Artix Entertainment

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Artix Entertainment (LLC) (often shortened to AE), is a game development company that works primarily with browser-based RPGs.

Artix Entertainment was founded by Adam Bohn in 2002, while introducing Artix Entertainment's first game, AdventureQuest. The game was immensely popular: by June 2004, over one million accounts had been created,^[1] although Adam Bohn said he would have been happy to have at least have 100 people play. He said the large amount of players has taken him by surprise. Following the success of AdventureQuest, Artix Entertainment developed a second game called DragonFable in 2006. In late 2007, a third game, MechQuest, a sci-fi-themed RPG was released. In May 2008, the company announced the development of their fourth major game: a fantasy MMORPG named AdventureQuest Worlds, which went live October 10th, 2008. Over 60 million accounts have been created in the four games. ^[2]

Currently, Artix Entertainment has four major RPGs, with another in development.

AdventureQuest was Artix Entertainment's first project - a fantasy web-game set in the world of Lore. AdventureQuest uses basic graphics which steadily become more advanced as development progresses, and has a server cap that prevents players from accessing the server until there are enough open spaces. While free to play, players can upgrade their characters to become Guardians to receive more in-game benefits, as well as bypassing the server cap. AdventureQuest has two mods developed by Artix Entertainment: Zardwars and Archknight. Zardwars is a Guardian only modification, and the coding only extends to random battles primarily with lizardlike Zards and other old monsters. Zardwars was originally developed to test having multiple game databases. The game staff have announced no plans to extend the game thus far. The other modification, ArchKnight, is also Guardian only, and was the code base for the two other Artix Entertainment RPGs. Although originally intended as the next game, it has been discontinued, and was replaced by Dragonfable. ArchKnight's plot has recently been merged into "Dragonfable".

After AdventureQuest gained popularity, Artix Entertainment began development of another game, DragonFable, also set in the world of Lore, but five years before the beginning of AdventureQuest. DragonFable uses far more advanced graphics than AdventureQuest had at the time DragonFable was first created and also becomes more advanced over time, but does not have a server cap that prevents players from playing until there is an open place on the server. Like AdventureQuest, DragonFable players can upgrade their characters to become Dragon Amulet holders, and receive special in-game benefits.

The third game, MechQuest, while also set in the world of Lore, is a mecha RPG, and is more scientific than magical. Mechquest's game system is based on Dragonfable's. Mechquest takes place 5,000 years before AdventureQuest. MechQuest currently has an upgrade similar to Guardianship or Dragon Amulets, known as Star Captainship.

The fourth game made by Artix Entertainment. Unlike their previous single-player games, AdventureQuest Worlds is a fully-functioning MMORPG. Like its predecessors, it uses Flash animation, but a much simpler style, to keep the game running smoothly. The storyline incorporates elements of all three previous games, due to a fusing of the timelines. During the testing phases of AdventureQuest Worlds, the game was only available to players who had paid accounts in one or more of the other three games to play. The game allows players to chat with each other. The membership however is monthly, rather than one-time.

Artix Entertainment's fifth game, WarpForce, is currently in development and will be released for beta testing on July 3, 2009^[3]. It will be a sequel to AdventureQuest, specifically relating to the five-year Devourer story arc that was recently completed. Many crossovers between the two games are planned, and it will be built with the same game engine as AdventureQuest^[4]. This game like AdventureQuest, DargonFable, and MechQuest will be a free game with a one-time fee for upgrading an account, though currently there have been no announcements as to what the WarpGuardian upgrade will grant you in the game. In WarpForce, players will have the option to play as a human, Drakel (a technologically advanced reptilian species featured in the series) or elf, unlike their other games where players control only human characters. Updates will be on a monthly basis (as opposed to weekly in the other games), but are intended to be much larger the the weekly updates. Some non-playing characters from AdventureQuest will appear in WarpForce, with Celestra the Huntress playing a major role^[5].

In addition to their main projects, Artix Entertainment also develops content for a minigame site, EbilGames. There are nine minigames available on the site, as well as an animated feature called Ask Zorbak, where Zorbak, a minor NPC from both AdventureQuest and DragonFable, answers questions that are emailed to him. Currently, there are twelve animated episodes of Ask Zorbak, with recent episodes instead being in The Zardian.

The Zardian is Artix Entertainment's newsletter. Released monthly, the writers consist of forum members and staff. The Zardian project was started in September 2007. The content of The Zardian largely consists of topics regarding other games by Artix Entertainment as well as other topics of interest.

Artix Entertainment has also released two animated shorts. The first, Artix Vs. the Undead, was developed with the help of Milton Pool, an animator for Cartoon Network. Artix Vs. the Undead was made as a teaser for some of the storyline in DragonFable. The second short, Death from Above, was released as a sneak peek to the MechQuest storyline and was developed by J6 of the Artix Entertainment staff.

Artix Entertainment has also just completed production on their first artbook titled The Art of MechQuest, featuring art and behind-the-scenes information from MechQuest.

AExtras is a new system of gaining the previously pay-to-get secondary currencies in Artix Entertainment's games. This system was first introduced in their MMORPG AdventureQuest Worlds and is now available in all four games. While this system is still in testing, it allows for players with financial difficulty the ability to gain free secondary currency provided that they complete the offers of the third-party sites. Using this system players are given a list of offers at which they at their discretion can complete to get the secondary currencies.

Adam Bohn (Artix) is the project lead, heading up all four games, but spends much of his time working with AdventureQuest Worlds. Tony Deller (Galanoth) leads AdventureQuest development, Cysero is in charge of DragonFable, and Warlic heads up MechQuest's development. In AdventureQuest, Falerin leads storyline development and Captain Rhubarb is the main programmer, along with Kalanyr who does a large amount of programming. In DragonFable, Geopetal and Alac assist Cysero, with Ghost doing many of the cutscenes and animation, and Rolith as the programmer. Rolith also does programming for MechQuest, where Korin and J6 do much of the art. A newcomer, Tomix has also contributed some of his work. Maegwyn assists with MechQuest's development. Programming for AdventureQuest Worlds is mostly done by Minimal, Zhoom, and Captain Rhubarb. Outside game development, Courtney Nawara (Safiria) is the head of customer service and the Artix Entertainment help pages. She is assisted by Nythera and Reens (recently promoted from head forums admin). Maegwyn and Seahawk are the co-heads of forum administration.

• AdventureQuest
• DragonFable
• MechQuest
• AdventureQuest Worlds
• EbilGames
• Artix vs. The Undead
• Ask Zorbak
• Death From Above
• BattleOn forums

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