Spotlight on an Employee’s Wizard
Howdy fellow Wizards! I’m Gary Scott Smith, but you may know me in game as Duncan DayDreamer. On the forums I post as Arthur Wethersfield. I’m a game programmer that’s been working on Wizard101 for almost 5 years. I first started with player housing. Then I did mannequins, pets and mounts in housing, the maze game, gardening, housing games, wands on walls, housing music players, housing signs, housing teleporters, the Bric-a-Brac Elixir, the Additional Castle Elixir, buy more and sell more, spectator mode, playable musical instruments… and lots of other things!
I have a Wizard101 character that I’ve been playing since launch. As of this post, I’m level 81 and near the beginning of Azteca. My character’s primary school is Storm. With Storm, all fights are over quickly, one way or the other. I also have a level 51 character in Pirate101.
My focus at work is player housing, and other than questing, that’s my main aspect of playing Wizard101 as well. Since we added the Additional Castle Elixir I have been able to buy, acquire, or craft every house in the game – 32 at the moment! I’ve decorated most of them too.
For this blog post, I wanted to share my favorite house. Yes, I know that there are bigger and fancier houses… but I’ve always liked the Wooded Cottage. I enjoy the Wizard City sky in the background and the cottage’s cozy interior.
By the way, did you know that the unicorn that periodically appears in the grove was added before you could put pets in your houses? Now if you want, you can fill the house with unicorn pets and the unicorn that lives in the grove isn’t really necessary, but we’d never remove it!
I crafted the carousel at this house before gardening existed and farming Wintertusk made Black Pearls and Earthquake treasure cards easier to acquire. I sure spent a lot of time gathering Black Lotus in MooShu so I could craft that carousel!
I think it’s important for developers to play the games they work on, both to be familiar with the content and to thoroughly understand what works well and what doesn’t. For example, I implemented “buy more” and “sell more” features after slowly buying and selling reagents one by one… over and over! It made me wish there was a better way. I recently alphabetized the crafting recipes in our crafted recipe lists after hunting for one randomly listed recipe one too many times. For similar reasons, I like to know what players are saying about Wizard101. I read lots of blog posts; I scan our forums, the Wizard101Central forums and I listen to Ravenwood Radio.
The future is full of exciting things! See you in the spiral.
Gary Scott Smith
Senior Software Engineer II
KingsIsle Blog 
When he said about he will be listening to our blogs and my dad said yes i could do it to say improvements to the games. Well i was thinking about a pet and mount trading on friend thing so wizards can trade or give away unwanted mounts to someone who needs a mount or loves the mount. Same to pets too i was also thinking that people could give unwanted pets to players who love that pet! Also i was thinking of having computers to update a new game transfer when you type in wizard101 or piratew101 username you as always do the password and then click transfer and then if your in pirate or wizard just enter from this account to that account when your in wizard101 or pirate101 here is an account that is made up xxxx111xxx wizard101 account then when your in wizard101 and that account is on then type in the other account here is a made up one 444666444 then your wizard account went off it will save your spot but if your in a fighting area it will port you to a safe area and save your character spot but if in a later time you back in the game if you want to click past spot to go back and same for pirate101 too!
I have an idea for the first 4 person mount! i think it should be a Automobile, from Marelybone, with for seats, two in front and two in back! 😀 but instead of jumping when you hit the space bar, this mount honks! 😀 the longer you push the button the longer it honks.
I think it would be cool to have this happen so i could ride in the commons and honk the horn at friends 😀 i really think you school add this! it would be awesome!
Hi Duncan,
Thanks for the good work–I didn’t realize just one person had so much influence over so many aspects of the game I enjoy daily.
I used to post forum ideas regularly as ‘mezzoflage’ (my very best is a spell to change which side initiates a round in duels, eliminating the “going first” advantage). I started dropping off as I felt as though I was being ignored. Seeing a [sort of] real person involved in this game makes a lot of difference to me. I might start picking that up again, seeing that you’re truly involved in the gaming community and not just an anonymous programmer.
My game friends and I, who are all pretty involved and savvy in the game, have developed quite a few ideas over the past year or so. I’d love to share a few if you feel so inclined.
Best wishes!
Hello, I was wondering if i could get a look at your houses. It would help me with ideas for my houses and i’d love to see how you, creator of so many iteams and aspects of housing, uses the iteams in housing. My Wizard101Central name is ‘peteava’ give me a PM.
Hello! My Wizard name is Cody SummerShard. I have just read this blog post, and wow! I would like to thank you for all you do in the game. Just like you, I have been playing since the start of the game. I currently have 9 houses, 10 with my Dorm, because of the additional housing space elixirs! When I didn’t have these, I was sad when it came time to upgrade to a bigger and better house than my dorm. The Wooded Cottage was the right fit for me at the time. Soon, I began collecting more items and I saw other houses from other worlds and I needed a bigger house. With the Elixir, now I don’t have to worry about small housing space. I just apply one of my teleporters to each house, and BOOM! I have many, many houses. Once again, my name is Cody Summershard, level 88 Life school. Maybe we could meet in game sometime? I would love to get all of the updates from you personally! Anyway, thank you for making my adventure in the wizarding world so much better! Keep doing what you do! Sincerely- Cody
Hi many people now me as a threat to this game but i’m not I am just trying to fit in. Anyway my question is I wish someone would bring back the candy girls clan and blossom girls clan. Sincerelly, Alyssa Emerald Grove.
Hi Duncan,
Thanks for the good work–I didn’t realize just one person had so much influence over so many aspects of the game I enjoy daily.
I used to post forum ideas regularly (my very best is a spell to change which side initiates a round in duels, eliminating the “going first” advantage). I started dropping off as I felt as though I was being ignored. Seeing a [sort of] real person involved in this game makes a lot of difference to me. I might start picking that up again, seeing that you’re truly involved in the gaming community and not just an anonymous programmer.
My game friends and I, who are all pretty involved and savvy in the game, have developed quite a few ideas over the past year or so. I’d love to share a few if you feel so inclined.
Best wishes!
I played the game for over 4 years now and i always wanted trade between players option. The bazaar is great but so many people use it and its hard to buy something when every one else wants it to like reagents. I craft a lot but it was hard to get to what lvl I am now in crafting. If you can consider making a trading option between players it would be great 🙂
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ride a spider as a mount
I have an idea why not let players trade or give things to eachother kind of like trading treasure cards.
this kid is epic T_T
thanks so much for doing all these things to make us wizards happy. : )
I love Wizard 101. Look for me at Victoria Sunwalker. Thank you for reading!
and what is the name of the new world and when do you think it will come out.
Ah, the wooden cottage is such a fabulous house, aside from its inexpensive price. The one thing from Kingsisle, I mostly enjoyed was that your could present a new game with the similar environment of whats found in Wizard101. I like the opinions of which i found in this blog interesting, and find one particular thing added to housing items very neat. I played a short Viva la Vida chorus on the piano. Thank you so much for the opportunity of these wonderful games i like to play and perhaps even for future generations.
I was hoping that one day we could have display racks for armor in our houses. Some of the no aucton gear is incredible to look at, but not usable for our various wizards. This would also give us more space in our various storage Banks.
if you ever make a new world can you plz make it skyrim because there are cool stuff in there included cool armor and i wish there was skyrim dragon mounts plz plz plz can you do it?
Nice blog wizard101 i love it all! I just wish you could make pets for sale on gold too
i think people will like it and i am speaking for al lyou get to lvl 90 and you get free crowns and upgrade anytime thats wt people like but thank you so much for making this game it is a really good game
need hummingbird mount with saddle not real large, also wolverine mount.
im wolf dream hamer pls pls can i get some crawns
well i love wizard101 and i think you do to so am a lvl 24 life and i know alot about wizard101 so thanks a lot to have created this game!!!!
this is just a small suggestion, but you know when you want to redo your deck, how you have to click each spell to remove it, well it’s not that it takes 12years to do so, it’s just that it’s annoying. so I guess what i’m trying to say is, a “remove all cards from deck” button would be great…
thanks for all you have done . do you know if they are planing on making more worlds
nice
I have another idea for wizard101, earning XP and gold after Pvp battles, the same rules of xp, but u only get the stuff if u win. same rules of xp, like 1 pip or 0 pips = 3 xp, 2 pips = 6 xp, and so forth, I think it would make the game much more fun in the area of pvp, it would also make it easier for ppl with no crowns to get quik xp
Love the sell more… need to fix the tc cards that cant be sold or traded, the poly pig, hate um, get them from the peas. try getting rid of 100 or more! plz look into this plz!
I’m growing EMP so I know what you’re talking about.
I love wizard101!! me and my 2 brothers play it me and my brother are in dragon spire I already finished it on an ice character my ice is 55 her name is marissa ice btw in the science lab in celestia if anyone wants to help me lol but anyway I have always loved the wooden cottage cause there is a water slide were the water fall is. but anyway I love love love wizard101 it is the best game ever I use to play world of warcraft with my brothers but we got bored of the game so I said why don’t we go back to wizard101 ( I use to play before them) and we are now having a blast plus it is less expensive than world of war craft I just love this game so much!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 😀 😀 😀 😛 😛
wow. its amazing to know that. I love all the housing items! and houses 😀 also I have to say wizard101 is the best game ever made 🙂
Awesome, good to know there is someone who is smart … I was wondering if you could make an elephant mount? that would be real cool, maybe for about 5000c cause some people would buy crowns just for a mount! Would mean allot to me!!! thanks
i have a amazing idea you should let us trade stuff to eachother instead of just tc ( treasure cards ) you should allow us to make 7 caracters instead of 6 witch does not cover every school you should also last but not least yo u should let us buy a little store with the crowns in crown shop like 10,000 or 5,000 it can hold stuff the people can go in it and buy it with there coins such as mounts of your own or clothes of your own anything
Love your opinion on things I will take them and use some of your ideas. You should totally add me my name is Tyler Hawk Level 71 Fire Wizard.
Thank you so much for doing everything you do I’ve been playing since the release too and I remember when being level 30 was so cool. I think you have been awesome in developing the game, and please continue.
Hello I Would Like To Meet You On Wizard101 Please So Please Reply On This Comment Please I Really Want To Meet You
I have a good idea make it so when you want to trade something with a player you can trade reagents, housing items, pets, armour, pet snacks, gold, crowns, ect. so we don’t have to buy the same thing on a second account even when we have it on our first, and we can also unlock places with crowns without buying them, and kingsisle wont lose any oney!
Awesome article! It was really fun to read. Thank you *so* much for PVP spectator mode… It’s my favorite addition to the game.
One of my favourite things about Wizard101 is the ability to stitch items, but that said i wish that there were a larger variety of clothing and staff designs to choose from. Never the less still the best game ever thanks a lot kings isle for adding a little magic in my life.
i wish we could like get crowns of quest thou dont you think i mean like kids want crowns to buy stuff so i think we should have that to don’t you?
do the people that create wizard 101 play fore free or what
Yes, we play for free. It’s an employee perk but more than that, it’s a way to encourage employees to play.
Hello Kingsisle! I have an idea for the next world in Wizard101. After Azteca,you should make the next world lke a storybook…like the Wizard of Oz, or evn a Walt Disney favorite like Peter Pan for example. I also have a question. I tried Pirate101 and it is so awesome! But i thought that since i have a Wizard101 membership, it would put a membership in Pirate101. Does it?
Recipes in alphabetic order is good, but recipes in my order would be even better. I craft a lot of Chilli Cheese Fries, Spicy Popcorn, and Chocolate Cake (Dandelion gardens). I would like these to be on top of the list where they are easier to find.
We’ve considered allowing players to “equip” a recipe that would be displayed first. This isn’t currently planned but we may do it someday.
um I liked he blog so I don’t know what to spell, lol but ya I liked the blog btw in the game there is lots of glitches, like some people can fly but the flying glitch is kinda cool, 😀 the blog is really awesome thou, /)^-^(\
I have an idea you should create as furniture for the houses in Wizard101……we need for our house a wardrobe where we can hang some clothes, something similar like the one they have in the bazaar as decoration.
allow players to trade any unequipped Item in their bag or bank with other players
I love Wizard 101 so I glad he has a positive opioin
how about you can rebuy stuff you sold for the price you sold it for?
Can I help you code? I am 13 and I am learning Python
Wizard101 is mostly written in c++. See Cheryl’s blog post about getting in the game industry for links to useful resources.
I am always wondering if we will be able to go to home and still be there when we log back in. We used to be able to do that, now we log in and are wandering the street somewhere.
You should update groups. I mean, you should make groups permanent and have things such as
Group Castles, Setting up a PvP Tournament within your group, and you should also make it so you can send notifications to your group if you want them to come to a specific area, dungeon, hatching and a ton of other things! I really think groups are due for an update.
Wow thank you so much for all you done you made the best game ever!
I am an 80 Life Wizard and don ‘t know how to get to Azteca any info you can share with me