Time for another Throwback Thursday to one of great Wizard101 articles printed in the Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine. Originally printed in the February 2010 issue, this article focuses on one of our favorite aspects of Wizard101 – school housing!
Ever since the update that introduced housing to Wizard101, people have been fascinated with making their very own personal home in game. KingsIsle has done one better, and in mid-December they introduced school specific houses. These homes (like most things in Wizard101) consist of two payment options. You can pay with gold or Crowns. The ability to pay for homes in either gold or Crowns is a great one, if you’re reluctant to spend Crowns on an item you can always save up your gold. The amount of space in these is amazing, and the layout of each home is exciting and unique to its Wizard school.
Another great feature is that you’ll be able to tour each home before deciding on whether you want to purchase it. These homes are sold in the Crown Shop, under the ‘Housing Items’ category. On the right hand side you will see a magnifying glass with a plus sign in it, clicking on that will allow you to port to the viewing version of this home. Once you enter, Myrella Windspar will be waiting to guide you around. She will act as your realtor, showing you each of the unique aspects to the home. By the time you’re done exploring you’ll probably have a new home in your bags, she’s just that good! Let’s see what each home is about.
Myth School House
Want to live on the shoulders of a giant Cyclops? Well, now you can. This home is multi-level, and when you first stand in front of it you can’t help but just gasp in awe. Rushing water pours out of your very own water fall, and butterflies flutter all over, not to mention you have an amazing view of a rainbow way up above. When you walk up the front steps you’ll come face to face with your very own swimming pool! Now you can have your friends over for that summer event (or winter, when you’re trying to get away from the cold!). The myth school house also comes with a large expanse of green grass, perfect for putting down those outdoor items. You’ll also get a pavilion with an incredible view; a path leads up to it. To reach the actual home, you’ll have to take a portal located on the right side of the yard and it will bring you to the upper levels. This home is really one of a kind; it even comes with an outdoor balcony complete with a rainbow bridge to walk across. Watch your footing!
The inside of the house is just as exciting; with music that really fits the atmosphere. Want an atrium? Now you have one. This house may remind you of a museum, with little nooks and crannies to store all of your precious treasures. Myrella Windspar will talk to you as you enter each room, and even give you ideas of what theme you may want in a particular room. AS with regular homes, the school specific ones each come with a bank to use.
Balance School House
Amazing statues grace the entrance to this home, old relics of ancient days that are still in fantastic condition. There’s a statue buried right in the center of it, which really gives the house a lot of character. There’s a guest house (or cottage if you prefer) on the left as you enter, it’s a bit of a fixer-upper but still fantastic for when you have friends over. You’ll have to head down a slope to get into the main house; it’s a bit tucked away.
As soon as you enter the main house, you’ll find yourself standing on a precarious edge, looking out at your vast home. It is fantastic; a number of rooms joined by swinging bridges, while a balance figure stands in the center with water rushing over portions of the statue. Myrella Windspar compares the home to an ‘open-air underground villa’ and she is right on.
Fire School House
Myrella Windspar is quick to mention that this house is a ‘red hot deal!’ – and she wasn’t kidding. The flames look like they should scorch anyone who walks into it, but thankfully you’ll remain unharmed. This home is a single tower on an island a safety feature for those Wizards dealing with fire magic. There are scorch marks along the ground, and flames lick every available space – the mark of a truly great fire Wizard! This home involves lots of ramps leading to each of the rooms, so be prepared to wear your walking shoes! This home also two entrances, one on the main floor or the ground floor below. Flame covered pillars hold up walk ways, and the raging inferno can be heard no matter where you stand. One of the most amazing rooms is known as the inferno room, with three walls of windows that are beneath the flames from outside. A portal in the room will take you to the attic space.
Ice School House
This house is frozen all year round, and sits on top of a giant glacier. There are ice flows and the whole atmosphere just makes you shiver in your seat. You can hear the window blowing as you walk along the ice bridges that connect the islands to the home. The inside of the house is made up of ice crystals, an ice fortress that is cold and frosty year round. The snow and ice glimmers and sparkles, not to mention who doesn’t want a house where it snows inside? There’s even an ice cavern outside, when the sun shines and reflects off all of the snow it lights up wonderfully. Like each of the other school homes, this one comes with a bank for you to use.
Storm School House
This is the only home located in an ocean, the clouds roll overhead and you can hear the anger of the storm that is all around. The home gives off the aura of a submarine, but with a few house items you can have it nice and cozy in no time! One of the best features? The house goes under water, and you get some amazing views in your very own aquarium. You even get your own lighthouse, and caves to sit and watch as storms roll by. Out of all the new school houses, storm is by far my favorite. The attention to detail with this house is just astounding.
Life School House
Ever wanted to live in a giant tree house? Well, now you have your chance. This house is nestled in the branches of an amazing tree, and the property itself is absolutely beautiful. It comes complete with water falls, and its own wading pond. Being able to live inside of a living tree is something that you’ll surely want to tell your friends about! There are even mushrooms and grass growing inside, as the sun shines through and covers everything with an amazing glow. Don’t forget to check out the amazing balconies, they give you a view that really can’t be beat. Everything is so tranquil and serene.
Death School House
Unlike the life school house, this house is dark and scary, candles light the path leading up to the front door, and a swimming pool with a broken diving board can be found along the left side. The house is mansion sized, with a huge staircase in the main room and even a dungeon where you can find a furnace working away. The music leaves players feeling as though a ghoul or goblin may jump out at any minute, and you may be scared to venture into the rooms all alone! Magnificent balconies will let you look out over the main hall, and the entire house has a very elegant haunted feel to it. Now just watch out for cobwebs!
Each home has a completely different feel to it that matches its school of choice perfectly. You’re not restricted to which type of house you buy, so even if you’re a death Wizard who loves the storm house, you can purchase it without any problems. Maybe you’re a life Wizard who secretly enjoys the bright flames of the fire school house. It doesn’t matter which house you choose (maybe you’ll want to own them all!) you will surely love the incredible attention to detail that comes with each one. Players are also allowed to own as many houses as they want, you equip them (activate them basically) from your inventory much like you do with pets, decks, and gear. Now, to figure out which one of these amazing houses I want!
This article originally appeared in Beckett Massive Online Gamer Issue 18 on May/June 2009 and has been reprinted with permission from Engaged Enthusiast Media by Beckett.
What about you Wizards… which school house is your favorite?
You may have read previously about our involvement in Texas game-related conventions, but in case you haven’t, here’s another reminder that KingsIsle loves to join in the fun and pitch-in on panels with useful information at our local conventions! In fact, we just participated a couple of days ago in Comicpalooza, which is a huge four-day International Comic Book Convention started in 2008, right here in Texas.
For our Wizard101 players, the name “Comicpalooza” might sound familiar since we run several sales events throughout the year like Pet-a-palooza, Mount-a-palooza, House-a-palooza, and more. I guess great minds must think alike! At the heart of Comicpalooza is a big emphasis on Comic Books with many for sale in the Dealer’s Room and get this, Stan Lee, the legendary comic book writer and Chairman of Marvel Comics, was even in attendance!
It’s more than just comics though — involvement in a big convention like Comicpalooza means you’ll also see fans dressed up as their favorite sci-fi, fantasy, comics and anime characters. Participants can also join in fun concerts and events; and if they’re a KingsIsle fan, attend our panels and discussions.
We talked a lot about several topics over four different panels which included family friendly board games (everything from Ticket to Ride to Munchin), Wizard101 and Pirate101 in general, voice acting, and how to get into the game industry. For those in attendance, we also passed out some Crowns codes and posters!
One of our avid KingsIsle fans, Deborah Kent, and her family attended Comicpalooza this year and even volunteered for the event. She later commented in an email to us:
“I loved watching all the interesting science fiction, fantasy, and gaming costumes and characters at Comicpalooza over the Memorial Day Weekend. Comicpalooza is a great place to meet like-minded people who love to dress up as your favorite characters. It was also wonderful to meet some of the staff behind Pirate101 and learn about how to become a creator of content for both Pirate101 and Wizard101. After the panel, I got to talk a bit to the content designer–the person behind some of the stories in Pirate101, and to One-Eyed Jack. He’s a rather slippery fellow, but still a very nice rabbit. Thank you for the crowns you gave out to everyone at Comicpalooza.”
Indeed, Comicpalooza was a great way to meet with our fans one-on-one and in a smaller setting while sharing insights and having a lot of fun. If you’re in the Texas area, we certainly hope you join us next time KingsIsle goes to a convention.
Did you know it’s World Turtle Day? Yes or no, it’s time to bring out your tortoise friends, because we’re celebrating with all things turtle today! This yearly holiday was started in 2000 by the American Tortoise Rescue non-profit organization to increase awareness and respect for turtles and tortoises.
In our games, we’re celebrating with some pretty awesome turtle sales and new turtle mounts… but on the KingsIsle blog we thought today would be a great day to learn some cool facts about turtles and tortoises! Did you know…
- Turtles are one of the earth’s oldest animals and have been around for more than 200 million years!
- A turtle’s shell is actually made up of 60 different bones connected together
- You can find a turtle on every continent except Antarctica
- Turtles can live to be over one hundred years old
- An Indian Ocean Giant Tortoise was documented to live to approximately 202 years old!
- Leatherback Sea Turtles are the largest turtle and can weigh over 2000 pounds
- Many turtle species are endangered and need our protection
- Turtles are reptiles and cold blooded
- Turtles have good eyesight and an excellent sense of smell
Turtle facts sourced from Drs. Foster & Smith Education
We hope you have a turtle-rific day today!
Now it’s your turn to tell us what you think — Do you have a favorite turtle or tortoise from Wizard101, Pirate101 or real life? Let us know in the comments below!
There’s been some buzz lately about a rare Goblin Shark being captured (and released) off of the Gulf of Mexico, but Pirate101 fans are already aware of the rare species as Witchdoctors will be gaining a new Crewmate modeled after a Goblin Shark in the Spring 2014 update, which is scheduled to launch soon.
According to an article on CNN, the goblin shark was caught last month by a fisherman named Carl Moore, who snapped this now famous picture, and it was all thanks to his 3-year old son! Moore began carrying a camera with him on-the-job because he wanted to show pictures of his profession to him.
A real-life Goblin Shark sighting isn’t something you’d see every day, but soon you’ll be able to capture tons of screenshots of “Carcarius Grimtooth” the Goblin Shark Witchdoctor in Pirate101. In fact, now you can be like Carl Moore to your family by sharing your screenshots (and your knowledge of Goblin Sharks) with them!
David Beau Paul, one of the writers for Pirate101, was the employee who made the call to model “Carcarius Grimtooth” after a Goblin Shark. Although he jokingly admitted his initial reasons were based around a funny Internet meme, Paul stated that sharks are serious business on Skull Island.
“We had been wanting to explore new sharks for Skull Island–not that I don’t love the Cutthroats, bless ’em–but we wanted to mix it up a bit,” said Paul. “At the same time we wanted to drop some new, class-based companions into the game. “
He continued, “I remember a bell ringing in my head because the ‘goblin’ term has a great supernatural feel and what a great natural fit it made for a witchdoctor shark character . . . so he kind of took out two birds with one goblin-y stone.”
In fact, according to this article on National Geographic’s website about the recent Goblin Shark sighting, these sharks do spend a “Life in the Dark” some 2,000 feet below the surface of the Ocean. Very mysterious indeed!
Although no absolute launch date has been announced for releasing the Spring 2014 Update to Pirate101, signs point to our Grimtooth friend making an appearance in game well before the end of Spring. Set your browsers to www.pirate101.com, download the game, and advance to around level 4 as a Witchdoctor, then a Goblin Shark of your own could be joining your crew too!
Today we want to showcase some of the creativity we’re lucky to have at KingsIsle. This doesn’t just apply to making games though – many of our employees have highly creative hobbies outside of the office as well!
My making the statement that KingsIsle is the most creative environment I have ever worked in is probably no surprise to anyone reading this. What’s really fun to see is how this creativity manifests outside of our day to day work. Given this I thought it would be fun to start a series on the KingsIsle blog showcasing some of this creativity.
For this first installment, I wanted to showcase our very own Executive Producer William Haskins. By day he’s an incredibly talented producer, but at night his creativity really comes out. He has been writing poetry for years. I was able to convince him to share a bit on his background as well as a few of his original works here on the blog. I hope everyone enjoys the work. I’d also encourage any budding poets out there reading this to share your own poetry in the comments section.
Howdy. My name is William Haskins and I am Executive Producer here at KingsIsle.
I started out with the company as Associate Producer on Wizard101, back when it was little more than a lot of brainstorming and some hilarious doodles scrawled on index cards. I took the helm as Producer for the two years leading up to its launch and shepherded it through its first year or so as a Live game.
I then served as Senior Producer throughout the development and launch of Pirate101. Now, in my role as EP, I oversee both games, in addition to our fascinating new projects.
Though I’ve been in the videogame industry since the 1990s (spanning two centuries, yo!) and have been at KingsIsle now for nine years, I have been writing poetry for much, much longer. It’s been a constant thread in my life since before I was a teenager, and it’s something I will do as long as I live.
Robert Graves famously said: “There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.” Fortunately, I have been extraordinarily blessed to be able to make a living in a highly creative environment, which allows me to take care of my family doing something I love and still be inspired on a daily basis by the creative energy that surrounds me. I try to take this forward into my writing.
Anyway, here are a couple of my poems. Hope you enjoy.
One of the (many) perils of commuting in Austin is the dreaded traffic jam. One day, both before and after work, this slow crawl brought me in uncomfortably close proximity to a possum that had made the mistake of straying into the highway when traffic was actually moving. It didn’t end well for him, but it inspired this meditation on risk and, ultimately, mortality itself:
Ode to Roadkill
I saw you at eight
and again at six,
your fur blood-matted,
eyes like ice,
your grimace greeting
the traffic, speeding
to places where
slaves while away
their days and
nights in cages,
swallowing rages.
I wonder if they
ever felt the rush
or risked the risk
to bolt between
those metal monsters
on instinct alone;
I wonder if you
took some satisfaction
in those errant tracks in
the roadside grass and
foolish fear of
the human heart.
Sleep well, my friend.
The buzzards will wait
until rush hour ends
and traffic thins, when
the sun isn’t watching,
then pierce your skin
and take you home,
piece by piece.
Peace.
This one is an admonition (to myself, as much as to anyone else) to never squander creativity, no matter what life throws at you. Though the metaphor of the pen connects it to the act of writing, it applies to any creative endeavor:
Alea Jacta Est
In fury’s grasp
or throes of pain,
when nightmares stalk
the waking brain,
and monsters wear
the masks of men—
still the mind,
move the pen.
Beneath the heel
of tyrants’ wrath,
when robber-barons
plot your path,
to journey through
the vipers’ den—
steel the soul,
move the pen.
And when the
final die is cast,
each breath connected
to your last,
a matter of
not if, but when—
steal the night,
move the pen.
Thank you for sharing this poetry with us William! If you are a fan of creative writing, make sure you check out the Wizard101 Fan Fiction and Pirate101 Fan Fiction sections. We love to publish poetry alongside the creative prose of our players!
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