Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen : What the plan for 2015?
Hi all,
Something I've observed after making MMOs for well over a decade is the Pendulum. It's the tendency for an issue or aspect of the game to switch from one extreme to the other. People (including me, although I try to aware of it and avoid it) seem to react to a problem or issue to the extreme. If there is an issue that's problematic, the tendency seems to be to push the pendulum to the opposite extreme. This usually just creates a new problem. So what I've learned over the years is the middle ground is usually where you want to be. It's all about balance.
All that said, sometimes you nudge the Pendulum gently depending on what's going on and where you are at in a project. In the last 6 months, I feel we've had to prove that we are making a real game, that Pantheon is *not* vaporware. Because of that, we've been focused a little more on quantity than quality. A huge emphasis has been on actual MMO client/server gameplay. That's not to say that lore hasn't been written, or zones haven't been made - they certainly have. But let's be honest: graphically, visually, Pantheon is not where it needs to be. You know that, and so do we.
The plan for 2015 is about gently nudging the Pendulum the other way, more so towards quality and the visuals. We need to attract game news sites and get more coverage and get more people excited about the game. We also need to attract investors. Quite simply, we need raise the bar.
So what does this really mean specifically to you all who read our site and FB, etc.? Honestly, I don't think it's going to be a 'huge' impact, but it will be felt. The bottom line is updates will be less frequent, but when they do come, we hope they'll be a lot more impressive. We know a lot of you are quite happy with the visuals as they are, but that many are not. So those of you already enchanted with the game, please be patient as we raise the bar. And to the rest of you, we hope you'll become Pantheon fans as we focus on that quality.
Again, all that said, I do want to assure everyone that we've not pushed that Pendulum too far. We're not sitting around doing zones over and over again, attempting absolute perfection. Lots of work in all areas is being done. Just this week we are starting to code our quest system. If you haven't watched last month's video (I know it's long, but please watch the entire thing), check it out - you'll see real client/server MMO gameplay, and we've progressed quite a bit since then. Our programming goal right now, which we're calling Alpha 1, is to complete basic MMO functionality and features. Then we'll move to Alpha 2, and add all of the cool new ideas we want to build on top of that classic MMO foundation. So we're continuing to code like crazy. In fact, the trick with nudging that pendulum is, of course, to make sure we are STILL making measurable forward progress. We want to see Alpha 2 by the end of 2015 and we want 2016 to be all about Beta.
Feel free to reply with any questions or concerns. And as an example of how we are raising the bar, here are three shots of Halnir, redone with our new outdoor tech, and one new shot of the dungeon Amberfaet. Also, check out the recent post and concept art of the Archai and listen to the fantastic interview by Joppa on the Sam Skatch Show.
Thanks!
-Brad McQuaid
