Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Pre-Alpha/Alpha

    • 308 posts
    January 5, 2016 12:54 PM PST

    Just wondering if there is a new goal or timetable for Pre-Alpha and Alpha now that the goal stated in the FAQ has passed.  May want to update that as well.  I understand that goals and deadlines change, have no issue with that, was just curious.  

    • 999 posts
    January 5, 2016 1:23 PM PST

    Don't disagree that the FAQ could use an update; however, they've addressed that the pre-alpha timeline has changed to early 2016 in several threads and over on MMORPG:

     
     
    Few others as well, but that should give a rough idea.  Obviously, I'd like it to be more concrete than "early 2016" as well, so, maybe they have a more tangible roll out plan now that it's past the New Year.
    • 308 posts
    January 5, 2016 1:27 PM PST

    I saw the first one, but that was before the goal deadline had passed and Kilsin mentioned reading the FAQ before asking questions that have been answered.  However i didn't see the second one (wouldn't have read it anyway due to the thread title), thanks for that.  Still should have updated the FAQ, even if it was simply first quarter 2016, shouldn't have to sift through threads for information like that.


    This post was edited by Reht at January 5, 2016 1:30 PM PST
    • 72 posts
    January 5, 2016 1:38 PM PST

    Perhaps I'm being naive but I'm holding out hope that a majority of these things aren't being updated until the rollout of the new forums.

    With that said, I do prefer to be told of changes rather than being left in the dark :D

     

    - Furor

    • 999 posts
    January 5, 2016 1:50 PM PST

    Agreed - the FAQ should be a document that's continually updated with the latest changes especially on the topics that would be known to raise questions.  If anything, it would only make Kilsin's job easier to moderate the forums.  Anyhow.. no problem, and here's hoping we find out a tangible timeline or to Furor's point, perhaps a timeline will be introduced with the new forums.

     

     

    • 2419 posts
    January 5, 2016 2:05 PM PST

    new forums?  again?  That's what, the 3rd version of the forums now? Lets hope all the threads migrate this time because we lost a lot of good stuff from the original forums.

    • 1714 posts
    January 5, 2016 2:21 PM PST

    Vandraad said:

    new forums?  again?  That's what, the 3rd version of the forums now? Lets hope all the threads migrate this time because we lost a lot of good stuff from the original forums.

     

     

    1. You can't tell if you're logged in or not. Why is the login interface hidden? I've never seen a board like that before. You shouldn't have to click "more" just to log in or log out. 

    2. When you do log in, you're redirected out of where you logged in from. 

    3. You cannot tell who started a thread from the forum view. Never seen anything like that before either. The whole board has an "alpha" feel to it and definitely needs a new iteration. 

    • 999 posts
    January 5, 2016 2:25 PM PST

    @Vandraad

    There's been several threads that mentioned it.  They're moving to the vBulletin style forums.  Like Reht said though with the alpha/pre-alpha timeline, it would be another good topic to have stickied somewhere for easy reference.  Here's a link:

    http://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2409/forum-icons-and-marking-forums-read/view/post_id/32660

    You could do a forum search with Everything selected from the drop down for a few threads discussing the vBulletin forums (seems to be as early as November).  Problem with that search function though is you have to spell it "exactly" like vBulletin.

    • 308 posts
    January 5, 2016 2:38 PM PST

    Would have preferred ipboard over vbulletin.  

    • 2419 posts
    January 5, 2016 3:05 PM PST

    @ Raidan,

    Thanks for the links to the threads.  I will keep a closer eye on that forum from now on.

    • 9115 posts
    January 5, 2016 3:31 PM PST

    Reht said:

    I saw the first one, but that was before the goal deadline had passed and Kilsin mentioned reading the FAQ before asking questions that have been answered.  However i didn't see the second one (wouldn't have read it anyway due to the thread title), thanks for that.  Still should have updated the FAQ, even if it was simply first quarter 2016, shouldn't have to sift through threads for information like that.

    We haven't updated the FAQ because we don't have a set date for testing, once we do, we will ;)

    • 9115 posts
    January 5, 2016 3:33 PM PST

    Vandraad said:

    new forums?  again?  That's what, the 3rd version of the forums now? Lets hope all the threads migrate this time because we lost a lot of good stuff from the original forums.

    Believe it or not, these are still the same old forums we have had from the start, just stripped back to a default layout/skin which fixed a few issues and broke some custom modules, so the move to the "new" vBulletin forums will be the first time we have ever moved away from these original forums.

    We will not be migrating threads, we will be starting completely fresh and archiving these ones for our internal reference only.

    • 82 posts
    January 5, 2016 3:48 PM PST

    I wanna know how long after pre-alpha will alpha come out? I want to play already :D

    • 308 posts
    January 5, 2016 3:54 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    We haven't updated the FAQ because we don't have a set date for testing, once we do, we will ;)

    You already posted early 2016 as the rough target for Pre-Alpha on the thread that Raidan linked, it's out there.  It seems to me that it would serve you better in the long run to update the FAQ once every few months if it changes, or even remove the goal timeframe instead of showing a failed goal.  

    • 2419 posts
    January 5, 2016 5:06 PM PST

    Ultra said:

    I wanna know how long after pre-alpha will alpha come out? I want to play already :D

    TEST...you want to TEST.  If you only want to play, wait for release.  :)

    • 753 posts
    January 5, 2016 5:25 PM PST

    While I am personally antsy to see the game hit a state where we can get in and start contributing - I can wait.  Keep up the good work devs!

    • 1281 posts
    January 5, 2016 6:24 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Believe it or not, these are still the same old forums we have had from the start, just stripped back to a default layout/skin which fixed a few issues and broke some custom modules, so the move to the "new" vBulletin forums will be the first time we have ever moved away from these original forums.

    We will not be migrating threads, we will be starting completely fresh and archiving these ones for our internal reference only.

    It's been a few months since the new forums were announced. Obviously their not ready, we'd be using them, are you folks at least testing them and getting it ready for us, or has the project not started yet?


    This post was edited by bigdogchris at January 5, 2016 6:25 PM PST
    • 671 posts
    January 5, 2016 8:20 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Vandraad said:

    new forums?  again?  That's what, the 3rd version of the forums now? Lets hope all the threads migrate this time because we lost a lot of good stuff from the original forums.

    Believe it or not, these are still the same old forums we have had from the start, just stripped back to a default layout/skin which fixed a few issues and broke some custom modules, so the move to the "new" vBulletin forums will be the first time we have ever moved away from these original forums.

    We will not be migrating threads, we will be starting completely fresh and archiving these ones for our internal reference only.

     

    Hence, the lack of longer standing members posting, or getting involved...  because so many good conversation have already been lost. These message boards..  are what is stalling the community.

    I have a good hunch, that since VRi moved Pantheon over to the new engine..  they have head their collective heads down building this game, grinning all the while. I think with the new tools they have built, means they are chugging along with much ease, thus allowing them to slow down and build a deeper understanding of their new game mechanics... and they are in-house pinging themselves with underlyering fundmentals, before solidfying roles and future rolls and depth of game mechanics. They are probably done storyboarding & flushing out the future races (to be announced years later, etc) and most likely have a SOLID foundation and are now testing the limits of their game mechanics..... before they announce Alpha.

    IMO.. I think we are less than 6 weeks way from VRi's announcement of Alpha Phase 1.0..  & along with that, new Official Forums w/ deeper lore and character roles, etc. I just wish the new board went online sooner, but I have a feeling it is all going to relate back to a possible announcement, of a newly funded company. Or at least one standing on a complete milestone driven platform.

    And that is the key...  there is no sense in starting alpha, if you don't know where you are going.

     

    Visionary Realms is going places.

     

     

    • 9115 posts
    January 5, 2016 8:47 PM PST

    Ultra said:

    I wanna know how long after pre-alpha will alpha come out? I want to play already :D

    It will all depend on how well pre-alpha testing goes and what problems we may run into during that testing phase.

    • 9115 posts
    January 5, 2016 8:51 PM PST

    Reht said:

    Kilsin said:

    We haven't updated the FAQ because we don't have a set date for testing, once we do, we will ;)

    You already posted early 2016 as the rough target for Pre-Alpha on the thread that Raidan linked, it's out there.  It seems to me that it would serve you better in the long run to update the FAQ once every few months if it changes, or even remove the goal timeframe instead of showing a failed goal.  



    We are in early 2016 mate, if anything changes we will update it, currently, there is no set date and we are within that timeline and have nothing to update. I am not sure what the problem is?

    Early 2016 basically accounts for the first 3-4 months of the year, if we think we will have to push it back, we will post it and update our FAQ if that decision is made but we are not even close to knowing that yet.

    • 9115 posts
    January 5, 2016 8:55 PM PST

    bigdogchris said:

    Kilsin said:

    Believe it or not, these are still the same old forums we have had from the start, just stripped back to a default layout/skin which fixed a few issues and broke some custom modules, so the move to the "new" vBulletin forums will be the first time we have ever moved away from these original forums.

    We will not be migrating threads, we will be starting completely fresh and archiving these ones for our internal reference only.

    It's been a few months since the new forums were announced. Obviously their not ready, we'd be using them, are you folks at least testing them and getting it ready for us, or has the project not started yet?

    We have them up and are testing, I have created the sub forums and Adam has done a lot of the backend coding, we are still waiting on artwork and need to finish writing a couple of scripts/modules to link accounts with pledges/subs etc. when those are finished, we will open them up, we have no set date but are working hard as we would like to get it ready for pre-alpha but as with anything in development, there are no promises, we can only try our best and work with what we have available.

    • 999 posts
    January 5, 2016 9:05 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Reht said:

    Kilsin said:

    We haven't updated the FAQ because we don't have a set date for testing, once we do, we will ;)

    You already posted early 2016 as the rough target for Pre-Alpha on the thread that Raidan linked, it's out there.  It seems to me that it would serve you better in the long run to update the FAQ once every few months if it changes, or even remove the goal timeframe instead of showing a failed goal.  



    We are in early 2016 mate, if anything changes we will update it, currently, there is no set date and we are within that timeline and have nothing to update. I am not sure what the problem is?

    Early 2016 basically accounts for the first 3-4 months of the year, if we think we will have to push it back, we will post it and update our FAQ if that decision is made but we are not even close to knowing that yet.

    I believe Reht was referring to this nugget in the FAQ section:

    ________________________________________________

    What are the approximate timeframes for Alpha, Beta, and commercial release?

    There are many variables involved and developing a massively multiplayer game is not an easy thing to do. Our goal is to be in alpha by the end of 2015, in beta during 2016, and to release the game in 2017. But this is not set in stone, and the above dates are subject to change.

    __________________________________________________________

    I had linked a thread where you had posted early 2016.  It's obviously easy to overlook though as there were a lot of questions in that FAQ


    This post was edited by Raidan at January 5, 2016 9:10 PM PST
    • 9115 posts
    January 5, 2016 9:10 PM PST

    Hieromonk said:

    Kilsin said:

    Vandraad said:

    new forums?  again?  That's what, the 3rd version of the forums now? Lets hope all the threads migrate this time because we lost a lot of good stuff from the original forums.

    Believe it or not, these are still the same old forums we have had from the start, just stripped back to a default layout/skin which fixed a few issues and broke some custom modules, so the move to the "new" vBulletin forums will be the first time we have ever moved away from these original forums.

    We will not be migrating threads, we will be starting completely fresh and archiving these ones for our internal reference only.

     

    Hence, the lack of longer standing members posting, or getting involved...  because so many good conversation have already been lost. These message boards..  are what is stalling the community.

    I have a good hunch, that since VRi moved Pantheon over to the new engine..  they have head their collective heads down building this game, grinning all the while. I think with the new tools they have built, means they are chugging along with much ease, thus allowing them to slow down and build a deeper understanding of their new game mechanics... and they are in-house pinging themselves with underlyering fundmentals, before solidfying roles and future rolls and depth of game mechanics. They are probably done storyboarding & flushing out the future races (to be announced years later, etc) and most likely have a SOLID foundation and are now testing the limits of their game mechanics..... before they announce Alpha.

    IMO.. I think we are less than 6 weeks way from VRi's announcement of Alpha Phase 1.0..  & along with that, new Official Forums w/ deeper lore and character roles, etc. I just wish the new board went online sooner, but I have a feeling it is all going to relate back to a possible announcement, of a newly funded company. Or at least one standing on a complete milestone driven platform.

    And that is the key...  there is no sense in starting alpha, if you don't know where you are going.

     

    Visionary Realms is going places.

     

     

    They haven't been lost by any means, they have been used in helping develop the game and we are either past that point of development now (a year past a lot of it) or have them archived for later reference, no further community input is required for the majority of them and remember that only posts prior to Jan 1, 2015 were archive, there is still a whole year worth of posts on these forums currently that are still being monitored and are worth contributing too, if you are not choosing to post, then you are missing out on having your voice heard.

    We have never changed engines either, we use Unity and have since Pantheon's creation, we have updated from Unity 4 to 5.# but we are still using the same engine. We will release more information soon and we have another newsletter coming up with some great info in it that I am sure you will all enjoy.

    We have Pre-Alpha coming up in the next few months, then Alpha after that and we will also utilise a long Beta testing phase to catch as many bugs and balance/stress test as much as possible but no dates have been set for any of those testing phases and I would not hold your breath for an announcement in 6 weeks, when it is ready, we will announce it to you all, I promise :)

    • 2419 posts
    January 5, 2016 9:23 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    They haven't been lost by any means, they have been used in helping develop the game and we are either past that point of development now (a year past a lot of it) or have them archived for later reference, no further community input is required for the majority of them and remember that only posts prior to Jan 1, 2015 were archive, there is still a whole year worth of posts on these forums currently that are still being monitored and are worth contributing too, if you are not choosing to post, then you are missing out on having your voice heard

    I hope all mine were useful. :)

    • 9115 posts
    January 6, 2016 12:57 AM PST

    Raidan said:

    Kilsin said:

    Reht said:

    Kilsin said:

    We haven't updated the FAQ because we don't have a set date for testing, once we do, we will ;)

    You already posted early 2016 as the rough target for Pre-Alpha on the thread that Raidan linked, it's out there.  It seems to me that it would serve you better in the long run to update the FAQ once every few months if it changes, or even remove the goal timeframe instead of showing a failed goal.  



    We are in early 2016 mate, if anything changes we will update it, currently, there is no set date and we are within that timeline and have nothing to update. I am not sure what the problem is?

    Early 2016 basically accounts for the first 3-4 months of the year, if we think we will have to push it back, we will post it and update our FAQ if that decision is made but we are not even close to knowing that yet.

    I believe Reht was referring to this nugget in the FAQ section:

    ________________________________________________

    What are the approximate timeframes for Alpha, Beta, and commercial release?

    There are many variables involved and developing a massively multiplayer game is not an easy thing to do. Our goal is to be in alpha by the end of 2015, in beta during 2016, and to release the game in 2017. But this is not set in stone, and the above dates are subject to change.

    __________________________________________________________

    I had linked a thread where you had posted early 2016.  It's obviously easy to overlook though as there were a lot of questions in that FAQ

    Thanks man, I wasn't aware that it was stating 2015 and I misunderstood what Reht was saying, my apologies Reht. I will get this correct as soon as possible.