has blue eyes
Alac
Puts a title here.

January 29th 2010
Ready for an adventure?

Because it's going to be that kind of a weekend
Adventure + hero + monsters + loot = Battle On! I came up with that equation thanks to the math lesson Beleen gave in the Lab earlier in the week. I think it is pretty appropriate for today's release, because you're going to be going all over the place, starting with...

The hunt for the Flax Key
Head to Ravenloss and talk to Tomix, because he needs your help to find the Flax Key in the Weaving Emporium! You'll meet Riadne, a woman with an awesome career and an inclination to share information about the Chaosweavers.

She'll play an important role in the Ravenloss Saga, but what that will be, you'll have to keep playing to see!.

The Cursed Quest
We keep trying to release the second Choose your own Adventure quest, and life keeps getting in the way. Last week, it was a sick-but-recovering designer. This week it was communication wires getting crossed (or melted. That could explain it, too). Unfortunately, the quest won't release this week. We're really sorry about that, guys, but hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the release!

Scythes come to Cysero's Shop
Hey, look, a new tongue-twister! Say that ten times fast and you'll get... hmm. How about the reward of knowing that you can say "Scythes come to Cysero's Shop" ten times fast?

It is a REALLY pretty scythe, drawn by Lim, called the Amaterasu scythe, and will be sold for Dragon Coins. A dual-element weapon; you can switch it from Light to Fire and back again! It comes in levels 33, 43, and 56! Remember, if you aren't a high enough level to use something NOW, you can always buy it and stash it in your bank for later, because these weapons will only be here THIS weekend!

And if you thought THIS scythe was nice, wait until you see NEXT weekend's special DC weapon offer: a Darkness/Energy scythe!

Choosing a (not so) ordinary adventure
I'm going to go look into starting an adventure of my own. Maybe taking up needlepoint. Or speed-boat racing. Or possibly circus-elephant training. I saw an ad online offering classes for it a while back. Have fun with the release and have a great weekend!

Code Monkey
Rolith
Is working late!

January 28th 2010
Have you ever had one of those days?

So, after working late last night on what I’m hoping is the last REAL step before 9.0’s ready to go (a quest that will show off some of the new features to come with the new engine) I set my alarm just early enough to give me time to wake up, get ready, and get to the lab right before I’d be considered late.

This is a direct contradiction to my normal habit of giving myself some time to slack off before the day’s work begins, but such is the life when you’ve got deadlines looming.

So anyways, that alarm? Apparently awoke me enough to cause me to get up, get out of bed, walk across the room, turn the alarm off and promptly fall asleep. Yup.

Two hours later, I awoke to find myself throughly late and still not all that well rested. Fun!

I stumbled into the lab to find that I’d missed all the morning’s amusements (a round of Shooting Posters in the Face and math puns? Aw.) And found everyone in a very serious, productive mood and me without my slack off/fun time. Oh well. Lots to do.

Of course, some of that ‘to do’ involved getting Artix’s approval for some new art work for the engine. And after I’d done a few other things, that’s exactly what I tried to do.

“Let me see that for a second?” He asks, as he sits down at my laptop and starts making some small adjustments. Just a second, he says.

Most of the day later, right as the underground lab was starting to empty out, I hear a “there!” come across the DF team room from where I set up shop on a barely working older laptop and was doing some writing. Artix was happy with the result and I had one less thing on my todo list. I’d hoped to be much further, but days can’t all be winners, and Artix's input was very much appricated!

As for the new game engine, we’re not going to give you guys a release date. It’s CLOSE, but we are likely going to roll it sometime unexpected, in the middle of the night, when server loads are as low as possible to keep any bad engine bugs as self-contained as possible. This makes telling you guys when it’s coming kind of counter-productive, don’t you think? That said, keep an eye out for it. The red smileys are slowly coming in!

Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter)

   
has blue eyes
Alac
Is going to start a new thing.

January 27th 2010
Sneak Peek Wednesday

Presented to you by Snake Pete
Ok, not really. But we ARE going to try a new thing where we give a sneak peek or two of new art or information about a coming quest every Wednesday or every other Wednesday. Are you guys up for us trying that? We sure are!

Yergen von Shmergenbergen and Lim thought I said "Hey, guys, DF is going to start a new thing! We're going to try Snake Pete Wednesdays!" But that is not even CLOSE to what I said. I don't even know how we'd DO that. We don't even know who Snake-eyed Pete is (or how he came to have snakes for eyes), except that he must be very very awesome.

So, lets get started! Three sneak peeks this week, to start things off right!


These are monsters that Thyton drew for the upcoming Water Orb Saga! Lim keeps saying that the saga is never going to happen, but I'm pretty sure geopetal overruled him. (Who is ready for a Sea Monkee vs Pirate Monkee vs Ninja Monkee War? Yes? No? Come on, it'd be FUN!)


You've seen the first Equilibrium Gate key, the Cloud Key. Now see what you'll be hunting for THIS week: the Flax Key, hidden behind ranks of Chaos Weaver artisans and other creepy spider-type monsters! And we've still got six more Keys to go!

And this is from Rolith's quest to show off a feature of the coming 9.0 engine rewrite. "I'm standing over a pit, aren't I?" Why yes, yes you ARE!

We're going to try to do this every week since we have a whole team working daily to bring you awesome new content. Let us know on the forum if you like the idea!

has blue eyes
Alac
Celebrates, celebrates, and dances to the music.

January 25th 2010
The Gang's All Here

Sing Hail, Hail
Well, mostly all here. The DF team is international. But it's Monday and we're ALL available and ready to work! It's good to have everyone back and ready to go, makes me excited about the coming week. So what IS happening this week?

We will definitely have quests for you! We are hard at work on the next Ravenloss quest, and we will TRY to get that out to you this week. If not, we'll have something new in FalconsNest ready to go, Geopetal will also have a quest for you, too! We'll be trying to get out the Choose Your Own Adventure quest that should have released last week, but we ran out of time.

For now, check out this cool promo pic Tomix made for the Ravenloss Saga! It features the new female NPC who'll be working with Tomix to navigate through the pitfalls and perils of Ravenloss!

Coming Soon!

Everyone is hard at work on various projects. Rolith has his code-monkeying to do while Geopetal and I are writing and building new quests for you. Lim is working on Water Orb saga monsters (yes, it's coming!) and the new CCG (collectible card game) that he and Cysero are devising. Tomix made some gorgeous backgrounds for the next Raveloss quest and is working on a special project for the cutscene (It looks so cool, but no sneak peek of that, sorry, we want it to be a surprise), while Ghost animates his ectoplasmic fingers to the bone to get cutscenes ready .*

It's another week in DragonFable, so we're going to get to it! Good luck on your endeavours, be it school or work or kayaking down the Amazon for fun and profit (We never know; you guys share some CRAZY stories with us on Facebook and Twitter! What crazy things have YOU done?)

* NEW! Ectoplasm, now with bones! (It's how Ghost manages to get anything done. Do YOU think you could be productive if you were only made of ectoplasm?!)

 

has blue eyes
Alac
Loves her pet dracolich.

January 22nd 2010
People of Zorbakville

It's got a nice ring to it
If you're a necromantic moglin, at least. For those of you DragonLords who AREN'T ready to become subjects of Zorbak, you'll want to login and play the finale of the Zorbak's Legion quest chain, and watch as the people of Amityvale defend their town! We've also added REALLY Special Dragon Chow to the loot table for those of you planning on farming the quest for the baby dracolich pet. Good luck!

Defend!

And as an added little surprise, we strongly suggest you stop by the town hall in Amityvale after completing the quest chain. It's a shocking development!

Remember, the pet baby dracoliches have a VERY rare chance of dropping from the quest, so if you don't want to wait to have your own cuddly little bony baby, head to Cysero's Superstore of Savings and buy one with Dragon Coins! The Adorable Baby Dracolich Pets (the DC versions) also have an extra attack!

Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to get out the Choose Your Own Adventure quest today; the cutscenes for it won't be ready in time. We thought we could do it, but with Geopetal still getting her strength back and Ghost working on a TON of stuff for the ArchKnight finale, we just ran out of time. It will release soon, though, so you'll still be able to go on the choice-laden, joke-riddled quest, never fear!

Cysero presents Khazri's Jova weapons!
He invites you to step right up, slap your Dragon Coins onto his counter, and go home with a shiny new staff, sword, or dagger crafted to commemorate Jova's bravery in defending her mistress from a Planes monster!
Due to player requests for higher levels, Cysero is offering levels 21, 31, 41, 51, and 60 of the Jova weapons. To see a preview of the Jova weapons, look downways.


Khazri
Loves her eagle.

has blue eyes
Alac
Will be using the Jova staff.

January 20th 2010
Walking the Planes with Jova

The aether is swirling
Among the columns of mist and wisps of wind walks the Avatar of the Lord of Wind. She watches her eagle companion tear through the sea of breezes, leaving eddies of muted colors whirling in the streams of air. She raises her voice and calls to the bird:


"Jova! Jova, put down that Xanthacite! Come, I have a surprise for you! Do you remember the funny man who visits us from time to time? The Mad Weaponsmith?"

*SCREECH*

"Yes, that one! I've asked him to make a very special set of weapons in your honor. Every time the heroes of Lore use them, they will be fighting as you fought, saving their own lives and the lives of their companions, just as you saved mine."

*Chirp*

"You did just that, brave girl! My own Jova! And because you fought that Sybarex (awful, stench-ridden reptile that it was) so bravely, I've asked him to make the weapons do special damage when the heroes fight reptilian creatures! Would you like to see the sketch of the weapons I sent him?"

"I used a psychic ink that captures the artist's intent to convey your beauty and grace. And look how I've added the swirling aether-tides you fly through! They are nicely pink-purple, just like the Plane at noon when the wind blows from above."

"Are you pleased, pet?"

"SCREAM*

"Good. The weapons he has made are elegant and powerful, perfect to represent your courage."

Coming to Cysero's Superstore of Savings this Friday!
The Jova Set will be in Cysero's Dragon Coin store as soon as we release this week! The levels he'll be offering are 21,31,41 and 51, but remember that because they are Dragon Coin weapons, they're more powerful than their level indicates! If you like the look of these Wind weapons (or the idea that they'll do a power boost when fighting against reptlies,) this is the set for you!!

has blue eyes
Alac
Is glad it's Monday.

January 18th 2010
A little bird told me

It told me many things
Like it's Monday again. I checked the calendar and it is indeedMonday again. Guess that's why everyone showed up at the Lab today. And since it's Monday, we're trying to figure out what to release this week.

We will definitely have the Zorbak's Legion finale for you, so DragonLords should count on having that to do. And there will be a VERY (very very very) rare chance to get a baby dracolich pet to drop from the finale quest. So if you're VERY (very very very) patient, that is the way to go. If you'd really like a baby dracolich pet as soon as the release is ready on Friday, though, you can also buy one in Cysero's Superstore of Savings for Dragon Coins

What is the rest of the release, you ask? Good question! We are thinking that up RIGHT NOW. Geopetal is hopping from key to key typing out ideas. She is feeling better, and thanks all of you for the well wishes!

New Blooper Reel time
Rolith's also got a new Bloopers reel for you from his work on engine 9.0! From what he told us, what you're about to see shouldn't be possible!

Message from the little bird
That little bird also told me that there is a special shipment coming to Cysero's shop this Friday. He landed on Cysero's head with a note tied to his leg. After Cysero tried blowing the bird off (have you ever tried to blow onto the top of your head? It looks REALLY funny), I gently lifted the bird off and unfurled the message. It read:

To the Mad Weaponsmith of Falconreach:

I'd like to thank you for the candied breezes. They were delicious, though Istill can't figure out how you managed to dunk wind in liquid sugar. But that is not why I am writing to you.

I wanted to tell you the story of Jova, my eagle. I was walking the Planes, as I do when I need time to think about orders from above, and I was viciously attacked by a reptilian creature of some sort.
Before I could come to my own defense, Jova hurled herself at the creature's lone eye, claws extended and beak open, screaming in rage. She was glorious! I don't need to tell you that the creature is no more.

What I would like from you, though, is a set of weapons made to honor her, to share her story. I have no doubt that you will do her justice. I have sent these sketches, to show what I have in mind. (Note the swirling in the pink. Please include swirling mists in your construction.)

Thank you my friend,
Khazri

So you can bet that the Jova weapons will be in Cysero's Superstore of Savings this Friday, too. Because who can refuse a request from the Elemental Avatars when they're in a good mood?

Rolith
Rolith
Is debugging!

January 17th 2010
Special Sunday Post!?

Been working on and off all weekend on 9.0.0. It entered testing last week, and things are going more or less as expected, until I got to fixing some mage bugs. The result? Have a look:

I am thinking of keeping a 9.0 Bloopers Reel. Approve? Tell me what you think on the forums!

Alright, I’m going to get back to work on 9.0.0! Will be sure to share more if they continue to show up!

Cya on the forums! (Or Twitter)

   
has blue eyes
Alac
Is glad it's Friday.

January 15th 2010
Super-early release: GO!

Lim is doing SCIENCE... Again!
Lim has also made a new version of the Checkers minigame for release this week, just because he likes you. And because we offered him cookies. DragonLords can click on the button in Falconreach to play "Defend the Brood," in which baby dracoliches try to defend their eggs from Zorbak, who is trying to steal another one. Junk items will occasionally drop from the minigame as rewards, so keep an eye out for them!

Aaaaand there is the latest Clashening quest! Lim decided to use what he learned in making his Had-ron Collider and take the information a step... beyond what he maybe should have. He's built a contained blackhole right in the center of Falconreach. What is the protocal when that happens? Not stop, drop, and roll.... not duck and cover... oh, right. RUN! Or, if you're a hero, FIGHT! Blackhole darkness weapons will drop from the Clashening quest as rewards!

SCIENCE!
Lim is wearing goggles on his goggles!

Cysero is selling hot wings!
And other wings, too! Check in Cysero's Superstore of Savings Cape and Wings shop to see the newest wings available for Dragon Coins! The Cherub-like wings are color customizable!

Last chance to get Founder in Epic Duel!
This weekend is the last opportunity you'll have to become a Founder in our 5th amazing game, EpicDuel. It has come so far so quickly, getting on board early in the game is definitely a good idea! Check out all of the new weapons, items and features on the EpicDuel homepage. Like all of our games, once founder is gone... it will never be available again.

has blue eyes
Alac
Hopes geo feels better!

January 14th 2010
Feel better, Geopetal!

We're all hoping she feels better soon!
Earlier this week, geopetal fell ill, so she's been out recovering. Everyone here at the Secret Underground Lab signed a card for her, but we know that the whole team is keeping her in their thoughts.
Wish her a speedy recovery!

Engine 9.0 news!
In game news, Rolith is making steady progress on Engine 9.0. It is currently in testing, and he keeps editing in "Should be fixed" into the reports testers are posting. Sadly, there's no using Rolith's Hammer of Bug-Squishing on these bugs, because the engine has some delicate code in it.

Conclusions are coming!
Two quest chains will be coming to a close in the next couple of weeks! The end of the Zorbak's Legion chain should be next week if all goes according to plan, and we're working on the final ArchKnight quest, too. We hope you've enjoyed them, and we'd like to keep writing them, but all stories have a good stopping point. And if we want to write NEW stories, old ones have to end.

We have so much we're looking forward to doing this year, so this is a good time to end old chains and begin new ones. Stay with us here in DragonFable, because we are going to be bringing some EPIC things to the game in 2010!

has blue eyes
Alac
Has exciting news to share!

January 11th 2010
Big features are coming

You've asked for these features for years, and soon they'll be in-game!
Once Rolith finishes the work on Engine 9.0), we'll be able to do some things that you've been wanting for a LONG time. Because of that, we're excited to announce that soon (not now, but soon), we'll be selling the following features for Dragon Coins:

  • Change your character's name!
  • Change your character's gender!
  • Change your character's base class!

We don't have prices for them yet, but once we get closer to putting them in-game we'll announce how much they'll cost. But if you are thinking about doing any of the changes, you'll want to buy yourself some Dragon Coins because this kind of magic is pretty rare, and rare things are worth a pretty penny (as opposed to ugly money?).

Ravenloss Saga art preview!
We will be introducing a new character in the next Ravenloss quest, and we'd like to show off some of her concept art:

Spiders!

Look for her to share some important information with you and Tomix. Her usefulness won't end there, but to find out more about her, you'll have to play the quests!

The Clashening continues!
This week we'll be releasing the next Clashening quest! Lim is still bent on convincing you that Science (SCIENCE!) is superior to Magic, and this time he has a way to do it which will also power all of Falconreach! If he keeps this up, Cysero might just need to step in on a future quest and show you how mighty Magic can be!

has blue eyes
Alac
Has never ridden a steel horse.

January 8th 2010
Dragons! Ravens! Gooooo, Friday!

Wait, are we playing sports or releasing an update?
It's not the SuperBowl (DragonBowl? FableBowl?), it's this weekend's release! Now THAT's something we're ready to cheer about. I wonder if we have pompoms in here? I see hot sauce, a plushie Aliens Face-hugger, a velvet top hat on a fake tree.... but no pompoms. Guess we'll just have to be excited without them. On to the release news!

Don't drag your heels on the way to DragonsGrasp!!
Dragonlords, make your way to DragonsGrasp to see how we've improved it! You wanted some way to make navigating the town easier, and so we've put in a map! The DragonsGrasp Inn has received attention, as well as the NPCs getting some more dialogue! Look for more content and Vilmor's storyline to come later this year!

It's a game of Hide and Seek on a citywide scale in Ravenloss!
Tomix is hunting for Greed in Ravenloss, and he needs YOUR help! He's not sure where Greed is, but in order to thoroughly search the whole city, he needs to get inside the Gate. And to do that, he needs the keys. So your mission is a two part one: help Tomix find the Gate keys and then find and defeat Greed! Make sure to turn your music on for the music and sound effects!

Dead or alive!
I'm a Spirit, in being greedy I take pride. I'm wanted.... dead or alive!

Improved Falconreach!
We've broken up the Falconreach town to improve lag. Let us know on the forums if it helps!!

In stores now!
More levels of Lim's Hydrocombustion Breaker and Cysero's Hamster weapons have been released for Dragon Coins in both Lim and Cysero's DC Clashening Shops! (Levels 25, 40, and 55)!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the release!

has blue eyes
Alac
Is making plans for 2010!

January 4th 2010
It's 2010, and we have a LOT planned!

DragonFable is going to grow bigger and better this year!
Happy New Year (again)! It's the first full week back in the Secret Underground Lab after the holidays and after exchanging stories, laughs, and lunch, we spent a good part of the afternoon making plans! A LOT is going to come for all our games, but especially for DragonFable!

We've already talked about some of the things we'd like to do this year, and so you know that we haven't forgotten them, we wanted to remind you of what we're looking forward to building for you:

  • The Water Orb saga!
  • The DragonsGrasp storyline!
  • The Ravensloss saga!
  • Finishing the ArchKnight saga!
  • Finishing the Zorbak's Legion chain!
  • Engine 9.0!
  • Implementing the Tweak! (Classes and stats restructure)!
  • Traditional holiday events!
    (Hero's Heart Day, Mogloween, Thankstaking, and Frostval)
  • Untraditional holiday events!
    (April Fools day, Friday the Thirteenth wars, and more!)
  • Wars you expect (and wars you don't)!
  • The Clashening saga!
  • Mana alchemy training!
  • SoulWeaver class!
  • Nythera's backstory!
  • More FalconsNest improvements!
  • Updates to the Quest Log!
  • Playing as monsters!
  • Leveling up guests! (finally!)
  • Guilds!
  • Capes/wings/helms preview in inventory!
  • More quests!
  • More Togicides!
  • More classes!
  • More minigames!
  • More contests!
  • Things we haven't even thought of yet (this is the scariest one)!

Remember, this is the plan for the whole YEAR (and it's not even the whole plan!) , so these things won't all be coming out next week. But they WILL be coming out if we have anything to say about it!

But remember, we're building DragonFable for YOU, and it's important that you are a part of making it the best it can be! And if you'd like to help support DragonFable, there's no better way than by buying a Dragon Amulet! DragonLords make it possible for us to keep the servers up (and the hamsters who run around on the little wheels inside the servers running).Your suggestions are an inspiration to us, so keep them coming by posting in the DF Suggestions board on our forums!

This is a long list, we know, but we are very excited about what is on it, and we hope you are, too! There's a lot to do, and we're incredibly excited to get started!

2010!

 

has blue eyes
Alac
Is SO excited about 2010!

January 1st 2010
Happy New Year!

It's a new year and we're ready to ROCK!
Hopefully you're ready to roll right along with us, because we have BIG plans for the coming year! Next week we'll post a list of all the things we've accomplished in DragonFable in 2009 with your help. From crazy quests to insane sagas, we couldn't have done it without you!

To start the year off right, you're going to travel back into the past! The only catch is... it's Cysero who caused the rift in time, so who knows WHERE you'll end up?! Or what will be waiting when you land! It's 2010, and it's time to party, Cysero-style!

SCIENCE!
Heeeeeeey! That's Lim's catchphrase!!

And the newly-formed Time Travel Fairies Time Tours travel company hopes you'll join them in FalconsNest as they inaugurate the new War Memorial made using Time Travel Fairy magic! Unfortunately, one limitation of that magic is that you can't bring back objects from the past, so you won't be able to get any old war rares.

Don't forget to check out the New Years shop in Falconreach! It has a ton of weapons, two rings, a belt, and two trinkets for you! The shop will hang around until Monday or Tuesday to let more people have a chance to shop there.

It's going to be a GREAT year in DragonFable, and we're really glad you're here to share it with us. So lets start the year off right. Enjoy the release and Happy New Year!