Multiplayer prototype... WORKING!

Go Minimal & Zhoom!  Alpha is on the way.

At the end of the day on Friday, the AQ3D Team logged into a working prototype of our new 3D MMO game. It was very bare bones (it was an undead dungeon) , but we loaded our characters and were able to walk around and chat. As with any prototype there were LOTS of odd things... for example, space bar makes you jump. So whenever you were typing, it would make you(jump)every(jump)time(jump)you(jump)hit(jump)space. Also, because we built this new multiplayer server 100% from scratch, we have not yet completed some very important features (including chat filters, flood filters, etc) yet.  The good news is, because it is so optimized it runs about 300%+ faster than the AQWorlds multiplayer servers. Maybe one day we can go back and retro fit AQWorlds with this new tech. One thing at a time... our top priotity is getting to an Alpha Test #1  where you can all log in, walk around the town of Ravenspire, and chat. (Getting so excited!)

Catching up... it has been a CRAZY WEEK!

The past 6 days have been the busiest of my entire life. You already know about our 1st action figures being released on Friday at Toys"R"Us and HeroMart.com, and you probably know about the CRAZY twist in the DoomWood saga which started  AdventureQuest Zombies too. Not to mention the weekly updates in all of our web based games this weekend. So, if we can share a personal moment together... I would like to tell you everything else that was going on at the same time. In reverse order...

• True Grit Challenge
  This Sunday, "Team Artix" participated in the ultimate physical fitness team challenge. It is a charity event benefitting the Huntington's Disease Society.... and was a half mile of over 20 obstacles in the gritty sand of St. Pete beach. Our team's time slot put us against the ABC news team! (We...  made friends... and shamelessly gave them our weird anime-style business cards.) Maybe they will bring their film crew to the lab and interview us? Thyton, Roam, myself and 2 other members of the team gave it their all. We got 4th place.
• 48 Hour Movie Making Competition
  The night before, a film team used both the lab and my house to film their entry in a 48 hour film making contest. They used the actor of the "Zombinator" as their final boss villain.... he is officially our "BIGGEST" fan. Literally.  Unknown to me before I agreed (BIG /facepalm) there was heavy use of firearms in the movie. The cast of the film ended up firing over 400 rounds of ammunition "blanks" until 1:30am. My neighbors are so used to weird things like this happening at my house that they do not even bother to call the police. Three days later,  I AM STILL finding bullet shells in my living room and kitchen. 
• American Ninja Warrior
  One of my favorite TV shows started airing on Sunday. You are going to be surprised who might be on it. See... at the end of a long series of advesarial emails between Chairman Platinum and myself, we escalated into a high stakes open challenge over the ownership of Artix Entertainment and EbilCorp. We decided the best place to solve our differences would be on the course of American Ninja Warrior. So we both sent in submission videos... and BOTH got invited to come to the preliminary round and run the American Ninja course. But, they did not announce when the filming would take place until I was already in Japan... and while Chairman Platinum was on his way to run the course, I was stuck in Japan. Luckily, my good friend, Roam, went to do the course against Chairman Platinum in my place. There will be more on this soon... keep an eye out for when the South Eastern Qualifying rounds air! Chairman Platinum ran it in his suit and Roam ran it in a full set of chainmail armor!
• New team members: Web designer, Programmer, Intern
  This past week we created two new jobs and... brought on our first AE intern of the year. both the web designer and the programmer will be working on this site, Artix.com, and the 3D game. To test out the designer I gave him 3 hours to create the Action Figure page. Great job! The intern will have an interesting story to tell when he gives the report to his school in New York. He has done everything from working with each team on their releases, to writing scripts, and arm wrestling the Zombinator (I will post a video on YouTube of this later in the week when I get a free moment.)
• Channel 8 News Crew
  Do not tell the ABC news team... but the local Channel 8 news crew (NBC) called me and are coming tomorrow morning to film and do a piece on our indie game studio tomorrow morning. I am going to ask them for a copy to post online after it airs! I asked everyone to come in to the lab dressed and acting just like normal... (which means, in many cases, not wearing shoes, with their pets, and ready to do crazy suff.) I was told that we should not have a zombie or a ninja army attack the news crew... at least not on their first trip. I do not know... what do you think?
• Script Writing
  O_O So... far... behind.... sorry, Samba! Aso, this October the original AdventureQuest will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. (10 years of weekly updates!? O_O) The team asked if I would like to come help write the anniversary event. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) Any suggestions on what should happen?

Did that make up for last week's missing daily DNs?

Back in the days when we were first building DragonFable, we always posted personal things and interacted back and forth on the Forums. It is weird now, because we are supposed to act more like a "real company," but honestly, I prefer you knowing and being on the inside of everything. There has been a lot of debate as to what this website, Artix.com, should become. We are going to redesign it and move everything that is currently on Portal.BattleOn.com here. Obviously, all of our games will be listed here... but should we keep this fun, loose, anything-goes site, or should we make it a stale, corporate homepage like every other game company? Maybe somthing in the middle? I would realy like your input. Please write me on Twitter or Facebook and let me know if you like these kinds of posts mixed with the gaming stuff.