I would imagine to really design a game through individual philanthropy, is more a fantasy than a reality. To have any sort of leverage in the game design you would have to wield a lot of almighty dollars, something I think can oftentime ruin games anyways. I think the team should be allowed to design the game but with a listening ear from the populace. Anything else seems to be a donation towards faith in leadership whether $100 or $10,000 it shouldn't make much difference. Just my 2 cents..
Valith said:I would imagine to really design a game through individual philanthropy, is more a fantasy than a reality. To have any sort of leverage in the game design you would have to wield a lot of almighty dollars, something I think can oftentime ruin games anyways. I think the team should be allowed to design the game but with a listening ear from the populace. Anything else seems to be a donation towards faith in leadership whether $100 or $10,000 it shouldn't make much difference. Just my 2 cents..
I like the way you said that Val :)
Kilsin said:
The posts have served their purpose, though, is what I meant, we have used a lot of them in developing the game and they are now either no longer any use to us or stored internally for future reference, there can be no more outside input for the majority of them, to open them back up or allow more conversation on those topics would be beating a dead horse and no use to us or the community.
I am continually (multiple times a day/night) reading everything in these forums, facebook, twitter, gaming forums, game media and collecting data and information for the team, so again, if you are holding back and not posting, you are missing out on being heard. These are proper forums, we just cannot link account/pledge/sub information on them anymore, it doesn't mean that they are not functional forums though even with a few bugs, so if you have something you wish to add, please do so and don't wait for the new ones, even when these ones are archived, we will have access to all of these posts whenever we may need to view them, so your posts and information are still being reviewed and collected.
Not to nit pick either but you said "I have a good hunch, that since VRi moved Pantheon over to the new engine..", we did not move to a new engine, we upgraded the same Unity engine to a newer version, there is a big difference and I needed to correct you on that, which is fine, we all make mistakes, I am certainly not perfect. It is not as simple as I made it out to be because I was keeping my post short and on point, everyone is free to read the Unity patch notes to catch up on what has changed and there are some great articles on Unity features, mechanics and upgrade benefits if they are interested but that is not something I was going to go into detail about for my post.
It's great to see a lot of original supporters around mate, I would never forget, I was a part of it all from the start which makes me appreciate how far we have come and how much hard work we have put in as a team to turn things around.
This was not a personal dig at you either man, I just had to jump in and correct a couple of things so others don't read it and get the wrong impression or expect things in 6 weeks...if you hadn't of said 6 weeks and new engine, I wouldn't have replied at all and would have remained watching from the shadows but certain things like that require a response from me ;)
You're welcome and we will do our best to move to the new forums as soon as we can, I am looking forward to the move more than anyone, I can assure you of that since I have to work with these forums more than anyone and they do my head in many times a day/night, I can't wait to see the back of them, the new vBulletin forums are much nicer and easier on the eyes plus the admin side of things is a lot more user friendly for what I do! lol
It is great that you and the Development team reads the past posts... but at some point you have to realize that has zero to do with any of my posts, or the actual sentiment I was stating. The point was... and is that this anemic message board is not conducive environment and we are all impatiantly waiting for a new forum... That was my point... and that we are all exctited that in the coming months, there will be new boards. (My very firsts posts here over a year ago, was about the condition of the website and forums) The second point was that new people can't see the wealth of info that has passed through this forum and THAT is a shame. Nobody cares what VRi does with the info... that is obvious and non-point.
Perhaps it is the language barrier, or social differences... but it is more than obvious to all that when I said "engine".. I was refering to the updated engine earlier this year... and that SINCE THEN... VRI has had their heads down and working on their news design tools, etc. Things have contex... and the point was not about the game engine, it was about what they have done since they upgraded it...
ie: 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.
Many people were not around before then, so I was piecing the past with insight on the future and giving some encouragement to new community members. While adding how the silence from VRi lately... is actually *smirks* by the dev team, because they know what they are holding.
And Oh.. Boy, are things going to pick up when we get proper Message Boards. Specially those waiting to settle down on the Developer's forum and want to get to work, working with the Dev team on building this game. I am personally holding out on months of written work & design because there is no point in discussing any of it, because there is not as proper Forum in which to discuss such work. That is where the stagnation, stasis ands limbo come into play. People want to do MORE here... but can't.
Kilsin, no amount of saying "sorry" matters to any of us and no need to pander to the community. VRI has to grin and bare the criticism, because we have to grin and bare these forums. The future is bright..
Actually, i wouldn't open the new message boards until the pre-alpha or alpha starts or i would make sure that there are specific private sections for pre-alpha only, which would later be opened for alpha testers then the beta testers, that way the important testing information and feedback doesn't get hidden by all of the random posts about what game mechanics should the ideal MMO have - those kind of posts are fine right now, since we have nothing else to discuss.
I agree that the discussions here are fine for now, but I think they should open up the testing sections before testing starts to test they are actually private and secure. Better to get that out of the way than to handle leaks afterward. That way they are not battling forum and game bugs at the same time. Make sure that every account who purchased pre-alpha testing is actually flagged for testing. Make sure the forums are operating smoothly so that developers and testers can communicate on day one of testing.
Nydan said:Gadgets said:Paying any sort of money to be considered as a participant of a closed pre-alpha, alpha, or beta is kind of silly. That is, if your participants real intent is to test it and not 'play' it. I remember through college when alpha and beta testing was a paid job!
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I make to much money to try and get a job that people used to make a minimal amount of money doing on games they may or may not care about. I guess I just want this to be a "silly" hobby. Is that ok?
Raidan said:Plus, being able to potentially shape, give feedback, and assist with ideas and positive changes prior to the game being released or even being in the testing phase holds more value than just being a "tester." I don't think the "Apprentice Developer" has ever been fully realized, but our feedback has been heard. A few quick examples: Only three starting cities changing and the cash shop removal. Both of which may have changed without my or others involvement anyhow, but, if they didn't, they would have definitely been a detriment to my gameplay.
Bingo. Much more elegantly said than I was able to do.
Yes. Maybe using the word 'silly' was derogatory, and not the right approach. So I apologize for that. And to be clear, I was not advocating for hiring beta testers, I know that's not realistic. I (of course) would like to be involved and be able to contribute to the shaping of the game and would contribute my time to do so. However, while I see the philisophical difference that people feel between pledging, and paying for 'early access', I don't see the literal difference. I was only commenting to the idea that I thought that might be where some people seem to be getting lost in the purpose of a real Alpha/Beta test... by viewing their pledges as an opportunity to 'play' the game early.
Zarriya said:I agree that the discussions here are fine for now, but I think they should open up the testing sections before testing starts to test they are actually private and secure. Better to get that out of the way than to handle leaks afterward. That way they are not battling forum and game bugs at the same time. Make sure that every account who purchased pre-alpha testing is actually flagged for testing. Make sure the forums are operating smoothly so that developers and testers can communicate on day one of testing.
I would have to agree with this. I would imagine that we could take the private sections pre-testing and use them to organize certain desired testing trend as a dry run. I have never been involved this early in the testing process but I would imagine stability/performance across platforms could be something worth looking into, so everyone could use the forum pre-testing to post their computer specs so the devs have access and we can test the private testing forums. This is just a example of course but the more the community can dry run things before hand I would imagine the better.
Reht said:Actually, i wouldn't open the new message boards until the pre-alpha or alpha starts or i would make sure that there are specific private sections for pre-alpha only, which would later be opened for alpha testers then the beta testers, that way the important testing information and feedback doesn't get hidden by all of the random posts about what game mechanics should the ideal MMO have - those kind of posts are fine right now, since we have nothing else to discuss.
Thats prolly the goal.
The main reason I pledged to this game (and yeah I accept I'm a late comer to the community) was the ability to partake in alpha and beta and I'm really looking forward to it. Being able to discuss how the game works with the developers and hopefully helping to fix issues with the game at an early stage is really appealing to me. So yeah although I'd obviously like alpha to be released sooner rather than later I'm more than happy to wait until it is ready. I'll just keep reading stuff on the forums and posting here and there :).
Cromulent said:The main reason I pledged to this game (and yeah I accept I'm a late comer to the community) was the ability to partake in alpha and beta and I'm really looking forward to it. Being able to discuss how the game works with the developers and hopefully helping to fix issues with the game at an early stage is really appealing to me. So yeah although I'd obviously like alpha to be released sooner rather than later I'm more than happy to wait until it is ready. I'll just keep reading stuff on the forums and posting here and there :).
Same here for the most part. Pantheon is about the closest thing for the niche we all crave. I don't normally throw money toward a game this early in development but, I would really like to see it succeed. I'm hoping I can provide assistance toward that goal.
Last I had heard Pre-Alpha was slated for "Early 2016" so that means March and April are still "early".
Cromulent said:Dreconic said:Last I had heard Pre-Alpha was slated for "Early 2016" so that means March and April are still "early".
My birthday is in May. If pre-alpha hits then (or even before) it would be a pretty awesome birthday present :).
I would be disappointed in VR if we had to wait until May for Pre-Alpha. Mainly because it means they are moving slower then they have told us and would like to go.
Dreconic said:Cromulent said:Dreconic said:Last I had heard Pre-Alpha was slated for "Early 2016" so that means March and April are still "early".
My birthday is in May. If pre-alpha hits then (or even before) it would be a pretty awesome birthday present :).
I would be disappointed in VR if we had to wait until May for Pre-Alpha. Mainly because it means they are moving slower then they have told us and would like to go.
That's the expectation for every game developer ever though, especially one comprised of a small team. If you aren't adding at least 6 months onto the end of every planned date given this early, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment. The only date that should hold any water is the final release date if it's within 2 months of them announcing it.
Dreconic said:Cromulent said:Dreconic said:Last I had heard Pre-Alpha was slated for "Early 2016" so that means March and April are still "early".
My birthday is in May. If pre-alpha hits then (or even before) it would be a pretty awesome birthday present :).
I would be disappointed in VR if we had to wait until May for Pre-Alpha. Mainly because it means they are moving slower then they have told us and would like to go.
Yeah. This is a total guess on my part but I was thinking that the new forums would come out in early March and the pre-alpha would come out late March / early April. But well I have no idea so that is all a big guess :).
I have to say, I am looking forward to being able to test this game to the fullest. Poking around everywhere. I have high expectations for this game, and am willing to put many days into aiding it to be the best that it possibly can for release. I can see already, going to have to break out the old pen and paper to take notes and jot down everything found. Just take your time with the game, get your trusted testers, and and roll with it old school. I appreciate the effort this team is putting forth.
Think it comes down to patience, as much as all of us want to get into testing and hands on the game. I would much rather have a complete and fuller game ready then something thrown together just to please the masses. I remember Vanguard and and the horror that the game was especially when released and the issues... I don't want to see that with this game and am fine waiting as long as they require to complete it and release alpha when they feel its ready.
