Posts Tagged ‘episode2’
Haven’t bought Episodes 2 and 3 yet? Now’s the time!
For a limited time, we’re offering Episodes 2 and 3 together in a package for 150 Brownie Points!
That’s a savings of 50 Brownie Points versus buying them individually, and means you can now pick up both Episodes for under $15. The feedback for Episode 3 has been phenomenal so far, so be sure to take advantage of this sale while it lasts!
Log in, and check out your Support Us tab for more information.
Objection!
When Waxy sent me this link the other day, I knew he was right.
One important lesson I learned about game design in the last year is that sometimes what seems fun to you internally is not always as fun to other people. Also, it’s really hard to predict what will frustrate users and what won’t!
I know for a fact that some people love the extended introduction sequence to Forumwarz Episode 2, butI have heard from others that it was tedious. They found the middle segment too difficult (even though we made it considerably easier after the Beta!) and just wanted to get on with the pwning of forums.
Well, we listened! One of the great things about a web game is you can deploy fixes quickly. Sometimes I deploy new patches a dozen times a day! Try and do that on an Xbox 360 game 😛
Tonight, I deployed the ability to skip the majority of the introduction. There’s a “skip” link in the top right corner that will jump you ahead of the difficult segment and the majority of the time you’ll spend in the intro. While I am really proud of the sequence (and how we got it to work with our cinematics engine) and I think players should spend the time it takes to beat it, I understand that some people aren’t huge fans of such heavy amounts of text. I hope this solution works — it allows the players who are enjoying the sequence to take their time and enjoy it, and the others to skip ahead.
Let me know what you think of the change!
ForumBuildr extended by a week
Okay, I was bound to screw up something major with the release of Episode 2.
Unfortunately, while merging the previous weeks’ madlibs into Episode 2, I accidentally deleted all the madlibs that were submitted for the current forum build. I’m really sorry about this, but I can’t bring them back from the dead.
Because this will certainly leave us without enough material for a build, I’ve extended the deadline by a week. Additionally, I’ve reset everyones submission count, so you can submit more entries to make up for the ones that got lost.
Super sorry about this!
Episode 2 is Live!
We launched Episode 2 last night to thousands of users hitting the F5 buttons on their browsers. It first it was a little rocky but it’s a lot smoother now.
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You may notice some lag in spurts. Generally it shouldn’t delay you more than a few seconds, but we are monitoring things and will add more servers if necessary to keep up with the load past the intial spike.
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We accidentally sent out new visits twice today! Consider it a present from us related to Episode 2, also to make up for any issues that are interfering with your gameplay.
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We are actively monitoring and doing our best to respond to any bug reports. I promise you that every bug submitted to us is read, even if you don’t get a personal response. Please make sure to provide as much detail as possible in every bug report to help us identify and fix problems quickly.
Finally, THANKS to everyone who is supporting us through this incredibly busy period. You’re awesome.
P.S. Stop asking about when Episode 3 will come out.
Almost… there!
So here we are, just 3 days away from the launch of Forumwarz Episode 2.
I was saying to Jalapeno Bootyhole today on instant messenger that it feels really weird. I remember months ago that it used to stress me out just thinking about when we’d finish all this work. I told myself that if I put in the hours, that I was bound to get closer to the finish line, even though day to day it didn’t feel like we were getting any closer.
But now, all the content is written, all the graphics and audio is in place. It’s been tested and tuned. I am actually still tuning it — I think I will right up until launch day. I’m nervous about it because I’m a nervous person in general, but my gut feeling is that you guys are going to love the new content. It’s a lot of fun to play, and there are plenty of laughs to be had! I just hope that if there are any hiccups over the first few days when I open the floodgates that you guys will be forgiving 🙂
While I’m on that note, thanks guys! Forumwarz wouldn’t be sustainable without all your generous brownie point purchases. Pre-orders so far have been great. Thanks so much for supporting us through thick and thin! I know at times it got a little boring without new content to play through, but the wait is almost over!
Twitter Feed
While the site is down on Wednesday, there will be no blog or forums for updates. Someone convinced me recently to sign up for a Twitter account even though I said I would never do it, but it might come in useful during this outage since I’ll have nowhere else reputable to put updates. Check out http://twitter.com/evil_trout for the odd update during the upgrade to Episode 2!
Review copies of Episode 2
Do you write about gaming in a magazine, newspaper, website or blog? If so, there’s a chance we’ll give you a free review copy of Forumwarz Episode 2!
Just Contact Us with your contact information and the details of publication you write for. Thanks!
Important Episode 2 Launch Details
We’re only one week away from the Launch of Forumwarz Episode 2!
Here are some very important things you should know (even if you haven’t purchased Episode 2):
Most game statistics have been changed and tuned
This is in the best interests of keeping the game smooth and challenging, as well as balancing between the various player classes.
Many things are weaker, many are stronger. Changes have been made to pretty much every attack, item and upgrade in the game. In fact, you’ll find that the new system includes many more upgrades for the same amount of upgrade points, (although they are weaker.)
As a result of this, everyone will begin with all their upgrades reset, and their equipment unequipped. The first thing you will have to do when you start playing is re-build your character (unless of course you’re starting from scratch.). This means taking your time to use the upgrade interface to create a new build, and putting back on your equipment.
If you are unsure as to what makes a good build in the Episode 2 universe, don’t worry, HaxlRose will allow you to refresh your stats for free once every 4 days.
We have to take the server down for the upgrade
On October 15th at approximately 7AM EST Forumwarz will be taken down. When the server comes back up, Forumwarz Episode 2 will be live.
We are also using this opportunity to do some major cleanup of old files and data, as well as moving to a brand new server. For those keeping count, this will be our third infrastructure change in a year (and that’s not even counting RAM upgrades). We’re anticipating lots of activity around the Episode 2 launch, and we want to do our best to make sure things stay up and are smooth.
Domination is going to end a day early
Because the server needs to be taken down for the upgrade, and we happen to be launching on a Wednesday, we’ve decided to end Domination at 9PM EST on Tuesday night instead.
Episode 2: Release Date
So after many many months of work, we’re delighted to announce that Forumwarz Episode 2 will be released on October 15th.
People who purchase Episode 2 will get:
- A hilarious new storyline
- 21 new forums to pwn
- Brand new stores with shiny new equipment and consumables
- Many conversations with new and existing NPCs
- New and exciting puzzles, quests
- Class-specific missions
- A long and detailed text adventure game from flamebate superstar BirdOfPrey
- Boss battles
- A cool new way to interact with NPCs
- A new avatar for the character of your choice
All players will get:
- The job board (our random quest generator)
- Access to two new player classes (Hacker and Permanoob)
- A new level cap of 35
- New character upgrades
- Brand new junk items designed by our community
- A cool new unannounced gameplay feature
Pre-ordering
You asked for it, and we delivered it!
You can pre-order Episode 2 now for 7 brownie points. If you pre-order, you will get a special E-Peen(tm) that will only be available until Episode 2 is released.
Beta Eve Podcast
To celebrate the launch of tomorrow’s Episode 2 Beta, I recorded a podcast this afternoon.
Jalapeno had some technical difficulties so it’s just me talking.
As a gift, I’ve included a newly recorded audio tubmail of Bruce bear in the beginning!
The Episode 2 Beta
A lot of Episode 2 has come together over the last couple of weeks. I remember it being this way before we launched Episode 1. It seems to take forever to get the ball rolling, but near the end so much comes together so quickly!
I included an illustration of a permanoob in our last update. It’s actually a tiny piece of our new homepage! For Episode 2 you’ll be greeted with a beautiful piece of artwork from the guys at Dooomcat. We liked their artwork so much that we had them re-design the character selection portraits too. I think our moderator, Mc Banhammer, had an orgasm when he saw the full artwork.
It looks like we are going to launch a closed beta of Episode 2 on Monday. We promised some contributors to Episode 2 the ability to participate in the beta, so if you are one of those (and you should know if you are!), please make sure your email on your account is up to date so we can email you the details.
If you haven’t been promised membership to the beta, and can’t wait until October to play the game, don’t fret: It is likely that our list of beta participants is too small for adequate coverage. We will likely end up randomly choosing some of our active players to participate as well. If you want to make sure you’re eligible, just make sure you play the game (pwn forums or gain scoops in domination) between now and Monday.
If you’re not picked, you won’t have to be patient for very long! The majority of the wait is over. A release date announcement will come very soon!
- Evil Trout
(p.s. never forget)
Official Forumwarz Blog 