Monthly Q&A with TNT

March 27, 2024

The March 2024 AMA took place at 5pm NST on March 27, 2024.

The AMA was first announced on March 20th, about seven days in advance.

This AMA was dubbed "The Void Within Edition" and will feature Neopets CEO Dom Law as usual. It will be moderated by Neopets YouTuber Amanda from theamandafiles.

Questions could be submitted in advance through a StrawPoll shared on Neopets social media. You vote to support as many questions as you like, and even have the ability to update your votes later!

How to Watch

The AMA was simulcasted on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter/X, Twitch, and Instagram. It remains available for viewing on all of these platforms except Twitch and Instagram:

Rewatch on YouTube »

Rewatch on Facebook »

Rewatch on Twitter/X »

Rare Item Code

TNT announced in advance that "ALL live viewers will receive an EXCLUSIVE unreleased prize" although the prize ended up being a previously released item. The code was revealed as THEVOIDWITHIN near the end of the livestream, redeemable at Grundo Warehouse until March 29th at 5pm NST.

Recap

Amanda opened with an introduction of herself:

• A Neopets YouTuber, or "NeoTuber".
• Favourite species is Gelert and is a supporter of Darigan Citadel.
• Favourite character is Lord Kass.

Questions for "The Void Within" Team

Amanda then brought out TNT Aesop, Jewel, Fallie, and Stone. Each had a title chyron next to their video:

• Aesop: Narrative and Creative Director (Weewoo fanatic)
• Jewel: Narrative Designer: Tales of Dacardia
• Fallie: Meepit
• Stone: Senior Narrative Designer

Introductions?

• Aesop: Started as a content intern. Focus on creative contests. Oversees everything with a narrative around Neopia.
• Stone: Started as a writer for the Faerie's Hope storyline, then moved to work on site content (such as Neopian Times editor and item art creation), now the Senior Narrative Designer writing event and plot narratives.
• Jewel: Narrative Designer on Tales of Dacardia. "Building and rebuilding that game for nearly five years now."
• Fallie: Not a part of the writer team; social media coordinator at Neopets. Australian.

Aesop, what's going on with the grey shopkeepers?

• Aesop says that the shopkeepers are feeling drained and, mysteriously, cannot be painted another colour.

Fallie, how do you go about teasing The Void Within?

• Aesop explained the plot to other TNT members in a meeting.
• Afterward, the team would consistently meet to figure out what and how to reveal early.
• Did want to promote some intrigue and discussion through social media.
• "Neopians are sharp, we know they pay attention to those tiny details...we wanted to celebrate that on social media."

Aesop, can you talk more about the inspirations for the plot?

• "Our team wanted to mirror a journey that I feel like a lot of our staff members and fans have taken at one point in their lives" to step away from Neopets for the real world.
• "There's times where the real world is pulling you away from this escape." Coming back after that can be overwhelming.
• Wanted to focus on that feeling of returning somewhere after time and growth.

Who worked on what?

• Aesop said the plot is a shared effort among the entire Neopets team, even outside the narrative department.
• Wanted to give additional information and backstory for some major characters that might not even have names!
• Have a "writer's room style process" where different writers write separate chapters then meet together for review. There are ~4 writers working on it.
• The plot will last for "at least around 10 months."
• Stone is currently working on a few of the chapters and on copy. Also has taken lead on some of the teasers, such as the Trick or Treat event and Advent Calendar.
• Jewel's main focus is Tales of Dacardia, but has worked on a few of the chapters and giving behind-the-scenes feedback on teasers. Has also worked on some minigames, and hopes to make some tie-in's with Tales of Dacardia!

Any extra hints or teasers you can share or that people have missed?

• Stone says fans have missed nothing!
• There will be a "continuation of some stuff we've seen" and if you want to see it all you will need to participate in upcoming recurring events like Festival of Neggs and Altador Cup.

What more can you tell us about Vira and other antagonist(s) of the plot?

• Vira did have a co-conspirator in the Faerie Festival comic.
• "They are not entirely alone here" and "bad things come in threes."

What was your favourite part of the story to write?

• Jewel: "Character moments" that show a lot of emotion and expression.
• Aesop: Some "tense, powerful scenes" and exploring both new and old character dynamics; adding new lore to Neopia as opposed to small injections in site events.
• Stone: Enjoyed researching the lore and build on work of writers from years past, growing and changing characters.

Fallie, what are your favourite parts of the plot?

• As a fan fic writer, most excited about tangible and emotional character moments.
• Got very emotional when first hearing the plot from Aesop!
• Fallie also asked Amanda what she's most excited for, and Amanda mentioned a sword in the corner of one of the Advent comics. Aesop confirmed we will see more about this sword!

The sword pictured seems to be Trithduril, which belonged to Lord Kass.

What more can you tell us about Orion and the instrument he found?

• "The Advent Calendar is definitely the strongest visions that Orion's had." There's been "flare-ups" since then, however.
• We will learn more about it soon in the upcoming site events.

Anything else you can reveal?

• The new Aisha protagonist is named Nyx.
• The Faellie is "still holding on" but "in rough shape."

Questions for TNT Dom

Amanda then brought out Dom for some questions about the game.

What can you share about Tales of Dacardia?

• Planning to launch first in Canada in early April.
• Dom shared some images of the game.

How was Game Developers Conference (GDC)?

• "Awesome" and the first time in "almost a decade" that Neopets attended.
• Great opportunity for ideas and inspiration from the modern gaming world to improve Neopets.
• Also a good chance for TNTers to meet together in person.

Amanda then started asking top questions from the StrawPoll.

You mentioned a few months ago that you had a lot of past logs and would be reviewing them, including the intention of freezing big cheaters. Also in light of recent concerns about botters acquiring high value items in Neopian shops, causing inflation, what are TNT's plans to address these issues?

• Won't publicly comment on specific users, but does look into allegations.
• The problem of botters is "probably not new" and they are seeking "holistic solutions." Have frozen some high profile botters, but there are still botting problems.
• Want to change gameplay and mechanics to make botting more difficult or less rewarding.
• They have frozen a lot of botters and have started to implement sustainable solutions too.

When are we getting more pet slots, Neomail reworks like a sent inbox, rotating the Quest Log prizes? Any progress on these?

• The team has been working on many big updates such as Tales of Dacardia and NeoPass that are starting to wrap up.
• The priority for the next few months is to focus on smaller, quality-of-life updates.
• Not all updates from TNT are "visible" to users, such as fighting botting, security, and infrastructure.
• Some presumed-easy tasks like updating the payment system have proven unexpectedly challenging.
• Always looking for feedback, and encourage you to voice concerns through Ambassadors.

Which Pet Styles are coming out next?

• Just launched Jelly, Maraquan, Baby, and Alien yesterday.
• Plan to launch more in "small batches...every two to three months."
• Make your preferences known to influence the priority!

Will there ever be changes to the Neopoint limits in the shops/Trading Post?

• Agrees it needs to be revamped.
• Acknowledges that although there are ways to do high value trades, they are "not very intuitive."
• Want to make sure they understand the implications and it may be part of a larger update.

With the release of NeoPass, are you considering a way to move NC items between main and side accounts without gift boxes? What about combining achievements like avatars and trophies?

• NeoPass is an "infrastructure layer" to connect "Neopets experiences" (like a side app to the main site).
• NeoPass is an example of what Dom was talking about in the previous question, where a complete revamp (in this case, of the login system) is actually easier than reworking what's existing.
• May add additional features in the future (Dom did not commit to any specific feature).

Will we able to stay logged in on the same account on multiple devices at the same time?

• This "should be possible" and if not they will "probably fix it."

Given that Neopets is under independent ownership now, is it possible for fans to develop fan-made games?

• Yes! This is part of the vision with NeoPass: fan-made games can be part of the system.
• DTI and SunnyNeo have committed to using NeoPass; hoping other games and fan sites will in the future.

Will Neohomes ever be brought back?

• Some aspects of it will be part of upcoming apps Tales of Dacardia and World of Neopets.
• TNT have debated whether to bring back Neohomes on the site, but don't want overlapping experiences so it is not a top priority.

Currently, [some] frozen accounts' items appear in the Shop Wizard results. Is there any plan to remove these accounts from being listed?

• Yes! Don't have an exact date, but part of the quality-of-life updates mentioned earlier.

This page was written by Kenny and last updated on July 20, 2024.