Pan'Theon: Rise' of th'e Fal'Len - #1 Thread in MMO

Convo_sl said:

Like I said earlier.. Been pushing for a state of the game update. I really just want transparency throughout the project. I know people think they are farther along than they really are, it's not ok for those folks to think that. Anyway a post from Silius.

Heyas Convo,

I am sorry that we have not been giving state of the game updates here. I will talk
to Ben and have the first part of our weekly roundtables be a state of the game
report. I kind of gave one this Monday when I said that the week had been spent
doing a bunch of organizational stuff. I hope that you do not think we are trying
to keep anything from you all. The game is currently in a high concept phase.
The things we are focused on right now are speccing out various things related
to development tools and pipelines for each discipline, working out an initial
creature list, mapping out the plan of attack for development over the entire
cycle (milestones basically), as well as defining our visual style and writing design
docs for a few systems, and a host of other things. This is really the boring
part of development and most of it is not geared towards public updates, but
don't fret we are going to start getting player race concepts out and more
information about the game over the next month as we start to fill in the gaps
ourselves.

That said if you have a question please ping me I try to devote
time here everyday so as many questions can get answered as possible but I
cannot be everywhere at once and I know I am missing some things that are
dangling out there. Once again I apologize to you and anyone else who may feel
our interaction is lacking currently, it will pick up for sure but some of us
have had to go dark to get these internal things setup.

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Correct me if I'm wrong someone but, around the time they launched the KS, didn't they claim they had a finished design document?

Yea they've been working hard and pro bono since last september, of course the ?c??o??m??b??a??t?? ??d??o??c? design doc was the first they thing they created, since most of the work afterwards hinges on it.

etchazz_sl said:

convo, you should ask them to change the name of the game and the world. terminus is just a fucking awful name for a world, and pantheon: rise of the fallen is not much better for the name of the game.

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At this point, it should be called Pantheon: Rise of the Dead Horse.

This Guymade over 700k in one day (of a 100k goal) on KickStarter to produce 3d terrain for tabletop gamers...

proof that by planning a smart kickstarter campaign you can make the $

read em and weep braddy

they released a new pic today:

And a couple of comments, I'm assuming, from paying supporters:
SogotpSo if I understand this right the Ogres were against Orenthal? Was Orenthal considered evil? If so how are the Ogres considered an evil race? *confused*

Max63@Sogotp I would like to know that too.
https://www.pantheonrotf.com/blogs/3...-the-taurokian

Orenthal James Simpson

What is that.....? I would rather have EQ al a 1999 instead of whatever the heck that is...

As excited as I was for the concept of this game, everything since week one of the KS (which I think was just wishful thinking) has just been a huge letdown. I wish they actually had their shit together because the concepts actually sounded fun but nothing will actually be produced.

kudos_sl said:

Passion.

That's the difference between this guy and Pantheon. Brad looks drugged up and the other guys are just reading a script. This guy exudes passion for his project.

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Actually, this guy has a finished product to show vs hiring some artist to render what the product could look like! Those wanting this sort of product will get it with or without this guy. Its the product that's selling it!

Also, DF caves are nice but pricey honestly. Good investment if you plan to keep with gaming and hosting.

gogojira_sl said:

The comments on the web page are legitimately sad to look at it. It's a small circle trying so hard to convince themselves things aren't looking completely hopeless.

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Inside is worse. Over moderated pos

Nemesis_sl said:

This Guymade over 700k in one day (of a 100k goal) on KickStarter to produce 3d terrain for tabletop gamers...

proof that by planning a smart kickstarter campaign you can make the $

read em and weep braddy

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I have no interest in this kind of stuff, but wow that guy really is inspiring to watch. Really makes me feel like I should donate just for the hell of it.

Orcus_sl said:

Orenthal James Simpson

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ROFL! i'm glad i'm not the only one who was thinking that.

Sausages are rarely yellow.

gogojira_sl said:

I can't even imagine looking in that place. They've created the ultimate breeding ground for feedback they should never listen to because holy shit look at the comments they give. But instead (from my best guesses because I'm certainly not a subscriber) they are only focusing on that tiny group and have gone dark to the rest of the world (unless they don't talk there either). Aside from a couple of MMO exclusive outlets, the entire gaming industry has already forgotten that Pantheon was (is?) a thing.

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Well, I had an awesome State of the Game thread where people were just dropping really good, honest, critical feedback in. It was basically about transparency and getting everyone in the loop about where they are in the process. IThe devs jumped in and contributed too.. That's where Silius's post came from the other day. Overall it was a pretty civil thread.

That T.W. Anderson dude managed to get Mod powers b/c Tom went on a mini vacation and they still haven't found enough good mods. Well he shit posted in the thread twice, one of his post actually said if you didn't donate over 10k you have no right to question the team or ask for transparency. He eventually locked the thread b/c everyone disagreed with him. Needless to say I was pissed.. Emailed Brad and to Brad's credit he checked over the thread and another one I linked him and pulled the dudes mod powers. The team isn't looking to suppress feedback, if anything they've been pretty straight when you ask them. That was an isolated issue that had me pissed last night when I posted about the over moderation, prior to me talking to Brad. Anyway, Brad posted an update on the state of the game as well.

Hi all,

I know Salim has been doing his best to keep you all apprised as to what's going on, but I thought that I should chime in as well.

First, please understand that the majority of the team are working on the game itself, and it's paramount that they do so. Here is a list of what's being worked on. We will continue to post lists like this because you guys deserve to know what's going on. We aren't totally used to the degree of transparency you guys deserve to have, but we are adapting as quickly as possible:



Design
Prioritized Creature/Character List
Define existing factions and relationships
Content style guide
Content Plan
Terminus Calendar
Terminus Heroes Plan
Detailed Area Map
Acclimatization (Climates and Situational Gear)
Travel
NPC Systems
Faction Systems
General Project Management
Character Systems
Ability System



Art
Goblin
Minotaur Skeleton
Detailed World Map
Merchandising overview for site
Character/Creature Models
Environment implementation
Dungeon implementation
Game style guide
Initial sketch of playable races: Ogre
Assist in defining art pipeline
Unity Asset research
Goblin Modeled



Engineering
Region Server
Database/Persistence
Login Server



So that is what the developers are doing this month and it's coming along very nicely. I really like how it's all coming together.





That leaves me, Tom, and Ben.



We've been working with a business/finance/fund-raising expert named Chris on the Business Plan and Term Sheet. These documents are essential if we are to raise money from angel investors (and we have several who are very interested). We really need this additional funding to 1. bring on some more people and 2. open up an office so we can be working together and not over Skype, which will significantly up our productivity.



But here's where we've messed up, and I take full responsibility -- the buck stops here.



We allowed ourselves to become so focused on the Business Plan that we ended up neglecting the web site and all of you. And as important as the Business Plan is, we can still put some time into the site, and we will be going forward. We allowed ourselves to put blinders on, focusing on the Business Plan and un-focussing on everything else. I sincerely apologize for that. We are having a meeting tomorrow to go over in detail our PR plan for the next month. Once Ben was done with is part of the Business Plan, he put together the PR/Marketing plan for the next month. This was completed very recently and I think it's a great plan, but now we need to assign responsibility and priorities. Also, Tom took a much deserved mini-vacation with his familiy. He is now settled at their vacation spot and will be putting some time into the site and hopefully, with me, putting out some fires.



We really need a community manager and moderators for the site. We've tried a few people, but haven't found the right qualities in the right person yet. Moderation is a tough job -- one needs to be firm but at the same time very friendly and user-oriented. It's not an easy thing to do and it requires a lot of patience.



The reality is we are very short staffed right now in terms of supporting all of you. Ben is our Director of Communications -- he is not simply a community manager. He has a lot of responsibilites and there are only so many hours in a day. Tom is also stretched thin -- he's our COO and CIO and he's in charge of customer service and the site. So he's not just dealing with the community, but he's also doing all of the coding on the site itself, and continuing to build it up to be even more comprehensive than it already is. The good news is that I can help with a lot of that, especially since I'm pretty much finished with my part of the Business Plan. Again, though, I should have been spending some time here, in the Think Tank and elsewhere, but I allowed myself to get completely sucked into working on the Businesss Plan. I will endeavor to manage my time much better going forward.



Anyway, I needed to post this because of our commitment to you that we will be as transparent as possible and that you guys are an important part of the development process. We want you all to feel you are part of developing Pantheon -- it's not just us. So while I am giving you some excuses (short staffed, focused on the Business Plan, Tom on a mini-vacation, etc.) ultimately those excuses don't cut it. We need to do better with customer support and community relations.



Thank you for sticking by us during this time. We're learning as fast as we can and figuring out how better to divide our time up. Like I said, though, the good news is that the game is really coming along. The developers are focussed and Salim is doing a fantastic job project planning and managing the dev team. We just need to make sure we're handling communication and community building as well as we are handling game development.



Again, we appreciate your patience and understanding. I've also received some great emails with some great constructive criticism. We appreciate how up front and willing to help the community is. You guys are truly awesome and I am continually humbled by all of your efforts and how much you believe in Pantheon. It motivates us and validates that what we are working on is the game you all can't wait to play



-Brad "Aradune" McQuaid