January 06, 2011

Infinite Bank Space...?

... and more major improvements for 2011!

I ate something called a Wolf Fish the other day. As my friends I would like to tell you... always Google something before you eat it. (It was quite tasty though) Moving on... We started this year with a BIG AdventureQuest Worlds meeting. We carefully reviewed the things you and your fellow adventures told us through the forum, twitter, fan letters, and in-game.  Then we talked about each of our personal goals and dreams for the game this year. The result? A plan so HUGE that we need to double servers, bandwidth, databases and the size of the AQWorlds team to make it all a reality. Which is exactly what we are going to do. (Unless Zhoom finishes the cloning machine.. in which case we will just use that instead.)

Increasing your inventory space

As I am sure you have already guessed the game will get bigger releases, a lot more live events, special monsters and things to do in game as we battle our way to Drakath and see what lies beyond. (Remember, though ANYTHING can happen in AQWorlds... one of the remaining Chaos Lords might defeat us and win... including the new Chaos Lord of the storyline that is starting this week!)  But the hot issue on everyone's mind is how to solve our inventory problem. Which is -- we are all out of space for new items! If you read the design notes regularly you may already know that we hit the "physical ceiling*" of items per player with the way the game is currently structured. So Zhoom and Minimal are re-writing 1,000s of lines of code and restructuring the database. We cannot make any promises yet -- but if things go as planned, all of your bank space will be added to your main backpack (giving you more storage during while adventuring) and the bank will become potentially big enough to hold EVERY ITEM in the game**. (Not through AdventureCoins, but ideally as a normal part of your Membership) Just a note: All of your purchased bank space will be added to your main bag. You will not lose any space and no ACs will not go to waste! We could probably make quests to create "Collections" of items too. Like I said -- we are not making any promises, but we have been listening and inventory space increase for all players is the #1 improvement... and we are pushing for it to happen later this month!

* Talking about ceilings... during the holidays Princess Miko's brother fell through my ceiling while exploring the secret passages in my new house. Remember: Always double reinforce your secret passages! (True story)
** Every time someone gets excited reading that line... the AQWorld's database cries

New, bigger, faster game Network & more servers

Today we are moving AQworlds to a... CLOUD! Maybe you have heard the internet's latest buzzword "The Cloud" on commercials or fancy pants ISP marketing brochures. What is a cloud? Honestly, I have no idea. My guess is they use Aeromancer sky weaver magic to put our AQWorlds weapons, armors, and other files up fluffy white clouds which increase your player speed when they float over your house? So next time you look up and see a cloud... give it a nod...  it might contain a piece of your character! Using the cloud has increased our bandwidth by a number I do not even know how to pronounce and will free up over 9 servers. Those file-servers can be cleaned, super charged with radioactive hampsters and used as new AQworlds game servers -- maybe some international servers for players who would like to play with other players that speak their language? (Suggestions welcome!)

Forum Question: "IF" we were to make a AdventureQuest Worlds TV Show pilot.... (please do not let Cysero or Beleen know I am asking this question or I am going to get in BIG TROUBLE, ok?) which we would want to premiere in the summer and simultaniously release the zone/area featured in the TV show pilot... would you prefer DoomWood, Xan's Volcano, Pirate vs Ninja Island & the sunken city, or another upcoming AQWorlds area?