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=WF= Storyline Developers' Notes

 
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5/22/2009 10:05:31   
Falerin
Legendary Loremaster


Many of you are extremely interested in the new game and a fair number of you have promised to upgrade to WarpGuardians already. Some of you have expressed a number of concerns, however, and a few have expressed a number of serious misconceptions about it that certainly deserve clarification and some answers.

While we obviously cannot give you all the details of our internal workings, we can provide you with some facts to clear up the most serious worries and clarify the grossest misconceptions about WarpForce. So here we go:

Question: Will this be a minigame or a full game?

Answer: While the regular release schedule is slower than the other games, this is very definitely a full game of its own. The slower development cycle allows us more time, both to more fully develop each release and on our other projects.

Question: Isn’t AE overextending itself? AQW is very young. Won’t AQW, MQ, DF, and AQ suffer because we are developing WF? Will AQ be ignored or have smaller releases because of WF? Does WF have its own development team?

Answer: As a direct sequel, WarpForce is being developed by the same team that develops AdventureQuest. This team will be expanded as necessary on both sides. In fact, I have already added an additional storyline developer to my own team of StoryLine Developers to help, in the form of the remarkably talented Eukara, who many of you know from Legends and Lore and the Zardian.

While it is true that the same individuals who are developing AQ will be developing WF, WarpForce is placed in a manner that does not interfere with our ability to do both games. AQ’s development team has become very good at working well ahead. We have content and material ready at times months in advance. AQ has storyline development outlined and, in many cases, plotted well into 2011.

And as the Storyline Developers’ notes for AQ promise, what we have scheduled in AQ is MASSIVE. Far from suffering from WF, AQ in many cases will benefit from the work that we do in WarpForce. While the games quite definitely will have very distinct identities, and the styles will be likewise unique, AQ and WF are very must sister games.

For example, The Knights of the Order are very much involved in WF from the very beginning. Meaning it is being created with an eye toward balance right out the door. As an example of this, the initial level progression in WarpForce will be substantially slower than that of AdventureQuest.

This will give you much more time to play with equipment, earn funds to make purchases, test them, sell them and try them out. Purchase decisions won’t need to be nearly as selective as in AdventureQuest and you will have every reason to buy and try as much as possible and explore your own possibilities. This change will directly benefit the KoO’s efforts to balance AQ as well. How you ask? Once tested extensively, and evaluated by you the player, this system will be very easy to port to AQ as well. Meaning, more time in AQ to test weapons, to use tier 1 classes and skills and to truly develop and customize your character individually. In short, this will HELP AQ’s sweep and provide us with invaluable data on how to do it most effectively.


Question: Is this the Star Trek Mirror Universe parody Falerin mentioned in his Storyline Developers' notes?


Answer: No, absolutely not. The massive mirror universe arc for AQ is as I said in earlier AQ SDN’s entitled Bizzare Flecks. That said, WF will play a part in the Bizzare Flecks saga and the very first AQ and WF direct crossover war is slated for that cycle.

It won’t be the first crossover though. WarpForce’s launch will be playable in AQ as well as in WF and it will set the game going in grand style.

Though the two games will have crossovers, you need not worry about them being indistinguishable either. They both have very unique elements and storylines quite specific to both games. While playing both can only enhance your experience it will not be required, even when crossovers are occurring.


Question: Will this be walk around or like AQ?

Answer: As in AQ, we have the ability to use limited walk around and we may do so occasionally but the vast majority of content will be in the style of AQ itself.

Question: Will this game have the same server caps AQ has? Don't you know that players find them very annoying?

Answer: No. We do know that the players consider the server caps annoying. Many of us do not like them either but they are needed if AQ is going to continue. This game will have an entirely novel mechanism for addressing the balance between free-to-play and upgraded content and we believe this new mechanism will work very well. We will not be using the present AQ server caps on WarpForce at this point.

Question: Will this game be impossible to follow like the Devourer Saga, with its many disconnected and dangling plots and having to read hundreds of pages of content to keep current.

Answer: No. While this is a sequel and there are some thematic similarities, we learned with the Devourer Saga what worked and what did not. Many of you liked some of the puzzle-like aspects of the Devourer Saga, but the sprawling disconnected nature of much of it got out of hand. WarpForce will not have this problem because of the way content is designed and how it will be unlocked as time progresses. The storyline will progress with you as you level. To put it another way, if the Devourer Saga was inspired by J.J. Abrahms’ Lost with its many storylines and disconnected elements (and difficulty to follow it if you miss a few episodes), then WarpForce is inspired by J.J. Abrahm’s newer shows including Fringe, which while having similar elements, are far more self-contained, complete with recaps and flashbacks whenever necessary for the story. If it directly follows on a previous episode, you will receive the information needed, and if you miss a few weeks, you can pick right back up with no problems

Now, stay tuned, because later today we will provide you with some first looks at some screenshots of our in progress work on WarpForce, and this afternoon stay tuned in AQ for a surprise Teaser Trailer!

Warped beyond belief,

Falerin
AQ and WF Storyline Developer
WF Head Moderator

< Message edited by Falerin -- 5/22/2009 10:56:00 >
Post #: 1
5/26/2009 13:21:34   
Falerin
Legendary Loremaster


We are still rapidly working on WarpForce and on some really exciting content for AQ lest you think we have forgotten you. We have some really exciting prospects growing as time passes and I can barely contain myself. I am actively relearning flash. Galanoth and I worked together on the WarpForce teaser you see in AQ presently, I think it is pretty hot myself. I am psyched all around. WarpForce has put me in a tremendously good mood. It has spread to all aspects of my life too. I spent this past Sunday a few hundred miles from home getting some ink done by a rather talented artist. I was inspired to grab life by the horns and WF played no small part in it.

What can be so tremendous about a game that it inspires this much excitement and hype even among its developers. Well, we cannot really tell you that can we? That would be spoiling the fun. However here are some last screenie's from the intro to WF that will be playable in AdventureQuest, in addition to some screenshots from the new game itself. As always these represent in progress works. They capture the feel of WF but things may change.


The Queen Seeks a Blessing
Tralin's Cousin Forms a Plan
Choose your path WarpGuardian!
Space the Final Frontier


I can feel the excitement building and I can see many of you here on the forums wondering how you can possibly last until the beta in July. This is a good question. How can you last is indeed a mystery. In honor of that mystery we are about to provide you with another. Very shortly we will be introducing an online contest to solve a mystery related to the coming of the WarpForce. You will need to solve a twisting series of puzzles, codes, and clues to arrive at the correct solutions. The winners of this online contest will receive a new rare pet in the new game upon it's release. This is one case where spoilers are not only allowed they are encouraged. Be sure to let your friends know about the contest because the more people you have working together the more obvious the answer will be. Solve it here on the forums, in the designated place of course, on IRC, around the office water cooler, in your highs school cafeteria, during study hall, on the beach with friends. Just do not try solving it while driving down the road. We cannot be responsible for increased insurance premiums.


If you cannot solve the mystery. Do not worry everything revealed in this contest will be revealed either at the very beginning of WarpForce or shortly thereafter. We know that not everyone has the time or interest in these kind of mystery games, even if they do help pass the time, so we want to make sure, that the contest will not give anyone an unfair advantage when playing the game.

Keep looking forward Warpers.

The coming of the WarpForce is nigh!

Falerin




< Message edited by Falerin -- 5/26/2009 13:59:52 >
Post #: 2
6/23/2009 11:53:56   
Falerin
Legendary Loremaster


We have been heavily working on the coming of the WarpForce. I can tell you it's looking SWEET! I am totally psyched for this game, in so many ways. I can tell you this. I have not been this excited for an an Artix Entertainment game since discovering AQ in 2002. We at staff are probably even more psyched then most of you are. For the simple reason that we know what is coming! The art is killer and the storyline is Epic. In short, AE has a tremendously amazing property on its way and it's a pleasure to get in on the ground floor. Speaking of getting in on the Ground Floor an number of you have written in asking why WarpForce Beta will only be open to AQ guardians and not to Dragonlords, Star Captains, or Members of AQW. Making WarpForce limited to Guardians and not to other upgrades is not meant in anyway to slight those who upgrade for our other games, but is pretty much as other members said a matter of consistency and convenience. AQ and WF are tied closely. WarpForce has the Devourer Saga of AQ as it's direct and immediate prequel. Furthermore there is much in common between WF and AQ at the backend that makes granting access to those who are guardian's very easy.

Granting access to those who upgrade the other games would require a bunch of upfront work. This work would take time, and ultimately would make those groups get the game even later since full release and beta are very close to each other.

In other words, we could let every upgraded player in, and you would all get the game at the same time but everyone would have to wait much longer. So instead of beta starting on July 3 it might have to be delayed to August 3 till we sort all those issues out.

No one really wants that.

In the meantime, the WarpForce Mystery contest is ongoing. Later this week the final press toward release begins, and the puzzles will become ever more difficult, ever more quickly released, and ever more complex leading up to the final contest.

Most of you have already seen that the new WarpForce site is live. Keep watch there because these storyline developer notes will be linked via the home page now and in the future.

And watch these forums later today we might just release a bit more teasers and screenshots.

Keep looking forward warpers. For the end of the beginning is in sight!

Falerin Ardendor
Loremaster
Post #: 3
7/6/2009 10:13:12   
Falerin
Legendary Loremaster


Well we survived three holidays this past week without major injury. What three you ask, Canada Day, United States Independence Day, and the birth of the WarpForce Beta. Member response has by and large been overwhelmingly positive and I am still trying to deal with the backlog of emails, private messages, IRC memos, IRC pms, MySpace messages and forum posts on the subject. To all of you who have supported us at this time, especially the large number of you who have already announced your intention to upgrade when upgrade becomes available, thank you.

Now amidst the many lauds and praises there are some criticisms. We have heard them and are giving them their due consideration. Some people were particularly distressed by the fairly bumpy start of the release, it seemed that just as we got one problem fixed another problem cropped up. I know that several of us waiting for the release were pulling out our hair toward the end, myself among them! This is, unfortunately, a constant risk in game development that release dates need to be pushed back or delayed, so we will try to be a bit more conservative in making any sort of release announcements in the future.

Some of you wanted another MMO or radical new game, and as a direct and integrated sequel WF does not meet that desire. Others seem to have misunderstandings about the AE development process. Here is a sample quotation.

quote:


A hundred times NO! Do not release a new game, improve your other games first.
I love AE, but now is not the time for a new game.


This quote expresses some pretty grave misunderstandings about the AE development process. By and large AdventureQuest, DragonFable, MechQuest, and AdventureQuest Worlds, have their own development teams. While each of us can work to help test and debug new content, on all of the games, we all have our own foci. Nothing that the AQ team does as game developers, can help speed development of DragonFable or MechQuest and vice versa. We cannot simply move team members from one game to another either. For one thing, some team members are only interested in their specific game, just like our players! For another thing, the engines and design between games are significantly different. The only team that is impacted by WarpForce is that of AdventureQuest, because we have the same teams working on both games.

In the case of AdventureQuest however, WarpForce, has been nothing but helpful for our development process and as things move forward will continue to be an aid in exploring the universe of Lore in greater depth. With coming months having even more great things in store. Including, with the Bizzare Fleck crossover, the long awaited return of Doctor Glenn Galrick where he joins his wife on board the Alteon and continues his battle against network forces, a battle that seemingly was brought to end with his death at the hands of Ryuusei Cartwright. But I am getting ahead of myself, long before that happens we have to survive the full release, and we are well on our way to doing just that.

This game is of course, just beginning, but already you have done great things to ensure we start full release on the right foot. The WarpForce bug forum is quite active and we are actively working on completing the many bug fixes and repairs we need to get in place for public release and the Public Launch is going to be a good one as network forces on Lore mobilize to stop the final launch of the L.S.S. Alteon and the beginning of its voyage of resistance. The network hopes to put an end to the WarpForce before it even begins.

Join the fight against the network not just in WarpForce but in AdventureQuest as well.
Post #: 4
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