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

why when i think about all this i think... money laundering . . .

shabushabu_sl said:

why when i think about all this i think... money laundering . . .

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Lol I don't know, but it looks nothing like that.

Convo_sl said:

Lol I don't know, but it looks nothing like that.

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There are 2 things that still puzzle me about this fiasco. 1. Why was there such a clear lack of effort during the KS ? I mean, was it hubris or was there no effort put in because it was all a smokescreen. and 2. What is the deal with the mystery figure. How much did they ACTUALLY take in and where did it go..

I am guessing 2 things we will never know.

My guess (and it's just that, a guess) is that Brad honestly believed him saying "I'm Brad, I made EQ" was good for 2-3 million dollars. They probably had a few meetings to talk about basic ideas, but had not done a whole lot. Then all of a sudden he realized it's not that easy - and they had to panic make stuff, and it never came together that quickly.

i am of the opinion that this wasnt a scam at all, even though those artists/programmers got fucked out of cash. i think was a poorly thought out plan for a game with an even poorer execution of that plan. basically when a bunch of stoners get together and start discussing how they could make a better something something than whats out there and then they sober up and realize they were talking out of their asses. brad never sobered up and it cost people time and money and likely ruined his career.

fuffalo_sl said:

My guess (and it's just that, a guess) is that Brad honestly believed him saying "I'm Brad, I made EQ" was good for 2-3 million dollars. They probably had a few meetings to talk about basic ideas, but had not done a whole lot. Then all of a sudden he realized it's not that easy - and they had to panic make stuff, and it never came together that quickly.

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So Hubris ... makes sense.

This project is so unexciting that even with all of this drama it hasn't made a blimp on r/games.

i want a hand written apology from tad, convo, and everyone else who wanted to tar and feather me for not donating to this shit fest from the beginning.

etchazz_sl said:

i want a hand written apology from tad, convo, and everyone else who wanted to tar and feather me for not donating to this shit fest from the beginning.

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I'm sorry buddy.

I still believe in the idea tho. Just not with Brad at the helm

Convo_sl said:

I'm sorry buddy.

I still believe in the idea tho. Just not with Brad at the helm

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i hear ya. i think for a lot of us seeing the abortion that is EQ next we were just really hoping and praying for a game like pantheon. unfortunately, the chances of that happening now are almost zero.

etchazz_sl said:

i hear ya. i think for a lot of us seeing the abortion that is EQ next we were just really hoping and praying for a game like pantheon. unfortunately, the chances of that happening now are almost zero.

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If people are willing to put the time into projects like p99 and that other one I forget the name of.

It could happen. But it'll be a passion project for an entire team, not a career opportunity.

If a game like Mount and Blade exists, and came to exist in the way that it did, a throwback hardcorecanexist. It's just that (and I don't mean it in an insulting fashion), the people that want to consume the game are basically incapable of producing the game. Look at all the EQemu drama that exists. And these are guys working off a template with the wink-wink promise of RMT to subsidize them.

Brad might be a cheat, an addict, a fraud, a confidence man, a liar, basically a mid 80's televangelist -- but I think he's probably got some kernel of genuine interest indesigninga game like EQ. Much like I think deep down, late at night, once a year during the full moon... Benny Hen probably genuinely loves Jesus.

We need someone like Notch (MineCraft).
He starts small with a functional engine (an engine he creates) which does the very basics of his vision and then he slowly adds more functionality and content to the game.

Convo_sl said:

I'm sorry buddy.


I still believe in the idea tho. Just not with Brad at the helm

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This is what I meant earlier about overestimating interest to the point if people giving money. There is a market for this, but nowhere near enough for just the idea of it. It's ironic you say you still support the idea just without Brad, where when this started people supported it only because of Brad.

Laura_sl said:

We need someone like Notch (MineCraft).
He starts small with a functional engine (an engine he creates) which does the very basics of his vision and then he slowly adds more functionality and content to the game.

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Unity + MMO-Backend/Server (selfmade or start with stuff from the Asset store) should be more than good enough for a indy project.

The biggest mistake with indy-MMOs is probably to try and build a fully fleshed out game with a bunch of content. Wasnt it Salim (in the last inteview) who wanted to do some kind of coop-game with Pantheon lore? I was thinking about a MMO-style town as a hub and fully instanced "dungeons" (underground & overland) for 1-4 players as content. That would have been a good start to get something working out the door and expand from there.

oh well, game is dead, next try please...

Tauro_sl said:

Unity +MMO-Backend/Server(selfmade or start with stuff from the Asset store) should be more than good enough for a indy project.

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I just wanted to highlight the difficulty of this part of making an MMO. It is perhaps (although better now) the most technically challenging task to undertake in all of video game development. Rivaled only by building a commercial front end engine in difficulty and complexity.

Denaut_sl said:

I just wanted to highlight the difficulty of this part of making an MMO. It is perhaps (although better now) the most technically challenging task to undertake in all of video game development. Rivaled only by building a commercial front end engine in difficulty and complexity.

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Not so much anymore. Unity has tons of middleware options for online gaming that cover everything from authoritative to non-authoritative servers, and scale from 50 concurrent users up to cloud-based solutions for hundreds of thousands.

Heck, the new Warhammer MMOFPS isusing the UnityPark suitefor their networking plugin. Is it going to be as awesome as a proprietary backend? Probably not, but the tech is proven. I've played with it before and as a networking novice I've gotten a small, authoritative server with two zones and simple AI up and running. It's totally doable for a small team.

Just did a little cursory research and the money total on the Pantheon site has been over $100k since Feb. 26th at the very latest. Brad's little "Aw shucks, I never saw it" routine is ridiculous.

I'm familiar with it actually. It's not that great IMO, especially not for a classic style MMORPG. It is more suited to smaller arena games with a limited number of concurrent users (like the ones in the link).

Quaid_sl said:

The figure went from $0 to $100,000+ before the site was even up. That funding meter was never at $0. It's possible that that number was either a total lie to convince new pledgers of the campaign's legitimacy ('seeding the tip jar') or possibly even included large donations from private investors/Brad's friends etc.

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People who are clinging on that 150k figure, forgot to apply the rule of 3 in this case.
Rule of what?
of 3! So when a startup tells you it allready collected 150k, then its not even close to the real figure. Take that number and divide it by 3. Then you get the real total.
So, if Brad's saying it's been 150 grand, it's more like 50, or none.