KingsIsle recently went to Realmscon in beautiful Corpus Christi where con goers went to celebrate anime and gaming and to basically have fun with like-minded people–a great location coupled with great people and you’ve got the recipe for a great time!
If you’ve never been to a con, they are typically full of fans of different sci-fi, fantasy, and anime films, comics, and games, and about half of these fans don’t just show up in their street clothes! You’ll see colorful costumes and wacky fun all around you. Realmscon didn’t disappoint in this regard. There were plenty of people dressing for the occasion. In typical con fashion, we also found a lot of fan-made art, clothing, books, posters, and all kinds of fun stuff for sale. Vendors love cons! And last but definitely not least, every con has a packed schedule of events that con-goers can really get into. Members of KingsIsle participated in a handful of these panels.
One panel that KingsIsle hosted was about “How to get into the video game industry.” We all introduced ourselves, talked a small bit about our jobs, and then answered questions from the audience. It was great to see so many budding programmers, designers, and artists out in the audience. Jeff Toney hosted the discussion and fielded questions from the audience. The big takeaway piece of advice from us? Well, to generalize . . . keep practicing, read up, make a clean portfolio of your best (and finished) work, don’t give up, and move to a hub town where video game companies are plentiful!
Our second panel was simply about our games “Wizard101 and Pirate101.” We all again introduced ourselves and began talking about our games. It was nice to see some really dedicated fans out in the audience who had questions about everything from “How did the death school get destroyed in Ravenwood?” to questions about the levels of the Dev’s characters in the games. As a fun surprise, right in the middle of our presentation a giant conga line snaked through the auditorium and ended up on stage with us—that’s a crazy con moment for you! After answering all the questions we could, our hour of presentation time was up, and we invited everyone in the audience on stage to give them a free epic bundle AND an exclusive Pirate101 treasure map.
If you live in the Texas area and enjoy going to the local gaming conventions, be on the lookout for KingsIsle employees! To be sure, we love our fans.
Hello fellow wizards and pirates, my name is Kelsey Fireheart and I run Stars of the Spiral, an official fansite for both Pirate101 and Wizard101! I was asked to write a short article on how it’s like being a deaf player playing KingsIsle games. I was quite honored by their kind request. So first, here’s some background about me. I was born deaf into a hearing family because my mother had german measles while pregnant with me. It destroyed the hair in my cochlea in my ear which prevented me from hearing. But I was always told that I was like everyone else and was treated just the same. My uncle would place my hand on his guitar and he would play. Even though I couldn’t hear, I was encouraged to love music. I can read lips and speak when I have to, but I mostly use American Sign Language to communicate with other people.
I was born in a generation that had no computers, modems or any internet connection. I grew up riding on my bicycle, spending a lot of time outdoors and chasing my brother when we needed the exercise. But when we received our very first Nintendo game console and playing Super Mario Bros with my brother. That was the start of gaming for me. Many years later, I saw Wizard101 in an ad online and I decided, why not? I loved the idea of a continuing game. One that will keep me on my toes with new content. So I created my very first wizard, Kelsey Fireheart. She is a proud redheaded Pyromancer who was ready to go on a grand adventure! Once I completed Triton Avenue, I was confronted by a choice. Buy more crowns, buy a membership or quit. I decided to get a membership to see how I did within a month. It only cost me ten bucks for 1 month? Sure! I remember questing in the Pyramid of the Sun of Krokotopia and I bumped into a fellow wizard named Diana Wildheart. We chatted as we helped each other through the battles. She mentioned that she was deaf and I gasped in astonishment. I replied, I am deaf too! That’s when I realized that I could meet fellow deaf gamers through games like Wizard101. She was my first ever in-game friend that I still keep in touch with. We even created our accounts in the same year and month with only a few days apart. That made me decide to continue my subscription to Wizard101. I loved the idea of being able to be able to meet new friends in-game that you could connect with.
That experience also made me want to show others what deafness means. I also wanted to disprove some ideas and thoughts on what deaf people can do as well as can’t do. I knew that this game is full of people who do not understand what “deaf” or “deafness” means. This game is an wonderful educational tool that I can use to teach countless others and it gave me a way of communicating with no barriers. In fact, it gave me a greater purpose within the game!
For example, some people think we can’t hear anything. That’s not true. We can hear things to a degree. For myself, I can hear motorcycles, airplanes and large dog barking. I can hear music if it’s loud enough. But the thing we love the most is the vibrations. Also I try to advise people not to apologize to deaf people that they cannot hear. There’s no need to apologize to a deaf person as we are very proud of who we are! Like I wouldn’t apologize that you can’t speak klingon. We are used to being deaf and we can’t miss what we don’t know.
Since I can’t hear, the visual aspect is really important to me. I love KI’s use of colors and textures that create the beautiful worlds that we know and love like Zafaria in Wizard101 and Mooshu in Pirate101. Even the Pirate101’s stormgates is amazing. I may not be able to hear the amazing music or the character’s goofy voice overs, but I am still part of the quest because of the captions! But what I love the most is the way they managed to make the worlds’ look evoke emotions either good or bad. For instance, before we finish the very last dungeon in Azteca, the world looked beautiful like the paradise it should be. But once we finished the dungeon, the way the entire world’s look changed really made it hit home. It became grey and overcast with characters gaping at the darkening sky above. Yes, Azteca is really being bombarded by meteors and you can see the effect in the entire place. It made me feel sad for the characters in that world. I didn’t need the music to feel that, that was enough for me.
Even though I know it’s practically impossible, but I would love to see sign language being used in-game. After all, some sign language is universal like the “I Love You” sign which should be spread to every corner of the world. But I can keep dreaming.
If you ever wanted to know how to spell Wizard101 or Pirate101, here’s a guide.
Wizard101
Pirate101
If you seek adventure, all you need is a wand or a ship.
-Kelsey Fireheart
StarsoftheSpiral.com
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!
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