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

We are taking everything we've learned, planning better than ever, and believe me, there's probably nothing we want to avoid more than releasing an un-finished game. Pantheon is also being funded very differently than Vanguard was, although I am not at liberty to go into details.

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Luxer_sl said:

I think they purposefully left it that dark. I remember in one of the podcasts Joppa was saying they wanted to see how dark they could make night and still be playable.

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Convo_sl said:

Co-head, Joppa and Brad are equals.

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Luxer_sl said:

I think they purposefully left it that dark. I remember in one of the podcasts Joppa was saying they wanted to see how dark they could make night and still be playable.

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Tenks_sl said:

You install Pantheon. Your heart is racing like Brad after a line of coke. You load the world. Anticipation grows. You are presented with a black screen. The night is an opaque screen in front of you. You walk forward. More black. You walk to the left. More black. You walk to the right. More black. This is Pantheon. This is immersion. This is rocking.

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Utnayan_sl said:

Considering the planning they did with Vanguard and the planning they did with the original Kickstarter, I am guessing the planning quality is somewhere between null and void.

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(1) Brad and I are trying to do something ambitious and extremely challenging with Pantheon. We have an opportunity to create and design an MMORPG that answers a nearly decade-long absence: embracing the "stickiest" gameplay elements of the 1st generation that have been lost in modern game design. But this is not a paint-by-numbers endeavor; you can't just drag and drop an EverQuest design shell in the modern era and expect to hit a home run. If we're honest, even the most die hard EverQuest/Vanguard fans are looking for something more - not different, but more - and I like to call that an evolution.

What I'm talking about is having a meaningful premise. Why else make an MMORPG when there are so many right now and dozens more to come over the next few years? It's because we recognize an opportunity to be a forerunner, to create something fresh and do it best, to carve out a meaningful place in this modern era of MMOs. That something is creating a Hardcore MMORPG, not a "me too" game, but re-imagining and evolving the paradigms that birthed the genre - and in doing so, we want to revolutionize the way challenge, immersion and community are experienced in MMORPGs.

So how do you do that? I think it starts with perspective. I usually describe myself as someone who has been "jaded into relevance". I've been a gamer since I was 4 years old, and I have been obsessed with MMORPGs since I was 14, starting with UO and EverQuest. I have played nearly every commercial & indie MMO released since ~1997, but in 2013 I stopped cold for two reasons:

- I was tired of consuming and I wanted to start creating.

- I realized that everything I had been playing for the last 10 years felt like the same fundamental experience, over and over again, and I fell out of love with the genre.

So now I'm jaded, but that is exactly what drives me: I want to design MMORPGs that make me fall in love with them again, and hopefully many other people as well. This is a glimpse into my vision, and I've partnered it with Brad's, which brings us to...

(2) How do you revitalize 1st generation game design while keeping pace with the modern paradigms of online gaming? Or, how do you avoid creating a clone, but not fixing what isn't broken? Or perhaps most simply, how do you create an MMORPG that people want to play?

I think you have to start with a crystal clear, vetted and fortified vision, which is what Buccaneer captured in his post.

We are going back to the foundations of the genre, identifying the right paradigms, evolving-refining-solidifying them, and using them to carve a new path.

Not only is this premise ambitious, challenging and risky - but it takes a unique visionary recipe to see the right ways forward, especially in the small details of design and implementation. So Brad and I leverage our differences and use them to our advantage. Brad brings the old guard: he is a seasoned veteran of the industry who pioneered the paradigms we are seeking to recapture. I bring the new guard: young and hungry, frustrated with the sameness of MMORPGs and intent on finding the revolutionary recipe for Pantheon. We leverage this tension. Every premise point or design direction for Pantheon is hammered out on this visionary forge, and sparks often fly between us, but it's necessary to carve out the right direction and create a great game.

The next step will be to start unveiling some of these evolved systems - can't wait.

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Utnayan_sl said:

This was the most over-bloated high level PR bullshit post I have ever read in my lifetime. So many words stated, and not one single tactical point made.

Looks like a perfect match to start "Planning".

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Tenks_sl said:

With all the churn of people on and off the projects how couldn't there be information leaks? Outside of there being no information to leak.

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Convo_sl said:

A Quote from Brad McQuaid - Page 2 - MMORPG.com

We are taking everything we've learned, planning better than ever, and believe me, there's probably nothing we want to avoid more than releasing an un-finished game. Pantheon is also being funded very differently than Vanguard was, although I am not at liberty to go into details.

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Convo_sl said:

They are big on unicorns in pantheon. Rumor I heard is they are all over the game..

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