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Falerin -> =WF= Storyline Developers' Notes (5/22/2009 10:05:31)
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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
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