December Update: Writing contest extended, new QuestCrafter and new features

Adventurers!

We have several exciting Expedition updates this December, including an extension of our $500 writing contest (with even more ways to earn loot points), a new QuestCrafter and new features.

$500 quest writing contest extended

We want to make sure your adventuring experience is as fun as possible, and we've received feedback from authors that one month hasn't been enough time to write quality quests of this size. So, here's what we're doing:

  • Extending the submission deadline to December 31st at 11:59pm. It's not too late to start working on an entry!
  • Lowering the minimum word count to 15,000.
  • Offering numerous ways to earn bonus loot points, including:
    • Earn a bonus point by publishing the first chapter of your entry by November 30th at 11:59pm EST.
    • Earn a bonus point for every 5,000 words you write over the minimum amount.
    • Earn a bonus point for incorporating a winter or holiday theme into your entry.

We've updated the writing contest page with these changes as well.

Thank you to all of the amazing writers in the Expedition community for sharing your creativity with us! And if you've been thinking about writing a quest but need an excuse, the $500 contest is the perfect time to try your hand at interactive storytelling :)

New QuestCrafter: Advanced Combat

Thanks to Greg's latest installment of the QuestCrafter series, you can now learn advanced combat techniques such as custom text and choices between rounds and changing combat victory rewards. Have questions or ideas that you'd love to see a QuestCrafter on? Email Greg at Authors@Fabricate.io!

New features

It wouldn't be an Expedition update without a bunch of features and improvements!

  • Streamlined combat screens in app
  • Improved display on large screens
  • Fixed numerous bugs, including the "Error!" that would appear on Android / iOS app load.
  • Show "Last Updated" and "Expansions required" on quest search details page.
  • Added support for several new quest writing tools, including the ability to make paragraphs of text conditionally shown / hidden by adding a comparison operation like {{gold > 10}} to their start.

Thank you to all of the community members who shared their feedback, ideas and bug reports with us in November.

Scott and I are making good progress on both remote play and the audio engine. In fact, our composer just delivered the final audio files to us. Up next: now we have to polish and fine tune the code so that the more than 3,000,000 possible combinations of instruments, rhythms and melodies sound good together. We can't wait to share it with you!

 Until next time,

Todd, Scott, Greg and the Expedition team