tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28139285063486181372024-03-20T11:07:18.344-04:00Arilou's Mad RamblingsArilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-25893290915104044732016-02-23T20:57:00.007-05:002024-01-17T04:47:10.203-05:00Celebrating Creativity: Part INot unlike a lot of MMORPGs, Wyvern has always attracted creative people who lent their imaginations to this wonderful world Rhialto and others tried to create. The drawings, graphics, maps, music, websites, and stories they put together, whether for the greater development of the game or simply for fun, enriched Wyvern immensely.<br />
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Unfortunately, not all of it has survived to this day. Websites were taken down, hosting services collapsed, and people simply neglected to make sure their work remained for the Wyvern community to enjoy after moving on from the game. Some of it has been preserved thanks to services such as the Way Back Machine, but it didn't all make it into those archives and those things that did can be pretty hard to locate unless you know what you're looking for.<br />
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As a result, I decided to put together a series of blog posts that celebrate that lost creativity. However, even my ability to dig these things up is somewhat limited. So if you have access to anything that I wasn't able to include or can contact someone who does, let me know and I'll put it up in a future posting.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern Art Board</span><br /></h2><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span>Arisu is a great talent whose art has helped to beautify Wyvern over the years. Among her many contributions to our little community, was an Art Board that, sadly, wasn't promoted a whole lot, (it really deserved a mention on the Wyvern homepage) but it did receive a fair amount of attention around 2004 and 2005. Basically, she would post some drawing or graphic she had created, usually with Wyvern in mind, (though not always) and people followed suit.<br />
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I'm not really sure what happened with it. I think there was some problem with existing accounts and then some time later you stopped being able to visit the site at all. Of course, it didn't help that there eventually became less players around to do art but, regardless, I would love to see a day where Wyvern is active again and a new art board is able to flourish. In the meantime, here are some high points from the old one:<br />
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<embed flashvars="rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed1122.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl540%2Farilou-wyvern%2Fartboard%2Ffeed.rss" height="360" src="http://static.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" wmode="transparent"></embed><a href="http://photobucket.com/redirect/album?showShareLB=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_geturs.gif" style="border: medium;" /></a><a href="http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l540/arilou-wyvern/artboard/" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_viewall.gif" style="border: medium;" /></a></div>
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For many more images you can have a glance through the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050312214040/http://members.lycos.co.uk/Arisulei/oekaki">archives</a>. Just be warned that it would be rather difficult to see everything as it's all fragmented throughout various save dates. To compile the above slideshow I had to literally go through every save date of every page the Way Back Machine had for the art board and even then, there are some things that are hard to view/not saved at all. Ideally, all the data is sitting somewhere, waiting for Arisu to properly find a place to archive it so that it can be easily viewed. But failing the realization of that hopeful fantasy, you'll just have to make do with the Way Back Machine.<br />
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If you can manage it, try to see if you can follow the story about the Shoggoth invasion. It was told by multiple people through various pictures and comments. Needless to say, it was a rather inventive use of the board and it's a shame that people never got to do more things like that when that particular storyline concluded.<br />
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Epilogue</h2>
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The above was written and compiled several years ago and saved as a draft along with a number of other posts that I was storing up. Originally, I was planning to release daily blogs for a (roughly) one month period after we reached the stage of my three part development plan that was to involve trying to grow the playerbase. Then, after the game went down, I continued to store and (for a few month period) write additional drafts with the intent to start releasing them when Wyvern returned.<br />
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Looking back on those drafts now there's a lot I probably won't ever release since they talk about then future plans for Wyvern and particular ideas of mine. However, I recently thought of this particular post and given its focus on community work I thought it would appropriate to finally make it live. I hope you all enjoyed it. As mentioned above, it did indeed take me quite awhile to put this altogether way back when but that's nothing compared the work that talented Wyvern artists put into enhancing the imagination behind our little 2d pixel world.<br />
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Cheers from your friend and tormentor,<br />
Arilou Lalee'lay.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-4633343835517621362013-02-04T22:02:00.016-05:002024-03-07T22:04:45.763-05:0010 Year Anniversary Retrospective - Part II<a href="http://www.wyvernrpg.com/forum/images/misc/anniversary_banner.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.wyvernrpg.com/forum/images/misc/anniversary_banner.gif" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 100px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 468px;" /></a>
By now, I'm sure you all know that to people who work on games, "soon" really means "when we feel like it." So, is it really any surprise that when I told you guys to "check back soon" for the follow up to the last part of the anniversary retrospective, you wouldn't be able to read it until a year later?<div>
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I would have had it for you "sooner," but it's difficult to reminisce about how you spent all this time working on building things to help push the game forward, only to have the game go down a month later and remain offline for such a long stretch of time. Especially when the response, at the time, was that it would be back up "soon," so what was supposed to be a one week break from blogging instead became a month, which became until Rhialto got the game back, which became on the next anniversary since it looks like the game will be down quite awhile longer (aka, it will be back "soon").</div>
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Although, actually, kudos to me as I finally got around to writing this 10 months later and am just scheduling it to be published on February 4th. So, really, I should get an award or something for completing this early. Maybe a nice plump halfling wrapped in elf skin or a... what's that? I'm rambling? Well, duh, I don't refer to this blog as my "mad <i>ramblings</i>" for nothing, but okay, fine, I'll move on to the retrospective if you insist. *mumbles incoherently*</div>
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<b>fae Wyston Graveyard</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MBpSWXOK436FW36sxnxeONULT1MzEd898a1pM9I8Nhl2aqKawgqOGkMEyeRcN7NDk7T6153Ow2lI6fqCghFE_lxTXj7JY6aETmKgtwqwjMhKP3egXUjkXUVSWXLC-aE5em4Fg8nAO5I/s1600/old_magetown_graveyard.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MBpSWXOK436FW36sxnxeONULT1MzEd898a1pM9I8Nhl2aqKawgqOGkMEyeRcN7NDk7T6153Ow2lI6fqCghFE_lxTXj7JY6aETmKgtwqwjMhKP3egXUjkXUVSWXLC-aE5em4Fg8nAO5I/w138-h640/old_magetown_graveyard.png" width="138" /></a></div>
The fae Wyston Graveyard is an important piece of Wyvern's history as it's one of the game's earliest dungeons. Sadly, it was also one of the most unbalanced. In addition to having way too much loot for its difficulty, it handed out far too much experience. Like most early maps, there were spawns for random scrolls, spellbooks, rings, armor, and rods just sitting near mid-level monsters. Originally, you could even get an artifact spawn without having to fight the boss, but Rhialto took some of that treasure out and put the random artifact spawn in the inventory of a beefed up version of the Arch Dracolich in 2003.<br />
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That wasn't its only problem. Sadly, at one point, it also earned the honor of containing the map that gave out the highest amount of experience because experience goes up for every spell a monster has and the graveyard had a bunch of Floating Eyes and Skulls grouped together. (Fun fact: I know this because Rhialto told me so after informing me that the map with the second highest amount of experience belonged to me. Whoops!)<br />
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Rhialto eventually made some tweaks to how much experience these monsters got, but it was still too much and progression was far too simple. There were just four very small maps that were loaded with monsters and players loved to farm them. Thus, high level players would run through it in a couple of minutes and come away with easy experience... and a still rather easy to obtain artifact. Due to this, we ended up blocking it off with boulders and then having it removed entirely.<br />
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You can see the original four levels and the above ground graveyard map on your right. Most of you who have been around long enough to have been able to go there probably went after we updated many of the game's graphics in 2003, but I decided to use the old ones instead to show you how it looked when people first started going there. The game didn't even have different color staircases back then, so even dark and spooky dungeons had to make use of those white ones.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
After closing it off, I immediately started working on redoing it and got as far as the first couple of maps. My initial idea was to make this huge group dungeon that started off with the same easy bunch of undead monsters from the original map, but quickly became challenging and ended with Morgos as the boss. However, plans for an even harder Morgos dungeon came up and, although I never got very far with that one either, planning it out diverted my attention. Before I could get back to the graveyard, an old wizard showed up and signed up to redo fae Wyston entirely. Rather than make them work around my graveyard, I shelved the project, thinking that maybe one day I'd get back to it and put it in Minath Elion or Alaria.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
The wizard in question left again and nothing much ever came of it, so I'd occasionally think about going ahead and redoing it as fae Wyston needed to have monster maps again. Unfortunately, other things always took precedence. Then our 10th year anniversary was fast approaching, and I wanted to not only provide new content for people, but provide content that celebrated the game's history and what better way to do that than to give fresh life to old maps? I had a bunch of projects that I wanted to complete, but the Minath Monster Arena ended up preventing me from getting to everything as it was a huge time sink. Fortunately, the graveyard made it in under the wire and it came out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
It's now a large, 50 or so map dungeon (to be fair, some of those are duplicate puzzle maps) with three mini bosses, two bosses, several puzzles, a couple of tricks, new monsters created for the anniversary, a non-streamlined form of progression (meaning you don't just go down one square map after another until you reach the end), and some nice rewards (artifact armor FTW!). As you probably know, there's no Morgos in there as I decided to build on the original dungeon, rather than replace it with something completely different. There wasn't much to work with, but I tried to keep the general look. Thus the simple dirt + cave wall combo, my use of only the original gravestones, and many of the same monsters appearing throughout the dungeon. An interesting little tidbit you might not know is that the Arch Dracolich at the end of the original dungeon was called "Shog," which is why he was surrounded by Shoggoths. For anyone who has gone through my redone version, you'll probably recall the points where I expanded on that.<br />
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Here's another interestingly little tidbit: I was in the process of expanding the graveyard when the game went down. I've long wanted to make a dungeon that can only be accessed by completing several other dungeons. It's something I've mentioned in-game, on the forum, and probably in this very blog. I briefly had the idea of redoing the Minath Elion ruins with something like that, but as I would have taken forever to do that, Teshuvah redid it instead. Then I briefly had the thought that maybe one day I'd make a west Minath Elion ruins, but that wasn't going to happen either.<br />
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This idea popped into my head again while working on the anniversary, but obviously I wasn't going to have time to make multiple dungeons. So I made some notes and shelved the idea until after the anniversary, whereupon I made eight additional above ground graveyard maps. I don't reveal unreleased content much, but here's the original map that you guys got to see, plus an additional eight that I intended to link to it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPms_MjK5lmvHnU206c4yjzYZF1XOODz2oAzkUm1T-qG7isOXcEc92TfuOPfjG1mOxh-p7BT4k-Thh2GBARbZh2sZMULz7WkfF5YyA-15EWlsW_eUgNP6BFvsj0BK1A3s5IxK6wcEVLpw/s1600/magetown_graveyard.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPms_MjK5lmvHnU206c4yjzYZF1XOODz2oAzkUm1T-qG7isOXcEc92TfuOPfjG1mOxh-p7BT4k-Thh2GBARbZh2sZMULz7WkfF5YyA-15EWlsW_eUgNP6BFvsj0BK1A3s5IxK6wcEVLpw/s16000/magetown_graveyard.png" /></a></div>
<br />My plan was to put up the whole graveyard and, every now and then, release another dungeon, equal in difficulty to the first one. I have the basic idea of where I wanted to go with each dungeon written out and some are harder to make than others since, as to avoid being repetitive, those require things that don't exist. Therefore the likelihood of me ever finishing this was pretty low as it's rather difficult to get others to make specific art and code for your areas. Hence, why that other Morgos dungeon was placed on the back burner (our selection of high level undead and demon monsters was too limited for me to feel like I could do it justice). But I could've done a few over a period of time and maybe another wizard would've liked to contribute a dungeon or two. In the end, even if it took forever to get around to completing all of them and the boss the dungeon, at least there would be more dungeons to train in.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />By the way, since I mentioned Morgos so much, here's a factoid about him: The system by which I used to get him to drop other versions of himself was an idea I originally conceived for a vampire, of all things. I thought it would be really neat if I could have one that shifted into different forms (wolf, bat, and snake) before returning to its vampire form and when you defeated that, I wanted him to turn into an unbeatable mist that would flee from you. I never really had a place for him at the time, but the idea came back to me when I was making Morgos into a monster and I actually figured out how to accomplish it without needing any special code. It therefore seemed fitting that I'd finally make that original vampire as a mini boss for a dungeon that I initially wanted to make for Morgos, and I think it turned out to be a rather interesting encounter. Needless to say, I love inserting non-traditional surprise encounters into my dungeons.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
One more thing: In my last blog post I talk a bit about Amita and during the course of discussing its multi-map maze, I made reference to some really hard mazes that I was developing. Well, these future graveyard dungeons are what they were for and, like I said then, maybe I'll share some details about them down the road.<br />
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<b>Uncompleted Plans for the Anniversary</b></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">As mentioned, I had planned to redo more than just the fae Wyston graveyard for the anniversary, but I didn't quite complete everything in time. What exactly am I referring to, you ask? Well, there were little bits and pieces, but the main things (that I care to write about) involved the Ziggurat, Moon Quest, and world maps. At a later date I may share some images from these and other projects that I did not complete in time. (Some may even work their way into the game when it returns as they were close enough to done that I was able to complete them before the game went down.) </div>
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<b>The Ziggurat</b> has long needed to be redone and was thus something that I had been planning to get around to for awhile but didn't have much motivation until the anniversary came up. In my version, I shifted the entrance to the top of the structure so players have to descend multiple levels, comprised of different rooms, complete with hidden passages, traps, and a few surprises. When players reach the bottom, they have to navigate their way to the boss room, which is hidden somewhere in the middle.</div>
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<b>The Moon </b>is not something that I really worked on in the lead up to the anniversary. I planned the whole thing out and made sections of it ages ago, including the redone Alaria Inn and some other maps that you haven't seen. Ultimately, I got bogged down with obtaining special code for it, but I had always very much wanted to save it for the 10th year anniversary as it would have been fitting for the game's first quest to return on that day. However, I could have either bugged Contrare to work on/fix code for it or bother him for bonus XP hours, costumes, and the MMA. It was the right choice, but I am kind of bummed about it as I think the Moon Quest would be fun for players who like challenging quests.</div>
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<b>The world maps</b> haven't been updated in ages. <a href="https://retro.ghosttrack.com/map/worldmap" target="_blank">The one on the website</a> is still cluttered with places that have been removed and it's missing some of our recent additions. Meanwhile, the in-game one could do with a new coat of paint. As a result, I got Legolas to send me an easy to edit version of the website's world map, and I had set my sights on sprucing up the in-game world map to boot. However, at the last minute, Rhialto came through with those old New Verden maps that I used to show everyone what the starting town once looked like and changing everything to use the old graphics was so tedious that it ate into my world map work.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">It's not particularly exciting, but you may be interested to see that I wanted to expand the map eastward to accommodation a desert expansion.<br /></div>
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This isn't an actual shot of the world map. Rather, it's from a smaller test map that I made to see how it would look before deciding whether it should be copied over or not. However, it's pretty much on par with the "final" version. I filled the new expanse with some buildings that wizards could either make dungeons for or replace with something of their own (they're pretty much just place markers so it doesn't look empty). I also made a small oasis in the middle that I hoped could be replaced with a proper oasis graphic and would, at some point, have an area to go along with it.</div>
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You might be asking yourself why this matters if it was going to be updated without any new maps. Well, the point was to give wizards more room for desert areas that they might like to make in the future. If a wizard wants to make one as is, there just isn't any place for it and so it either would have been attached to Bandar Gaah and Jbel or they would have had to ask if a new landmass can be made for their area, so they might be discouraged from pursuing a desert area. Plus, I think it works better for stories if we can refer to a large desert expanse.</div>
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Initially, I wanted to make it even bigger, extending further southeast, but I didn't want to expand the overall size of world map too much and it wasn't necessary at the time. I figured I could always add on to it later if wizards filled that desert space up, but it probably would've been awhile before that happened.<br />
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<b>Player Screenshots</b></div>
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Along with the amazing MMA video that I featured in Part I of my retrospective, Vesrayech was nice enough to provide the following screenshots. All but the last are from the party.<br />
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Unfortunately, Vesrayech was not using the Webstart client, so he didn't have the updated orb graphics in that final shot. However, I provided an entire view of the map in my <a href="https://arilou-wyvern.blogspot.com/2012/02/10-year-anniversary-retrospective-part.html">previous anniversary pos</a>t, so you can go back and see how it is supposed to look if you want.</div> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you have any screen shots of your own from the big day that you would like to see featured in the next part of this blog series, let me know.
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<b>To be Continued</b></div>
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Check back "soon" for Part III of Arilou's anniversary retrospective. As I'm sure you've figured out by now, "soon" most likely refers to whichever comes first: the game's 13th anniversary or when Rhialto brings the game back up. In the meantime, be sure to check out <a href="http://arilou-wyvern.blogspot.com/2012/02/10-year-anniversary-retrospective-part.html">Part I</a> if you haven't already and if you have a question about the anniversary that you don't want to wait to see if I answer on my own, leave a comment.</div>
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Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-83335831632079940112013-01-13T23:57:00.009-05:002024-02-19T10:23:22.491-05:00Arilou Turns TenIt's hard believe, but it was ten years ago on this day that I was promoted to the rank of junior wizard in a little known game called Wyvern. Although the game has twice gone down for long periods of time since that day and I have since retired from it, I have consistently been affiliated with the game, in some capacity or another, for that entire time. I've done and seen a lot along the way, but as I did in my <a href="http://arilou-wyvern.blogspot.com/2008/01/day-better-forgotten.html">five year anniversary blog</a>, I'd like to use this space to just reflect on my early days with the game.<br />
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If you go back to the last anniversary blog of mine, you'll see me discuss the development of my first area, Forgotten Oak. I had actually been planning to mark this date by releasing at least the redone village maps for that island of lost souls (fyi - in my plans for the area, the island map would be done away with and also replaced with dozens of individual maps that you would have to traverse much like Amita, only on a larger scale). However, since that's not possible with the game being down and all, let's talk a bit about my second completed area; Amita.<br />
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You may not know this, but although Amita is the second area I released, it's actually the third that I worked on. My second attempt at an area was a quest for the golem temple that's to the east of the Forgotten Oak village. I spent about two months working on it and got to almost 200 maps before realizing it was absolute garbage and decided to trash the whole thing. Ultimately, it was an important learning experience and while I still had a ways to go at that point, it helped me when it came to future projects like Amita.<br />
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Ironically, though, Amita is something I put together in about 26 hours in response to a discussion on the wizard forum about how we needed more low level content. The end result was 37 maps (it has since ballooned to over 250 maps - I kid you not) including six Orc Tower maps that I had previously worked on with the intention of putting directly on the world map (it was to appear on the land mass that later housed Terrim, but I re-purposed it while working on Amita as I realized how well it fit). Believe it or not but that simple tower was actually ahead of its time. I had been noticing how common it was for people to get trapped in multi-map monster areas, as anyone who has played for any amount of time has, and so I decided to create this tower that starts with a non-claimable map and then diverges into five monster maps (east, west, north, up, and down). To illustrate this I combined the maps together in one image:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfqvuvxUKqeaRS74NSoYHputZFWn7iWtf-FgJSiYFh7iMXQbNt3C5i9_vZ7xEvopza9p-bIMcZoyYqtTTImOIgpTX8AEkXjLS8ciXFAOlCalCa65lqZb_qU6qjB55qAIgM0VdYtYT8Uk/s1600/original_orctower.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfqvuvxUKqeaRS74NSoYHputZFWn7iWtf-FgJSiYFh7iMXQbNt3C5i9_vZ7xEvopza9p-bIMcZoyYqtTTImOIgpTX8AEkXjLS8ciXFAOlCalCa65lqZb_qU6qjB55qAIgM0VdYtYT8Uk/s16000/original_orctower.png" /></a></div>
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It may not seem like much, but it was something different and I was able to build on it to make it a lot more interesting at a later date. If you go there when the game is up, you will see that each of those side maps now has multiple maps and there are paths leading from one to the other so a player can find their way out by progressing forward if their path backwards is blocked. I never did get a chance to release a redone version of the top or bottom floors, but the kobold basement has become kobold tunnels with lots of little paths in the general shape of a spiderweb. So that same multi-path motif continues into the rest of the tower's maps. It looks a lot better now, (see the below image of the entrance for comparison) but I'm disappointed that I didn't originally take the time to properly measure all the maps so that these side rooms and hallways all fit together like puzzle pieces. This especially became an issue for me after I finally fixed Amita's main maps so that they could come together properly when I made those sign maps for it (it had bothered me for awhile, but working on that map gave me the push I needed to make it happen).<br />
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Speaking of Amita's central area, obviously it didn't always look as it did now with forest paths and districts having their own maps. Originally it was this big 40x43 map that you can see below (note: not all graphics are the same as the ones players saw when Amita went live and, yes, I know you can see what's behind the hedges, but it's not a trade secret so don't worry about it). I don't know why, but when designing it I felt compelled to start drawing a wall in the upper portion of the map and I suddenly asked myself why there would be a city wall in only one portion of this forested village's map. I had just previously read a book about a city with inner walls that was meant to separate the wealthy from the near rebellious rift-raft and that's when it hit me that this would make a good basis for my own story and Amita's plot took off from there.<br />
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Next thing I knew, I had the gatehouse and the secret tunnel in place. Then I started dropping plot points about how the villagers hate the merchants, how there's hostility between the peasants and the guards, (hence the two taverns) and how people have been using the tunnel to escape the harsh rule of their tyrannical "king." It's interesting because I was trying to get away from Forgotten Oak's dark design with both the area that I scrapped and Amita. Instead, I ended up with was something that appears light and happy on the surface, but is dark and oppressive if you look deeper. I have found that this is a common motif in my work as a paradise itself is just not interesting. There needs be some intertwined madness on, or bubbling just below, the surface. Otherwise, what's the draw for people to want to learn more about the area they're in?<br />
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Getting back to map design, I think we can all agree that Amita has come a long way since it's early days. Although, I actually started seriously updating it toward the end of 2003 as I made an account to further test the area to see if there was anything I could tweak. I was hoping just to get a feel for anything that might be annoying for new players so I noticed, for example, how irritating it was to die in the merchant houses and then have to go all the way down to the hospital to heal and then go all the way back up to continue fighting. So I added fountains to the church. I also noticed how annoying it was to have to go through patches of tree terrain, especially that patch just southeast of the church. So I began to wonder how I could maintain this forest look and, at the same time, make it easier for people to get around the village as it's a low level area and they don't really have to deal with that in Davos or New Verden. Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks, that I should split that one map into a whole bunch of maps, which I very quickly did and then put online without any fanfare. Ironically, it's not easier to get around as there's now a lot more space to traverse and new players often get lost (causing me to eventually put mall style maps of the village all over the place). But, it looks awesome and it's a whole lot more realistic.<br />
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I don't know why wizards had never done this before. Instead, wizards would generally make really big town maps and since large maps were a problem, Legolas would sometimes suggest that people make them smaller by splitting them in two. That's what ended up happening with Coran. It was a single big map and so Zifa took the top half, copied it into a blank map, deleted the bottom half in the original, and added teleporters between them. Zifa put a lot of detail in that city, so it doesn't look like a big box, but most towns did because that's what they were.</p><p>The first thing everyone would do when making a town was create a big blank square or rectangle and start filling it in with wild abandon. Part of it may be laziness as it's easier to keep track of, but multiple maps just "feel" great in-game. There's such a scope to them that it that makes you feel like you're really exploring a majestic fantasy city or a wooded fantasy village when done properly. And it looks really great when you take all those maps and put them together in one big image. You've probably seen the small version of that for those direction signs in Amita, but one day I'll probably put a larger version up on my website. In the meantime, here's a look at just the slums so that you can compare it with the original version of Amita's main map.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzwFB_KRD8YkZ_YYJnYOWwE36RSe52akFIQWlaYjU6mIxPWY9RDhlqqy2KkI4js1y84cewPPDspdhY5qcBYiGH4AzmNhHbcUxPToRhhMPxaiHezzBt0mPkqyp1KhwhdFV0LhME8p8nwI/s1600/amita_slums.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzwFB_KRD8YkZ_YYJnYOWwE36RSe52akFIQWlaYjU6mIxPWY9RDhlqqy2KkI4js1y84cewPPDspdhY5qcBYiGH4AzmNhHbcUxPToRhhMPxaiHezzBt0mPkqyp1KhwhdFV0LhME8p8nwI/s16000/amita_slums.png" /></a></div><p>
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All in all, Amita is my favorite of the areas I have created and my closest to being completed. Not that you can ever really declare an area completed in this type of game as there's always the possibility that new ideas will cause you to add on to existing content. But, it's not too far off from my current vision. I had planned to release some redone maps along with completed guard housing maps, maps for the logging operation that is the reason behind a select few's wealth, a small quest series, some additions to the PK Forest, and I wanted to filter some more mini-quests into existing and planned maps. It may sound like a lot, but I had been expecting that I could get it all done by March 16th, 2013 (ten years to the day that Amita was made public) and jokingly announce that I finally completed an area.</p><p>Alas, the second Great Downtime put "a bit" of a kink in that. However, even though I'm now retired, there exists a certain amount of completed unreleased content that I can throw up on the server when the game comes back (assuming, it doesn't go open source or anything). So if you're fan on Amita, you have that to look forward to.<br />
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<b>Factoids</b><br />
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-That rocky path was actually inspired by my grandparent's property. There was originally a house there that had a stone pathway leading up to it, but it burned down and they rebuilt it further back. However, since they no longer had enough matching stones to reach the front of the house, they moved a few right below the front porch and let the rest of stones be taken over by grass. Anyway, one day I was there playing cards with my siblings and father while my mother was working outside when suddenly, my mother came in to declare that she had uncovered one of these rocks. Having grown up with a love for the idea of digging up the unknown (and thus wanting to be either an archaeologist or paleontologist) I was legitimately excited and went right out to help her dig up the rest while my siblings and father basically responded with a collective "meh."<br />
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We didn't end up uncovering them in order, (and we never did finish) so as we were doing this there were breaks in the path. I liked that uncompleted image so much that when I went to make Amita I wanted to recreate that, but we didn't have anything resembling those stones. As a result, I just used the stone terrain until, one day, Legolas commented on how he didn't like the look and I concurred, telling him what I had envisioned. The next thing I knew he presented me with those stone road graphics that are remarkably dead on to their real life inspiration, which is a testament how awesome Legolas is. Anyway, I happily went about placing them throughout Amita and made sure to maintain the breaks as the idea is that there once was a completed road here, but it has hasn't been properly maintained and therefore grass and dirt has overtaken parts of it.<br />
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-Amita's similarities to where my grandparents lived (in the latter parts of their lives) doesn't stop with the stone pathway. It was very green and lush with a few evergreen trees on the property and it was surrounded by woods on all sides. If you go down to one of the meadows, there's a path leading to a creek just like there's a path leading to the creek in Amita (although the one in real life is much, much smaller). The real life creek doesn't end in a pond, but actually neither does the Amita creek. Nobody knows this, but in my head the creek actually continues on underground.<br />
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-Wrath of the Fey isn't the only quest I had planned for Amita. I have a write up (and some partially completed maps) for a four part quest series that throws you into the plight of our villagers as a way of exploring more of the area's backstory. Each individual quest has its own name and the series of those quests is called "Trouble in Paradise" which is a play on the idea that Amita looks so wonderful of the surface but some really horrible things are going on there.<br />
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-I used to play this Sega Genesis game called "Light Crusader" that was about a knight who returned home to find the kingdom he served was going through a hard time. To make a long story short, villagers were disappearing and nobody knew why. Well, you would go around talking to the remaining villagers and all the while this very sad music would be playing that, at least from memory, kind of reminded me of the church music that Wyvern has. So, when I heard that I knew that's that was the music for Amita. When I listen to it, I conjurer images of a guard knocking a peasant into the mud, a mother weeping as her child is taken off to be trained as a soldier, and a family shivering in the cold because their house burned down. Basically, all these really horrible, sad, depressing things. Therefore if you ever wondered why I chose that music for Amita or if you thought that I put no effort into the selection... well, here you are.<br />
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-Amita actually means sister in Latin. The reason I selected this is because I thought that it would be great if Amita was built to be the sister village to New Verden and now it's this closed off enclave that, frankly, is no New Verden at all. But, also, an interestingly little bit is that I decided to create a little theme around this and use Latin words for many of the names of NPCs throughout the village. I picked words that represented something about them so, for example, Panis means bread. Unfortunately, I didn't realize some people might misconstrue that at the time, but luckily only a select few players have ever brought it up (and one wizard).<br />
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-Since the ogre chieftain map hasn't been available in the orc tower for quite some time, you may not be aware that there's actually a note there from the Oaken Village sorcerer responsible for luring the orc hoards to the island. In the letter he promises that orc tribe a reward if they come to the island and join other tribes in the besieging Oaken Village. So, there's a nice little tie in there.<br />
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-There's a lot of hidden little bits within the village that you're probably unaware of it. I love Easter eggs in games and there were actually quite a few in Wyvern's early content that are fun to look for. So, I threw a lot into Amita. Hint: Certain trees might have something carved on them if you look closely.<br />
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-You may not have been around long enough to remember, but there used to be a gateway on New Verden's west wall that led to the path that led to Davos. Obviously, that means that you would arrive in Davos from the east, not the west as you have undoubtedly become so used to it. Well, I had actually designed Amita with the intention that when you got to what is now Davos' entrance, you would come to the path that leads to Amita (this, btw, is also why the creek ends like it does as I couldn't have it continue to the edge of the map and then not re-appear in Davos). However, Rhialto immediately began speaking about finding a place for it on the world map, so I didn't even bother mentioning that and an icon was then created/placed a little bit south of New Verden. However, some time later, Legolas came to me with the idea of putting them all together with the tutorial in the center. So those three villages ended up together after all.<br />
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-Have you have been to the maze east of the orc tower and been frustrated to no end while trying to navigate multiple maps? Well you're not alone. Few have ever completed it since its too complicated for players new to the game and it doesn't reward experienced players enough to encourage them to try it. But, yours truly has been caught in its web even though I designed it. As you may or may not know, the trick to the maze is unlocking items hidden within it in a specific order and, when working on it, I made a little hand drawn map detailing what order players had to go in to aid me when putting it all together.<br />
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When all was said and done, I got this idea that I should test it as a player would to get a feel for how difficult it truly was as wizards hadn't been linking together multiple mazes like this and so I didn't have a solid reference for what I was putting players through. As a result, I didn't use any of my wizard powers to help myself get around and I turned that hand drawn map over. Big mistake! I completely forgot the order and was stumbling around for who remembers how long going back and forth through the maze trying to randomly figure out where I had to go to next and I cannot begin to tell you how out of my mind with frustration I was. So, for those few of you who have taken up the challenge, I want to let you know that I feel your pain and am so very sorry.<br />
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That said, I'm not so sorry that I can say that I would never have put anyone through that again. In fact, I had planned to utilize and expand on the idea of linking together maze maps in future areas. I won't go into that now, but perhaps I'll blog about one of my more evil unseen designs in the future.<br />
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Have a question regarding Amita? Ask me in the comments.</p>Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-66664621499478604272012-02-04T15:17:00.019-05:002024-03-07T21:54:37.155-05:0010 Year Anniversary Retrospective - Part I<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliM8Ag5yEYqQ5boYW2Lvu9mODB1k4fQZYKdcD847BbNZHUfBDaZCeUOMgfowt7J41iMEX6Jy_6LPNgWF-E8MwZywiitKdbgBnGpxGUR0sl06JbA6JTiWTFtz8pgLGOGvxU_GbTUJInWgc0RBtxhnOJ7hI5qWA13aavC8ZYhs3YYZ9cjS73FOh-nW58mk/s500/Wyvern-Makes-Alpha-News.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="500" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliM8Ag5yEYqQ5boYW2Lvu9mODB1k4fQZYKdcD847BbNZHUfBDaZCeUOMgfowt7J41iMEX6Jy_6LPNgWF-E8MwZywiitKdbgBnGpxGUR0sl06JbA6JTiWTFtz8pgLGOGvxU_GbTUJInWgc0RBtxhnOJ7hI5qWA13aavC8ZYhs3YYZ9cjS73FOh-nW58mk/s320/Wyvern-Makes-Alpha-News.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>February 4, 2001</b>. That, my friends, is the day that Wyvern was opened up for public testing. I would like to be posting this in the cabochon.com news right now, where I could maybe say something about how far we've come now that we're at the eleven year mark. Unfortunately, that can't happen, but it does make you wonder the progress we would have made in the last year had things gone differently.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
When planning the big celebration to mark our 10 year anniversary, I tried to not only to create a single, fun day long event, but to make something that would move the game forward again. Without getting into a whole long backstory, we had spent the previous year and a half working on balance and bug fixes, which provided, shall we say... challenges for our loyal players to adapt to. But as we got the major issues worked out, we had begun to slow down, leaving only some "tweaks" here and there and large scale projects (like enchanting and random dungeons) on our list before we could move forward entirely.<br /></div></div>
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Now, when I say "large scale projects," I mean extremely time intensive things. Therefore, it would've been a little longer before we could get on with the fun stuff. But you guys had been so loyal to the game throughout all that that you deserved a a break. Thus, the event I created was centered around permanent content that you could enjoy long after the day was over. Below, I'll review that content and give you some behind the scenes information to go along with it.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Costumes</span></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_ofPRPZ9w-qzT1AOycLU11LWN95FB-Ym3ght7JC74LWEW1NJ-1d7Une19SGZQV-PrgW3HmppUzd_7Fd2wJ3zpZynw6SPM17NiTvqm_KykW1ZoBbCb2fs4z0yFPS-HHAJnfU-Zolz-0M/s1600/wyvern_mask.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705392562248274530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_ofPRPZ9w-qzT1AOycLU11LWN95FB-Ym3ght7JC74LWEW1NJ-1d7Une19SGZQV-PrgW3HmppUzd_7Fd2wJ3zpZynw6SPM17NiTvqm_KykW1ZoBbCb2fs4z0yFPS-HHAJnfU-Zolz-0M/s320/wyvern_mask.gif" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 32px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 32px;" /></a>Ah, costumes. Such a simple concept and yet, such a Salkand (Har. Har. Har.). Originally coded and introduced to the game by Janica as a wedding dress and tuxedo these little things have been a pain since day one.<br />
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First, they were rather buggy. Not only did they hork the images of our poor giant and naga friends, but they set your gender to match whoever the costume was intended for. While it may have led to some amusing moments, such as the time Airick shook his fist at whatever anonymous tricky wizard setpropped him as "female" (before we figured out costumes were the actual cause), it also made it pointless to ever create gender specific content.<br />
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Second, Avalon's introduction of a plethora of Halloween costumes actually created quite a controversy. It had become so easy to change your image and you had so many options that players began to complain that it devalued the work they put in to attain their HOF image.<br />
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As a result of all that (and some other things), costumes disappeared from the game for quite awhile. But they can be a lot of fun for players, so I thought that if we could get a bug free version up and running and devise some way to limit their use, we could bring them back. Thus, I asked Contrare if he could code something that limited its use to only one day of the year (and fix the bugs). This request almost got shoved to the "not enough time" pile, but he pulled it together at the very last minute and I do believe they were quite the hit.<br />
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They also would have led to some fun times ahead. I always wanted to have automated holidays in Wyvern. Every year, on a certain day, new content would become accessible. You walk into Stensele and a celebration is going on or you walk into New Verden and a portal through time appears that takes you to our old style New Verden. We didn't yet have the code to do that with areas, but once a year costumes were the first step. Next we could have created the above mentioned content and filled it up with special items like obtainable costumes, so although it may seem sad to only get to be a little Wyvern once every February, you could've had the chance to be who knows what in {insert month}.<br />
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One other thing I had in mind for future additions to this concept were costume rooms. I don't know how feasible this would have been or if other wizards would have agreed that this would have been a good idea, but it was on my list to see if we could set a map to allow you to wear your costume all year round. That way you could create parties to show off the various costumes you collected, and perhaps it would create a greater incentive to create parties in the first place (something that doesn't happen much since auction houses replaced emote rooms as the place to hang out).<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Minath Monster Arena</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yPCNdjEYDJU" width="420"></iframe><br /></div><p>
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Above is a video Vesrayech created of himself trying to conquer the redesigned arena. It was nice of him to put the work into getting it together and uploading it as I really wanted people to able to see what the changes entailed after all the work that went into it. You can compare it with the old arena by viewing the following videos:<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw6jNno4QHk&feature=related">MMA by Kohora</a><br />
<a href="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-1536658628750246615&hl=en">Minath Monster Arena by Irano</a> (currently not available due to Google Videos shutting down)<br />
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I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out. It had some bugs, sure, but Contrare was working up until right before the anniversary and the bugs were hard to spot with one wizard testing it at a time. (Who would've thought you'd all end up in the same arena maps? lol). Overall, though, I think players enjoyed it and most of the bugs were fixed by the time the game went down. I think there were one or two left on the list, and we still hadn't been able to settle the player statue issue (bummer!).<br />
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For me, this was the most time consuming thing I worked on. (Although making the old New Verden come alive was by far the most tedious.) In fact, it sucked up so much of my time (I spent the better half of January consumed with it) that there were a number of other things that I wasn't able to get around to or complete.<br />
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Contrare and I had previously discussed his plans for redoing the arena and I offered to help him with the map aspect at the time, but it was put on hold since our focus was still on bugs/balance. So it was nice to have a break to work on things like this and all the work allowed Contrare to redo the code in such a way where other wizards could use it in creating their own arenas. With that, who knows, you might have one day seen an Alaria Monster Arena or a Havisfel Monster Arena... okay, probably not, but the possibility would have been there moving forward.<br />
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As for <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> Minath Monster Arena, Contrare wanted two main things out of the redone maps: he asked that they be rounder and bigger in order to give players more room to run around, cast spells, and avoid their foes. Based on that, I came up with the design seen in the above video and I incorporated rotating barriers in all but the boss levels, which have just two obelisks. (Fun fact: if you "look" at the obelisks, the description reads "a strangely water-soaked, granite obelisk" in reference to a certain monster that rises from the sea).<br />
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I also decided to create a unique map for every level, which upped the count from 32 to 50 maps (some were reused in the previous design). Further, I instituted themes (forest, town, caves, grave, abyss, and underwater) that each lasted between 8 and 15 levels and culminated in a boss type fight that was designed to be a little harder than the level that precedes and follows it. Originally, I wanted to create a swamp theme, but we didn't have enough monsters to fill that out, so the Abyss got extended a bit. Had I done this, I probably would've made level 50 the demon boss level and had the chicken and actual boss be bonus levels. I also considered adding things like a dinosaur bonus level (Rhialto originally talked about including them in the previous redo) but ultimately rejected the idea.<br />
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It may seem like no big thing, but the real killer was matching themes with the objective of creating an ever increasing degree of danger. I had to swap themes around (e.g. I thought placing the underwater levels right before the final boss would create the idea of him being woken up from under the sea and rising out of the ocean, but the demons were just too powerful not to appear last) scrap/redo levels, and create whole new monsters to specifically fit certain levels. Some monster images I had been saving up and others I finally got around to watering down from their First Day of Summer appearance. It worked out nicely, though, as I not only got to use them for the arena, but I was able to introduce them into the random lists at the same time so you guys were able to encounter new enemies throughout the game.<br />
<br />Additionally, I worked to eliminate problem monsters that appeared in the previous design. Meaning, no more air elementals, diamond golems, or will 'o wisps. They were just too hard for certain classes and/or races to beat, which is fine in the general game, where you can group, avoid them, or wait for a summon to kill them for you without a clock ticking, but they don't work so well within the competitive nature of the arena. Of course, the arena is by no means balanced to give each class and race a truly equal opportunity, but it is better.<br />
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Before I move on, I'd like to end this discussion of the arena with the below image of the entrance. Out of all the maps I designed for the arena, this is my favorite - I've said it before and I'll say it again... I LOVE those tiles of Binyamin's!<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjek9E1kX2_6wBJ5p2biALb9EI2uBLOefQWi_-d3dRn82FKOg5Zc8kAx-OZDgM1im_OvxoowOiX1BKCOIfw_gEjFk6KY-GRUO7bRv34i_IoWwL6PUdny7v_RCsvNv3k7WrvF5aFbUTuGg7soVqmXy4-zwWop0RgVraqbKWK3MElGMzU-F1encoxRIYrUYA/s544/mma_entrance.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjek9E1kX2_6wBJ5p2biALb9EI2uBLOefQWi_-d3dRn82FKOg5Zc8kAx-OZDgM1im_OvxoowOiX1BKCOIfw_gEjFk6KY-GRUO7bRv34i_IoWwL6PUdny7v_RCsvNv3k7WrvF5aFbUTuGg7soVqmXy4-zwWop0RgVraqbKWK3MElGMzU-F1encoxRIYrUYA/s16000/mma_entrance.png" /><br /><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">To Be Continued</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Check back "soon" for part II of the anniversary retrospective. Coming up, I'll dissect such additions as the fae Wyston graveyard, the suggested playing time system, the original New Verden design, and more. I'll also be posting player comments/screenshots and I'll give some details on the things I wanted to have ready in time for the anniversary but wasn't able to complete in time.</div>
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Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-44637592715355586872011-12-31T06:02:00.003-05:002011-12-31T09:25:39.054-05:00Wyvern: Year in ReviewFor the last two years I've done a "Year in Review" news post for Wyvern, detailing the important news of the past year and linking to the full articles so that returning/new players could catch up or so that regular players could quickly go over it and see if there was anything they missed and wanted more information about. They took quite a bit of work to put together, especially the 2009 version (that beast took a number of hours to conquer).<br /><br />I originally conceived of this idea shortly after the game came back up following what is known as the 15 month hiatus. It seemed like Rhialto was going to be more active from this point on and that updates and news posts would be forthcoming as a result. Therefore, I figured I could do a big blog post at the end of 2008 catching everyone up. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way and there weren't really enough highlights that year to make it worthwhile. It seemed like the same would be true the following year, but that changed a few months in and the news began to flow so rapidly that people couldn't keep up. Thus, "Wyvern: Year in Review" was born.<br /><br />Unfortunately, it's not possible to put up a news post this year, but I thought I'd continue the tradition as a blog post per the original idea. So for your reading pleasure here are the highlights of 2011:<br /><br />Celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Wyvern we brought to you a fun weekday party that introduced a lot of new content to the game. Out of this day, we saw new maps, new quests, new monsters, a new [and only somewhat buggy] Minath Monster Arena, the return of costumes, and artifact armor. We then followed this up with a "suggested playing hours" feature that would allow players to get extra experience while training throughout the game during specific hours of the day.<br /><br />Such updates were the first steps toward focusing a bit more on attracting players to the game after spending quite a lot of time working on balance/bug fixes that hampered players during the bulk of our work. We still had more work to do to balance the game, but with most of the quick fixes taken care of, work would have continued more slowly in the future and therefore we wanted to also spend some time keeping all of our very loyal players entertained until we could be finally be done with old balance problems and turn our complete attention to building the game up.<br /><br />Following these exciting two updates, Rhialto announced a temporary downtime for March 7th... and with that we end this edition of "Wyvern: Year in Review." *cues dramatic music as the camera pans out - I now begin to fiddle with my shirt in an attempt to remove my mic while the credits role*Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-42791136063866199982011-09-18T22:22:00.005-04:002011-12-26T19:12:22.661-05:00More Tales From Little ArilouAwhile back I posted a childhood <a href="http://arilou-wyvern.blogspot.com/2009/04/glimpse-into-mind-of-little-arilou.html">story</a> of mine that I thought some of you might find amusing since it showed that, even at that age, I was writing about people being eaten. Well, as luck would have it, I just recently found a story book that I had completely forgotten about and, long story short, I thought some of my might get a laugh or two out of this one as well.<br /><br />I don't know what age I was when I wrote this or even what it was for. However, in the original booklet, each paragraph was on a new page and each page had some illustrations that I had cut out and colored. Therefore I would assume the assignment was to create a children's book. Unfortunately, there's no grade or teacher comments on it but, as I'm sure you will agree, if this masterpiece didn't receive an A, I was robbed (robbed I say). Anyway without further ado, I present to you said "masterpiece."<br /><span style=";font-family:webdings;font-size:180%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:webdings;font-size:180%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Little Snowman That multiplied.</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Dedicated to all my readers.<br /></div><br /> Once there was a snowman who was as small as a mouse. Nobody know how he came to be but, he is believed to be a robot. The only thing is he doesn't have any wires inside him. He is made out of real live snow.<br /><br /> One day three children came upon him. The children's names were Joe, Ellen, and Ken. Joe and Ellen were cousins and Ken was their best friend. The three children found the snowman deep in the woods. The children just about lost it when they saw the walking snowman. But, the snowman talked to them and the three kids became friends with the snowman.<br /><br />"What's your name?" asked Ken.<br />"I have no name of my own," said the snowman.<br />"Then we shall call you Jack," said Ellen.<br /><br /> Suddenly, Jack fell into polluted water. He had a big problem. He couldn't stop drinking the water in the lake. He was growing bigger and bigger. The children heard a loud P O P and then, water & snow filled the kids faces.<br /> "Oh no," said Joe. "Jack has now multiplied into two."<br /><br /> The two Jacks quickly gulped up the water. The children pulled the snowmen away from the water but, then, the two snowmen started to suck the water out of Ellen. Ken and Joe pulled the Jacks off of Ellen. Then the snowmen ran out of the woods. The kids were so shocked that they didn't know what to do.<br /><br /> Finally, after a few minutes, the kids ran after the snowmen but, they couldn't find them. So, they went home. They went outside after being in for about half an hour. When they got out there were at least one hundred little snowmen and they all had sharp teeth. One jumped on Ellen's neck and started to suck the water out of it.<br /><br /> She finally got the thing off of her neck. More snowmen jumped on her and the two boys. The snowmen knocked the children down to the ground.<br /><br /> The creatures jumped off the children and started attacking each other. Within minutes, the snowmen had killed each other.<br /><br />"They got too mean," said Joe.<br />"Yae," said Ken.<br />"Let's go home, said Ellen.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >The</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >End!</span><br /></div>Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-44576930981865670322011-04-07T07:05:00.008-04:002011-04-20T18:15:29.950-04:00Wyvern Videos Segment 2<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Welcome to another segment of... *drum roll* Wyvern Videos! Please, please... try to contain your excitement. It's been awhile but for your viewing pleasure, yours truly has compiled another selection of Wyvern videos for you to browse through. Enjoy [or die].<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hentoko Graveyard by Ssalkand<br /></span></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l4qdmd7kKbQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern LQ Gauntlet by BlazerV60</span><br /></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lYqFNREEbh8" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern Ancient Vesimas by BlazerV60</span><br /></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uzCC4Z2bpQs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">32 RD Levels by ICUTUUU</span><br /></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jve7D1etue4" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern Promotional Video by Ssalkand</span><br /><br /></div></div><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iDsJz2ED-yA" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hades by ICUTUUU</span><br /></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sTJV4gfBbQ0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern BlazerV RD by BlazerV60</span><br /></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/87LFyffML4M" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mykenubie's Ultimate Downfall by Ssalkand</span><br /></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/flp-iyPhrBo" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern on Lag by TheRealCrytearea</span><br /></div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HR6CsUNi4uA" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br />Have a Wyvern video that hasn't been included in any of these segments and you want me to mention it? Leave a comment with a proper link and I'll be sure to keep it in mind for future segments.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-63711737945914609752009-07-24T00:00:00.008-04:002009-07-24T00:08:59.166-04:00Jigsaw Puzzle: Forgotten OakJust for fun, here's a jigsaw puzzle of a battle in Forgotten Oak. You can see how much time you are able to complete the puzzle in or just stare at it and scratch your head. Up to you!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jigzone.com/puzzles/001461D0FE0?z=32&m=05250AE40D.86A9F39"><img src="http://www.jigzone.com/im/pCut/32.png" alt="Click to Mix and Solve" style="width:400px;height:300px;margin:4px;padding:0;border:1px solid #999;background:transparent url(http://www.jigzone.com/puz/zemThumb?p.up.V.WL.N0.2qhhr:jpg)"/></a>Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-42728058625616915392009-04-17T12:01:00.007-04:002011-09-18T23:44:42.855-04:00A glimpse into the mind of little Arilou<div style="text-align: center;font-family:webdings;"><span style=";font-family:courier new;font-size:180%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Sp</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:180%;">ace </span>A</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">lien</span></span><br /></div><br />Once a spaceship was going to space. It was going to Mars.The astronauts found a dead monster. Then they heard a noise.They saw that their spaceship was gone.They looked and looked but they could not find the spaceship. Suddenly they heard somebody screaming,SCREEEEEEEAMM!One of the men said,"I think somebody else is on this planet." One of the other men said, "I think it is Lexa." All of the sudden they saw a alien coming. "What?" said on of the men. "Ruun!" said another.They tried to run, but it was hard to run with the spacesuits. The alien caught one of the men and ate him. The rest of the men screamed with fear.Then they ran as fast as they could. Soon they saw a house.It was all green.The door was as big as a 999 story building. All of the sudden the ground shook and shook and shook. Then it stopped. They got very, very, very, very scared, but they were happy that they were not eaten.Then the door opened.They went in and saw they spaceship.Then they went home.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" > The End.</span>Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-19986270884924135222008-09-21T17:30:00.010-04:002011-04-14T12:12:13.397-04:00Wyvern Videos Segment 1<div style="text-align: left;">Ever find yourself wondering what Wyvern videos there are out there? Well even if you haven't, there are a growing number of them out in the cyber world (some of which are better than others) and for those of you who might find yourself interested in checking them out, I've compiled a selection of them in this post for your viewing pleasure. Whenever a significant group of new videos comes out I'll do another Wyvern Videos segment on this blog in an attempt to save some of you the endless minutes of searching and to introduce them to those of you who would otherwise never know they existed. Enjoy.<br /><br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">MMA (Minath Monster Arena) by Kohora</span><br /></div><br /><object height="444" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xw6jNno4QHk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xw6jNno4QHk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern Battles by BlazerV60</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wG70o3z-V9A&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wG70o3z-V9A&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">RDing (Random Dungen adventure) by Kohora</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wstmjgVaiZA&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wstmjgVaiZA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gauntlet by Kohora</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/04iq2Lpvhwc&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/04iq2Lpvhwc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ziggurat by Kohora</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qVyBgltdMVI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qVyBgltdMVI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern Gauntlet by Garoodude</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rMGp3XxF9po&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rMGp3XxF9po&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Post Nerf Orcus by Kohora</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x6h-Wy04x2Q&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x6h-Wy04x2Q&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern by Garoodude</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/duStMK8OKLQ&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/duStMK8OKLQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Macabre by Kohora</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-OH1QJGDprI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-OH1QJGDprI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wyvern (a promo video) by Kohora</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v7JSi2QPcng&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v7JSi2QPcng&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Minath Monster Arena by Irano</span><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-1536658628750246615&hl=en"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-1536658628750246615&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Btw, if you ever notice that one of these videos has become unavailable, do me a favor and let me know by leaving a comment that says which one it is so I can edit it out.<br /><br /></div>Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-58484117410141730702008-07-08T05:12:00.005-04:002011-12-19T09:43:27.630-05:00First Day of Summer Feast - The Lq Trascript<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyObTrorkz8CLw3JhTkuIleJPwBZq-lohRQ8QjYSQ5MM0EOe6Ye9LfNL2PuagslgDRYTdJlEg54oft36QG4kYFTrlgY_j5SWngRj-kbR_aGYXxAUy2zJlIdlWtZjSRlzU0YkPBqiEzClU/s1600-h/summer_token.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyObTrorkz8CLw3JhTkuIleJPwBZq-lohRQ8QjYSQ5MM0EOe6Ye9LfNL2PuagslgDRYTdJlEg54oft36QG4kYFTrlgY_j5SWngRj-kbR_aGYXxAUy2zJlIdlWtZjSRlzU0YkPBqiEzClU/s320/summer_token.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220573655748294706" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bnP1G_aqXCBTrB37MhHImKdAeoclfoLk9k7iOJXOCrPNiFeeQDp4itKwqU-1y2am72wGswzLtdLWWDcOkK7cBUNISE2tTzzIhKHhBKiC_qKISz1oNFX2wCnZA11FAo0sID4Yp1dEq4k/s1600-h/wurm_hole.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bnP1G_aqXCBTrB37MhHImKdAeoclfoLk9k7iOJXOCrPNiFeeQDp4itKwqU-1y2am72wGswzLtdLWWDcOkK7cBUNISE2tTzzIhKHhBKiC_qKISz1oNFX2wCnZA11FAo0sID4Yp1dEq4k/s320/wurm_hole.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220573660968831554" border="0" /></a><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! A grave threat has been brought to our attention and it is asked that all heroes of the land be ready to take up arms against this terrible threat that may strike at any moment. If you wish to learn more about this, I am told that an envoy was sent to the feast to tell the tale to those in attendance.<br /><br />*a half hour passes*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! Reports are coming in that Stoneybrook suffered a grave attack. Many innocent people were killed and the damage was significant.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! Follow up reports confirm suspicions that Stoneybrook was destroyed by a Conqueror Wurm and an army of Nec-Bathat's followers.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The wurm was seen burrowing into the ground and its army taking off on foot. An investigation is underway to find out where it is heading so that this unholy army can be confronted and put down before many more innocent lives are lost.<br /><br />*minutes later*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! It has been reported that the small hamlet of Ashberry, located north of Stoneybrook, has also been destroyed.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! It has now been confirmed that the Conqueror Wurm was once against responsible and has since moved on from that location. Fortunately a mage, in service to a special order of mages, managed to stumble upon the army while searching for possible locations the Conqueror Wurm would strike next. Although she was killed, it is said she managed to cast a tracking spell on the wurm which will allow her order to track the beast and determine where he is headed in advance. They are now viewing him with their magical orbs and should be able to alert us to where he is headed shortly.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The mages have informed us that the wurm is headed to the elven village of Raukos Nwalya, located near the edge of the Almien forest. They implore you to head there with all haste as it is expected that he an his army will already be in the middle of searching the village before the nearest heroes can get there.<br /><br />*the battle wages on*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! Bad news! The Conqueror Wurm has burrowed underground and the bulk of his army has taken off as well. The mages are once again tracking him in hopes of trying to pinpoint the next village he plans to attack.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The mages believe the great wurm is headed for Bilyn's Town, located near the bridge south of Noir. Once again, please hurry with all haste lest you wish to get there after the wurm has already ravaged the place and moved on.<br /><br />*the battle wages on**<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The great wurm and its army has continued on once more!<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! It's believed the wurm is headed for Claverack, located Northwest of Noir.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! Scratch that. The mages believe the wurm is instead headed for the shoreside hamlet of Fallwick, located east of Toys in the Attic.<br /><br />*the battle wages on*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The great wurm and its army has left Fallwick.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The Wurm is on its way to the Orc infested Town currently known as Orc's Rock! It's located just north of Toys in the Attic and northwest of Fallwick.<br /><br />*the battle wages on*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! It looked like the band of heroes were about to defeat the wurm this time around, but it once again has burrowed into the ground and taken off!<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The wurm is headed to Blackwynne, located southeast of the Temple of Life, next! Hurry brave heroes!<br /><br />*the battle wages on*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! Moral is low as the wurm once again vanishes by burrowing into the ground.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Oh my dear! Oh my dear! The mages have reported that the wurm and its army are now headed for Alaria! Quick! Quick! This beast must be stopped before its too late for Alaria and its many citizens!<br />-Town Crier breathes a sigh of relief and shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The mages appear to have been mistaken. The wurm was actually headed to Shadowham, located by the sea, just north of Alaria.<br /><br />*the battle wages on*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The wurm has escaped death once more.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The mages report that it is on the move eastward, but aren't sure where it is headed as of yet.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The wurm's army has been spotted moving along King's Road, but still no confirmation as to were they or the wurm are headed.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! We have word! The wurm is almost at Hawthorne. It is a little known village, hidden deep in the mountains west of Blackrose. It can only be accessed through a series of caves under the mountains. The entrance to said caves is located south of Blackrose's main gate.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! Reports indicate that the bulk of the wurm's army have set up camp in the caves leading to Hawthorne so as to slow down any attempts at approaching the village.<br /><br />*the battle wages on*<br /><br />-From as far away as Alaria and the great feast, a bright blue light can be seen shimmering on the mountains where Hawthorne is located. The light appears to be a series of blue rays that originate from Hawthorne.<br />-You stare upon the light in amazement and wonder what it going on there just as a loud boom echoes down through the land.<br />-In Hawthorne, the band of heroes fall back as a great beast of a thing appears before them...Nec-bathat...She's....here...They found the relic. No!<br />-Tears well up in the eyes of many of those who risked their lives to trying to stop her from returning as they look upon the horrifying sight that is Nec-bathat, demon goddess of death. This cannot be how it ends, they think...It just can't be.<br />-And with that thought, the battered and tired heroes seem to gather every bit of energy and courage they have left within them, for they move forward in unison and prepare to die trying to stop this demi-god from realizing its dreams of complete and utter destruction. Although the effort seems futile, none seem to care as they shrug off the pain from the multiple bloody wounds, that cover their bodies, and charge at the she-demon.<br />-Town Crier shouts: antithigram led the battle in vanquishing Conqueror Wurm!<br /><br />*the ultimate battle takes place*<br /><br />-Town Crier shouts: patriarch led the battle in vanquishing Nec-Bathat!<br />-After a long, hard battle, the final blow is inflicted onto Nec-bathat, causing her physical body to collapse onto the ground. You can hear a long, high-pitched wail as her immortal spirit is sent back to the Abyss where her body can be reformed. Although she has been defeated this day, the threat of Nec-bathat looms on forever more.<br />-Town Crier shouts: I...I don't believe it. None of us do. Nec-bathat has been vanquished! The land is safe!<br />-Throughout the land, cheers go up for the brave heroes who fought and died this day. Chatter takes place about erecting a monument to them and someone suggests later dragging the heroic statue from the feast, all the way to Hawthorne. Cries of; "Great idea!" ensue.<br />-Suddenly a bright flash of red light is seen falling from the heavens onto Hawthorne. Those there are startled to see a Phoenix, as bright and beautiful as the sun itself.<br />-A series of loud voices speak at once: Well done, people of Wyvern. Nec-bathat knows better than to try to directly strike out at mortals in such a fashion. As a demi-god she is not normally restricted to being stuck in the Abyss after a defeat here, in the prime material plane. But as punishment, we have once again made sure she is banished for a hundred of your years. At which point we will evaluate if she has learned her lesson.<br />-You realize that the voices were actually many of the goodly gods and so you bow your heads in reverence to their glory and continued kindness. After a fashion, you look up to gaze upon the phoenix once more. It was sent to channel their voices to you and, knowing that, you smile at the phoenix...nay the symbol of hope that majestically poses before you.<br /><br />...<br /><br />-As an afterthought a small group think to search for the relic, but it is nowhere to be found. One can only hope the gods took it for safekeeping. You try to convince yourself that that is the most likely scenario, but a feeling of dread fills your body anyway.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-69322744205242021262008-06-25T20:19:00.047-04:002024-01-19T15:49:04.715-05:00First Day of Summer Feast - The ScreenshotsAs expected, not many took the time to help document the day, which totally fine as I didn't want people to have to worry about stopping in the middle of their fun to take screenshots unless they really wanted to. So I have a collection of my own for all of you to use to remember the fun. Enjoy...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Arilou's Screenshots:<br /></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibZWTgA5mIQDB6NzQqOEDZgtoiG76JcKzmIQ1BMPE2afIj6tXpfuzoSexqak-yRxVH7-j8eL9mrhM2RSIdfgmTtOPCSpJJVzo_xBL31PSF_Yinh5vKdi92ZAf5-EZFV9TkDPU1fZOYxs/s1600-h/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Trivia+Contest+%281%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214549847962948578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibZWTgA5mIQDB6NzQqOEDZgtoiG76JcKzmIQ1BMPE2afIj6tXpfuzoSexqak-yRxVH7-j8eL9mrhM2RSIdfgmTtOPCSpJJVzo_xBL31PSF_Yinh5vKdi92ZAf5-EZFV9TkDPU1fZOYxs/s16000/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Trivia+Contest+(1).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Ah, the trivia contest. Out of the three I ran, this is from the first. Everyone flocked into this one map when called and sat down to try their hand at winning some feast tokens. The plan was to ask ten questions and give out four tokens as a 1st prize, two tokens as a 2nd prize, and one token as a 3rd prize. But, it was a four way tie with those four people each getting two questions right so I just gave them each two tokens.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0060FH0sRfPeTlNCn7njFYlwKoVknoZJGYR1JQjkqXLOSnmbPdeHgFUkvqtJIcqzq4lsN8P5kvxcTomRC_ay0dlSm5_KRz3iMyn6UioIe_SxhmdvJYMjKMw3rZFHlOM758BCOkeDNMBwPVZtgVNPQn6tMYJOCDNdOarLtwHv28alL3iIj6KMiOXMWiok/s640/Wyvern,%20the%20Graphical%20Mud%20-%20Teshuvah's%20Mining%20Lq.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0060FH0sRfPeTlNCn7njFYlwKoVknoZJGYR1JQjkqXLOSnmbPdeHgFUkvqtJIcqzq4lsN8P5kvxcTomRC_ay0dlSm5_KRz3iMyn6UioIe_SxhmdvJYMjKMw3rZFHlOM758BCOkeDNMBwPVZtgVNPQn6tMYJOCDNdOarLtwHv28alL3iIj6KMiOXMWiok/s16000/Wyvern,%20the%20Graphical%20Mud%20-%20Teshuvah's%20Mining%20Lq.png" /></a></div><p>Here players excitedly wait for Teshuvah's Mining LQ to begin.<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMqYWXgU_I_CHow2r59eK3_BTUkRgKUOKEUFHHwqqxxOVvza675ExEHswo0Zz8FZNiGDeiUYF1jikIhXpOEP-FexqR1pxkOQIbNDidb-1NjA3WUys4g4gtsonMytSQzsu556RfVyOKJ_udruDmrFGk5VjR4jyN89vEKvXMTNnKAR0Q-zReGvUQ2BmpPUY/s640/Wyvern,%20the%20Graphical%20Mud%20-%20Feast%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMqYWXgU_I_CHow2r59eK3_BTUkRgKUOKEUFHHwqqxxOVvza675ExEHswo0Zz8FZNiGDeiUYF1jikIhXpOEP-FexqR1pxkOQIbNDidb-1NjA3WUys4g4gtsonMytSQzsu556RfVyOKJ_udruDmrFGk5VjR4jyN89vEKvXMTNnKAR0Q-zReGvUQ2BmpPUY/s16000/Wyvern,%20the%20Graphical%20Mud%20-%20Feast%20(1).png" /></a></div>The Mining Lq just ended (thus the pickaxes flung carelessly across the ground) and players returned to stuffing their faces with food so that they could become all the better for me to eat. I must say, players are a strange kind of prey. They just flock around a hungry predator, seeming not to care that they are making said predator's job all the more easy. I'm not sure if it's foolishness or stupidity. Perhaps a combination of both. As you can see from this screenshot one, especially tasty look halfling, even dared to think that simply surrounding me could cause me to be trapped.<p>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5uUPkKHpNxHz3Xg2H2aTsPRGh3tWbpqduiEkec3cQy0XY6SHLByN5qTgqL8Ob8uPbB4j_gCUPtsfcfF_XlC6YMbGcKSlt_niW7wS21ck0Smoj-L4sNzXZVCKKhavrzyt4i8sK7cqxZfg/s1600-h/Wyvern,+the+Game+-+Arilou%27s+PK+Live+Quest.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215988898284007874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5uUPkKHpNxHz3Xg2H2aTsPRGh3tWbpqduiEkec3cQy0XY6SHLByN5qTgqL8Ob8uPbB4j_gCUPtsfcfF_XlC6YMbGcKSlt_niW7wS21ck0Smoj-L4sNzXZVCKKhavrzyt4i8sK7cqxZfg/s16000/Wyvern,+the+Game+-+Arilou's+PK+Live+Quest.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Like Stone Giants to the slaughter, a large group of players gather in preparation for the day's Pk LQ.<br />
</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0oQdDGa4HYppMLxYaNeRn_jgREBmDb70K565sSWnt616jYn-7AJPZmhQ9f0vbcqALf-mzLHZUS0mvYGrSpX1JGbe4FQN9vOYLGyUOCY4zDnSkBDt9shbiFpqTN5zBbT3o02rjOtnUdn2pG0p-QnNCe8OtVqwK7OXWiMn-m7MxkT6iXeYpklR9WxMMic/s640/Wyvern%20-%20Conqueror%20Wurm%20destroys%20Raukos%20Nwalya.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0oQdDGa4HYppMLxYaNeRn_jgREBmDb70K565sSWnt616jYn-7AJPZmhQ9f0vbcqALf-mzLHZUS0mvYGrSpX1JGbe4FQN9vOYLGyUOCY4zDnSkBDt9shbiFpqTN5zBbT3o02rjOtnUdn2pG0p-QnNCe8OtVqwK7OXWiMn-m7MxkT6iXeYpklR9WxMMic/s16000/Wyvern%20-%20Conqueror%20Wurm%20destroys%20Raukos%20Nwalya.png" /></a></div><p>Players find that the Conqueror Wurm's army has destroyed a small elven community and are in the process of digging through the area in search of the famed relic. "Bravely," the band of selfish vagabonds do battle with Nec-Bathat's followers in hopes of stopping their reign of destruction here before too many more lives are lost.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9UMICp3ChXGngovBUlp70uNscZtSRbjnV7g2VHUfKRu8rGjNG271fsbhfBhzeFtGrhOQVPADqQDjKuIuw4qh2E9wx9kcElWA2s7oeTTWBOJnAg2cITw6VZ4UEkLxBKDMhA9BSezM3czI/s1600-h/Wyvern,+the+Graphical+Mud+-+Attack+on+Bilyn%27s+Town.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215990700588832626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9UMICp3ChXGngovBUlp70uNscZtSRbjnV7g2VHUfKRu8rGjNG271fsbhfBhzeFtGrhOQVPADqQDjKuIuw4qh2E9wx9kcElWA2s7oeTTWBOJnAg2cITw6VZ4UEkLxBKDMhA9BSezM3czI/s16000/Wyvern,+the+Graphical+Mud+-+Attack+on+Bilyn's+Town.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>As it turns out, those "heroes" couldn't save their way out of a paper bag and so the Conqueror Wurm is able to move on to destroy the hamlet known as Bilyn's Town. They once again confront Nec-bathat's followers and once again...<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dofOZTN5hB-e1SDWHDamWp7JRN4Ujw3TMLRWx0N4tBWYmNETZ4YPGUOf5KUw-jNMKzecT2An2mRnyBe4Ytazt1zsH7ggASZFJy3RBz7nIHJAlRH9aEG7YhGF6ousIRqSWEY0bTJognk/s1600-h/Wyvern+of+www.cabochon.com+-+Attack+on+Fallwick+%281%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215991652284622738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dofOZTN5hB-e1SDWHDamWp7JRN4Ujw3TMLRWx0N4tBWYmNETZ4YPGUOf5KUw-jNMKzecT2An2mRnyBe4Ytazt1zsH7ggASZFJy3RBz7nIHJAlRH9aEG7YhGF6ousIRqSWEY0bTJognk/s16000/Wyvern+of+www.cabochon.com+-+Attack+on+Fallwick+(1).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>their being there only barely slowed the army's search for the relic and so they are able to determine that it is not there and move on to destroy Fallwick. As you can see from this shot of Fallwick, a Stone Giant bravely fights a pair of deadly Glabrezus, while a Paladin leaves him for dead and appears to be searching for a corner to hide in. Typical.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyIXCZwsKcw6rMP4eJdNt0FBCSxUlO8-aIceK1Gf5fLiT9vXcU0AuF4kZjp6_oPZdof1IdJIohYeAWuJAna-ki1tMFQdfj2BII3iYaXFeSmUx4nZw7_bVyrLNmrRVBiXFpzJwMj20QnU/s1600-h/Wyvern+of+www.cabochon.com+-+Attack+on+Fallwick+%282%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215991659992107602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyIXCZwsKcw6rMP4eJdNt0FBCSxUlO8-aIceK1Gf5fLiT9vXcU0AuF4kZjp6_oPZdof1IdJIohYeAWuJAna-ki1tMFQdfj2BII3iYaXFeSmUx4nZw7_bVyrLNmrRVBiXFpzJwMj20QnU/s16000/Wyvern+of+www.cabochon.com+-+Attack+on+Fallwick+(2).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>But wait, here the Paladin is seen going up against the Conqueror Wurm. Or so it seems... clearly, his hiding spot had been discovered and after trying to flee, he found himself cornered. No doubt he is wetting himself at this moment. Poor little Paladin.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXpB7aAimmTyHTSseY60DuceQAhOzS1Z2BbUUWz7rHzBg0KccfQFkV20jhKjkeazwYso18ynnTwAXnvUjuYroZWjTZkKNYIaqgoK9Qepyz2AL2dTtiEmtjyXA3C9ZB4tCyFz620-p5FY/s1600-h/Wyvern+%28Online+Game%29+-+Attack+on+Blackwynne.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215994189523143762" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXpB7aAimmTyHTSseY60DuceQAhOzS1Z2BbUUWz7rHzBg0KccfQFkV20jhKjkeazwYso18ynnTwAXnvUjuYroZWjTZkKNYIaqgoK9Qepyz2AL2dTtiEmtjyXA3C9ZB4tCyFz620-p5FY/s16000/Wyvern+(Online+Game)+-+Attack+on+Blackwynne.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>And so the Conqueror Wurm moves on to obliterate another poor village. This time we see a pair of those brave (is being too stupid to run really considered bravery?) Stone Giants trying to stop the Conqueror Wurm's path of destruction here and now. As you can see, the paladin is nowhere to be seen. No doubt he died crying back in Fallwick. He will forever be forgotten.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7DOj5upidTmgbQE5LqM_j-ov2Q77AgrCpNTavCftdBJne2QR12mNF_4ba8VNJ1VLyjMzlibnv-_AY5yAF99s4ovSCzuC6I5pRxR9RHeT7BhTqanLlptVwAp-RDMvWHX-u_Z3q3Dkgvw/s1600-h/Wyvern+of+www.cabochon+-+Underground+Mountain+Pass.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215995127747682514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7DOj5upidTmgbQE5LqM_j-ov2Q77AgrCpNTavCftdBJne2QR12mNF_4ba8VNJ1VLyjMzlibnv-_AY5yAF99s4ovSCzuC6I5pRxR9RHeT7BhTqanLlptVwAp-RDMvWHX-u_Z3q3Dkgvw/s16000/Wyvern+of+www.cabochon+-+Underground+Mountain+Pass.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Oh dear. As the band traverses the underground caves, that lead to Hawthorne, they encounter a fierce bunch of undead horrors. It turns out that the army has supplemented its lost numbers by using these undead to try and kill the interlopers.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6GMjhLDElkcUzz1Ciy9OjQtrrK7vvujc31BXbt9CP9s9HcMDVJiNzY2vOHFSE7VY9DG3p6YYQaEp5tqpsladv_AZ5RpeeWdvYY7_GlPNBsrAZ5GG2lfCnPutlTL7V69txC8uoIbiHhG8cefuxRp04r7Maudt7CxF5vQ5QaD__M6Aczv3bMaxYQLYs8pM/s800/Wyvern,%20the%20Graphical%20Mud%20-%20Nec-bathat's%20Rampage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6GMjhLDElkcUzz1Ciy9OjQtrrK7vvujc31BXbt9CP9s9HcMDVJiNzY2vOHFSE7VY9DG3p6YYQaEp5tqpsladv_AZ5RpeeWdvYY7_GlPNBsrAZ5GG2lfCnPutlTL7V69txC8uoIbiHhG8cefuxRp04r7Maudt7CxF5vQ5QaD__M6Aczv3bMaxYQLYs8pM/s16000/Wyvern,%20the%20Graphical%20Mud%20-%20Nec-bathat's%20Rampage.png" /></a></div>Nec-bathat lives! Mwahahaha! With the relic recovered, she has been summoned from the Abyss to continue the destruction she begun five years ago. But first she must defeat these insignificant little whelps who foolishly stand before the Goddess of Death!<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkEPFf5Ixh0K4hTWzf5O5_KFbO42Y1bsCupM53hXJrqY7fDssxyifikrNayrf9V_hVbwoAm0LejwayEKh5EvU5ma5MBcdrOgXTjz65zk1B-VLPO4-zF_fp8t9JuN_-35y0OdcMmagSpjQ/s1600-h/Wyvern,+the+Graphical+Mud+-+Feast+%282%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215997284270863986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkEPFf5Ixh0K4hTWzf5O5_KFbO42Y1bsCupM53hXJrqY7fDssxyifikrNayrf9V_hVbwoAm0LejwayEKh5EvU5ma5MBcdrOgXTjz65zk1B-VLPO4-zF_fp8t9JuN_-35y0OdcMmagSpjQ/s16000/Wyvern,+the+Graphical+Mud+-+Feast+(2).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>The survivors of the Nec-bathat battle return to the feast. Not to help care for the wounded, mind you, but to try to exchange their spoils of war for rarities. It makes you wonder whatever happened to those heroes that fought simply to protect the weak and make the world a better place, doesn't it?<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq0h5DQ6NOQzSkX73kMRSSFQPSKqlhaJm2fO54j9Fl-ITORtWxPQP_QiOF4zVpGqbNJ3Ewx06aiLLP3vgb5iC_rr1LLAbmIWj8B0peSC5864q73nWf7e0hUhW18iDL1YK2-eiMo5iWuk/s1600-h/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Trivia+Contest+%283%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215998305142116146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq0h5DQ6NOQzSkX73kMRSSFQPSKqlhaJm2fO54j9Fl-ITORtWxPQP_QiOF4zVpGqbNJ3Ewx06aiLLP3vgb5iC_rr1LLAbmIWj8B0peSC5864q73nWf7e0hUhW18iDL1YK2-eiMo5iWuk/s16000/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Trivia+Contest+(3).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>The third Trivia contest for the day takes place. After the first one, I did two more contests that consisted of ten questions each and this time everyone who got an answer right got a feast token.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYEa1ONE4J_iUm_NsSgMwHykTlp2vJuWJATGgMXUj0kpVzqqmQRwJyGewiwXy0ZY-KghsY_zfC3Q0u6sUAiE4CXXspPxJSdKAjljtn7zqOvYxTOnmR7QKT0B6DO92KVWNmn513zXs3S8/s1600-h/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Chess.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215998846146387906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYEa1ONE4J_iUm_NsSgMwHykTlp2vJuWJATGgMXUj0kpVzqqmQRwJyGewiwXy0ZY-KghsY_zfC3Q0u6sUAiE4CXXspPxJSdKAjljtn7zqOvYxTOnmR7QKT0B6DO92KVWNmn513zXs3S8/s16000/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Chess.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Just because, I took a screenshot of Legolas' chessboard pieces. He introduced the new graphics at the first feast and then used them for a chessboard in Almien ao it was fitting that they make their appearance this year. Further on there's also a checkers board. Early in the day people were earnestly playing both games, but as the day went on they seemed to have lost interest. Every time I went to check on it after the morning hours I found the place empty. Here, I seem to have missed someone who started a Chess game, but left in the middle. Alas.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJNpTSAS7JvW-DuvdmjhehyPYOXB6e4gZWc6kgHTOcioGRubcYRbIa7MiWJY10dP6DAQ0ZPSXIlyU9ZcYcXGFHEh7xSfcgHSz2HLPlZpJufbB0NUz5UKTV4EBxRax8qF44qO6EG60BGo/s1600-h/Wyvern+%28Online+Game%29+-+Lottery+Waiting+Room.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216000037873330034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJNpTSAS7JvW-DuvdmjhehyPYOXB6e4gZWc6kgHTOcioGRubcYRbIa7MiWJY10dP6DAQ0ZPSXIlyU9ZcYcXGFHEh7xSfcgHSz2HLPlZpJufbB0NUz5UKTV4EBxRax8qF44qO6EG60BGo/s16000/Wyvern+(Online+Game)+-+Lottery+Waiting+Room.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>As the day wound to an end, the feast map emptied and everyone begun to park themselves in Valkon's lottery, waiting for a new lottery ticket to become available and chatting in the interim. The wizards followed with Legolas, Teshuvah, Binyamin, Arilou, Contrare, Valkon, a crushed pixie, and others making appearances before they went off to catch some must needed rest.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi8fpwhpdYgCOXUFlo_1tVok93Z2bPwBW5lwHt747v2dktx4LhV6A7EYGdXuLKE79MXo_RKrVvQ4V59djtw3NIYcElvwwdi416axkufkQN7ZWDMWIkpw5rHVTtEULW_yEBv1gO2na04c/s1600-h/Wyvern+%28Online+Game%29+-+Arilou+eats+Pixelwhip.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216002224720349778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi8fpwhpdYgCOXUFlo_1tVok93Z2bPwBW5lwHt747v2dktx4LhV6A7EYGdXuLKE79MXo_RKrVvQ4V59djtw3NIYcElvwwdi416axkufkQN7ZWDMWIkpw5rHVTtEULW_yEBv1gO2na04c/s16000/Wyvern+(Online+Game)+-+Arilou+eats+Pixelwhip.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Arilou, having napped just before, decided to take this time to eat all the players he could catch. If you look closely, you can see that here I've pinned a Halfling down and am in the process of stuffing his fat self into my mouth. Naturally, this is the end result of toying with my little prey for quite some time, taking chunks out of his meaty hide and "accidentally" releasing him so that I could chase him down once more. While it was fun torturing the bug-eyed creature, I could only resist chowing down on him for so long. Oh and for the record... he was a most delicious meal indeed.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Randorxeous' Screenshots:</span><br /><a href="http://tlsuda.com/wyvernfeast/">http://tlsuda.com/wyvernfeast/</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://tlsuda.com/cgi-bin/i/wyvernfeast/feast%20Lottery%20house.jpg"></a><br /><br />Steovanni's Screenshots:<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnx9ffcTky7AJc6cw0GjXdFoQUZl6hPyU6C3TX5C-hC8mZpY09Hg9H9bSt3N7yIfJvolXVmfJi3zX1J4J7M51GTxHv3iCpn9H3GjB_FHkuRdS0I8aF2vahQDtsiGRMex2eMjG29arD6E/s1600-h/Group+%28Steovanni%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216005406809597394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnx9ffcTky7AJc6cw0GjXdFoQUZl6hPyU6C3TX5C-hC8mZpY09Hg9H9bSt3N7yIfJvolXVmfJi3zX1J4J7M51GTxHv3iCpn9H3GjB_FHkuRdS0I8aF2vahQDtsiGRMex2eMjG29arD6E/s16000/Group+(Steovanni).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBrS5_SLHG1omhlmKuqyKXSgp8jKWcczESXcBb-QqzqTmlEeU0Q6vhl_TcOZWMKksBXY-sc60CgJAVXppgIMPfdIa9DLMuh5Mi-WxwxX4ghSMeYOZ67_H7TynQt4f99h9rM7jKrQXDUY/s1600-h/Group-center+%28Steovanni%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216011025634384434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBrS5_SLHG1omhlmKuqyKXSgp8jKWcczESXcBb-QqzqTmlEeU0Q6vhl_TcOZWMKksBXY-sc60CgJAVXppgIMPfdIa9DLMuh5Mi-WxwxX4ghSMeYOZ67_H7TynQt4f99h9rM7jKrQXDUY/s16000/Group-center+(Steovanni).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3GNV-d3hK4xmKm-IdaCpj-QVhuaraH_7LvK4O3vMQj117Wns2eILuU8Cd44gnbq73AZREvxSP3hg39L_KdMFDqTIFT5SoMguJagbhm8chogaDeb6dUzWM9SYCwPyaW0C0JA9xm7PlbM/s1600-h/grouplotto+%28Steovanni%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216005414841417010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3GNV-d3hK4xmKm-IdaCpj-QVhuaraH_7LvK4O3vMQj117Wns2eILuU8Cd44gnbq73AZREvxSP3hg39L_KdMFDqTIFT5SoMguJagbhm8chogaDeb6dUzWM9SYCwPyaW0C0JA9xm7PlbM/s16000/grouplotto+(Steovanni).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFN45dSTZu1p5BS9RZIJYoQj0-ti_M_FsB4k0DYb4cdqU-TqvSxgB3ZQ1lBVDDuEuF0FXS_JO07OOFMKfMpTSDssoW9Xd4r7YnQ0LgHZpW_aiviXoC2ISL2_kzuTHLVUqSDlmk3FUTVo/s1600-h/Stoneybrook+%28Steovanni%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216005422467613778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFN45dSTZu1p5BS9RZIJYoQj0-ti_M_FsB4k0DYb4cdqU-TqvSxgB3ZQ1lBVDDuEuF0FXS_JO07OOFMKfMpTSDssoW9Xd4r7YnQ0LgHZpW_aiviXoC2ISL2_kzuTHLVUqSDlmk3FUTVo/s16000/Stoneybrook+(Steovanni).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Patriarch's Screenshots:</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.freewebs.com/atriarch/summerfeast2008.htm">http://www.freewebs.com/atriarch/summerfeast2008.htm</a><br />
<br />
Well, that's all folks. For now anyway - It's never too late to in-game mail me and let me know you have feast stuff that you want me to include here. So if you're slow on the uptake, no biggie. Anyway, I'll be following this up with at least two more blog posts that are more informative than visual. So check in if you think that might be of interest to you.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><p></p>Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-11088213218490598422008-06-22T19:51:00.009-04:002011-12-09T10:10:39.019-05:00First Day of Summer Feast - The Day AfterIf I do say so myself, the feast was a smashing success. It was a lot of fun all around and I think most everyone would agree. In the next couple of days I'll be posting screenshots and describing the days events for anyone who wasn't around for all or some of it. I'll also give a complete run down of the main lq and get a bit deeper into the plot for any interested.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'd like to request that anyone who took screenshots or videos, in-game mail me. Any links you send me will be posted here and if you don't have anywhere to host it, just let me know in the message and I'll give you an email where you can send it to (I'll upload it here for posterity sake). I have my own screenshots, which I'll be posting either way, so if nobody comes through, there will still be something for you guys to remember the day by. Plus, a player was nice enough to get in contact with me already. Still, it would be awesome if someone managed to capture the lq on video.<br /><br />Anyway, I have to get back to the fun part, (doing the work needed to get some of this new content into the game on a regular basis) but I'll be back to blogging soon.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-19084868958813968972008-06-21T23:52:00.007-04:002024-01-17T03:31:54.897-05:00Trivia Contest<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibZWTgA5mIQDB6NzQqOEDZgtoiG76JcKzmIQ1BMPE2afIj6tXpfuzoSexqak-yRxVH7-j8eL9mrhM2RSIdfgmTtOPCSpJJVzo_xBL31PSF_Yinh5vKdi92ZAf5-EZFV9TkDPU1fZOYxs/s1600-h/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Trivia+Contest+%281%29.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214549847962948578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibZWTgA5mIQDB6NzQqOEDZgtoiG76JcKzmIQ1BMPE2afIj6tXpfuzoSexqak-yRxVH7-j8eL9mrhM2RSIdfgmTtOPCSpJJVzo_xBL31PSF_Yinh5vKdi92ZAf5-EZFV9TkDPU1fZOYxs/s16000/Wyvern+MMORPG+-+Trivia+Contest+(1).png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Wow, just wow. I ran a number of Trivia Contests today in honor of the ones Rhialto used to do late at night. It's a pretty simple concept. Answer some basic Wyvern trivia questions and win a prize. However, the type of answers I got back were mind boggling. Take this one, for example. I asked this: "How many arch wizards are there and what are their names?" and below are the hilarious replies I got back.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: 4</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: ummm</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">patriarch says: 2 legolas and rhialto</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">snarfer growls: 2 Arilou, and Teshuvah</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">crier says: 3 Kupior, Legolas Rhialto</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">heqet says: 2 rhialto legolas</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: say legolas and rhialto</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">zevran says: legolas rhialto</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">veldin says: 3, teshavuah, arilou and binyamin</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">randorxeous says: 3 lego, rhialto and kupior</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">dermatolith says: 7- sleepy, dopey, doc, bashful...</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: 4 Rhialto, Teshuvah, Kiz and Caius</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">snarfer growls: 1 Legolas</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: say legolas and rhialto 2</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">firexr says: 3, rhialto, legoles, ad kiz</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">rifkas says: 2. Legolas and Rhialto</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: say legolas and rhialto 2 tesh biny</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">veldin says: 3, teshavuah, arilou and rhailato</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: say legolas and rhialto 2 readen</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: say legolas and rhialto 3 readen</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">patriarch says: 3 kiz, legolas, and rhialto</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">snarfer growls: 2 Legolas, and Kupior</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: say legolas and rhialto 3 tesh</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">zevran says: 4 legolas rhialto kiz janica</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">heqet says: 3 kiz, kupior, legolas</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: say legolas and rhialto 4 biny tesh</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">veldin says: 3, teshavah, arilou and legolas</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: Janica's a elder</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">crier says: Kix, Tesh, Lego, 3?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">steovanni says: 3</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">snarfer growls: 2 Legolas, and Kiz</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: the 4th is someone who starts with C i think</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">crier says: kiz*</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">heqet says: 2 legoloas, kiz</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">patriarch says: 1, legolas</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">steovanni says: tesh arilou</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">randorxeous says: 5 lego, rhialto, chirs, and others?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: there are 4 >.<</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">You say: It's 4, yes...Now who are they?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">perceptor says: 3 Cloud Strife, Sephiroth and Johnny Cash</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">steovanni says: 4</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">veldin says: 4, teshavah, arilou, janica, binaymin</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: Rhialto, Teshuvah, Kiz and C......</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">crier says: Tesh, Lego, Arilou, Ciaus</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">steovanni says: tesh lego arilou cauis</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">beckhan says: rhialto legolas benyamin and teshuvah</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">rifkas says: 4. Teshuvah, Binyamin, Arilou, Lego</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">snarfer growls: 4 Legolas, Kiz, Janica, and Ciaus.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">patriarch says: 3 lego, ciaus, and R</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: Rhialto, Teshuvah, Kiz and Ciaus?</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">raffy says: Rhialto Legolas Galdor Kiz</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">rifkas says: 4. Teshuvah, Rhialto, Arilou, Lego</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">klodin says: arilou's not arhc</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">patriarch says: 5 kiz, caius, rhialto, janica, and legolas</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">snarfer growls: 4 Legolas Kiz Rhialto and Ciaus</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">randorxeous says: 5 lefo, R, kiz, janica and ciaus?</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">steovanni says: rhialto legolas kiz cauis</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">veldin says: 4, teshavah, arilou, janica, legolas</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">beckhan says: rhialto legolas kiz and teshuvah</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">perceptor says: Legolas, Kiz, Teshuvah, Ciaus</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">zevran says: legolas kiz caius rhialto</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">tyranos says: rhialto legolas zifa claus 4<br /><br /></span>And my all time favorite: <span style="font-weight: bold;">patriarch says: 4 kupoir, legolas, rhialto, and kupoir </span>Gotta Love those Kupior twins. :)<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span></span><br /><br />People ask how many arch wizards there are and who they are all the time and I'm constantly answering that question. Knowing this, I thought it would be a breeze, but apparently not. First of all, how do you seriously answer the question without including Rhialto in it by default? Even if you don't know all of them, he's obvious. Secondly, I was visible - Anyone who typed wizards could've seen I was an Elder and not an Arch Wizard, yet my name kept coming up. Third, Kupior? Seriously? That name was thrown out way too many times. How so many people could confuse a full wizard with an arch wizard I do not know. Janica...Okay. Raeden...Okay. Teshuvah, come on, she's around all the time...Okay though. But Kupior? Silly players.<br /><br />It went on like this for awhile, but this was the most comical. Other gems included seriously mixing up when wizards were first promoted, (which is no big deal in and of itself, but the level at which they mixed them up was classic) not knowing that Thrain originally made the Mist Temple (that should be common knowledge) and responding that Legolas and Rhialto were elders to a question asking players to list all our Elder Wizards ("then says: arilou, teshuvah, rhialto, legolas, binyamin"). Surprisingly, though, everyone knew Teshuvah was afraid of Spiders - After asking that question my screen filled with "spider! spider! spider...." Which, of course, made me happy as I exist to make sure everyone knows this.<br /><br />Anyway, I just thought I'd share my amusement. More blogging about the feast will be done over the next few days. Which will include a full run down of the main lq for anyone who missed it and lots of screenshots!Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-11759506768781745382008-06-03T13:28:00.008-04:002016-02-23T21:39:58.948-05:00First Day of Summer Feast and LQYou heard that right, we are doing the First Day of Summer Feast again this year on June 21st. It hasn't happened in five years and it may never happen again, so miss out only if you have to.<br />
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Whether you were here for the first one or not, you are in for a treat. It will be an all day event that you can stop in on at any time and find something to do from hanging out with good company in our lovely feast area to enjoying some of the games we will be hosting. Many of our active wizards have banded together to contribute something for this event so expect to see a wave of new content. Much of which will end up working its way into the game afterwards, but some of it can only be seen/obtained on this special day. So as to not spoil things for you, the wizards are remaining tight lipped on the specifics of what you can expect to encounter, but trust me when I say you will enjoy yourself with what we have planned for you.<br />
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However, if are really dying to get some sort of idea of what it will be like, I recommend seeking out your fellow players who were here for the 2003 feast. Ask them to publicly share their stories and see if any have screenshots that they will be willing to put up on the forum. While you're at it, you can also stop by Glacier Point and Lirkka to see some of the lasting effects that day had on the game. There was a lot going on that day and it was a lot fun, but if I do so dare, I think we've managed to top it.<br />
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Oh and by the way, I'd like take this time to encourage you people to take screenshots and make videos during the feast. The last one wasn't well documented and it would be nice if future Wyverneers had something to look back on. I'll be blogging about it sometime after it happens and I'd be more than happy to link to any videos or display any screenshots for those of you who contact me about it. More so, if you have a website (even a freewebs one) and you want to make a page about the feast, just let me know and I'll even link to that. That said, if you feel any of this will be a distraction, just have fun and absorb the day. That's what it's all about, after all.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-84767017307174868622008-05-17T00:30:00.008-04:002024-01-17T03:39:53.563-05:00Game Informer<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMSwZMY99nWI_ecHvi2b8kdb8AIue0JrCZmqj5yq_A9nmVUnH1vX_Oc28-K1MHLsBVVQQ0iHRiaxEc1oAar1Q9YSmU760B-YoiPIBc1cxs3oFfODbY1UaKhgp2raTlHVDZDDtO2Qs9Kw/s1600/Wyvern%2527s+Game+Informer+Article.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MusWdwCgIaSLZYKFA6AgnWydr5Hnb-mz9SuXd5mexks601rTZ_OYwuNJpMFND3PtsY-mQcZCTbWZqE4Zkg2pWDYX64-pg14wp6O55VOiTwsMFXXoz6lhyPCNIllgzYFHHu3oUeR7VwLxwzCZidNrhJ6MBN5b_8yDCCpm6LXFafx2d8kuTRU6h8RehJI/s1600/Wyvern's%20Game%20Informer%20Article.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="319" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MusWdwCgIaSLZYKFA6AgnWydr5Hnb-mz9SuXd5mexks601rTZ_OYwuNJpMFND3PtsY-mQcZCTbWZqE4Zkg2pWDYX64-pg14wp6O55VOiTwsMFXXoz6lhyPCNIllgzYFHHu3oUeR7VwLxwzCZidNrhJ6MBN5b_8yDCCpm6LXFafx2d8kuTRU6h8RehJI/w128-h640/Wyvern's%20Game%20Informer%20Article.jpg" width="128" /></a></div> Well, I was feasting on the flesh of some tasty little players yesterday and in-between their screams of absolute and total pain, we got to talking and the old Wyvern Game Informer article came up. That is, of course, once they stopped begging for their lives while tears flowed freely down their rump little faces that you could just eat up. But I digress. The point is, it got me thinking and I thought it would make an okay blog post, if for no other reason than to document the article for posterity's sake.<br /><br />For those of you who missed out, I'll give you a quick backstory: It was a cold winter's day back in December of '04. The sun was glistening on fresh banks of snow as far as the eye could see. Out in the distance one could view the most magnificent sight of a lone...<p></p><p>What? Right, right, it was supposed to be a <span style="font-style: italic;">quick</span> backstory. Skipping ahead then: A player had made an excited forum post about the game getting reviewed in a magazine. Naturally, I laughed it off, thinking it another attempt by the players to mess with each other. However, the discussion continued and the post was followed up with a transcript of the article, which made it a little more believable, but with these rugrats you never know. So I returned to my meal of roast halfling and put the nonsense out of my mind. Days later, I found myself at Barnes and Noble buying a pile of books, as I'm known to do. On a whim, I walked over to the magazine section and began rummaging around looking for this Game Informer magazine that held the alleged article. At first, the magazine was nowhere to be found and I was about to walk away, but then...</p><p>What's that? This isn't getting to the point any quicker you say? All of this is just pointless little details that nobody cares about? Well I never... oh, all right, you win. The point is I found the article, scanned it into my computer, and posted it on the forums for players to see. Not very exciting and I know you don't care. Honestly, I don't either, but I just filled up another paragraph on this blog that would've worked fine just having had the pictures and nothing else. Ha! Ha! My plan to bore you all to death is working perfectly!<br /><br />Okay, fine, fine, I'm done with the insanity (for now). I'll leave you off with two more images (below). To give a complete picture I photographed the magazine cover and the page that the article was on. As you can see it's nothing huge, but I found it interesting that one of the players I was talking to yesterday came to the game this year because of the article. He had noticed it back when it came out but ignored it until recently. So it's still having an effect and it's a nice little thing that adds a bit of notability to Wyvern.</p><p>Plus, it's so minor that the Game Informer website doesn't mention it on its website under the details for this issue, so I figured, hey, it deserves to be documented somewhere and what better place then among my ramblings? No really, tell me of a better place. It deserves much more than this dinky little blog. If it could talk it would be screaming for help right this second. And wait, I think it's actually doing that. Yes. Yes! I can hear it! ... oh, my bad. That's just another voice in my head, trying to mess with me... great, now he's laughing at me. Well he's not getting the last laugh. No sir!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4XipOdMTZvwgynLc9bizpkSG_3hpqL_CGEslVRVt78pjlpCmY9k0OBH-W9kgI5asB6rpgdpl_IQLgX94CHt_33dzua3ZWB44MHbTeRVzTq2cTiFSbpJSfEWSmD3_4h2nsfPk6yzkdVU/s1600-h/gameinformer_cover.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201211913301881202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4XipOdMTZvwgynLc9bizpkSG_3hpqL_CGEslVRVt78pjlpCmY9k0OBH-W9kgI5asB6rpgdpl_IQLgX94CHt_33dzua3ZWB44MHbTeRVzTq2cTiFSbpJSfEWSmD3_4h2nsfPk6yzkdVU/s16000/gameinformer_cover.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibF2azyRZpdkIYUQkixE1Hv2-8PGYjfh72dUIcSuSTiuoZ6nzrt9X-YfI_-YmFe1GhMCKoSxsKOVrOa4SccotoC1uJS1EdYHavDCQXW48GxAM6jff9y95FoUcH7MczmrJnzcpHPsvhhdE/s1600-h/gameinformer_page.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201211913301881218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibF2azyRZpdkIYUQkixE1Hv2-8PGYjfh72dUIcSuSTiuoZ6nzrt9X-YfI_-YmFe1GhMCKoSxsKOVrOa4SccotoC1uJS1EdYHavDCQXW48GxAM6jff9y95FoUcH7MczmrJnzcpHPsvhhdE/s16000/gameinformer_page.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />By the way, for those of you interested, your friendly neighborhood wizards are planning something <span style="font-weight: bold;">big </span>(I kid you not) and to wet your appetites I <span style="font-style: italic;">might</span> just make a blog post next month that slightly scratches the surface of what it will be. But you have to good little boys and girls. Otherwise I may just have to sacrifice Mr. Wiggles to the monster that lives under your bed and we don't want that, now do we? Well... maybe <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span> don't. Mwuahahaha!</p><p>But seriously, it's legitimately very exciting that I'm sure you're all going to love it once you know what it is. Stay tuned!<br /></p>Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-8935737218784826872008-04-02T00:41:00.012-04:002024-01-17T03:40:34.181-05:00The Exciting Conclusion to the Chaotic Jester Event<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigu1dkt6KiYKrQ9_T61WlYW2Eyze9W2miCSZ_jFoodPAyCtSwiwbO4hWJWljOHO0Wm0Tm3T1lSwX67F6hRSpZcJYT16t9r3s23DRMkV505VKbe4PeLlYTK7ABKV05prxdC-RRfQhdb9Xw/s1600-h/jester1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184504104385317298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigu1dkt6KiYKrQ9_T61WlYW2Eyze9W2miCSZ_jFoodPAyCtSwiwbO4hWJWljOHO0Wm0Tm3T1lSwX67F6hRSpZcJYT16t9r3s23DRMkV505VKbe4PeLlYTK7ABKV05prxdC-RRfQhdb9Xw/s16000/jester1.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoBdutxyaBqTTAZnUoq2Kig9kH1dvIU_ChD7VcziOirOZ_P-SbmhdEnfXK2pv2FDq7YBEdOb5NxWU914EX60O15oeKKu86xVaQHCE7g8AKWue2cndEOKn3KndZirwabQEF7CNlOvLZjo/s1600-h/jester2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184504108680284610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoBdutxyaBqTTAZnUoq2Kig9kH1dvIU_ChD7VcziOirOZ_P-SbmhdEnfXK2pv2FDq7YBEdOb5NxWU914EX60O15oeKKu86xVaQHCE7g8AKWue2cndEOKn3KndZirwabQEF7CNlOvLZjo/s16000/jester2.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJsLlUfZFqJ8Cci7NnbAj0yTjThF7WVFCoAawUIKwm3V4WVX7gOzXo5hVzXr1bFISeKKbYuKIdJPztiyh3ETzJJOkCnO_8wnFPg5aUc1VRDUOoroi2nDgOcuh2VD1SlhrkXE2aoXh0HY/s1600-h/jester3.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184504112975251922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJsLlUfZFqJ8Cci7NnbAj0yTjThF7WVFCoAawUIKwm3V4WVX7gOzXo5hVzXr1bFISeKKbYuKIdJPztiyh3ETzJJOkCnO_8wnFPg5aUc1VRDUOoroi2nDgOcuh2VD1SlhrkXE2aoXh0HY/s16000/jester3.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPB5tfJc1_Czqc8X3f0_zA0AiWQIUcB81brnqWIDhbl4_rlwOnBsr5b-TWoTjLOqMXoovEYscF-XcfexG9fnDYZGph8EwIkhJFPkMDgsTEdwEKhM4fEHYh_CkSf4igAjZ9r8YPy5dF5g/s1600-h/jester4.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184504117270219234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPB5tfJc1_Czqc8X3f0_zA0AiWQIUcB81brnqWIDhbl4_rlwOnBsr5b-TWoTjLOqMXoovEYscF-XcfexG9fnDYZGph8EwIkhJFPkMDgsTEdwEKhM4fEHYh_CkSf4igAjZ9r8YPy5dF5g/s16000/jester4.png" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Several weeks in the making and after all the confused ramblings, the whining, and the shouts of pretend joy, the full picture has been revealed. In case you have not been following the tale I will copy everything said tonight here once again. But first some general notes:<br />
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Those who fully took part in the event received a number of rewards. The first went to those who died in the March 31st slaughter. They were able to reclaim a Jester Wand from the Netherworld, which is a special memento of this day that will never again be given out. Later that night, those who had the wand, and were willing to prove it, received an xp voucher and a renamed Jester doll. If you were hoping for something you could use in combat, sorry, but since the Jester won it didn't make sense for people to come out of it with anything of value. However, tonight that changed. The one who defeated the Marilith claimed an artifact (or gem, depending on what popped up out of the random spawn list) and the one who defeated the Chaotic Jester claimed a random mini-lq item from Janica's goditem spawns. Meanwhile, everyone who made it to the end was rewarded with two prize tokens and as a special something everyone who had the jester wand received an additional two prize tokens and the new Amulet of Valor. This was done by design to reward those who were brave enough to risk this live quest after facing a horrible defeat in the last one. Congratulations to all who came away with something.<br />
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To those still confused after reading all the fakeshout transcripts, the purpose behind this event was several fold. The primary reasons were that I wanted an explanation for the little April Fools thing I do in Forgotten Oak and I wanted to have a Live Quest where the boss won. Every year I warp Forgotten Oak into a blur of colors, upsidedownness, and general wackiness. However, this year I thought it would be fun if there was a plot reason behind it. So the Chaotic Jester (aka the ancient demon) was born. He escaped, waited for April Fools Eve to make his move as he absorbed special powers on this and the following day, and then the Live Quest ended with the players defeated so the Jester was able to make his "mark" by claiming Forgotten Oak as his own. Of course, after 24 hours I always take down the decoration and return Forgotten Oak to its previous state, so I planned for the victory to be short lived. Thus the second live quest took place. The Jester went to make his move, but since Arilou (the character) was involved, the Arch Wizards stepped in and gave players the opportunity to finish him off. All in all, everything went just as planned (server crashes aside). Throughout the years, players had always commented on how it was a shame the Live Quest monster did not win, so as a reward I came up with the first Live Quest where just that happened.<br />
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Secondary to that, I liked the idea of setting up a Live Quest in advance and revealing plot pieces bit by bit. In the past I've never liked doing plot based live quests as they seem like a waste of time. I write a story, a couple dozen players participate and even fewer pay attention to the details. Then it's over and is forgotten as the plot doesn't allow for you to keep redoing the live quest and to do so anyway would be stupid. Many wizards feel the same way which is why they make generic live quests that are rather brief and not extremely heavy on the plot as the 2002 Live Quests were. However, this blog gave me the opportunity to immortalize it in a way where I was able to get excited about doing one (plus the Jester Wand is akin to the Lirkka statue - People will always be applying to it and people will in turn ask to be told what the event was about). As such I'd like to do this again someday once I'm done with areas I need to get in-game first and when the server can better handle lots of players online. I have something in my head that expands over several months - At first the Live Quests begin as an exploratory to something sinister going on. Then, as more of what is going on is revealed to you, you get into bigger battles with Generals of a dark evil before eventually being able to encounter the Dark One yourself. Rather than just doing them randomly, they can be announced in advance and players can set aside time to take part in it. It generates more excitement that way and gives people something to look forward to and follow closely. But, <span style="font-style: italic;">if</span> I were to do something like that it would be a long way into the future.<br />
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Something I'd also like to do more of is expand on the Arilou character. If you've been following my ramblings you know I want to introduce characters to Wyvern that you encounter time and time again. Arilou is already a developed character and I love creating things for him. For the most part he is limited to what "I" say in shouts and on this blog as him. However, he has always made himself known in the Elemental Dungeon and I've always been thinking up other ways to include him. One idea involved him creating a temple and trying to gain worshipers in an attempt to attain godhood, but Rhialto and Legolas tore his temple to the ground while Arilou held his head down off to the side, (I referenced the idea tonight) quite pained over the incident as he was sooo close. Meanwhile this Live Quest presented another way to include his character and in a rather exciting way. Once again he's out there trying to spread chaos, once again he's lurking in the shadows, and once again the arch wizards limit the scope of his scheming. He's really a great little character and I very much so enjoy getting into his head.<br />
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Anyway, as you already noticed I took a number of sreenshots for you people. As you can also see the maps are very chaotic, very nonsense oriented, and do not have the same kind of flow a normal map would. This is by design. I've done this when creating the Forgotten Oak April Fools map and wanted to continue it with the Live Quest. Basically, the idea is that if it looks "good" then it's bad. It might be cool and a little neat to see it for the first time, but you should come away with a feeling of; "what was that garbage?" when leaving. In contrast I also took a screenshot of the Great Hall of Minath Elion which has a more pleasing design. Here players were rewarded with the Amulet of Valor by the princess (in keeping with the vague Minath plot about the King not being around, I had the npcs claim the King wanted to thank them but did not have him make an appearance) and later players were able to drink, eat, and be merry for all of 5 minutes before they ran off.<br />
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Well that's about it. I'd just like to give a very special thanks one of our new wizards, Valkon, for putting together The Infernal Galop (aka the can-can) score which you could hear during the Live Quest. I had wanted to bring that music into the game for so long and Valkon made it possible. Now that has made its appearance in the Live Quest it will make its way into the general rotation of midis which wizards can use for their areas. Thanks again, Valkon.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Tonight's Transcript</span><br />
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-From within his dark lair the jester flexes his muscles as his absorption of power is almost complete. Soon... very soon, the conquest shall begin.<br />
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*an hour passes*<br />
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-An ominous cloud appears overhead.<br />
-The now beefed up jester steps out into the daylight and smirks as he looks down on the world that will soon be his. It's not the prettiest sight to his warped mind but that shall all change when he replaces it all with a haze of colors and warps reality with his powerful illusionary magic.<br />
-From the ground below, Arilou appears and excitedly pats his clawed hands together as he watches the culmination of a long thought out plan come to a head. The forces of chaos shall finally reign.<br />
-Never would he have been able to achieve this on his own. While his power is great, it comes from the Arch Wizards and so he must dance a line in regard to interfering with mortals. Always being sure not to go too far in his attempts to bring chaos to the masses, lest he wake the bearded ones from their dreamy slumber deep below the surface.<br />
-But this, this was the perfect plan, he mused, while watching the Chaotic Jester. The Jester was already a force in the universe, locked away in a dark realm in the early days of the world, long before the memory of any can remember. After learning about the creature, all he had to do was fight his way through the extra-planar guardians and break the chains that kept the Jester from achieving his true potential. All he had to do now was not be overt about his involvement and chaos would reign.<br />
-While Arilou pats himself on the back, the Chaotic Jester goes to work summoning his dark forces. He reanimates his Undead Unicorns, resurrects the fallen soldiers that they might unwillingly serve him once more, and re-summons his Marilith General from the Abyss.<br />
-From his base, in Forgotten Oak, the Jester levitates his forces around him and begins to move them forward, setting his sights on the main land. But suddenly the ground rumbles furiously and a series of lightning bolts soar through the sky overhead.<br />
-An old, raspy voice can be heard bellowing orders to halt. The jester replies with a mocking laugh but suddenly he feels himself fall to ground in a sharp wave of pain.<br />
-Arilou moves quickly to defend his interests but is flung aside like a rag doll by a telekinetic force. Then, from within the mist, steps forward four wizened old men, that have the appearance of barely being able to hold themselves together, yet at the same time, emit tremendous power.<br />
-Arilou and the Jester squeal in unison and try to bring themselves to their feet but cannot.<br />
-Together the four bearded old men chant and a wave of light falls over the Jester and his minions, which elicit screams of pain from all.<br />
-The apparent leader of the bunch steps forward and bellows: Did you think we would not find out about your scheming? First you try to claim the title, Lord of Chaos for yourself and gain worshipers in an attempt to elevate yourself to godhood. Now you free this most ancient of demons that has a fancy for illusionary magic and disguising himself as a human fool.<br />
-Arilou wrinkles his nose and in response utters: It should've worked.<br />
-The apparent blue robed leader bellows: Typical. I applaud your effort. Still, you shouldn't have been the one to free it. I will not undo all that is, but the being has been weakened considerably and in doing so the magic that flows throw him and to his minions is lessened, making them weaker as well. If it wants to conquer the world, it will have to fight with its own sweat and blood. The old man turns to his companions and utters a single word, causing the ground to envelop the four of them.<br />
-The Jester and Arilou share a look, but then Arilou quickly does his own vanishing act, leaving behind a puff of smoke.<br />
-Alone and feeling severely weakened, the Chaotic Jester gathers his forces and retreats back to his hiding place in Forgotten Oak. He needs time to restructure his plan in light of recent events... now would be the perfect opportunity to lead an assault against him and his minions and be rid of this demon once and for all.<br />
-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The Jester has once again been spotted on the island of Forgotten Oak.<br />
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*some time passes*<br />
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-The jester utters a gurgled scream as his body falls to the ground, quite lifeless.<br />
-Those around for the event begin to cheer, but suddenly their faces turn to that of horror as his dark essence springs forth from the body and begins to expand.<br />
-Just as they begin to cower, something grabs at the shadow and pulls it away into a dark cloud.<br />
-Though his form was destroyed, the demon's essence is eternal. However, he will trouble none anymore for the remaining guardians have recaptured him and, with newly forged chains that beam with even more power than before, they lock the demon away. It cries out in defeat, wanting nothing less than to return to this fate of complete and utter hopelessness.<br />
-Meanwhile, the jester's illusions begin to vanish and its so called "mark" fades away to reveal the Forgotten Oak of old.<br />
-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! The High King of Minath Elion wishes to give special thanks to the heroes who saved the land this night. The Grand Hall has been opened in Minath Elion and in attendance is the princess and the King's adviser to offer their thanks.<br />
-Town Crier shouts: Those who have the Jester's Wand and took part in defeating him tonight can use to the portal in the Chaotic Jester's cave to come here and receive a very special reward. Everyone else is invited to come and partake in drink, food, and good company. The world offers you all, a debt of gratitude.<br />
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*a brief time later*<br />
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-From within the Great Hall you hear someone utter how this was all Teshuvah's fault. A flurry of: "Hear, Hears!" can be heard in response. Lurking within the shadows, Arilou smiles as his magic once again deflected blame to poor Teshuvah. He stands there for a moment, watching the crowd angrily discuss how this and everything else other the sun is Teshuvah's fault. Then he turns to leave as he has much work ahead of him. After all, lag is not going to create itself.<br />
-The end. *Trumpets blare as the screen fades to black.*Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-83650732162035280932008-03-31T23:04:00.006-04:002011-12-17T12:41:35.239-05:00Chaotic Jester Live QuestIncase you missed it, here's what went on. We got some 60 odd players online at once, the game crashed twice during the event, and the following messages appeared to those online:<br /><br />-Excited giggles fill the land. The hour of complete and utter chaos draws near.<br /><br />*an hour passes*<br /><br />-A great booming laughter fills the land.<br />-You grab your weapons, prepare your spells, and await in fear of the moment of truth.<br />-Town Crier shouts from within his hiding place: Hear ye! Hear ye! Minathian scouts have spotted the Jester making its move on the outer edges of the Forgotten Oak island. They have sent a contingent of soldiers through to battle with whatever forces the Chaotic Jester can muster.<br />-Town Crier shouts from within his hiding place: However, they request that any willing and able heroes join their cause and meet up with them to do battle with the Jester and end the threat it presents once and for all. Only united can the forces of light defeat this evil and save the land from becoming the Jester's amusement park.<br /><br />*an hour passes*<br /><br />-The Chaotic Jester led the fight in vanquishing the adventuring band!<br />-The Jester leaves his secluded cave and enters Oaken Village where he makes his mark on the world with a delighted smile on his face.<br />-Here he shall gather his energy from the players he slew and from his day of power. Then, tomorrow at midnight, he shall make his move and infest the entire world with his colorful goodness.<br />-Those who survived the battle shall submit to his will and become his slaves or die painful deaths.<br />-You put your head down, quite defeated and realize it was his plan all along to lure you to him so he could kill the strongest among you and use your spirits to fuel his conquest of the world.<br /><br />*some time passes*<br /><br />-Arilou thanks everyone who participated in feeding the jester and invites you all to witness the birth of a new, chaotic, age tomorrow night at Might-night, Eastern Time.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-62419526062943401652008-03-31T01:31:00.008-04:002011-12-17T12:39:51.319-05:00The Last Foreshadowing Before the StormWell kiddies, tonight is thee night. Once again, no it is not a joke and yes I am serious about it not being a joke. So be there and partake in what is bound to be quite the rollercoaster for you wannabe heroes.<br /><br />-Hee, hee, hee... that dark laughter which has been tormenting you from afar these last few weeks returns. But this time it seems much closer, much more foreboding.<br />-The forces of chaos plot their next move as they bask in the pure energy that flows through them on the eve of their day of power.<br />-As the jester summons his forces an even darker being watches over him. They converse in hushed tones as this overlord points to a map insistently. The jester squeals in defiance but the being of chaos reminds him to remember who freed him from his eternal bondage.<br />-The jester puffs out his chest, but backs down as the figure takes a step forward and reveals a wicked grin on his green colored face.<br />-Suddenly the figure sniffs the air and turns his head sharply at a creature spying on them in the background. He reaches his clawed hands out at the halfling sneak and brings it up to his maw where he promptly bites down on the squirming thing, putting an end to its frightened protests.<br />-The figure turns his now bloody face to the jester and gives him a cold look before storming off.<br />-The wizard Arilou appears and greets the brave heroes of land.<br />-Arilou emotes: Obviously this is a grave, grave threat that this jester presents and to do my part I have utilized thee public forum to get you all together for my... your benefit. May you fight with glory and unite against this wonderful... dark creature.<br />-Arilou represses his laughter and in doing so notices some blood appeared on his hand after removing it from his mouth. He quickly wipes the blood off his chin and retires to his lair in a puff of smoke.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-75458531627482732842008-03-29T19:13:00.008-04:002011-12-17T12:37:58.809-05:00Foreshadowing RevealedFinally, at long last, the meaning behind these omens has been revealed... or so I thought. Apparently to the players listening at the time this meant they should scream; "lq!" and insist on asking if it means they should go to Blackrose to look for it (why would you send a scout out from a city if the trouble is within it?). Then end by asking repeatedly if the live quest was today or not despite the Town Crier clearly stating that they needed to prepare for something coming in two dream days (dream days = real days btw). I swear, if I don't explain things in simple, short words some of your heads seem to be on the brink of exploding. Anyway, here is what was announced incase you missed it:<br /><br />-An ominous cloud passed by over head.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Hear ye! Hear ye! Everyone gather 'round. There is news to be heard.<br />-Town Crier shouts: Silence so I can be heard!<br />-Town Crier shouts: The Kings of land had sent scouts out to learn more about this horrific threat that escaped from a place of darkness a short time ago. Until this morning, when a thiefling scout scampered through the gates of Blackrose City, none had returned.<br />-Town Crier shouts: It is said that his demonic heritage protected him from being killed instantly at the sound of the jester's laugh, though he was by no means in good shape upon his return. In fact, he was on the brink of death, but he managed to bring crucial information to his lord, nonetheless.<br />-Town Crier shouts: He claims the chaotic jester is preparing for an assault on the land in two dream days hence where the jester's powers will be its strongest for the eve of its special day shall be at hand. From there he shall make his mark on the land and use it as a base to conquer all the world.<br />Town Crier shouts: All able bodied men and women are asked to sharpen their blades, hone their spells, restock their quivers, and be ready to defend the land against this threat.<br />-Town Crier shouts: The seers claim that there is no hope, that this threat is the final threat, and that we should pray to the gods to make our deaths swift. But the Kings and Lords of the land bid you to use their ramblings to inspire yourselves to new heights. Fight like you've never fought before and spread the word to all heroes so that this vile fiend, that has threatened us so, will be faced with an army of awe inspiring numbers.<br />-Town Crier shouts: And now I shall read a quote from the High King of Minath Elion; "We have fought bravely in many battles against the forces of darkness. Our courage has led us to defend the land against mighty Demon Lords, evil wizards, and unspeakable creatures, the likes of which we never hope to see again in our lifetimes. We even defended the land against the greatest threat of our generation, the Nec-Bathat. But no matter what the peril, we have always come through for we are on the side of right. This is no different. This... fool, shall not be the one to take us down. We shall overcome it as we have overcome more horrifying sights and we shall do so with the bravery of each who takes up the call to battle with it when it makes its sinister move. Go now and prepare, for the hour of your glory, where you shall go down in the history books for you service, is at hand."<br />-Town Crier shouts: That is all the news for now.<br />-The Town Crier goes to find some place to hide.<br />-Moments later, you hear the distant sound of laughter, "Hee, hee, hee," almost as if it knows and is mocking you all.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-52166913505886406432008-03-26T00:34:00.006-04:002013-01-26T04:44:02.959-05:00From the Notebook of Arilou - Chicken Spell Edition<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0XLo_mHjiuCYvP9fBjM9ATFvNz5L-Dmq6LFyyeTJMArsKj3RxG58AVVNdLNa4Qh1wGUMWhbMH1tHizwec51x5cxMvu0ywDMfdprkRqnEFRjPhpuCUfpeSDodUgC3xf4x5qbt926YvyA/s1600-h/openbook.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181904511004903842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0XLo_mHjiuCYvP9fBjM9ATFvNz5L-Dmq6LFyyeTJMArsKj3RxG58AVVNdLNa4Qh1wGUMWhbMH1tHizwec51x5cxMvu0ywDMfdprkRqnEFRjPhpuCUfpeSDodUgC3xf4x5qbt926YvyA/s320/openbook.gif" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />
It's been awhile since this blog delved into Wyvern content, something which I suspect is the primary reason many of you seven people check in on it. As such I am introducing a new series called; "From the Notebook of Arilou." As I go through life, beating on small children and taking their candy as my own, an idea occasionally pops into my head. The ones I like the most get written down either in a notebook or in a number of disorderly notepad files on my computer. From time to time I thought I'd give you guys a glimpse into them. However, they will <span style="font-style: italic;">usually</span> involve things that cannot be added because of the limitations of the game at the moment or because they are beyond my abilities to make. So bothering me to introduce them won't work as if it was just up to me they would exist already.<br />
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In any case, today's edition focuses on something I refer to as the "Chicken Spell" in my notes. The idea was that when adventuring through a dungeon you can suddenly encounter a dark mage (obviously any monster could have the spell, but stay with me) who casts a bolt spell that, if it hits you, changes your graphic to that of a chicken. Once a chicken, you cannot change forms if your race normally allows it. Instead you, as any character, are given this as your new form. Your ability to wield weapons and wear most armor is removed, your hp and sp is extremely lowered, and your combat stats are lowered as well. The specifics of which are not important and were left opened to be determined after testing of the spell was underway. The point is that you are too weak to remain in combat and have to "take flight" (HAR HAR HAR). Ideally, I'd like this to be something that forces players to find a corner to hide in, within the given dungeon, and hope beyond hope that the dark mage or some other creature does not find you before the spell's effect wears off and you return to your normal self.<br />
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Some general notes:<br />
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- It's important that it is a bolt spell. The idea is to give players something they have to dodge as this should be a hated spell that people take special care to avoid and if it gets players every time it's not as balanced. This is not just something meant to annoy players. It's meant to create an interesting aspect of the game that forces them to react in a unique manner and if it happens to players all the time it becomes a generic nuisance that you just have to put up rather than an occasional challenge that simply takes you off target for a short while.<br />
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- It goes without saying, but this would be a monster only spell. However, it would open the door to a greater range of polymorph spells. For example, instead of negative ones that monsters use on you, players could potentially cast ones on themselves which turn them into various monsters for a short period of time - These forms could make them more powerful in combat or, at the least, will give them a unique skill that aids them in the moment.<br />
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- The time you remain as a chicken depends on the caster's skill in the element of choice.<br />
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- This was something that I came up with in 2003. I was once hoping to get someone to code it for me, but that never worked out. There were a number of problems. Specifically with getting it to work as a bolt spell and with the chicken aspect of it all. Apparently it had the same problem costumes did, meaning that it would glitch a player's image if they were a giant or a naga. But in general it's something that is complicated to code, so while I still hope someone will make something out of it someday, it has gained a special place in my notebook where it will probably remain for some time to come.<br />
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- While writing this I added another note - "Dark mage should randomly appear at different points in the dungeon and have a possibility to not appear at all." What this means is that if the spell ever got made, the first place I would use it in is a new dungeon where this "dark mage" lives. Rather than have him at a fixed point in the dungeon where players always knew where he was so they could prepare, it would be more fun if he would randomly jump out at you. Of course, this has nothing to do with where the spell would be used in other wizard's areas or projects of mine made after that. But the spell originated as an idea for a very specific encounter and I would like to make that a reality before doing anything else - Crazed mage -> polymorph chicken spell -> dungeon -> corners designed into the maps that give players somewhere to hide -> screaming over shouts that the sky is falling -> laughter by Arilou and sweet dreams of players dying painful deaths to follow.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-57279097767831363792008-03-25T01:16:00.003-04:002011-12-17T12:34:57.902-05:00Even more foreshadowingIncase you haven't caught on yet I've been copying transcripts of messages that have appeared to players via the fakeshout command. Players online at the time have responded with mixed, but ultimately confused, reactions. Some don't take it all that seriously (and I can't imagine why) while others scream that it has to do with wizards leaving or the game going down (not the brightest bulbs we have in Wyvern). I'll tell you this much... it's not a joke - It does have to do with something that is "coming" just as the messages suggest. The question is can you guess what that something is and what it is in relation to? Maybe this third bit of foreshadowing can fill in some of the pieces for you guys, gals, and disfigured mutants who's gender we cannot be sure of:<br /><br />-In the darkness lurks a great evil. Waiting, always waiting, but soon... soon it shall make its move and the world shall crumble before its might.<br />-The hour of bloodshed grows ever closer while the masses skip through life laughing at omens and stuffing their faces with the lies they tell themselves.<br />-From the darkness the blinding colors of all the rainbow shall sprout and all shall know their doom is at hand as the world turns on its head.<br />-Hark! The great evil shall come forth on the eve of the day where its powers will be the strongest. None shall doubt its strength as it makes its mark on the world in a massive blood bath, the likes of which have rarely been seen throughout the ages.<br />-A great flash of colors appears before you all and then is gone as soon as it came. The third omen has presented itself and the time for mirth diminishes that much more.<br /><br />*Some time passes*<br /><br />Hee, hee, hee... the laughter is a cold reminder of what is and what is to come. Your face grows pale this time for no longer can you deny the truth. Your doom and the doom of all that are and ever will be is near.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-8291515168090802942008-03-20T02:37:00.003-04:002011-12-17T12:33:15.416-05:00Foreshadowing (continued)-The end is near.<br />-On top a mountain hilltop lurks a lone goblin. The wind blows gently against his disfigured face as the little creature basks in its refreshing chill.<br />-It feels secure. Too secure... for somewhere behind it lurks a dark figure.<br />-Ever so slowly the figure tiptoes towards the unsuspecting goblin...<br />-Alas, the bell dangling at the figure's ankle makes a noise, causing the goblin to spin around, quite startled. It is greeted by the most horrid, most evil, most fearsome creature imaginable.<br />-The goblin tries to run but its legs buckle in fear and so all it can do is whimper as the figure comes forward...<br />-The goblin raises its arms defensively but nothing happens for several moments. Suddenly the goblin gets up the nerve to peer at the figure and is greeted by the most wickedly curled smile from a...<br />-Jester. With a hop and a wink it lets out a laugh: "Hee, hee, hee."<br />-The goblin falls dead in response without so much as a confused cry.<br />-Suddenly, there is a flash of colors before your eyes and then... normalcy. Everything is as it was...<br />-And yet a chill runs down your spine. The second omen has made itself known. A great evil shall soon make its mark on the world and you fear that it may be the end of all that is and all that will be. But how long do you have? Days? Weeks? You cannot be certain, but you know you do not have as much time as you'd like before the end is upon you. You close your eyes, remembering that flash of colors and wonder what it symbolizes.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-4098754459174190232008-03-17T20:56:00.027-04:002024-01-17T03:04:28.499-05:00Battling Monsters<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuU-z_NLqhU3aLhzTdcK4bP1K6Kd3fG8mg2UpU_BtAUMpmqm-MFKVNDqrXcf7phrjbjMPX-_pKUZWIYCCMza6CT5Dag81vhSjkzMbELlIbYh9VyP9B4KklgWdZJG_iXzsaz1eQ_1z-xc/s1600-h/battle.png"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9EBV_8lRzQWpHkM6aw24rbmNKTQj4HfeBLgLVArepG-XGPuzHPAV2v69j3IMBIOXCAWf8XNmRmaKCudjm3zQyMzr-LDivpKhJ0inRTafKeVigubqkx90sDPdZrcomafjxI2N_arKGF0HDBGqt9FFYjX1H8d3aZP-n1f8zr2Ho7SSDjBifyZTiWgzej4/s600/battle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=""Adventurers battle the dark fiends that reside in Forgotten Oak of the graphical mud, Wyvern" border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9EBV_8lRzQWpHkM6aw24rbmNKTQj4HfeBLgLVArepG-XGPuzHPAV2v69j3IMBIOXCAWf8XNmRmaKCudjm3zQyMzr-LDivpKhJ0inRTafKeVigubqkx90sDPdZrcomafjxI2N_arKGF0HDBGqt9FFYjX1H8d3aZP-n1f8zr2Ho7SSDjBifyZTiWgzej4/s16000/battle.png" title="Battling Monsters in Wyvern's Forgotten Oak" /></a></div><p> </p><p>Just for fun I thought I'd post this little "screenshot" of a battle between an adventuring band and the creatures they have encountered within Forgotten Oak.<br />
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It has occurred to me since posting this that this would be a good basis for a story. You can start with the introduction of these five heroes, to each other, in the New Verden area and follow their adventures throughout the land. Rather than doing chapters in a book it could be a series of short stories and throughout you get a couple of images mixed in that visually show something described in the story. I'm way too busy to do something like that at the moment, but I find the idea intriguing and I may explore it sometime in the next few years.<br />
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It would make a good series of blog posts and an even better website feature. Additionally, the characters can be referenced in the game and it could be possible to meet them while exploring. Possibly during certain quests. It'll add a bit of flavor to the game and I've always wanted to have famous adventuring parties in the game. You know, people who townsfolk talk about with high praise and who you can later meet and battle against, join forces with, talk to, etc. However, this would be even better as the player will get to know every little detail of their rise to fame in a way I could never do just by using the game itself to tell their story. It could also create a bit of excitement for players to end up hearing about or meeting in the game.<br />
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But in the here and now, I thought the screenshot came out nicely. Its purpose was to show off the most exciting aspects of Wyvern's battle features while using some of the game's better graphics. For someone who never played Wyvern before I want them to see it and go; "Wow, I have to try that!" The current game screenshots on cabochon.com, don't really do that. There was an attempt to update them a bit in 2003, but nothing ever came of it and even so, what was captured then doesn't display what the game is capable of today. In the future we'll see about trying to get them updated, (they won't be as stylized as this image is) but until Rhialto follows through with his web-based client plans I'm inclined to hold off on that as the purpose of good screenshots is to show off not just the game, but the client and its features as well. So any ones made of the current client would be vastly outdated as soon as that came about.</p><br />Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2813928506348618137.post-87839231771940568652008-03-14T16:35:00.005-04:002011-12-17T12:31:12.381-05:00Foreshadowing-The end grows near.<br />-A farewell is proclaimed.<br />-Trapped in the darkness between desperation and despair lives a great evil of unmatched power.<br />-Its bonds are nearly broken and it hungers for your souls.<br />-Suddenly two bright orbs appear from somewhere within that darkness. A chill runs down your spine.<br />-A mighty roar and the sound of a great struggle follow.<br />-Then silence.<br />-Stunned, you take a step forward, but as you do you are knocked back by a massive explosion.<br />-From within the darkness and the cloud of dust, a figure steps forward. But you can't quite make it out just yet...<br />-Fearful, you try to run, but your legs fail to work. All you can do is shut your eyes and hope for a quick end.<br />-The sound of mad laughter makes you open your eyes at your doom, despite your better judgment, and standing there before you is...<br />-A jester. He offers you a smile and a wink, does a little dance, and hops off down the road.<br />-Suddenly he looks back at you and in all seriousness proclaims: "The end is near." Then he turns his back on you and hops out of sight.<br /><br />**Some time passes**<br /><br />-While the mortals go on with their lives, somewhere, deep in a darkened forest, a jester sits against a rock and ponders what is to come. A curled smile appears on the little guy's face as he pats his hands together with glee.<br />-His laughter echoes throughout the forest and when it ends there is only silence. No longer can birds be heard chirping or goblins heard fighting amongst themselves for a handful of bronze coins. Even the trees grow silent despite the wind pushing against their usually creaking branches.<br />-Hee, hee, hee... the sound of death.<br />-You suddenly grow very nervous at this horrific precursor and wonder how much longer you are for this world. Hours? days? It is all so surreal.<br />-Colors flash before your eyes while in your current haze, and then nothing. Everything is as it was, but you will never forget that something is coming... something big... but when?<br /><br />**Some time passes**<br /><br />-Hee, hee, hee... the laughter is a cold reminder of what is and what is to come.Arilouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405377950377443234noreply@blogger.com0