Topic: AdventureQuest 3D is finally coming to Kickstarter

[Intersection]

Today, I'll be presenting a kickstarter that arguably has me even more excited than I was for Bloodstained. Let me explain.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/artix/adventurequest-3d

Ordinarily, I wouldn't care for this type of game. It essentially looks like a generic, 3D MMORPG (with relatively low production values to boot), and I've seen far too many of these to be usually excited for this.

But this one is different. Artix Entertainment was, by and large, my childhood. More than a decade ago, AdventureQuest was the first game I'd ever played - back when I used to hide from teachers in my school's library to sneak in games - and its rudimentary, browser-based goodness still thrives today. Over the years, Artix Entertainment's projects would multiply: Dragonfable, Adventure Quest Worlds, Mechquest, and more would be developed, and the list still grows.

So what makes Artix Entertainment so special? Not its production values, which are simplistic at best. Not its game design, which usually hovers around the time-worn, traditional, turn-based RPG mold. Instead, it is the team's limitless enthusiasm and devotion for its games and their communities that makes AE one of, if not the, best game developer I know.

After more than ten years, Artix has largely created its own, unique universe: a chaotic mashup of enduring characters, obvious, tongue-in-cheek humor, and zany stories as fun as they are ridiculous. Stepping into their games can be daunting, as years of regular, weekly content updates have piled up into a world that's magnitudes larger than what today's established MMO's claim to have achieved.

Each of Artix's developers have their own, cross-game, alter-ego NPC's (including Artix himself); to cite just an example, when developers Rolith and Alina got engaged, and later married, their in-game characters followed suit, with an astounding outburst of enthusiasm from the community. it's not something I've seen anywhere else.

As for their games' business model, they're all free, with most of them having a single, one-time purchase to fully unlock all existing and future content (premium currency exists in all of them for special items, but none of these are necessary for enjoyment in any way). I bought a Dragon Amulet in DragonFable more than ten years ago - and it still serves me now.


This post is getting pretty long to promote what's just a simple kickstarter bid, but trust me: if by any chance you happen to have a few dollars to spare to support a worthy company on Kickstarter, Artix Entertainment LLC is the perfect candidate.

[Gunlord]

It certainly is quite a blast from the past.

[Claimh Solais]

As someone who also grew up playing AdventureQuest and Dragonfable, I gotta say, this looks pretty awesome. Definitely gonna back it when I get some cash.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

AdventureQuest! AH! MEMORIES!

I used to play it and Shaiya (probably the best Korean import AeriaGames ever had) on my 7" netbook with less than a gig of RAM. It was, for the system, damn perfect as a game my tiny netbook could actually RUN.

Definitely will look into this.