AQW-inspired e-Novel

I knew this day would come...

AQW has been an important part of my life, and though I've really been hating what's been happening recently. (And yes, I'm well aware of another player's attempt at a more bagspace petition.) What are the chances they'd make it available for non-paying members, eh? Ah. But more importantly, what are the chances they won't make it available for non-paying members? You see, non-paying members are the reason AQW is what it is today; the game began for free. I'm not saying it should be, again; but what I'm getting at is that it should be enjoyable to all the players.

When I thought I wasn't enjoying the limited fantasy of the game, I opted to make my own fiction--and what better way to do it than through writing, right? I hated the lags. I hated the upgrade screen. And most of all, I hated the inventory space. The dragon just wasn't slay-able in a game like this.

But I'll tell you what I did like. Although, I am a writer, I fear the best way to describe it is through another's words (I hate plagiarism--all bloggers do): "Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." —G. K. Chesterton. From the epigram of Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

And so, it is with great pleasure that I announce the launching of my upcoming e-novel which will be downloadable (the first three chapters) for free by January next year. As of now, it is my WIP on NaNoWriMo, if you're all familiar with that. It is satiric at some parts. And I have used some of the people who have been--or still are--in my Friends List on AQW, and even those whom I have met elsewhere online. But you are all characters in my story. So, I'll give the creators of AQW this: they have inspired this masterpiece.



I dedicate it to all who play--and used to play--Adventure Quest Worlds. To all who have once been young of heart. To all who have once been trampled on by reality. To everyone who once read my blog. To the ones who have touched my heart. You will all be able to slay that dragon of yours.

-- Quest Adventure: The Dragon Slayer's Heart

AQW is Epic

Have any of you ever read Epic by Conor Kostick? If you haven't you should definitely read it; it resembles AQW and so many games of its like.

In the story, Epic is a computer game ... but it is also the center of society, such that it affected the way you lived, that if you lost, you lost everything; there was no 'respawn.' You couldn't play it just for fun; it wasn't just a game.

The protagonists eventually take down the game in the end, anyway; everything is back to the way it should be. The game ends.

What I'm getting at is that I have opted to throw in the towel for AQW. It's not that I haven't enjoyed it (I'm not saying that I recently have); it's just that it hasn't been much of a game for me; it has become more of a battle.

In the story, if you wanted some sort of resource, you had to battle Central Allocations, basically, the rulers of the world; If you lost to them, you lost everything.

I loved AQ; everyone does (and for most like myself, 'did'). It's the best game that I've ever played, but there hasn't been much space for it in my heart as it had for me in its, recently.

I'm leaving my inventory the way it is (full of memoirs from every pitstop in my journey), this blog at its peak, the petition open, and this journey abruptly unfinished. If I could give out gold and rares to everyone, I would; it's a waste to delete them, so they're staying put.

Adventure Quest Hero has been a quest, one to see if I could changed the world of gaming. I couldn't. Mission failed? No. I did -- in some ways. But fought as I might have, no rare in my inventory could stand the painful ice shards... Thanks to everyone who became part of my friends list -- and even to those whom I had no space for to add to said list. Thanks to everyone whom I joined in on trying to get the Broom of Doom or grinding up on XP or Rep, or farming for gold... Thanks to the AE staff.

So for the last time (unless Voltaire has a come-back and I'm his special guest)...

Battle on!

Petition continues!

The petition continues! If you click the above image, you'll be taken to a page where you can equip your twitter pic with a Twibbon for the cause of the petition. Also, I've taken the liberty of creating the Official AQH Twitter account, so you won't be inundated with writer posts from my original twitter account: AQH Twitter.

Petition working?

I've been busy alright, but that's not to say I haven't the time to check out the game every once in a while. If you've been paying close attention, the items that they've been releasing are either crappy for non-members or can only be bought via AC's. So what does that connote, dear readers? The petition might be working! And why is that? Rich players will now be buying more AC's, and the money that'll be pouring in at AE might just be used for more bagspace--or new servers, which we do not need at the moment.

I haven't sent any staff member the petition list, but that isn't to say that they haven't noticed our struggles. I will be adding more options for you guys to promote the petition. And that includes Twitter, finally.

Checking in--Again!

Okay, so I've been neglecting gaming for a while now. I see most of the fledgling blogs I've come to love have now bloomed into ones of notable proportions. You guys must be happy. That was how I felt when my blog reached its first 1000, and I'm happy with the near 25,000 I have; it's 1/4 of 100,000. Either it was the fact that I used to update frequently, the fact that I had great advertisement, or that I had many a witty quips that marked the growth of this blog. I'm just happy to have great readership now than I have months ago.

I will be back by vacation; don't worry. It's just that I can't juggle writing and gaming AND studies. By that time, all of you would already be stronger than I am, and I wold have to catch up. Let's hope they don't raise the level cap just yet. Wait for me!

There will be an update per month to assure everyone I am still alive and that I am not totally succumbed by the many projects that I am thrown. Keep on battling!

-AQH, Kuyerjudd

Checking in!

I've been gone a long time now. Well, it's because I've been busy with school and writing, as I am a writer -- with an unpublished novel. I'm trying to query the handful of publishers that I've got to work with, but cannot do by playing games all day. lol.

I'm happy that we're close to 20,000 views already; and you guys are still at it with the petition, so thanks.

I'll post a bit every once in a while. Thank you for understanding! I will always be your Adventure Quest Hero! ^_^

Character Generators Dissected

First of all, credit goes to MutantsRUs at AQWorlds Secrets and his Character Creator. It was his idea; I only re-interpreted. The below guide is not at all the simplest way to generate a character.

Secondly, the guide is only intended for IE users, as I haven’t got Mozilla Firefox. And you will need Microsoft FrontPage. It is the quintessential component of this guide. Next, anything created by the guide below will be non-canon and will not affect AQW gameplay in any way whatsoever.

So the first step is for you to go to a character page. It could be your character page or basically just any character page, as you will only need the code and then edit it on MS FrontPage. Anyway, on your browser window, click the View menu, and then Source. A notepad window with the page’s source code will appear. See the image below for what you will need to copy.

Then you just open up MS FrontPage. Switch to the HTML view via the HTML tab by the bottom of the work area and paste in between the “body” tags. Now, the fourth to the fifth line of code from the one you have copied is what you’ll need to focus your attention on. You’ll have to do a little bit of editing here.

Here’s a list of what each string does:

intColorHair: Your character’s hair color; number value
intColorEye: Your character’s eye color; number value
intColorTrim: Trim color; number value
intColorBase: Base color; number value
intColorAccessory: Accessory color; number value
strGender: Your character’s gender; either M, for male, or F, for female
strHairFile: Your character’s hair’s file; has to be .swf
strHairName: Your character’s hair’s name; has to be congruent with .swf file
strName: Your character’s name; can be anything
intLevel: Your character’s level; may not go beyond 20
strClassName: Character’s class; doesn’t have to be an existing class; could be anything
strClassFile: Your character’s armor; has to be an .swf file
strClassLink: The armor’s name; will come with source code
strWeaponFile: Character’s weapon; .swf file
strCapeFile: Character’s cape; .swf file
strCapeLink: Cape’s name; will come with source code
strHelmFile: Character’s helm; .swf file
strHelmLink: Helm’s name; will come with source code
strPetFile: Character’s Pet
strPetLink: Pet’s name; will come with source code

Now after you’ve associated yourself with the above, you just need to visualize what you want to look like. But here’s the tricky part. As I’m not well capable of finding out the .swf file of each item in the game, you’ll have to find a character page that has whichever item you want your character to have when it’s generated in MS FrontPage.

For the ‘int’ strings, I won’t be expounding any further. The int’s are pretty much the boring part of this guide, actually; all you change are the colors. But basically, if you want to change the color, just open up a character page that has a color that you want and just view their source code via the above first step and copy the number in the int string that you want and paste onto the code that you’re working with.

The same goes for the str strings. All you do is just go to a character page and view the source code, and copy the code that you need. Say, for example, Voltaire. You want his Helm. Just go to his strHelmFile and copy the source (which is: items/helms/Voltairehat2.swf). Make sure you copy his strHelmLink, too, as the latter and these are a sort of tier (VoltaireHat2). The same principle, too, if you’re trying to get his pet.

Now for the fun part. You get to make your own classes! You can even change your name! Albeit, not your level…. For your name, you have only to change the code in the strName string. For your class, which you can pretty much manipulate endlessly to your liking, just change the one in the strClassName string. Remember, you may not change your level, as the level cap still applies.

Remember, the code you’re editing is located in the THIRD <.param .>tag. And whatever you edit there, you’ll have to do with the code inside the tag below it, i.e. the <.embed.> tag.

BTW, there is an easier way of doing this. I just wanted to dissect it, like I did the AQW Battle Bar. The list of .SWF's are here and the Character Builder is here. None of which I have created! I am merely linking, and credit goes to whoever made them.

In a way, it is cheating. But so long as you only use it for personal pleasure and NOT in any way use them on gameplay, you will still be adhering to the law. Cheating is stealing from AE! ^_^

Dreams...

If for some strange reason I become a member -- or more auspiciously, a moderator (which I don't think will happen anymore, as I've revolted against the AE staff on the bagpsace issues. lol) -- this is what I would want my outfit to look like. I mean, it's nothing too profligate. My dream armor's not even a member armor; it's an AC item, a relatively cheap one at that. But what my taste in armor lacks, my choice of pet and cape make up for. I've always wanted Deady as a pet. And the gravity rocks are just so awesome! Notice that, below, my class says "Adventure Quest Hero", which is cool. The image below is a screenshot of a bit of code I've been tweaking around with on MS FrontPage, and is not at all hacking but more of a form of art, which I picked up from MutantsRUs' Character Creator, which is way awesome; give his site a visit: AQWSecrets.