Thursday, April 28, 2011

FW: Who is Wintertusk's Mystery Composer?

This just came across the newswire from the fine folks at Kingsisle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLANO, TEXAS (APRIL 28, 2011) - KingsIsle Entertainment, creators of the
award-winning online game Wizard101, announced today that the soundtrack
for its upcoming expansion world, Wintertusk, was composed by one of the
hottest young musical talents in the entertainment industry. Over the
course of several weeks the company plans to provide hints about the
composer's identity, culminating in a final reveal timed to Wintertusk's
launch later this spring.

"This is a cool idea, because our mystery composer has a huge name in
the music business but has never created music for a video game," said
J. Todd Coleman, vice president and creative director of Wizard101. "I'm
really impressed by this artist's adaptability and talent. I think our
players are going to be very surprised and totally blown-away."

To create the soundtrack for Wintertusk, the mystery artist composed
seven original pieces of music, each representing a different facet of
the upcoming epic storyline. Additional information about the world of
Wintertusk can be found at https://www.wizard101.com/game/april2011.

Wintertusk continues the storyline that began in the icy world of
Grizzlehiem, offering a variety of challenges for accomplished Wizards
and fantastic rewards such as new spells, high-level pets and exclusive
loot. For lower-level players the expansion brings back the underwater
realm of Crab Alley, continuing the story of the Crab King, newly
returned from his musical world tour.

. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Awesome! I wonder who the mystery composer is? Any ideas? Part of me
is thinking it's Eric Bloom?

**Update** oh yeah, didn't catch "hottest young musical talents" on my first read of that ... Definitely NOT Eric Bloom. Taylor Swift? **Update**

Leave your thoughts below!

Happy Dueling!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Wintertusk is on the Test Realm

The news broke quite quickly over Twitter yesterday as all the fansites raced online to let everyone know that Wintertusk was upon us. Earlier in the day J Todd Coleman had announced on his Facebook page that Wintertusk was coming soon, but none of us had any idea how soon!

You can read all about Wintertusk in the most recent update notes. You'll want to go through those notes carefully because I think you'll find a lot of interesting stuff in there as well, like, oh, I don't know . . . Death wizards can now use enhancement spells like Gargantuan on their life drain spells . . . little stuff like that. (*insert small freak out*)

OH! And I owe KI something . . . here . . .


Thank you for listening!

Go find those bugs!

Happy Dueling!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Times, They Be Changing!

Dear readers,

It is time for a change.

I have made the decision that I will no longer be keeping a daily blog about Wizard101 (things haven't really been "daily" here at all lately anyway). It's been a great two years and eight months writing about Wizard101, accumulating 1,260 blog posts and a whole ton of comments from my amazing readers.

It's been a lot of fun that's even led to a couple trips to Austin to meet the fine people of KingsIsle, who I appreciate deeply. Without their generosity, The Friendly Necromancer could not have held all the raffles that we had. KI is a great company with outstanding employees. This blog has been yet another interesting highlight in my life. We've had a lot of fun! If you're coming late to the party, read through this post for kind of a road map to how we came to this point in time.

If you head to the fansite page for Wizard101, you'll see that things are now on equal footing as I am not really acting as a community leader for Wizard101 anymore, but I'm still on the list. :) I'm not completely abandoning Wizard101. I still play it, and my family still enjoys it. I just finished up an article about it for Beckett's Fun Online Games this morning. I still have Angus to finish leveling. Et Cetera . . . you'll still see me around. :)

I am, however, taking a break while I gather some new ideas as I try to figure out a new direction. The format of this blog may change or may become part of something grander. At this point I don't plan on completely discontinuing posts about Wizard101, but it won't be at the rate that it was for so long. If I do end up writing on another blog, I will definitely leave a link somewhere for the TFN faithful to check out.

The content on this site will remain up and free for all in the meantime.

Thanks so much for your understanding, and I wish you all the best.

Peace.

Happy Dueling!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Roblox Meets Wizard101: Wizard School

The other day one of Amber and Kyle's friends came over to play, and he just could not stop going on and on about Roblox. The end result was that my kids once again delved into yet another website to eek every last drop of fun out of it.


That's right, ROBLOX. I was quite surprised to be honest. I had looked up Roblox before since somehow I ended up following John Shedletsky, one of their lead creative designers, on Twitter. The characters will remind you A LOT of Lego's (although not related to the Lego Company). There's nothing too graphically outstanding here, but nevertheless, it's online -- it's free -- it's making money -- and people are hanging out here having fun.

You should go check Roblox out yourself if you haven't already! I'm late to the party since this site has been around for a few years. (Go ahead, laugh at me people who know all about Roblox ;-))

I guess what I had failed to put together about Roblox was that at its core, it's a really awesome builder game. I'm a fan of those anyway, and especially Little Big Planet. You may or may not remember my weak attempt to build a Wizard101 crossover game in LBP. yeah, that pretty much bombed, but HEY, it was a blast to make :).

Being the Wizard101 fan that I am, my mind instantly went to the spiral when I started surfing around Roblox and especially after my kids and I were rocking out all the Pokemon games builders had made. (So many future video game designers there ;-))

"Hmmmmmm," Friendly says to himself, "I wonder if there are any Wizard101 games made?" Oh yeah, there's like five pages of Wizard101 related things on Roblox, not to worry. There's a lot to explore there if you're a Wizard101 fan. Most are . . . meh . . . good, creative, I like it, really cool to see the fan creativity . . . but the one that really stuck out to me was not in that particular search on "Wizard101."

My daughter this morning found a Roblox world named "Wizard School," and I ended up playing this for a couple of hours with my daughter's character. hehe.


Props to Shadow580 for creating a really nice Wizard101/Roblox crossover level that simulates the Wizard City experience. A lot of nice thought went into this level, and you can tell Roblox players also like it based on the 5,500+ favorites it's received and the 111,000+ visits.

Check it out! Shadow580 has even simulated zoning into different areas of Wizard City like Unicorn Way, Triton Avenue, and Golem Court. Awesome!






(hehe. Yeah, don't ask about Amber's fashion sense on her avatar . . . I can't explain it.)

I was also quite happy to see that Triton Avenue even had a Kraken Pad on a lower level that you had to use a teleporter to get to! (I highly doubt you'll see this Kraken pad as crowded as the Real Kraken Pad since this Kraken here is TOUGH--he stomped on me a few times. XD)


You can just tell that Shadow580 loves Wizard101 when you play this level and that there has been a lot of hard work put into it. There's even a little bit of lore dialog to be had here!


And yes, you can even find Dworgyn hidden under a waterfall . . . although his spells are a little different than what you might expect.


Yup, I played a necromancer in Wizard School! That's just how I roll. :)

By the end of my play time I had made eighth level and gathered enough gold to buy all my spells and I was a lego-ish monster of DEATH POWA (in a tank top and shorts no less)!


I won't talk too much about how I eventually got bored and started hunting down other players . . . now there's something you can't do in Wizard101. ;-)

Anyway, simulating Wizard101 in Roblox must have been extremely challenging, and of course, it's not the same experience at all, but I think that's why I like it. Two thumbs up from the Friendly Necromancer, Amber, and Kyle!

Thanks again for the fun this morning Shadow580! My kids and I love your level!

Happy Dueling!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Sandstone Present Inside!

Hey, just a quick thought today for you all.

You know how KI recently changed pearls in Celestia so that you could harvest all types of pearls? Black, Regular, and Golden?

That's awesome, right?

Why don't they change change stone block in Celestia so that you can harvest all types of stone, including the ever-elusive sandstone? I'm not even going to bring up Sunstone . . . but I guess as long as we're dreaming . . .


;-)

Oh, and while you're at it, go ahead and throw that on the stone block in Dragonspyre too. *HUGS*

Happy Dueling!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

New Amulets in Game Now!

The patcher loaded up all the new goodies from the test realm today, and the test realm went offline.

These new amulets are a total game changer for Wizard101:


The ability to cast outside of your class when facing an opponent who shields against your class is an enormous amount of utility. If you're a spirit class caster, this makes choosing a storm or fire secondary much more attractive. If you're ANY class, this makes life a beautiful choice for secondary. It just puts so much healing in your repertoire (although no Bartleby or Unicorn). PVP players are going to have a fun time with that one. ;-)

The price? 10,000 crowns! Ouch! But for that much utility, it's probably worth it. Fear not though, these amulets will also be found on the loot tables of the new Wintertusk expansion as well. (I'm sure it will be a long farm to get them . . .)

Also a game changer, the bunny suit.


The spiral will never be the same.

Also, minigame housing items and new celestial mounts!


WOOT! I wonder how sales will be on that potion motion game? That's almost a must have right at the port in spot in your house. hehe.

Happy Dueling!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Moonlight Pony Winners!

Ok, after averting a family fist fight over who the winners should be, we've come to a consensus. SHEESH! (That Amber has a wicked left hook. ;))

Here are our winners, CONGRATZ!

~~~~~~~~~~

Nora Sandwhisper's Wolfbat



Alric Ravensinger's Cuckatrice



Destiny Dragonblade's Manderzilla



Chris Greensong's Friendly Satyr (you know, I always wanted a friendly necromancer pet in the game . . . so what if it has goat legs and a pan flute? Sign me up KI!)



Jasmine LotusSong's Panthix



Sean Giantbright's Sea Lion



Delaney Thundertalon's Tigon



Blaze Duskcrafter's Scorp-battle



Taylor Goldenrider's Tigeryphon



Justin Crowcaller's Unicat



Kelly FrostFlame's Bulliger!



Let's give your top ten a round of applause!!!! /clap clap

~~~~~~~~~

Since we're such softies, and we have a few 2,500 emergency crown codes lining our coffers that we're going to give away to our picks for runner up!

Nicole Dragonblood's Angel Hound



Hunter Darkthorn's Grim Unicorn



Megan Unicornheart's Angelica: elf, horse, eagle, angel.



Esmee Duskthief's Hippocampi



Amber DragonRider's Unigon



Irma's Sacred Cow Pet



Valkoor Moonglade's Hydrion



Nora WinterBreeze's Wintermare



Let's hear another round of applause for our runner's up!!

~~~~~~~~~

Now . . . here are the winners of the random drawing:
- Evan Shadowsong
- Kenneth Silversword
- Stephanie Frostwielder
- Autumn SkyRider
- Jenn

WOOT WOOT RANDOMNESS!!!

~~~~~~~~~

OHHH, and one more thing . . . now, Kyle our son has a tender heart and just likes what he likes. These pictures won all our hearts because they were chosen by a very special person to us. They may not have been our first choices, but they were Kyle's ONLY choices. He pretty much refused to use our grading system and just pointed out these two pictures in particular as his favorites. So, I'd say these are personally possibly the two most special pictures we received. We're going to find a way to get these two a pony as well.

Patrick IceDreamer's ice robot



David's flower pet


Thank you so much for your awesome pictures! Like I said before, if we could have given everyone a prize, we would have. You've inspired us, and I'll probably end up making a Youtube from many of the entries we received. There was something uniquely awesome about each of them! You guys rock!

Happy dueling!

Moonlight Pony Contest Over!

All 195 entries have been received, and we will be judging them as soon as possible. Hopefully we can announce the winners sometime later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks so much to everyone for participating. There are TONS of entries. I wish I could give everyone a moonlight pony mount because you all deserve one, but I just don't have the codes for it; unfortunately this may mean some disappointment for 180 of you. Just know that we appreciate you and love all of these entries.

Stay tuned and best of luck to everyone!

Happy Dueling!

Friday, April 1, 2011

New Hybrids! (Moonlight Pony Contest)

You guys have got to check this out. I was lucky enough to find these hybrid concepts in the KingsIsle press kit under the Wintertusk folder!

Behold the Bullrilla! A perfect blend of bull and gorilla!


Haha! I can't wait to equip one of those.

Presenting the Rhinorc! All orc with a touch of rhino.


Love that flower. Concept art from KingsIsle is the best!

. . .

Ok, I can't do it. Too many of you are on high alert for April Fool's Day this year.

APRIL FOOLS!

Those pictures come from the talented NinjaBee Staff on their art blog. I saw them a few weeks ago and couldn't resist slapping a KingsIsle logo on them because they do look an awful lot like KI's art style. You should check out some of the other wild hybrid combinations they came up with on their site because they are a perfect example of the kind of "hybrid" I'm looking for!

How to Enter:
To enter, you must draw/photoshop/edit/create a picture of a "new" Wizard101 hybrid of your own creation and send it to thefriendlynecromancer@gmail.com.

Rules:
Please keep your image in a .jpg format and try to keep it under one megabyte in size . . . in fact half a megabyte or less would be great. It doesn't matter if it's scanned or a photo, just find a way to put it into a .jpg and send it to thefriendlynecromancer@gmail.com.

Winners will be notified over e-mail and on my blog on April 9th, 2011.

All entries must be recevied by April 7th, 2011 to be considered.

Please also put the name of your Wizard101 character in the e-mail, so we can give you proper credit. :)

I have a total of 15 moonlight ponies to give away:
- All entries regardless of quality will be entered into a raffle to win one of five moonlight ponies.
- The ten best new hybrids will be featured on my blog and each will receive a moonlight pony.

Considerations:
Don't worry if you're not that great of an artist. Just give it your best shot because we'll also be judging on creativity, awesomeness, feasibility, and comedy factor besides natural talent.

The judges will be me, uber wife, Kyle, and Amber.

Best of luck! I can't wait to see what hybrids you come up with!

Happy dueling!