There’s always something new happening in Dragon City. New islands to discover, amazing new dragons to own and new adventures to enjoy. In the run up to Christmas, we wanted to take a look back at all the fun stuff that’s been happening in Dragon City over the last few weeks, so we caught up with our very own Dragon Master, Rick Cevallos, Project Manager on Dragon City mobile, to ask him for a quick round up on what’s happening, what’s new, and what’s coming up. Dragon style.

Rick, what’s up in Dragon City in the run up to the holiday season?

Lots of new things have been happening. In the last month we launched the amazing Castle Island – I hope players checked it out. Players who connect on Android and iOS  will have seen the awesome Dino Island too, though. We gave our new players the chance to play again the Dino Island who missed out on the last time it was available.  We also added two extra islands, so our high level players will have enough space to for their habitats and dragons. Normally we do improvements in performance and optimization every month, to help the game run smoother and create a better gameplay experience for our players.

We’re always striving to improve playing experience – especially on Dragon City. We listen to players every day on our forums and support pages – so we try to focus on what’s important for them. A major priority is to fix any bugs, and then to deliver great content. And awesome dragons.

Tell us a bit more about Castle Island and Dino Island – what do they offer players?

Well, it’s really all about delivering special dragons to the player. New islands are themed around the new dragons that the player will get once he or she completes all of the quests for each island. The quests are related directly to actions within the game, such as breeding, collecting rewards from the habitats and so on. These islands are available to all players – but for a limited time only!

On Dino Island for instance, players can get two amazing Dino-themed dragons by completing the different quests the island offers. If you missed it before, like I say, don’t worry. All islands are brought back for a limited time so those who missed out or new players get a chance to experience them and to get their awesome dragons.

Dino Island. Did you complete your quests?

One of the things you Dragon Masters are so proud of are the new Dragons you add to the game.

Yes, we add new dragons every week. To get them players usually go to the Black Market, or they complete a quest on an island. Or else they’ll find insanely cool new dragons in the promotions we put out. These are the dragons that you can’t get by breeding!  We love creating new dragons. There are more than 200 dragons in Dragon City now – each one has its own personality, its own story and its own special identity.

What about the techie stuff – have you been fixing anything recently?

As the game grows with new islands and dragons we have to constantly update it to avoid issues and the game slowing down. Players have more dragons on the screen, so we need to make improvements to ensure that this can happen without any interruption to gameplay. When you think about the scale of the game, the challenge can be quite bit. Dragon City has 35 million players on three platforms: Facebook, iOS and Android. Keeping things working is a constant focus for my team.

How long have you been working on Dragon City?

Only since May 2013 and it’s been a blast working in this team and on this game. It’s a challenge to start working on such a successful game – when you think that what you do and every launch will be experienced by millions on people around the world.

So what’s your favorite part of the game?

Breeding, of course. I love mixing different elements and seeing what I get. Even though I am aware of every single combination, I also get a surprise when I breed two dragons.

Who’s your favorite dragon?

Can you keep a secret from the Ivory Dragon? I love him. But the Mars Dragon just blows my mind. Hahahaha. They’re all really beautiful and each one has a ton of personality. Hard to choose..

Mars attacks. Rick goes googley-eyed over the Mars Dragon – this little guy is all about inter-galactic charm offensives. 

So what have you got planned for Christmas in Dragon City? Can you give us a sneak peek?

What? And ruin the surprise for our players? I *can* tell you that it’s Christmassy and there are a bunch of really nice promos and offers in our Winter Calendar. Enjoy!