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Ask A Dev: Ascend: Hand of Kul

All questions are in! Congratulations to those that were answered, you will be receiving exclusive prints of Ascend: Hand of Kul    Want to know how to break into the industry? What type of background you must have? Next week, we will be answering any questions you have for our development team. Anywhere from Design, Art, Producing, or Programming...we have an answer for you! Make sure to submit your questions on our forums for a chance to win a a very cool and awesome prize.   Without further ado, here are your questions…answered!

Killerklown420: A release date at least...maybe?

Thanks for the inquiry killerklown420. The most info I can provide right now is that Ascend will release early in 2013. We are psyched to get this out!

-Brett Gow, Executive Producer

TheRallyKiller: I saw among the vast buffet of media for Ascend some light shed on weapons, equipment, and loot in general. Being able to salvage equipment for currency and finding equipment/loot in certain places is mentioned BUT what can we expect from loot? Will there be rare/unique/epic items? Sets? Craftable? Deity or faction specific?

Thanks for the question!   Loot is a big part of Ascend! Throughout the game you’ll find a deep world of brutal weapons and diverse armor to create the ultimate warrior. As an Action-RPG, particularly an online one, a huge part of the game is customization! In Ascend your characters will become bosses in the game – so it’s even more exciting to outfit your Champions with the most badass and powerful gear you can find!   Indeed there will be a range of gear qualities for players to seek out all over the world. Powerful and rare items wait to reward you, hidden in the hardest dungeons and protected by fierce enemies. Many of the items in the game can also be upgraded as you fight with them – increasing their effectiveness over time.  And customization - hell yeah! Some gear in Ascend is craftable and can be customized with consumable bonuses you collect throughout the game!   Don’t forget that loot in Ascend also includes consumable items, like Blessings and Curses you can inflict on other players online! The world of Ascend is full of dungeons to explore and lands to conquer – all with plenty of spoils along the way to collect.   And last, but not least, we can’t forget to mention the most prestigious gear in the game is reserved for the highest Ascended Champions. The New Gods reward their most honored Champions with weapons and armor carrying the power of Dark, Light, and Void.   I hope that sheds a little more light on what to expect from loot in Ascend.  Stay tuned over the next few months – and we look forward to waging war with you early next year!

-Ian Scott, Lead Designer

Reckless_tortuga: Can you tell us a bit more about this parallel multiplayer? And how is this new innovative mobile feature going to make this action RPG different from others?

The parallel multiplayer experience in Ascend: Hand of Kul is the aspect I am the most excited about in the game. While the core Action RPG mechanics in Ascend are very focused on the single player experience, the separate universes of the individual player’s games come into contact. You can see other players playing through their single player experience, and while you can’t go up and hit them with your weapon ( they don’t exist in your universe ) you can use the powers of the New Gods to bless or curse, help or hinder, these other players. By using these powers players can create content in each other’s spaces and even move content back and forth between them. The development team has had a lot of fun building out new and interesting powers to affect other universes. As a user you have full control over the connectivity of the experience – you can have an experience that is fully open, only with your friends, or solo. Remember though, there is a war between these New Gods and they can be very grateful for aid that helps to turn the tide in their favor.   Ascend has a companion game coming out on Windows Phone 7 that can directly affect the Xbox/PC universes. By playing the mobile game you can earn similar powers to the parallel multiplayer powers mentioned above which you can use to destroy your enemies or aid your friends. Ascend has a core asynchronous gameplay feature as well –Ascending your character turns that character into a boss that will invade other peoples games, even while you’re not playing - and the phone helps you to stay on top of how you’re doing in regards to that and allows you to manage those Ascended Champions. So even if you’re not at your Xbox or PC you can still fight for advantage.

-Josh Wittner, Game Director and CTO    

Yamayamayaamaa: Bonus question I forgot to ask at E3. Does D.R. Albright's name have anything to do with 3rd Rock from The Sun?

D.R. “Slutbunny” Albright? Actually, my full name is Douglas Robert Albright III. To avoid confusion amongst the other two Doug’s ( my father and grandfather ) my mother started calling me D.R. straight from the womb.

-D.R Albright III, President and Creative Director