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Cysero
WHAT HAPPENED TO AQ3D, LEGEND OF LORE? posted by Cysero on

AQ3D logo

Most of you guys know me, and most of you know that I try and answer your questions when I am able to. A lot of you have been wondering what happened to our 3D browser game, Adventurequest 3D: Legend of Lore so I'm going to try and explain it. 

First, I think it's important to say that the project has been shelved. This does not mean that we've given up on it but it DOES mean that halted most work on it (pretty much everything, really) several months ago. We have no CURRENT plans to continue developing it but we hope that our situation changes and we will be able to continue working on it at a later time down the road. 

We were a Flash based company. All of our games had been built in Adobe Flash and we were building AQ3D in Unity with plan of delivering the game through the next generation of Flash Players (Kind of like how YouTube plays video files through the Flash Player) After about a year of development on AQ3D, Adobe (the company that puts out Flash and other programs such as Photoshop) announced that it was halting all work on the next generation of Flash to change direction. With Adobe no longer making the next gen of Flash Players, Unity dropped all 3D support for Flash, meaning that we would NOT be able to deliver our game. 

This left us in a REALLY bad spot. We had already spent a year making this game and suddenly, over night, we had lost the ability to deliver the game to our Flash enabled players which, being a Flash game company, meant everyone. 

Making games is expensive. Just the programs alone cost heaps (and you can't use cracked versions for legitimate games), not to mention the skilled developers, the server costs for an MMO, the bandwidth bill for (hopefully) hundreds of thousands of users, and advertising costs because you need players to survive and you can't just build a game and HOPE that people show up. That's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much money it takes to keep a single game going. If we couldn't deliver the game to OUR players then we would have wasted a lot of time and money in a time when we can afford to waste neither.

So, either we keep working on this very expensive 3D project knowing that our market penetration would be pathetic and the game would essentially be dead-on-launch... keep making web-based Flash games in a world where more and more gamers were leaving the web for smartphones and tablets... or shelve the 3D project, continue development on our currently active and profitable web games and set a new course into the Mobile world, where we might be able to build smaller, faster and less expensive projects and maybe even reuse the 10 years of fantastic art that we've gathered over the last decade. The choice was obvious.

Here we are in the present. Adobe has more or less abandoned Flash in favor of HTML5 and Java. Unity continues to produce a very powerful 2D and 3D engine that is getting better release day and MIGHT (one day) once again give AE the power to make a 3D MMO that we can deliver right to your browser. 

Until that day, we will store the work we did somewhere safe and cherish the memories of running with you guys through one of our buggiest and funniest Alphas ever.


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Yergen
AQ3D Monster Contest Winners posted by Yergen on

 Yergen here! There were well over 450 submissions to Legend of LORE’s first ever contest. Each and every submission was awesome in its own right. The monsters ranged from cute, silly, gross, to downright frightening. Oddly enough I didn’t see any monsters that shot lightning out of their butts. Anyhoo - The battle was tough, so tough in fact that we extended the deadline to let a few more monsters get in. In the end, however, a winner (or shall I say - winners) has emerged. What better way to celebrate a 10 year anniversary, than with winners! Here is how it all breaks down:

Monster Design Contest

Gargantuan Grand Prize Winner!

The winner’s monster will be “Thytonized,” 3D modeled by Xero, painted and animated by the 3D team and will be put in one of the first playable maps in Legend of LORE. The winner will get a print of the monster, signed by the entire Legend of LORE team, and 4000 Artix Points.

And the winner is...... Acevorah: by Vypie

Acevorah

 

Rightful Runner Up

The runner up will get a limited edition black variant Artix or Sepulchure figure, or a signed poster of your choice. (You may only choose one of the previous items.) And 4000 Artix Points.


And the runner up is...... Cappy the Guardian in a Box: by Jaikon

 guardian in a box

Terrific Team Favorites

All submissions below will receive 2000 Artix Points.

Miho: by Col3ra

Miho

LORE Ghost: by Callado123

LORE Ghost

Steampunk Scorpion: by Ergotth

Steampunk Scorpion
Snakephant: by Gossj1000

Snakephant
Oblivion Diwata: by JuanKunai

Oblivion Diwata
Greenmist Guardian: by Kantro

greenmist_guardian
Zeitgeist: by LordKaho

Zeitgeist
Monsturtle: by Monster AE

Monsturtle
M.A.M.A.: by Nitramier

M.A.M.A.

Eye Durr: by RedKutai

Eye_durr

Rune Calibur Knight: by shock_troop

Rune Calibur Knight

Nagmaul: by Wion

Nagmaul
Serpiend: by Zined

Serpiend
Talonius: by Draconerix

 Talonius

Awesome Art

General Esrow: by FlameXero

General Esrow

Advare: by Heartdragon

Advare

ToxicLeechDragon: by Boxdragon

Toxic Leech Dragon

We Didn’t Expect THAT!

2000 Artix Points.

Aracat: by Amymist

Aracat
Eldritch Beast: by Pygar 2

eldritch_beast
Sarian: by Ryumin

sarian
Pwnicorn: by Karpousi

 pwnicorn

Craziest Creations

2000 Artix Points.

Orncoia: by Therril Oreb

Orncoia






Arachnida monster was disqualified.





Dr. Q: by Darth Necroktus

 DrQ

Cutest Creatures

2000 Artix Points.

Chuppa: by Ammarnight7

Chuppa
Jarkel: by Ownzer

Jarkel
Screttly: by Sorro Asjurai

Screttly
The Squoat: by iSwim

TheSquoat
Thintle: by Animalking

 Thintle

Delectable Descriptions

2000 Artix Points.

Serpent Dragon Like Thing: by Akikane

SerpentDragon
Ars Custos: by Crepusculum

ArsCustos 

So many amazing submissions! You all are amazing, and talented, and wonderful. Keep up the good work, and we’ll see you in the Legend of LORE! Yergen OUT!


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Yergen
AQ3D: Legend of LORE Video posted by Yergen on

Yergen here! How is everyone doing? I have something special for everyone. It’s the internet premiere of the AdventureQuest 3D: Legends of LORE trailer!

But first -

The flythrough trailer premiered at DragonCon at the end of our now infamous panel. My guess is there was no panel that was even near as loud as our panel. AE fans are the best! The trailer was a perfect end to an amazing panel.

While we were working our butts  off to make get this game ready, I knew DragonCon was on the horizon. Our work was looking so amazing (especially for a browser-based game) that I wanted to do something that really showed off what we can, and have, done. I had the idea of a flythrough of sorts, showing off some amazing environments and hinting at things to come. I figured we could come up with 4-5 cool environments to fly through. We had finished Ravenspire and had the Skulldoor Dungeon. But we needed 3 more, so Geopetal, Thyton, Artix, and I thought chose three new environments that we called the Ice Giant Kingdom, Northpointe, and the Sky Pirates Lair (*note: Location names are subject to change, and probably will). Did I forget to mention that we had a month and a half to finish them? A month and a half!!!  The team dug in their heels and worked like mad to complete the three full environments in the unbelievably short time. It was an impossible task and they did it!  I can't wait to show it to you.

But first -

This video wouldn't be possible if it was not for our amazing team working on it. First off, Zhoom and Minimal have been building this thing from the ground up. They have been (and are still) feverishly working to build a kick-butt engine that will blow all other browser-based MMO’s out of the water. Thyton, being the master of monster making, brings his unique blend of awesomeness, and epicness (“Epawsicness”) to the game and makes some of the most epawsic monsters, armors, and weapons you can imagine. Next, Xero, the dimensional dominator, takes those hand-drawn designs and brings them into the third dimension. He and Thyton are so in tune, it’s scary what they can accomplish... Scary AWESOME! And then Korin takes those newly created 3D models and makes them move. That bag on his head must be used to hold in his talent, and am I glad for that. I suggested he double bag it, to ensure that we don't lose any of his talent. Next is Llussion: Not only does he help in designing most of the landscapes and architectures, but he then turns around and begins building them in 3D. He has really shown how multi-talented he is. Then comes Tamarann. He takes all of our drawings and scribbles and turns them into amazing 3D models. Lately we have given him many challenges of making extremely modular houses and architecture. He accepted the challenges, and created some amazing looking and highly modular pieces, that helped make one house look like twenty. We have begun to borrow Geopetal more and more to have her start building a rich and lush world that will be LORE. She will take her experience and success of creating the world of DragonFable, and add jetpacks, nitrous, and iron armor to it to create a story that will be Epawsic! Lastly we have been lucky enough to borrow Samba. Her amazing animation skills in AQW make her perfect for jumping in and helping out with animating some of our monsters. Now, without further distractions let’s show this video!

But first -

Ha! Just kidding...

I give you the AdventureQuest 3D: Legends of LORE Flythrough Trailer!




NOTE: This was screencapped with FRAPS from a browser! (That is right, this is actual game footage, right in the web browser.) What did you think? Let Artix or Yergen know. We’d love to hear from you.


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