August 12, 2013

Just Saying HI!

I Don't Work On AQW Anymore.

I probably linked you to this over Twitter because you asked me a question about AQW that I can't answer. I can't answer it because for the past several months I've been working full-time on BATTLE GEMS. If you want to know why I'm not working on AQW anymore, If I will be back or what BATTLE GEMS or PROJECT:OMNI are then please read on. 

Where Have I Been?!

You may have noticed that I haven't been on the Design Notes much in the past few months. I wanted to pop in and kind of let you guys know what's going on because I MISS YOU! If you HAVEN'T noticed that I've been gone, then you can just carry on and ignore this post. 

I AM NOT CURRENTLY WORKING ON AQW. I haven't been for the last few months. I'm still a member of the team, BUT all of my time and attention has been on our first PROJECT: OMNI game called BATTLE GEMS! 

I can already hear questions so I'm going to change gears and make this a personal Q&A post. 

WHAT IS PROJECT: OMNI? 

PROJECT: OMNI is the new direction of game development that AE is taking. OMNI games will not only play on the web but also on mobile phones, tablets and possibly a ton of other devices and/or delivery methods (DS, PSN, XBL, Steam Etc). That's the idea anyway. 

WHAT IS BATTLE GEMS?!

Battle Gems is our first OMNI game. It's still in development and a few months away from release. It will have pretty decent RPG fighter mechanics but you will use a gem based puzzle interface to pull off your attacks. 

There will be TONS of armors, helms, back items, pets (which ALL attack) and weapons in the game and you will be ENCOURAGED to collect ALL of them. The more weapons you collect, the stronger your weapon attacks are, etc. 

This game will be FREE for everyone who has access to it. 

This is NOT going to be like any of our other RPGs. You won't have an environment to walk around in like AQW, but instead a HUGE 256 node story map that will take you through the game with special holiday areas released during certain times of the year. You will be able to compete with your friends and if the game takes off we plan on adding a PvP aspect where you can face your friends as well. 

You will recognize a lot of elements from Lore (moglins, moglinsters, zards, gorillaphants etc), although the pets have been redesigned by Jemini and Samba and animated by Samba and all the monsters have been reconcieved in the game style by Thyton and colored and animated by Yergen. 

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR BATTLE GEMS, CYSERO?

I'm serving as the game's art director and facilitator. I'm trying to make sure that everyone on the art team knows what everyone else is doing so everyone has a deadline, no critical tasks fall through the cracks and the art style remains consistent throughut the entire game. 

I'm also getting to do some art myself. I'm working with Rolith on the game's navigation map. I've made a bunch of individual map assets like these...

and I'm assembling them all into one huge map texture that will lead you through the zones of the Battle Gems once Rolith puts them into Unlity and adds the functionality. I also did 30 of the more than 50 concepts for the Battle Gems logo, before we arrived at our final logo..

And finally, I'm also adding some silly to the game like the concept of the Octobear...

and the Brutalcorn which is a huge, buff, armored unicorn. Here, along with the Croc Warrior and the Battle Gems Dravir, are some concept sketches from Thyton. Don't worry, Brutalcorn's horn will be moved to his forehead. He's a unicorn, not a rhino. 

And here is Dage, who ran around as the Brutalcorn all last Friday. 

I can't tell you happy I was making that image. 

WILL YOU COME BACK TO AQW?!

The future of the Artix Entertainment is in OMNI games and I want to keep helping Artix to build games for you for as long as we can. If AQW needs me I will return and help out but right now, AE needs me looking forward, even if I can't see anything through my hair. 

SO, WAIT... ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT NOTHING IN AQW HAS BEEN YOUR FAULT FOR THE LAST FEW MONTHS?!

Mind blowing, right? But don't worry, you can keep blaming me for it if it makes you feel better. (never stopped anyone before).

SO WHAT IS THE AQW TEAM WORKING ON?

No clue. Quit askin' me. As I mentioned, I've been spending all of my time on Battle Gems. I could ask Alina to tell me what is going on but I just read the Design Notes, same as you do. 

I'M SUPER EXCITED NOW! WHEN WILL IT COME OUT?!

You're not paying attnetion but I understand. This is a lot to take in all at once. I mentioned earlier that we are still a few months away from full release but we have a REALLY solid start and for those of you who will be coming to our panel at DRAGONCON, we will have a pretty interesting prototype to show you! 

As always, I will be doing my Con Survival Guide Design Notes post (revised 2013 edition) in a few weeks with more details on our panel but if you want to stay aware of new development in Battle Gems.

You can follow MY TWITTER...

The BATTLE GEMS Facebook Page (LIKE us because we like you!)...

YERGEN'S TWITTER...

or, of course, ARTIX's TWITTER.