From Gamer to Creator

Tony “Minus” Guidi, Ben “Kilsin” Walters

They say when you love what you do, you truly never work a day in your life. As gamers, most of us have dreamt of creating our own adventures or journies in the form of a digital world. While few of us get the opportunity to realize these dreams. Our spotlight this month features long time supporter, and active community member Bronsun. What many may not know, however, is that Bronsun is one of the lucky few that not only loved gaming, but also got to take that love into the development world.

Below you will not only learn about Bronsun as a community member, but we also picked his brain for a few tidbits from a designer point of view. We were also excited to share some of his personal art projects, including some incredible 3D modeling, inspired by Pantheon.

Hi Bronsun, why don’t you go ahead and tell us a bit about yourself?

Hello everyone, let’s see. By day, I’m a mild-mannered professional 3d artist/generalist working in video game development. Something I’ve been gratefully busy doing for 30 years now. In my spare time, I enjoy working out, creating my own art, hiking, travelling to different countries, messing around with 3d printers and of course playing video games.

When did you get into gaming?

I found video games at a pretty young age. As a kid, a friend down the street had an Atari 2600 and I was fascinated by it. I often found myself over at his house playing whatever games he had. We usually played a lot of Atari Adventure. Later on, I discovered Dragon’s Eye on the Apple II. When I got my drivers license I could be found at the Disney hotel near where I lived. They had an underwater arcade, and it was glorious.

How did you find out about Pantheon?

I was searching online for any new MMO’s, and I came across a video by a popular MMORPG streamer. He was talking about a game called “Pantheon” and what he thought it could be. It sparked my interest, so I began looking for whatever I could find.

How long have you been following Pantheon?

Since early 2018. So I’m coming up on 4 years.

How has your experience working behind the scenes in the gaming industry influenced how you’ve followed the development of Pantheon?

It’s probably made me more tolerant and forgiving of the pace of development or perceived delays. Mainly because I understand what the team at VR are going through in a general sense.

As a developer, what advice would you give to people following Pantheon’s development that perhaps haven’t ever seen behind the curtain before in game development?

That’s a big question. Here goes nothing. Making games is a very fun, yet tedious process, and it’s difficult to describe all the things that can go wrong throughout the life of a project because they’re always different. Sometimes it’s something simple, like my Cintiq tablet is lagging out, or the Perforce server is down so I can’t check in some new art changes. Sometimes scheduling isn’t accurate and things take longer than planned, or a major design gets changed, and you have to go back to the drawing board and start over. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small mobile game that takes five months, or an isometric action combat game that takes three years or an MMO. Every project comes with new challenges and hurdles to overcome. My one piece of advice for people anxious for Pantheon is boring and simple; Be patient and know that the team wants the game done as much, if not more than you do. Also know that they’re probably dealing with plenty of unforeseen problems every day.

What class and race combo are you most looking forward to trying out?

I’ll be mainly playing a Rogue, but I’m really interested in trying out the Druid and Paladin. I played a Druid in Everquest so they appear very interesting to me.

What kind of MMORPG player are you, PvE, PvP, RP or something else entirely?

I typically play PvE as I enjoy exploring and seeing the world as much as I can. I will definitely dabble in PvP if the classes are well balanced and it feels fun.

What about Pantheon keeps you excited for its release?

Honestly, just about everything. Seeing a new place to traverse and experience is always fun when it comes to games. It seems that VR is striving to tackle a lot of game elements in Pantheon that I have yet to see any other MMO attempt.

You’ve made some amazing fan art of things you’ve seen in Pantheon, what motivated you to attempt to model some of the 2D sketches into 3D?

Thank you for the kind remarks. First, as an artist I was inspired by Jared’s concepts. Second, I’m a fan like everyone here, and Third, I’d love to be a part of the team someday, or at the very least help out on the art side of things if I can.

Do you have a favorite mechanic or feature that you’d like to share?

I have to say climbing is my favourite feature so far. It’s intriguing to me that a variety of secrets are hiding throughout the world, and that I’m only denied access to them through levelling up my climbing skill. My favourite mechanic is the combat awareness system. The concept that mobs will behave and react more like players, rather than just going through the motions is exciting.

Has any part of development in the recent months caught your interest?

As an artist, I am very interested in seeing how the terrain and environment are shaping up (no pun intended) now that VR is using Gaia. I’m very excited to see the progress of various new regions in the game. In particular, Black Rose Keep and the Murk.

Thanks Bronsun, and finally, is there anything you would like to say to the community?

I’m happy to be a part of the Pantheon community. It’s a healthy mix of loyal sceptics who aren’t just a bunch of blind fanatics. They aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions about almost everything, and demand answers because they want to see VR and this game succeed. Onward and Upward.

Thank you Bronsun for sharing a bit about yourself, and your art, with this amazing community. Your active support and feedback has always been much appreciated, and we can’t wait to get into a finished world of Terminus with supporters like you.

We are thankful for the amazing stories our community has shared thus far with us. Do you have a story about how MMORPGs have made a difference in your life? Has it driven your creative urges? Has it made you a better leader? Has it helped you overcome difficulties in your life? We’d love to hear your tale, and show why community truly matters. Drop us a line in the forums.

Producers’ Letter	Monthly Recap	Parting the Veil, Ep. 1	From Gamer to Creator