We were asked by one of our players to explain how much work goes into the writing Update Notes, creating Producer’s Letters, and composing our newsletters. The easy answer is that the bulk of these responsibilities falls upon the shoulders of the Producer (for the Producer’s Letters), the Community Manager and the Website Administrator (for composing Update Notes and Newsletters and writing HTML, editing, and publishing everything to our website). These can take anywhere from an hour or two to several hours stretching over many weeks.
It’s hard to give a direct answer here because the time spent creating these essential web pages is not tracked day-to-day, and while there is no time tracking, we do know exactly how important these pieces of communication are to our players . . . and to ourselves! Producer’s Letters, Update Notes, and Newsletters are the closest we have to an easily digestible, historical record of things that happen in and around our games. What I mean by that is, we have extensive databases for tracking bugs, new features, and changes, but they are so large, that hunting for information can sometimes be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
That said, of the three, the most time-consuming to prepare would be Update Notes. Basically, we scour through all the changes that will be made to the next update, including new content, bug fixes, and even those nasty spelling errors, and make a huge list of everything the players will encounter. For example, something as “behind the scenes” as an alpha issue on a creature’s robe doesn’t usually make it into the update notes–these are minor cosmetic polish issues that do not impact gameplay.
It takes a lot of experience and intimate game knowledge to be able to sift through thousands and thousands of changes and pull out the ones that the players will notice, will need to know and will want to know. We also have to translate them into something that the players will understand, and gauge the impact of this change. For example, what we see is “fix prep message for patching blocked message” and what we communicate is “Players will no longer encounter an error message when transitioning into Caliburn.”
Next on the time scale would be the Newsletters. The responsibility of composing a Newsletter falls upon the Community Manager; however, Newsletters definitely also involve many people. For example, one aspect people seem to have enjoyed with the Pirate101 newsletters are the Rogue’s Gallery Segments. To pull these together requires coordination between writers, concept artists and a videographer, and these are slowly created over the course of the month. In the end, about five or six people have been involved to produce one video.
Producer’s Letters are a great opportunity for our producers to get in touch with the players of the game, review the past, and predict the future . . . without giving too much away . . . but a fun hint or two of new content to come can be exciting stuff! Because of this, they are reviewed and critiqued by a number of people before publication to the website.
All of this takes time from many employees, and we hope you enjoy them! Thank you for this question and your passion for playing our games!
One-Eyed Jack
Community Manager
Ever wonder what happens when you contact KingsIsle Customer Support? Today Chad Hodgson from Customer Service explains the process for us, and has some helpful tips to keep in mind when trying to contact Support.
“What happens when I contact support for help?”
Many players already know how to contact KingsIsle Support for assistance, but what exactly happens when you ask for help?
There are multiple ways for you to contact the KingsIsle Support team, but all the different ways end up in the same place. With so many players enjoying KingsIsle games, there are sometimes a lot of requests for assistance!
All player inquiries are delivered to the KingsIsle Support team in the form of a Support Ticket. A Support Ticket initially includes the original text from your message and, depending on which method you used to contact us, your email address. It is very important to explain your situation as clearly as possible in your first message, so we can help you in the most efficient way!
Shortly after the Support Ticket is created, a confirmation e-mail and a copy of the message is sent to your registered e-mail address. This confirmation lets you know that the KingsIsle Support staff has received your message and that a reply will be forthcoming.
“I received my confirmation e-mail. What’s next?”
Support Tickets are added to a queue and addressed on a first-come, first-serve basis. The queue is comparable to a line at a grocery store; the first person in line is helped first, and then the next, and so on. Similarly, the players who have been waiting the longest in the queue are helped first.
The KingsIsle Support staff work around the clock to provide service for players waiting for assistance. It is the team’s goal to send a reply within 24-48 hours of receiving a Support Ticket. While we consistently reply within 24-48 hours, the response time can vary due factors that are difficult to anticipate. Sometimes we can respond faster than 24 hours, but there are also infrequent cases where the wait times are longer than expected. This often depends on the quantity and complexity of the issues that we receive.
Referring back to the grocery store analogy, when a person has a lot of items in their basket, it takes longer for them to checkout. Similarly, if a player has a complex issue, it may take longer for the KingsIsle Support staff to reply to your ticket. The next person in line will inevitably have to wait a little longer for their turn if this happens. As a result, the wait times can be different from day to day.
When the KingsIsle Support staff replies to a player’s Support Ticket we send a response and an updated copy of the Support Ticket back to your registered e-mail address. If you need to update the Support Ticket with additional information, all you need to do is reply to the e-mail that you received from KingsIsle Support. All correspondence will be conducted via e-mail in this way until the issue has been solved.
“So that’s how it works!”
By providing insight into the support process, we hope to empower players with an understanding of what to expect when requesting assistance. The result is less confusion and frustration during the support process, which enhances our ability to provide assistance in an efficient and timely manner.
Here are some things to keep in mind when contacting support:
- Avoid contacting support more than once about the same issue – this will result in multiple Support Tickets, which may cause further delays or confusion while waiting
- Include the username and character name, but do NOT include any passwords (these should be kept private). Also, please use your best grammar and punctuation!
- Provide a clear and concise explanation of the issue or question – too little or too much information may cause complications for the KingsIsle Support team
- Do not reply to the Support Ticket while waiting for a response unless it is absolutely necessary – the ticket’s position in the queue may be negatively affected
- Check the spam folder for KingsIsle Support e-mails – sometimes it is easy to miss correspondence if it doesn’t make it to the correct inbox
Chad Hodgson
Customer Support Representative II
Having played Wizard101 for many years (proudly displays Pioneer Dragon Mount), I am very familiar with a single mental hurdle that must be overcome by all Wizard101 players who make the leap over to play Pirate101. In a single word, this hurdle is . . . talents.
In Wizard101 players are very familiar with coming to their school teacher and receiving a “spell” that they “cast” from a “card” in their “deck.” As you can see from the picture below, my brand new storm wizard has a nice list of spells left to purchase in Wizard101.
In Pirate101 players also see a list from their class trainer.
As you can see from the shot above, my brand new Swashbuckler has a ton of things left to train, but here is a big difference! These are not your Wizard101 wizard’s spells, these are called “talents and powers.” Let me steal a couple paragraphs from our Player’s Guide about these:
“You can receive training in:
Talents – these make you faster, stronger, healthier, etc. or let you use new items (like Light Armor). They are active all the time.
Epic Talents – these are Combat skills that are used automatically when in combat, such as attacking whenever an enemy approaches, or getting a second chance if you miss during an attack.
Powers –special Combat abilities that show up at the bottom of the UI, during the Combat Planning phase. You can use a Power instead of a normal attack. These may attack one or more enemies, or help one or more units on your team.”
In my mind, I just imagine a confused Wizard101 player in Pirate101 purchasing the “Fast” Talent and wondering why they can’t “cast” this “spell” from their “deck.” Ahhh fair wizard, not to worry, — Fast is a passive talent that will allow your character to move two extra steps on the battleboard PERMANENTLY from the time you train it.
That’s right! All talents are passive, meaning you don’t have to “cast” this “card” because it stays with you as a permanent benefit to your character every time you step on to the battleboard! That’s quite powerful (especially if the Talent is an Epic Talent like Repel Boarders where if an enemy approaches you, you get a free attack)! To extend the metaphor, it would be like training a spell in Wizard101 that you never have to put in your deck but always gives you a benefit.
You can always find a list of your powers and talents by clicking “P” on your keyboard. The first screen will be your powers and if you click the Star symbol in the top right corner, you’ll be taken to a list of your talents.
Fear not future Pirate101 players coming from Wizard101! Learn to use your powers and talents wisely, and you’ll be off to a great start in Pirate101.
What other small differences between Wizard101 and Pirate101 do you think people might find confusing? Leave your thoughts below!
Have you ever wondered who creates the music of Wizard101? Today we have a guest blog from Nelson Everhart, talented composer for KingsIsle games! He’s sharing some really helpful tips about how someone can get a job as a game composer.
People often tell me that I have the best job on the planet: writing music for video games. While it’s not all (ahem) fun and games, it’s hard to argue with that statement. I get to be creative, I get to play with sounds and computers, I get to build emotions and energy, and I get to work with other people to create worlds. Having a lot of people around the globe hear and appreciate my music is really cool too!
How does somebody get a job as a game composer? There are two parts to the answer.
The first is that you have to know and practice your craft. Sure, I studied music composition in school, but I also wrote music for fun pretty much every day. I also played in bands (many of which I started), was the musical director for a ton of community musicals, and composed for anything I could: student films and projects, dances, and plays.
I didn’t know I was going to make a living writing music, I just knew I loved writing it and it seemed my music worked well accompanying other media. Consequently, I practiced writing music for everything. I videotaped (ask your parents what that means) TV commercials and movie trailers, and wrote music paced to the images and messages I saw. I loved when everything came together to create an emotional moment that moved people. If I were doing this again today, I’d be downloading videos and open-source games from the Internet and showing my work to a huge number of people.
The second part of the answer to the “how does somebody get a job as a game composer” is that you have to put yourself in a position to FIND the job you want. A lot of people, some who may be better composers than me, think that the world is going to offer them a job just because they’re good. That’s not the way it works; you’ve got to create something you’re proud of AND THEN get that out there in the world where somebody’s going to see it. Then you have to do that again and again… so you prove it’s not just a fluke. And then do it again for good measure!
Just because a job is fun doesn’t mean it’s always easy. Don’t feel like writing? Well, too bad, because you have a schedule to keep! This applies to any commercial art… writing, illustrating, sculpting, composing: you need to be really good at finding your own inspiration, which can be challenging.
Working with other creative people sometimes means you have to work the way they want you to work. Ideally, this matches up with how you’d be doing things anyway, but sometimes it doesn’t. Artists often get the reputation of being ego maniacs, but if you can learn to work with other people’s ideas, more people will be eager to work with you.
Because I work for myself, I constantly have to find my next job! Even in the middle of a project, I still have get out there and network with all my friends and contacts to remind them I’m out here in case they have any work that could use my music. People like working with those they’ve worked with successfully in the past, but it takes time and energy finding and maintaining those contacts.
But after all the hard work networking, being creative on demand, and collaborating with other creative individuals, nothing beats sitting back, turning up the speakers and seeing your hard work shape how people will feel about a new world!
Nelson Everhart
Wizard101 Composer
Today we have a guest blog from official fan site and one of KingsIsle’s fuzziest fans! Fuzzy you say? Well meet Ditto Wizard! Today Chip and Ditto bring you some question and answers about online safety and Wizard101.
Chip: What is a ‘fabricated American’?
Ditto: Great question, and one me get a lot. Fabricated Americans are just like regular folks – We play games and have friends and family and all that good stuff, not that different from everybody else. We just happen to be a little furrier and generally more colorful than regular folks, that’s all. Oh, and we all have super powers. Next Question.
Chip: I don’t have any super powers.
Ditto: Ssssh, next question Chip.
Chip: You don’t have any superpowers either, Ditto, unless snoring and eating pie are somehow super powers.
Ditto: Sssh, come on Chip, you’re ruining the mystique. Next question.
Chip: Oh, ok. Why is online safety so important to you?
Ditto: Online safety is important because being online, and especially online games, should be fun and exciting and entertaining for everyone – it should never be dangerous. Unfortunately, there are people out there who want to make it dangerous, who want to use the reach and the anonymity of the internet and online games for not so nice things. Fortunately, being anonymous online can work for us, too – nobody ever needs to know who you really are or where you really live for you to enjoy your favorite online games, and if you follow some simple safety rules and not give out your real life information, you can stay safe and have fun.
Chip: Is there really more to life than puppet shows?
Ditto: Really Chip?
Chip: It’s on the list here, Ditto.
Ditto: <sigh and head shake> Is there really more to life than puppet shows? Yes. Next question.
Chip: What first drew you to Wizard101 (and subsequently Pirate101)?
Ditto: For Wizard101, I saw a bunch of commercials for it while I was watching cartoons, and the concept of a school that trained wizards reminded me of that movie I really liked… what was it… um… The Avengers, that’s it…
Chip: That doesn’t make sense, Ditto – The Avengers came out like four years after Wizard101 did.
Ditto: Oh that’s right – the Avengers is what made me get into Pirate101 – the guy with the eye patch, he’s a pirate and captains a flying ship, right?
Chip: I think so, yeah. If you have an eye patch you’re a pirate – I think that’s the rule. His ship definitely flies, too – it’s really cool.
Ditto: Ok, right, got it. I started playing Pirate101 because of The Avengers, so Wizard101 must have been that other movie, what was it… It was released around the same time as Wizard101, in 2008, with the kids and the school and the magic, and… Oh, Wall-E, that was it. I saw the commercial and it reminded me of Wall-E, so that’s why I started playing. Next Question.
Chip: What? Oh, never mind. What inspired you to setup the camera and start recording your adventures?
Ditto: Well, here’s a behind the scenes secret I’ve never revealed publicly – I was actually playing Wizard101 from almost opening day, and when I decided to start filming my Pyromancer… I already had a level 50 Necromancer – back when that was max level. I was actually pretty good at the game, and my uncle Ben told me that with great power, comes great responsibility, so I started a new alt and decided to blog it. For the kids.
Chip: You just stole most of that from the origin of ‘Spider Man’.
Ditto: Oh, OK – gee, somebody’s picky today. I was just trying to be dramatic. .Actually I just always wanted to do a blog, and because there were no blogs out there from a Fabricated American perspective I thought I could present a unique point of view. What I didn’t expect was to be so totally embraced (embarrassed – blooper) by the amazing Wizard101 community – that was the best and most awesome surprize, and I love all my fans and followers! The thing about the level 50 necromancer is true, though.
Chip: What is Ditto Monster currently doing in game?
Ditto: Trying to get through Zafaria and finally get to the next worlds! Ditto is so far behind! But thats one of my favorite parts about Wizard 101 – even though all kinds of great new stuff is always coming out, I don’t ever feel the need to hurry or rush through anything. The game world and storylines are so rich and fun and the side quests are so well thought out and entertaining, I just play at my own pace and have a good time – that’s the most important thing for me.
Chip: What is your favorite memory for all your time playing Wizard101?
Ditto: Honestly I have so many it’s hard to choose. The first time one of my posts got featured on the Wizard101 launcher was a big one, Interviewing Fred Howard at PAX East was huge, too. In-game, I think my favorite Memory is doing Big Ben with the Ravenwood Radio crew – that was amazing and awesome, and a great quest.
Chip: What’s your favorite part of Wizard101?
Ditto: That’s easy – The community. This community is the best out there, and are so very welcoming to Fabricated Americans like me. They’re the best!
Chip: And what about in the game itself?
Ditto: Well that could only be…. Meteor Strike!!
Chip: What would you like to see added to Wizard101?
Ditto: Ever since I saw them as enemies, I always thought having a giant one of those mechanical clockwork spiders from Marleybone would be the coolest mount. That’s like my #1 dream in Wizard101. Also, adding cooking to crafting, so you can gather ingredients and make pies, and eating the pies can give you buffs. OR you could throw pies at enemies.
Chip: I was waiting for him to get the pie reference in… Ditto, you never disappoint.
Ditto: Thank you. Me think. Next question.
Chip. OK, last question – What would you say to encourage others to be creative and embark on creating their own fansite?
Ditto: I would say the key element is making sure you have a link to Ditto Monster’s site – that’s very important for a successful fansite. Maybe more important than actually talking about the game.
Chip: Ditto….
Ditto: OK, me only kidding. The key element is to find your own voice, your own passion, and build on that. You can use the other fansites for inspiration – I know I did, definitely; I was reading sites like Friendly Necromancer and Diary of a Wizard and Homework in a Graveyard daily – but build your own identity, make sure your fansite says something about you, make sure it’s uniquely yours. There are so many wonderful aspects of these games and this community, everyone has a place and every idea can be built upon to make something that’s special and that stands out as uniquely yours. Also, as always, have fun and play safe!!
KingsIsle Blog 