So we all know that Wizard101 is an online computer game, but what I bet some of you didn’t know is how much creativity it can inspire outside of gaming! We have so many talented Wizards at Ravenwood that we have a special place to show off all your artwork! Out of these many talented artists, two Wizard101 players have spent an extraordinary amount of time devoted to their fan art. Let’s learn some more about them!
AluraRB is one of our most talented and stylized artists who contributes to our gallery regularly. She has also launched her own site to showcase her artwork. It’s always amazing to see how something we’ve created has influenced others to be creative in turn.
Here’s what AluraRB has to say about how KingsIsle games have inspired her creatively!
I enjoy creating fan art for Wizard101 (Pirate101 as well!) because the game appeals to me in a very peculiar way. The use of vibrant colors, an intricate story line, and fun characters engages me in a way that very few games have in the past. I love being able to take situations and characters and recreate them in a way that I personally see them when I play the game. This way, I can make a capturing art piece out of it!
You can see more of AluraRB’s Wizard101 and Pirate101 fan art on her website.
Another talented artist, Dark Rapier (or Aaron ShadowRider in Wizard101) enjoys using KingsIsle games for his artistic muse:
I started playing Wizard101 on the summer of 2011. I had heard of it on a television commercial. I had always been captivated by fantasy video games and decided to give it a try. I never knew that I would develop a love for drawing fan art for this game.
My first fan art piece received a warm reception from the Wizard101 community. I then gradually began to draw more and more for this game. The community has offered me a lot of support, which has kept me drawing.
I play video game for two reasons: To reap the virtual rewards awarded by the game and to absorb the scenery and costume design. Wizard101 has both creative costume design and breathtaking scenery. These two elements are why I draw.
You may encounter me in the game. I am the guy that runs around like a lunatic going screenshot crazy when a new world comes out. Keep in mind though, all lunatics have a reason behind their actions. Mine? I just like to draw.
AluraRB and Dark Rapier are just two of many, many talented artists inspired by Wizard101! Are you a creative player who loves KingsIsle games? We’d love to see your fan art too! You can always submit original fan art on the Wizard101 fan art and the Pirate101 fan art pages.
Send us your drawings, paintings and sketches of your character or anything else you’ve imagined about Wizard101. If you are under 13 years of age, ask your parent or guardian for permission to send us your artwork.
If you would like to submit something, send it in an email to community@wizard101.com or mail it to us at KingsIsle Entertainment, P.O. Box 82543, Austin TX USA, 78708 and be sure to include your character name!
Today one of our amazing fan sites, Duelist101, has a huge treat for all of you Wizards that enjoy Pvp! Player vs Player combat can be challenging and maybe even a little confusing, but here are some helpful tips to get any Wizard started.
In 2009, my Pyromancer had just finished defeating Malistaire and saving The Spiral. The professors in Ravenwood were all astounded at his capacity for magic, and every monster in his path had been thwarted. He was awesome.
It seemed only natural that I should take him to Diego on Unicorn Way, pummel a few opponents, and collect that shiny Warlord badge. I set up my spell deck, signed into the queue, and soon got my first opponent. Ten minutes later I landed back in the PvP waiting area, my head spinning in defeat. This was not the Wizard101 I knew. These people were, well, people! They played intelligently, and had access to all of the stats and spells I had. They were tough!
I did eventually make Warlord. It took lots of trial and error, and many more losses at the hands of those wily human opponents, but PvP quickly became my favorite part of playing Wizard101. There’s lots to learn, and the environment is always changing as new things are introduced.
Here are a few things I wish I had known when getting started, hopefully they will help you too.
Wizard101 Ranked PvP Tips
Controlling Health is Important
This seems like silly advice – of course we need to heal if our health gets low! In PvP, however, our opponent is thinking the same thing. So, a player must control not only their own health, but also the health of their opponent. Suddenly, spells that we’ve never used in Wizard101 become very, very useful. Spells like Infection, Doom and Gloom, Entangle – these are important in a PvP deck, to ensure that the opponent we have damaged stays that way.
Gear Up for Anything
PvP matching is random. We’ll never know exactly who our next opponent might be. We need to pack spells capable of defeating any of the other schools, and defending against them.
- Tower shield (trained from the Ice School) gives 50% protection against any kind of damage. Similarly, negative charms like Weakness and Plague are great ways to reduce enemy damage.
- Random matches also make Universal Resist helpful. Gear with this type of resist will reduce damage from anything an opponent can hit with, making it easier to survive and making heals more effective.
- Universal Critical Block can be a life saver. Usually found in crafted boots and advanced wands, this stat will help block critical attacks from every school. Getting hit with a big critical is very inconvenient, often game-ending, so this is another stat that helps us survive long enough to win.
There is one other reason that universal defense is crucial: It is the only way to defend against Balance damage, and Sorcerers know it!
Shields: Awesome and Frustrating
Shields are a great way to foil your opponent’s attempt to beat you, but there’s a problem. Our opponents have them too! Shields are stumbling block for many players as they adjust to PvP. The standard plan of putting up blades and traps falls apart quickly when the other player throws a shield down in the middle of it.
- Damage over time attacks are a great way to get damage past shields.
- In 1v1, most minions are also very good at removing shields so that a player can blade up and attack. Keep your minion on the battlefield and remove their’s as soon as possible.
- Some schools, like Storm, make due by removing shields with low-cost attacks that hit hard and keep opponents on their toes.
- Finally, there are tools like Earthquake that can remove all shields from an opponent.
As with everything else in PvP, be careful because your opponents have access to these tools too!
Teaming Up
Some players enjoy the control of a 1v1 match, but others like to team up with friends. Sometimes it can be nice to have an assigned role instead of doing it all alone, or just to have pleasant company while you duel. The Life school’s team-wide healing spells shine in a team environment, and schools like Storm can have fun throwing out damage without worrying so much about defense. Death wizards have lots of tricky spells that can turn the tide of battle quickly in teams. Everyone has something unique to offer, and the playing experience is different with every team you make.
Anyone Can Play
You don’t need to be top level to play PvP in Wizard101. Players still questing in Wizard City can go to the arena and get matches, and the Ranked PvP matching system will do its best to make sure they get matched against a similarly leveled opponent. Even if you’re not ready for Ranked, the practice PvP kiosk is available to all players!
Wizard101 Tournament PvP
In case being able to play Ranked PvP at any level, with any school or any team didn’t seem like enough diversity, there’s also Tournament play! Tournaments are a new feature that allow players to earn bigger prizes that are unique to the arena.
Tournaments run at scheduled times, cost Crowns to join, and consist of several matches with a time limit. Tournaments also have big prizes, and everyone who enters is guaranteed to win something.
The time limit on matches really changes things up; you can spend as little as fifteen minutes in a 1v1 Tournament fight. If you don’t like the idea of a PvP match that could last hours, Tournaments may be for you! If a match hasn’t ended when the timer runs out, Diego will step in and decide a victor.
This style of play tends to lean more towards gear that gives up some basic defense in favor of more damage, critical attack, and armor piercing. You’ll have a very short time to make a very big impression, so make your attack count!
Study Up!
The best advice for any new PvP player is to educate yourself: read PvP guides, learn how spells work from all the schools of magic, and try different strategies to find what works best for you. Study the gear available for your School and Level, and see how many Training Points are available to you and how to best spend them. Don’t give up. Go in there and have fun, roll with the punches, accept that sometimes we lose and it’s fine. Learn from your losses, treat others with respect, and enjoy the game for what it is – a game. That’s the trick to succeeding in PvP.
If you enjoy Wizard101 PvP, visit Duelist101 today!
A lot has been said on the Message Boards about Female Pirates . . . or more specifically the lack of female pirate companions in Pirate101. It’s not a topic that we’ve shied away from at KingsIsle, and we agree! We’d like there to be more female pirates in Pirate101 (It is important to note that Developer Blind Mew has some interesting ideas in the works about this very topic). Within that Message Board post a lot of great information was shared, like the names of several famous pirates that are currently hinted to within the game.
Sure, when someone thinks of Pirates they usually jump to Blackbeard… but there were several famous female Pirates in history that were just as eager for treasure as the boys! Let’s take a look at a few of Pirate101’s female Pirate characters, and the historical references they come from.
Bonnie Anne (Pirate101) / Anne Bonny (Real Pirate)
The real Anne Bonny was born in Ireland in 1698 and pirated in the Caribbean. She also went by the aliases Ann Bonn and Ann Fulton, even though the name she was born with was Ann Cormac! Anne Bonny was married to Pirate James Bonny, but eventually snuck away with John “Calico Jack” Rackham and joined his Pirate crew instead. Sneaky! In Calico Jack’s crew, Anne met a fellow Pirate named Mark Read. Turns out, Mark was actually a female Pirate in disguise and her name was Mary! Mary and Anne became very close friends out on the high seas.
Merry Read and Reedy Mary (Pirate101) / Mary Read (Real Pirate)
An English Caribbean Pirate born in 1690, Mary Read went by the alias of Mark Read because she disguised herself as a man to get hired on Pirate crews. Not only did she pirate, but she also joined the British army and fought in the War of the Spanish Succession! After some years as a normal housewife, Mary returned to Piracy after the death of her husband and met Anne Bonny in Calico Jack’s crew. In 1721 poor Mary died in prison… which goes to show that real life pirating is probably not the best idea.
Grace O’Malley (Pirate101) / Grace O’Malley (Real Pirate)
Grace O’Malley, born around 1530, was not only a Pirate but also a queen! Queen of Umaill, a territory in Northern Ireland, Grace was known as “The Sea Queen of Connaught.” Many Irish folk stories, songs and poems were written about her Pirating and trading days.
Rachel Wall (Pirate101) / Rachel Wall (Real Pirate)
Born Rachel Schmidt in the British Pennsylvania Colony in North America, Rachel grew up on a farm but didn’t like being a farm girl! Always drawn to the sea, Rachel fell in love with a fisherman and got married. While living in Boston, Rachel’s husband met some sailors and convinced Rachel to join their crew at sea. Once out voyaging, her husband suggested that they become Pirates! Rachel’s part in the crew was to scream for help when a boat passed by. When the friendly boat came over to help poor Rachel, the Pirate crew jumped out and stole their riches! Tricky, trick Rachel Wall.
These famous female Pirates are just as tough as the boys, so it’s no wonder they got a little character nod in Pirate101! Who’s your favorite famous Pirate?
One Eyed-Jack
Community Manager
So you love playing MMOs and roleplaying adventures for your online character, but did you ever wish that there was more to the story? Writing your own fan fiction can be a way to invent new adventures with your game character with no restrictions or limits to your imagination. Once you’ve decided to venture into the world of game fan fiction, there are some techniques you can employ to make your stories stand out and engage your readers.
Help Us Picture Your Character
One advantage of writing fan fiction is that the environment is already created. For example, if you’re writing about Wizard101 or Pirate101 then you’re automatically writing about the Spiral – a land where your readers will be familiar with. What we’re not familiar with however, is your character. What do they look like? What are their dreams? Who is their enemy? Take a look at the two paragraphs below to see what I mean:
I am Lauren SparkleWeaver, a myth Wizard questing day by day in Wizard City. One day I aim to rid the Spiral of Malistaire’s evil.
I blew a strand of long blonde hair out of my eyes, and tightened my grasp on the worn wooden handle of my magic Myth staff. “I am Lauren Sparkleweaver,” I hissed as I cut my eyes across the pond in Wizard City, “and one day I’m going to rid the Spiral of Malistaire’s evil.”
With any kind of writing, the big rule is show, don’t tell. In your fan fiction, show us your character by lots of description!
Create a Dynamic Intro
The best writing grabs the reader’s attention from the very beginning! Open your fan fiction story with compelling content like beautiful description, an interesting problem that needs solving, or fun dialogue. Check out samples from these two stories from KingsIsle players for an example of how to nicely introduce a fan fiction story.
The duel finally ended with a solid touch to the left shoulder. “Good! Very good.” Morgan Lafitte stood back, regarding her student with a pleased eye. Anne Radcliffe beamed at the praise, only somewhat tempered by the knowledge that she was sweaty and winded from the bout, while Morgan was not even breathing hard. Still, she had managed to get past her teacher’s formidable guard, not an easy feat at all.
By Virtuous Anne Radcliffe, a Pirate101 Player (read the entire story)
Something totally unexpected happened to me today. This was stranger than anything I’d ever witnessed before. It was even more surprising then the time that John couldn’t move anymore because I’d glared at him, or the time that the snowman came to life because I’d been thinking about Frosty. It was even stranger then the day that the public swimming pool turned into an ice skating rink because I had wished for it. No, it was even more astonishing than all those things combined. Well, to start, have you ever heard of Ravenwood School? ….. No? Well then, maybe I should start from the beginning.
By Sierra Winterbreeze, a Wizard101 Player (read the entire story)
Keep Your Dialogue Clear and Interesting
- When a new person speaks, you need to start a new paragraph.
- Even if they only say “Ok!” you still need to create a new paragraph every time a different person speaks.
- Break up long strands of dialogue with description
- Use verbs instead of “he said”
- He replied
- He laughed
- He screamed
- He sneered
Divide Your Story Into Appropriate Sections
It is a trend in a lot of fan fiction to create stories with multiple parts or chapters, and in a lot of ways that can be the right thing to do. It leaves your reader wanting more, breaks up the story into readable chunks, and gives the story an epic feel. What you don’t want to do though, is have each part/chapter be extremely short. Make sure your story has enough “meat” in each segment to introduce/remind your readers of the conflict, describe your character(s) and develop the plot.
Have a Friend Review Your Work
Nobody can create beautiful art all by themselves! Having a friend or family member read your story before publishing is a great way to get someone else’s opinion on your work as well as have a second pair of eyes look for spelling and grammatical errors. Spell check helps too!
Have Fun With It!
Even though writing good fan fiction can be a difficult challenge, it’s also a lot of fun! The game worlds that we have created are now in your control, and you can do whatever you want with them. Maybe Professor Greyrose is taking everyone on a field trip to Grizzleheim, or your Pirate wants to build their very own Buffaloon stable in Cool Ranch! Wherever your imagination may take the story, your enjoyment at writing will shine through to your readers.
When you have a finished piece of game fan fiction, you can always submit it to the Wizard101 fan fiction or Pirate101 game fan fiction sections! We publish a variety of stories per month. Happy writing players!
Want to read some amazing fan fiction? Check out some of our favorites!
- The Adventures of John Drake by Heather LegendHunter
- The Most Powerful Spells of All by Aliah LotusPetal
- The Chosen Three by Sabrina Icebane
- A Survivor’s Word by D.S. Devereaux
- Seekers of the Spiral by Witty Nathan Bowman
- The Ninja Pig & Her Foster Child by Virtuous Anne Radcliffe
Lauren Mauldin
Marketing Website Producer
Today Art Lead Melissa Preston gives us a walk-through of what it’s like to walk in her shoes! See some of the amazing work she does with Pirate101 to give you the characters and environments you know and love in the game.
Every morning after I get myself organized for the day, I begin to review the art work that was completed or in progress from the day before. This is my favorite part of the day because this is the time when I really get to focus on just looking at the art and thinking about how each piece fits into the larger puzzle. Does it fit within the design and tone? Is the work consistent with the established style? All of the pieces have to work together to tell a story and they need to be believable in the same world. There are a lot of considerations that have to be made along the way, and I need to be prepared to give productive feedback to each artist on the team on a daily basis including concept artists, character and environments artists, UI artists, and FX artists.
The final concept shown above came after a few iterations with sketches and rough ideas. We wanted the tigers to be strong but they still needed to look agile. We ended up going with a sleeker silhouette that captured the strength and agility of the tiger race much better than the earlier versions
My day to day also includes reviewing story and design material and determining what art will be needed to support the game. This is where I begin to generate art tasks. I take all written descriptions, concept art, consider potential challenges the artist may face with the task, and provide estimates for task completion.
The two sky images above are color studies one of our concept artists made for the Marleybone Skyway in Pirate101. I wanted something that evoked a bit of the familiarity with the time of day from Wizard101 but add a touch of rising sun in the distance to subvert that just slightly. The first image had more of a bright moonlit look and a touch of green in the upper clouds which felt like a storm was brewing. I wanted to achieve a mood that evoked a dark foggy alley way lit by gas lamps at night.
I generally have a wider view of the happenings inside and outside of the art department, so I try to make sure the artist working on a particular task is aware of anything that may affect or influence what they may be working on.
The writers needed the artist to add a suitable place to teleport the player to a location within this zone. It didn’t seem like there was an ideal existing location that was out of the way of player traffic. We decided to add a bridge extension to a spot over the water which seemed to suit everyone’s needs.
The remainder of my day generally consists of a mixture of interactions with various people in different departments. One day may include discussing the next world we may be creating with the writers and designers. Another may be filled with discussing technical issues with a new system and working out how any changes may affect the artists’ pipeline and processes.
I feel like much of my job involves gathering the appropriate materials, providing my own influence and then getting out of the way so the artists have the freedom to add their own creativity into the work.
Of course many challenges and unforeseen issues crop up during the day, so in addition to my normal routine, I have to be flexible enough to jump on anything that may need immediate attention.
Each day I balance making sure the job is done well and on time while providing a work environment that allows the artists the freedom to visualize the story in an exciting way.
This concept was painted for a zone in Aquila. I did not have a lot of changes that I wanted to see after this was completed. I gave the artist some notes up front on the structure seen in the foreground. Other than that he had the freedom to make a cool piece of art!
Melissa Preston
Art Lead
KingsIsle Blog 