Battleon Briefing Vol. 8

Hello heroes! The Battleon Briefing arrived a day late this week because Monday was Labor Day, which is, kind of a weird holiday because… nobody works on Labor Day 👀 Honestly, Talk Like a Pirate Day makes way more sense. At least then we KNOW what we're supposed to be doing! Anyway… the team is back, the meeting just happened, my coffee’s refilled, and I have emerged with news. And puns 😈

Last Week

Last week was a BIG cleanup week for the crew. We're talking major asset cleanup, removing obsolete stuff, fixing up the UI, and basically the equivalent of cleaning out your inventory and realize you've been carrying 147 things you haven't used since 2009. Big props to Pixel Pete for the massive UI cleanup, including deleting around 1,000 things and renaming a bunch of files.

And somehow… everything has gone perfect so far? Which means it is obviously time for me to say: everything is bug-free! OMG just kidding. I have worked in game development long enough to know that saying something is “bug-free” is basically an ancient ritual for summoning bugs. Sooo we're not declaring victory quite yet. We're merely testing fate first 😳

This Week

We have a new version of the game coming. We've made a bunch of fixes and improvements all come together, which means this week is going to be a HEAVY testing week for the team. We've got a bunch of new thingies that need to play nicely together, so we're going through all of it to make sure something shiny doesn't look at another shiny thing and say: “Let’s be enemies!”

Titles

You can choose between your Titles and show the world — the AQWorld 😉 — exactly who you are, what you’ve accomplished, or what extremely specific thing you’ve spent the last 38 hours doing. Commitment goals.

Three SpellStones

We've got the first of the 3 Infinity-exclusive SpellStones (Monsterous Transformation) in testing and the other two in development (Battle On Cheer & Summon Forge). Each spell stone brings its own flavor of chaos. Artix says, "We reserve the right to add additional Spell Stones to the Legendary Founder's rewards."

1) Monstrous Transformation

Transform yourself into a monster! Because sometimes being a hero just isn't enough. Sometimes you wake up, choose violence, and need to become the problem. It’s time to unleash your inner beast responsibility. ResPUNsibility? *grroaan* Who’s the real monster here? 

2) Group “Battle on!” cheer

Need everyone to say “Battle on!” at the exact same time so you can snap the PERFECT screenshot? Buuuuut it’s scientifically 96% impossible to coordinate it perfectly. Now you can make it reality with this special SpellStone! Or… should I say… YellStone 📣

3) Transforgers 

And then we have… the Forge SpellStone.  You can transform INTO a forge. Which begs the obvious question: does Transform + Forge = Transforge? 

Puns aside, the overall idea is that you'll be able to transform into a blacksmith / bring forth a Forge, creating a shop that you and other players can use just about anywhere in Infinity. The shop will contain Gemstones, power-ups, and other forge-y thingies. But you won't be able to use SpellStones while you're in combat. Because apparently even we have to draw the line somewhere, and that line is the frontlines of battle! 

Legendary Backers will soon receive all three SpellStones as part of their rewards, so let’s get ready to forge ahead! LOL sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Which Class Comes Next?

Since the Infinity Hero Class is live, Immortal Joe and the team are already looking ahead to what's next. Considering Talk Like a Pirate Day is just over the horizon, it’s quite befitting that Pirate Class is on the way!

And after Pirate Class… well… perhaps the pirates’ mortal enemy: NINJA!

So this is one of those weeks where the team gets to poke, prod, test, break, fix, and test everything all over again. Which means y’all get to play while we get to work! If you see Zhoom, Warlic, PineOak, Aelious, Tunik, or Tyronius running around and testing things, please give them an in-game high-five for being awesome 🤩 

Next on the Quest Board

• Sanctuary and Statues! You could say J6 and the team are carving out time for improvements. Wanna learn more? Check out Artix's post about Statue Color improvements here.
• Updated Shop UI, including SORTING! Thanks Spider!
• The soundtrack is coming along fantastically. Jongaar is currently mastering the tracks, so we're getting closer and closer to having the soundtrack ready to share.
• Wallpapers, so there will be more ways to bring a bit of Infinity to the devices you adore. Petition to make an AirFryer wrap next? Kidding. Maybe.
• A special monster AND pet are coming for Aranx's birthday both in Infinity and AQWorlds.
• The Undead Invasion of Swordhaven is coming along thanks to Sir Fainal and Ghost who is working on those cutscenes. I know our amazing players have been patiently waiting for this one… but apparently there are even more skeletons just dying to get in 🥁🥁🛎️ And in all honestly, I'm sure we'll be digging up a few more surprises along the way. 

Aaaand by this point, the team gently escorted me away from the meeting, because I used up all my pun privilege for the week on the first day back to work.

Battle on!