Beleen
Monsters and mayhem and maps, oh my! The Infinity team took Halloween and cranked the meter sooooo far past maximum that even Gordthulu gave a round of applause… or maybe he was just aggressively waving his spikey tendril thingies around? Either way, it was a MASSIVE success! Mogloween went from a little spooky-season fun to a full-blown monster mash of maps, animations, atmospheric effects, and stories that absolutely SLAYED. But the party is far from over... and we’re moving the dance floor to Swordhaven next, where the Undead are apparently throwing their own skeletal rave. Grave rave? Well, one thing's for sure: this party is going to be killer!
Can we get a legit round of applause for the Infinity team? Because WOW! What started with Aranx bringing Gourdthulu into Flash quickly grew into a MONSTER of an undertaking. Nulgath jumped in to animate the beast, J6 saw the potential and suggested a whole Mogloween map, and suddenly the team was looking at bringing DragonFable's Mystcroft atmosphere into Infinity!
One idea became TWO maps. Two maps became MORE ideas. Then Tutulio appeared with post-processing magic and atmospheric details like some sort of FX Mage. Gorgeous environments? CHECK. Spooky storytelling? CHECK. Crows? CAAAW!
(Did you notice that the crow sounds stop when you enter the Scarecrow map? Even spooky birds have their boundaries.)
The stories are delightfully fun, the environments look fantastic, and the community response has been ✨incredible!✨ Artix even jumped into Korey's stream to see the excitement firsthand, with players raving about this year's AQWorlds Mogloween story!
A HUGE thank-you to everyone who helped make this release happen. From the artists and animators to the storytellers and everyone who added those final magical touches, this was a spectacular team effort. You absolutely knocked it out of the graveyard!
Apparently skeletons didn't get the memo that Halloween is over. They're still shambling around, causing trouble, and simply refusing to respect the seasonal calendar. Which is actually good news for AQW Infinity, because this means the main story is BACK in the spotlight, and Swordhaven is about to get a whole lot more lively! Wait — unlively? Uh, well, you know what I mean 😂
That upcoming release is shaping up to be a BIG one, with plenty of content coming together:
There's a bunch happening behind the scenes, and the team is working to get these pieces ready for their grand entrance. And trust us... when all these pieces come together with their final coat of polish, the excitement (and the shine!) is going to be totally worth it.
Yaaaassssss! You'll soon be able to turn in most Infinity quests wherever you happen to be adventuring. No more trekking across half of Lore just to tell an NPC that you successfully collected 12 suspicious mushrooms and 5 in-tact wild boar livers. Like, whywhyWHY would anyone need THOSE things… and ~where~ are they even storing them for that matter? 🤢
A few quests will still require a return trip to an NPC when it's part of the actual objective, but otherwise, you’ll be able to make TURN-INS on the go an actual thing! Less running back and forth, more time adventuring and questing. Your feet — and WASD-appointed fingers — can thank us later!
Spider’s custom-built converter tool is evolving! And no, it’s not from a radioactive spider bite. Although... that WOULD explain the web of technical wizardry happening here.
The Infinity team is optimizing the converter, checking asset compatibility, and figuring out how to make the transition from Flash to Unity as smooth as possible. Warlic is moving ahead with the full conversion process while Zhoom is giving things another optimization pass.
Now Spider is taking the experiment one step further: CINEMATICS!
After making progress with item conversions, Spider is testing how well the tool handles animated cinematic assets. Some items convert beautifully, practically strolling into Unity like they own the place. Others arrive looking like they got caught in the Joestersizer 10-speed Frog Blender. IYKYK @___@
So what’s causing the most problems… besides yours truly? 🤭 Certain special effects, Color Customization is a BIG one, and different animation setups spanning 18 years are making things considerably trickier. Cinematics bring their own challenges, too, so the team is experimenting to see just how much of the original animation can be preserved through automated conversion.
And then there's the Ultra Boss of optimization: DRAW CALLS! Yup, even your favorite flashy effects have to mind their manners and play nicely with computer processors. No hogging the spotlight, please!!! That’s ~my~ job 💃
Sometimes it's actually easier to fix the original Flash files BEFORE conversion than to wrestle with them afterward. So now the team is exploring ways to optimize those original assets and give the converter better instructions, essentially teaching it what to look for so the converted results are cleaner and easier for artists to work with.
It's a LOT of experimentation, but the payoff could be HUGE. A more reliable automated conversion process would make future content production considerably faster. Spider, Warlic, and Zhoom are continuing to tackle the technical challenges, and we're excited to see how far this process can go.
If you recall our Kickstarter pitch, then you’ll remember our plan was to release the 13 Lords of Chaos saga as Infinity’s 1st main story. And that’s still on track! The team has been working on building out maps for the entire 13 Lords of Chaos storyline with new effects, polish, more chaos obviously, and all the functionality needed to make these environments spectacular.
Things are coming along beautifully, but there’s still plenty of work ahead, but getting these maps done is another step toward bringing more of AQW's world into Infinity. One step at a time, heroes. Thirteen Lords, waaaaay more then 13 maps, and ZERO reasons to trust anything glowing suspiciously in the distance. Seriously. Don't touch it. I’ve made that mistake countless times. It’s no wonder how / why I accidentally became Chaos Queen Beleen. #NoRegrets
That’s right!! Our amazing dev team came back from the future, told stories of playing DragonFable on their 📲 phones 📱, and now we're working on making that a REALITY. No estimated delivery date as of yet, but just wanted to share our excitement with you all since I know I can't be the only DF fangirl here 🥰 More adventures and dragons are getting ready to spread their wings and fly aaand probably siphon all your free time. #NoRegrets^2
And speaking of upcoming adventures... Friday the 13th is on the horizon! More details to come as we get closer to the unfortunate festivities. Is it bad luck if we get TOO excited?! Asking for a friend… erm, fiend? 👀
Aaaaaand the adventure never ends! Between monster mash mayhem, Swordhaven's impending Undead invasion, cinematic magic, and 13 Lords of Chaos worth keeping a chaorrupted eye on, the Infinity team certainly isn't short on things to do!
A huge 💕thank you💕 to everyone who's been cheering us on, jumping into tests, sharing feedback, and helping make Infinity's next chapter possible. Every bit of support helps bring this ever-growing world to life, and we can't wait to show you what all that hard work is building toward.
There's SO much happening behind the scenes right now, and we're looking forward to sharing more as these projects come together!
Now, if you'll excuse us, we must attend to handfuls of Halloween candy, an ever-growing to-do list, and at least 13 reasons to be worried about Chaos.
Battle on,
Beleen and the AQW Infinity team
