eye on my @ArtixKrieger twitter-- I will post mini updates of our progress. Wish us luck. You know, I do not actually wear a watch. Does anyone wear watches any more? I just look at my phone. How about you?

A few other things!

• Rabblefroth is doing a 3rd pass on the new AQ3D Class mechanics-- they are getting REALLY FUN!
• I owe you a post just on the upcoming new class skills and new classes.
• While you wait, over at AdventureQuest Worlds they have an awesome new saga "The Seven Deadly Dragons" happening. And each day you login, you have a shot at winning 1,000 AdventureCoins just for logging in each day (A LOT Better odds than the lotto... worth popping in each day)

 

THE BANK IS NOW OPEN!
Artix Krieger | Monday, July 31, 2017


WELCOME TO THE BANK OF BATTLEON
Within the Bank of Battleon you will find The Master Vault, Security Runs, Ornithons (first look at the bird-like race), Keyblades, Keystaffs, Monicles, Nightlocke upgrades, and more. The bank is a level 6 area, with scaling adventures and rewards for heroes of all levels.



NEW ITEMS IN THE BANK

• Monicle (Security Rank 5)
• Top Hat (Security Rank 5)
• Top Hat & Monicle (Why not both?, Security Rank 5)
• Plutocrat Long Coat (Security Rank 3, Crafting)
• Plutocrat Gloves (Security Rank 2, Crafting)
• Plutocrat Boots (Security Rank 1, Crafting)
• Plutocrat Belt (Security Rank 4, Crafting)
• Black Raven Wings (DCs)
• Black Raven Head Morph (DCs)
• Vault Keeper Robes (Gold... and it's GREEEEEN!)
• The Letter Opener (Gold)
• Plague Doctor's Master (Craftable, Security Rank 10)
• Ornate Nightlocke Weapon Upgrades (Craftable, Security Rank 10)
• Chrono Vault Keyblade (Reward for completing Master Vault)
• Legion Chrono-Keystaff (DC / Unlocks after Master Vault)
• ...there are other items in there too.

THE MASTER VAULT
Want to see the physical location where every hero's bank vault is located... including yours? Enter the Master Vault... if you can. It is and most important of the Bank's three vaults. Just be careful in there, I hear the gold portal is prone to breaking.



SECURITY VAULT RUNS - SOLO, 2, AND 5 PLAYER
We listened to your feedback about Random Adventures and are trying something out in the bank release. You can now choose to run the bank's random adventures solo, 2-player, or 5-player. We balanced it so it was winnable if you played alone, a little faster with a friend, and the 5-player version is a challenge, but an extremely rewarding one.



THIS RELEASE FEELS "ALIVE"
We really hope you enjoy the bank. It still feels like we are getting better with each new release. The first time I walked in the bank and saw the Ornithons, I had that feeling of wonder-- you know the kind that Harry Potter movies gave me. I was surprised when I saw another player tweet the same thing. While this release started small, it ended up MUCH LARGER than expected. This release has me really excited for what is next... starting with Greenguard and Ashfall's Part 3. We will be assembling them while the coders get a major game version update ready. Until then, have fun and... oh! I have a post on classes coming up for you next.

Battle on!

 

Let's see if the key swords get staff variants and vice versa!

 

This release was good and i enjoyed it and i really liked those hints for future that were given during a quest in The Master Vault, it was a nice touch.

The Master Vault was a quite big place to move around and all that sweet loot, gems and chests it was like a heaven.

Quests were linear and not really that difficult (i am level 17 so that is not a surprise and even if i was at proper level, difference would not have been even that big).

Overall it was a good release and now i can't wait for Ashfall part 3!

 

Discussing Classes
Artix Krieger | Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Q: What do you want to be when you level up?
A: Everything.
"Warrior, Mage, Rogue, Paladin, DragonSlayer, Ninja, Necromancer, Guardian, Alpha Pirate, Ranger, Shaman... today we talk about these things!"

Ultimate freedom of customization is at the core of all the AdventureQuest games. Want to be an axe wielding healer who wears an armored ninja gi? Go for it! Furthermore, you can switch between any and all of the classes you unlock. Which right now, is very limited-- but that is about to change.

Philosophy for 60+ Classes
Collecting and leveling up classes is one of the most fun parts of the previous AdventureQuest games. It follows a few philosophies that are important to understand.

First, we like being able to do and experience "pretty much anything" on our hero.

Second, we want to make sure you can always play with your friends. Switching between classes instantly solves the problem of "we need a healer" or "we need more DPS!" or any other type of challenge. Also, as monsters get smarter and have new skills, your party will be able to change strategies.

Third, trying out new classes is fun and leveling them up is rewarding. Especially since we are planning a story-line for each major class.

We have A LOT of classes coming, which makes the philosophy behind designing them so important.

1. Classes should be fun and interesting to play.
2. Each Major Class must be different.
3. Each class must serve a purpose/role.
4. Each class will use a resource (like Mana).
5. Some classes are general use, and some for more specific use (Mage vs Fire specialized Pyromancer)
6. Classes need to be easy to switch between (not requiring you to change your gear or do a bunch of settings each time).
7. Some many be easy to acquire, some many be hard (i.e. maybe Healer + Knight = Paladin).
8. You should be able to collect them all (i.e. You can have both a Vampire Knight or a Werewolf Warrior).
9. Weapon types must be universal equip slots (Yes, we are adding bows and dual wield hand cannons).
10. Did we mention fun?

Instead of mana, some classes will use their own thing!
Not every class uses magic or mana but each class will use some kind of resource like mana. Magi will still use mana. Guardians will use Dragon Magic. Alpha pirates will use bullets or scurvy or something. Other classes like Warriors and Rogues may use resources similar to rage, stamina, blood-thirst, or combo points as you may be familiar with from other games. That is, they start with 0 resource, and increase it with successful attacks.

What order classes will be released in?
Before we add a bunch of new classes, we have been hard at work on fixing the existing classes' skills. Rabblefroth has been helping us re-balance and tune up Warrior, Rogue, Mage, and Guardian. I met with him this morning and reviewed all the changes in progress. For example, you can now move while casting spells on the Mage class. Fireball's cast time has been significantly reduced. Many of the mage spells have changed and there have been a bunch of other "feels fun" changes. Ice lance is a nice new projectile attack, cannot wait to see it with art in game.


(Dage's concept art for two of the new Mage spells... including the Ultimate)

In fact, Rabblefroth has redone all of the classes. Each class now has an "Ultimate Skill." For example the Mage's Ulstimate Skill an area of effect rain spell which rains fireballs down in a area, dealing damage to all enemies near the mage. Combat overall has become slightly faster, and the former auto-attack button is being replaced with a skill. This will let us do some neat things like filling up a resource gauge by landing normal hits (i.e. my original plan for Guardian.)

Finishing our base classes 1st (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, and Guardian)
Tomorrow, Rabblefroth is going to have a pretty close to final version of our base classes. Korin created new animations that we will be using for some of the new skills. The previous super big, jumping, mega-crazy animations will be used mostly for the Ultimate skills. There is a little more animation / server-timing complexity that I do not have time to fully explain here, but I will keep you posted regularly on the progress-- I am so excited to get these out for testing.

Bow and Dual Pistols classes!?
We will be adding equip slots for bows, dual pistols/crossbows, and hand weapons (aka brass knuckles). Certain classes will only use these special types of weapons. For example, our first class to use bow will be Ranger. If you do not have a bow, you will have access to a default bow. Very much the same way if you somehow manage to delete all your weapons, the game automatically gives you a sword. The first class to use dual pistols this will be Alpha Pirate (which is a Kickstarter exclusive reward).

Do not worry, there will be other dual wielding classes in the future. Our biggest challenges with these special weapon types is that they use special animations-- and will not work nicely with the skills of other classes (like using archer skills while having a war-hammer equipped). There has been months of back and forth over how to handle this particular issue. Given the technical limitations of the devices we are supporting, this will be our best and fastest to implement plan. We are also experimenting with how we can have dual-wielding classes >_>.

Class Ranks, Skills, and Passive Skills
When you get a new class it will be Rank 0 and you will only have one or two skills available. Just by playing the class you will rank it up. The skills will unlock very quickly. The first time you get to use your Ultimate should *coughs* literally be a blast From then on, ranking up will increase your passives making your skills and defenses even better. As they say, "A class should not be judged until it is rank 10." For major classes with storylines, Class Ranks will likely play a role in unlocking special armor pieces for that class. Inversely, you may need to complete certain quests to level up some classes.

Plan for Necromancer, Paladin, DragonSlayer, Ninja, Healer, and Shaman
Once the base classes are finished, we are going to immediately dive into DragonSlayer. It would be nice if we had it in time for Ashfall: Part III, but then again... it would have been nice if Paladin was ready for DoomWood. Our best course is to complete these properly and release them when they are fun and properly made. Especially Necromancer... which, if we hit our goals, will be a ton of fun and play unlike anything you have ever seen before O_O.

Legendary Kickstarter Backers
Holding true to our promise, we will be releasing the classes listed in the Kickstarter for the backers who pledged at that level to test first. When they are ready for testing, they will be obtainable at the Founder's Sancturary where all the Kickstarter rewards are located. If you were wondering why the Shaman class has been mentioned in each of these posts, it is going to be released for all players along with one of our two World Designer Backer's areas-- which is going to be really cool.

A Few More Thoughts on Classes
Needless to say, I am extremely eager to use the Paladin class. Which is a major class. There are also going to be sub-classes like Undead Slayer and Holy Defender. Actually, we could use your help coming up with a better name for the term "sub-class". But these are derivative classes offer variants to Paladin, which is a solid "all around use" class. Where Undead Slayer is very specialized for doing massive damage against the undead, but sacrificing defense as well as power vs other types of enemies. And Holy Defender is a more tank-like build that can take a bigger beating in exchange for giving up attack power. So if you like playing one type of class, you will still have different flavors of it to play in different situations.

I think we can all agree that the classes are one of, if not THE MOST important part of AdventureQuest 3D. It is the heart of the game. We will instantly know if the upcoming re-done base classes are right, because you will saw, "WHOA! This is so much more fun!" we are 100% committed to getting that response... and we will keep iterating until we do.

Battle on!

 

FACE TIME
Artix Krieger | Monday, August 7, 2017


Freedom. Make your AdventureQuest 3D character more you!
We are in the final stretch developing our new character customization features. You will be able to change your character's eye color (yes, we are adding black), lip color (yes we are adding black), add hair braids (yes, both male and female), and mustaches and beard (yes.. um... both male and female!) New hair styles, skin tones, and geometry tweaks to make our art style a little more DragonFable-esque.We are also adding additional skin tones including "vampire/gothy pale", "darkelf blue", "Hulk green", "Atlantian teal", and a few more including the self describing, "Smurf."

WHY!? OMG.... JUST WHY!?
While doing major updates, devs must endure a period of time where things are strange-- like "everyone's lips are blue" or "no one has a face." Today was one of those days. So to celebrate, I tossed a screenshot of a faceless NPC wandering around town on Twitter and asked players to "fill my dreams with sweet, sweet nightmares." It only took them a few minutes O_O.



I posted a gallery of all of these to AdventureQuest 3D's Facebook page

This week in AdventureQuest 3D
As you may already know from previous design notes, we are "code locked" this week. Which means we cannot roll out any new files. But being the Mr. Mc'Smarty Pally-Pants (Not actual professional title, yet) that I am, we pre-uploaded some goodies so we could have a micro release for you Thyton made an entire Frost Warrior set, and Yergen has a bunch of unreleased Keyblades and Keystaffs. On the development front, Llusion is finishing up the final boss fight & area work on Ashfall: Part III. Meanwhile, Yergen and Cysero are laser-sight focused on the new Greenguard-- which in addition to being Ashfall/Bank quality, will introduce a new major character and *gulps* AdventureQuest 3D's main storyline! Xero is changing all of the hairs and helms to work with the new female model, as well as finishing up 5 new female and 5 new male hairs. He had just completed a bunch of new shoulders and helms-- which Dage and Thyton are using to make some CRAZY new item rewards for Ashfall. Zhoom was out the past two days, but the coding team has been diligently working on all of the upcoming feature releases. The biggest one for you will be the class re-balancing that Rabblefroth is working on. He needs Korin to help with the missing animations the moment he finished the Greenguard opening cinematic. The biggest one for us is the new map building system, which in the short run is super painful because we have to update every map in the game and get all the bugs worked out of new, slightly more complex admin tools... but in the long run will allow us to do things we have never been able to do in any of our previous games. (Like wars that can change an area) Oishii reads all of your bug reports and has been prioritizing the ones to fix while working on the new classes too. Me? Well... I wrote the design doc for Greenguard Forest. #MakeItSoNumberOne

 

10 NEW KEYSWORDS & KEYBLADES JUST ADDED!
Artix Krieger | Friday, August 11, 2017



Get the perfect Key-Weapon to match your unique style
If you have not seen the new bank yet, you just got 10 more really good reasons. After completing the "MASTER VAULT" you will be able to create Key Weapons.

We just added 10 more Key-Weapons...

• Earthen Keysword
• Chaotic Keysword
• Purity Keysword
• Shadow Keysword
• Crimson Keystaff
• Platinum Keystaff
• Aqua Chrono-Keystaff
• Harmony Chrono-Keystaff
• Fury Chrono-Keystaff
• Chrono Vault Keystaff

All of the new Key Weapons are craftable
You will find these new Key weapons on Hootenhiem. Just be sure to complete all of the Master Vault quests first. They are all craftable using security badges. If you have been following the design notes, you already know we have some big releases coming your way. This week we have been converting all our maps to the new system, so we hope you appriciate this small "something to do while we convert every map in the game to our new system release."

P.S. The new character customization options (including beards, braids, staches, lip color, eye color, and more skin colors) is coming along great so we will be releasing the new interface in the next AdventureQuest 3D release. Until then... onward to Key-Weapons!

 

This week in AdventureQuest 3D we are going to open a PTR (Public Test Realm.) All players will be invited to help test maps, colors, & more

Artix Krieger on Twitter

 

Do you have a confirmation on when it starts?

 

I'm not sure when but since it's already thursday fingers crossed on either today or tomorrow

 

Iron Berserker set just released!
Artix Krieger | Friday, August 18, 2017



The Iron Berserker set is here!
Craft the amazing new armor and axe set at Cysero's forge. It is rumored that the markings on this armor have a very special meaning to the Iron Berserker who live in the Frozen Northlands.



You can craft this new set using the Battle Gems that you earn from random adventures.



Something to do while you wait for.... O_O
We snuck the Iron Berserker set into the game so you would have something to do while we finish up the next major release of AdventureQuest 3D. Coming very soon we will have the new customization options including beards, mustaches, braids, eye colors, lip colors, and new female faces, and more. We will release updated Greenguard Forest 2.0 which was rewritten with the fun and humor you expect from our games, and most importantly... you will at last meet one the most important characters in the AdventureQuest 3D's main story line.

 

Looks super hot!

 

Thanks for this ^^

 

Nice effort. Thanks ^^

 

updates are the best updates

 

Awesome! this is a very convenient thread thank you dude!

 

extremely easy to access info :O nice!~!!

 

so many social networking places to get access to this :'o