Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen..

[Aerothas]

..is not dead after all. :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oELd95jqaFc

Huzzah for the EQ1 feel.

[Lonskils]

yawn

[Aerothas]

yawn

What ever! It's still early.

[Lonskils]

Looks like 100 other MMO's. Only worse in some regards.

[Torrid]

It's basically a bunch of store bought Unity assets, but honestly if they came up with some good gameplay I wouldn't care too much. (although those animations are pretty bad)

There is zero competition right now for a true, pure MMORPG. WoW is a MMO/single player mix, basically. Any game with instancing, phasing, solo quest grinding, etc is basically 'MMO lite'.

I've put in hundreds of hours helping recreate a classic EverQuest database for the emulators (and a tiny bit of code). My job is harder because of all the many people who kill the old content. Not just the progression guilds (of which there are several) but just random idiots who kill old raid bosses on their level 100s over and over. People miss old EQ. There is an order of magnitude more discussion about p99 than there is about new EQLive expansions.

[Aerothas]

Sorry I want 2014 graphics in a EverQuest like game. That's basically what Pantheon is attempting. As far as a bunch of it being store bought assets, that's why the Unity store is there. They lack the money to hire true talent. A lot of work still has to be done.

Hell, I was thinking about dropping $100k on the project with hope of some return but it's been invested somewhere a bit safer, LOL.

[Lonskils]

Aero has more money than God, I forgot that!

[Torrid]

Sorry I want 2014 graphics in a EverQuest like game.

Everybody does, but nobody is getting it, which is why classic EQ is as popular as it is today: it's the only 3d game that ever had that kind of gameplay.

If a true EQ successor existed, or had a reasonable expectation to exist in the near future, I wouldn't be wasting my time parsing NPC stats from a 15 year old game.

I certainly wish Pantheon would get made; but even if it does, it may not even be a true EQ successor.

[Aerothas]

A very rare post by Brad:


We have a solid vision for what we want Pantheon to be, and I'm sure you've read the high level descriptions of the game, like it's group oriented, the challenge is coming back, working together as a team is key, items will be very important, travel will hopefully be meaningful and you won't be teleporing all over... non-global banks, etc. and a focus on a player driven economy. Classes and races should mean something. Most items will be tradable or sellable. We're going to have huge dungeons, but places where it's safe to log off for the evening, so you can continue deeper the next day with your friends. Less player cities and therefore more dungeons... dungeons aren't just underground, but could be overland, could be a whole city filled with NPCs that is very faction heavy, where you need to work to get your factions to the point where the inhabitants will work with you or give you quests.

We're not trying to make a game that appeals to everyone all of the time, but have instead defined our target audience, and even if that means the game is 'niche', then so be it. By keeping the team lean and mean, we don't need massive funding to make a great game. We want a long alpha and beta, giving us plenty of time to tune the game and make it both challenging and fun. Your appearance will refelct the items you earned that you are wearing -- you can't just play dress-up. If you see a player walk into town all decked out with killer items, you can safely assume he worked for those items.

We're probably going to have fewer levels, but introduce the idea of a tier, where to level up it takes more than experience, but also accomplishing various tasks, so you can't just sit there and power level all day in one spot -- you'll need to explore, travel, and *play* the game. There will be camping in some cases, because we know some people like that, but then other mobs will move around or appear in different areas, so camping on one place is not always the answer -- you will need to move around and 'do' a dungeon.

There's the idea of situational gear, so that there shouldn't be, say, one best sword for a mid-level Crusader. It really depends on where he is, what he is fighting, etc. So a region can have climates, where it's super hot and you need to wear fire resistance gear there, but another area might be totally different and so you'll want to wear other gear.... lots of inventory management where you can define 'outfits' that consist of the items you want to wear and wield in certain situations or climates. We want to use physics and make climates or regions actually affect gameplay and tactics. For example, there will be a lot of underwater content, where physics and tactics will be different... think Ender's Game, where they had to learn different tactics in a 3d environment, where there was no 'up' or 'down'... or think Star Trek 2: the wrath of Khan, when they are in the nebula looking for each other, and Kirk attacks from upward, confusing Khan who was more used to fighting in a 2d setup.

The game will have lots of quests, epic quests, etc., but it is not quest hub driven like VG... in terms of quests it's more like early EQ 1. No quest bangs above NPC heads -- you'll need to talk with NPCs to find out what's up. Twinking is doable, but there will also be lots of reasons not to twink, like fantastic long term buffs you can get by sacrificing your items at a temple. Likely there will be multiple colors of mana (think Magic: the Gathering, kind of). So a cleric or healer might normally accumulate White Mana, and the vast majority of his prayers will use White Mana, but then he discoveres a rare prayer that requires both White and Green mana... he then must locate an orb that he holds in one hand, that when held he also accumulates Green mana. Speaking of finding spells and abilities and prayers, this is what you're going to need to do to get the good stuff -- the basic trainers will be just that, basic. Part of exploring the world and taking risk will not just yield cool items, but you may well find an ancient Crusdader in the depths of a dungeon and, upon freeing him, he teaches you a Crusader ability or prayer that *ONLY* comes from him. So abilities can be rare, not just items.

You'll be able to counterspell other casters... even deflect a fireball back at the NPC or one of the other NPCs. Where you are will matter -- not in a twitch way, but you will be able to get out of the way of, say, an area of effect spell. There will be 'tells' during combat that will help you realize what the NPCs are planning on doing to you, so you can be ready to have an answer to their attack and defend against it.

The game is built on the foundations of what made early MUDs, EQ 1, etc. great, plus with ideas that came later that you saw in VG, like offensive and defensive targets, etc. And then there will be modern ideas in the game too, so while the foundation is what made earlier challenging MMOs so compelling, that doesn't mean we are just trying to make an EQ 1 or early MMO clone; rather we want to build all sorts of cool, new ideas upon that proven foundation.

So I could keep going and going, but will stop there. Part of your question to me seemed to be asking, what is there that is sacrosanct, that's part of the Vision(TM), that cannot change, vs. what is changable, adaptable, etc. That's a great question, but hard to answer explicitly. I think what is unmutable is the higher level vision. We're not going to suddenly change Pantheon into a sci-fi game focused on PvP. We're not going to wimp the game out and make it much easier to play. We're not going to abandon the idea of groups working together and being rewarded for good teamwork. We're going to try to leave out tedious stuff, but challenge will remain... you will need to travel. You won't be teleporting everywhere with ease. The game will be item-centric. High level stuff like this is just not going to change.

But the details, those are more mutable. There's the issue of whether our target audience wants more player towns and cities and less dungeons vs. less PC cities, but more adventure areas. One or the other is not set in stone. The 'mini-map' you saw in some earlier screenshots... it's not going to be an exploration tool, makig mapping dungeons super easy. We want it to be more tacitcal, and to be useful in combat. But what if it does end up spoiling stuff? Then we'll pull it. What if something is just too powerful, or we make a mistake and don't balance some critical areas in alpha or beta... we will nerf even if it upsets some players, but the overall health of the game necessitates a nerf, we're going to do it. What if we see some cool player emergent behavior? If it doesn't violate the Vistion at a higher level, then we're going to imbrace it, as long as it's balanced or can be balanced.

We will be very involved with the community and not just reading feedback on the game from the boards, but we'll be playing the game right along with you, sometimes with you knowing, and sometimes with you not knowing. And we'll gather data and tweak and balance and polish. So a lot/most? of the details are not set in stone and can be changed. But not the Vision, or the 100,000 foot view -- we know the game we want to make at that level, and it's the one we want to make, play, and what we are convinced a decent number of MMO players, both old school and noobs, really want. We're ok being more niche and keeping costs down and the size of the team down, so we don't have to have a million subscibers to be profitable. We will actually be very profitable at 25k-50k subscribers.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but that's kinda of a quick overview as I stop coding gameplay this evening (working on the new Inventory UI) and get ready for bed. You may have some specifics, and I can try to answer, but at the same time I don't think there's a realistic way of splitting the whole game into two columns, one mutable, the other immutable. I think from what I wrote here and have written elsewhere, and if you've followed my earlier games, and the tons of posts I've done in the past talking about MMO game mechanics or philosophies, you should be able to put together a pretty good idea of what's part of the Vision(TM) vs. details that I'm fine tweaking and changing.

-Brad

[Aerothas]

Aero has more money than God, I forgot that!

Not exactly. :-/

[Aerothas]

For the record, I never signed a NDA and that was in a public forum.

[Lonskils]

Not exactly. :-/

You have a lot of money sir!

[Aerothas]

work in progress:

7441


http://pantheonrotf.com
http://facebook.com/pantheonrotf

[Aerothas]

Not that any one seems to care but:

7442

Noticing similarities yet?

[Andaas]

That Brad stole the DikuMUD engine again for the combat system?

[Aerothas]

That Brad stole the DikuMUD engine again for the combat system?

I was going to say its just like EQ1. But whatever you say!

Why recreate what works with a 20 man team?

[Andaas]

Was just joking; there was a lawsuit about that during the first year of EQ. Apparently the combat systems were nearly identical. It was "dismissed" after receiving a sworn statement that they didn't steal or whatever.

[Torrid]

If I'm not mistaken they accused VI of using the source code. You can copy 'systems' all you like so long as you don't directly copy and paste source code. Zynga ruined many a small developer by doing nothing technically illegal; also fuck that Candy Crush game studio for what they did to the Candy Swipe guy.

And why you gotta ignore my PMs Andaas?!

[Andaas]

I probably forgot.

[Lonskils]

Did they... "Crush" him?

[Aerothas]

PC models and some other things are place holders for now...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzSFuHBRdNU

[Torrid]

Animating models must be super hard

[Aerothas]

Hi Torrid! Someone who cares.

The composer/sound effect/cinema guy (Joppa) they got a couple months back is phenomenal imo. As well as some other new talent. This game is looking and sounding really cool so far.

Not bad for volunteers, eh?

[Adella]

Nice graphics and music. Love the dynamic lighting!

[Aerothas]

Bump


Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen


-- Game Features -- -- --

- A classic take on epic MMO adventure.

- Enjoy a Lore-rich and deeply complex world where environmental storytelling is central.

- An MMO developed by gamers who aren't afraid to target an audience of like-minded gamers.

- A focus on exploration, adventure, and combat.

- Finally, an MMORPG for players wanting a challenging and rewarding experience. No risk, no reward.

- Explore the world of Terminus as you see fit, on the beaten path or far off of it – just don’t say we didn't warn you!

- Harness the powers of ancient heroes, insidious enemies and even the Celestials to augment your own knowledge and abilities.

- Play classes that have meaningful and defined roles such as Tank, Healer, DPS or Utility (crowd and encounter control). Class identity and group interdependability is key!

- Choose from a variety of races to play, delve into their epic back-stories and learn of the Celestials who may have been brought to Terminus with them.

- Group-focused, intensely social game play using a class based system to encourage teamwork.

- A heavy focus on meaningful character progression that prioritizes the advancement of player power and prestige.

- Questing that’s optional, not the primary means of character advancement.

- Quests that are meaningful, challenging, and rewarding.

- Engage in combat that will test you and your party, requiring strategy and preparation. (Read more about Pantheon's combat here)

- Train and use a wide variety of skills as part of your character’s growth as you level up.

- Limited and class based teleportation may get you close, but in order to reach many destinations you will have to traverse the realm-scarred lands of Terminus through the use of your own two feet, on the back of your mighty steed or even across the seas themselves.

- Quickly equip situational gear as you move from one climate to the next.

- An economy that is largely player driven.

- Visible loot. If you see an NPC wielding a weapon, you should be able to loot it off of their fallen body.

- Most items that are looted from NPCs will be tradeable.
-
- Dual targeting. Attack your target while healing your allies.

- Terminus is a world where instancing is the exception not the rule.

- Respect your surroundings, succumbing to death has its consequences.

- Some spells can be modified to hit one or multiple targets, and you can decide on the fly.

- Terminus is a world where Factions and Alignments matter. Ogres don’t belong in an Elven city (and so as not to offend the Ogre Rights Association, Elves don’t belong in an Ogre city either.)

- Horizontal character growth, with fewer levels and more meaningful gains per level.

- Community feedback helps drive decisions made. We want to hear your voice.

- The game will run on PC, Mac, and possibly other platforms in the future.


-- What is Pantheon? -- -- --

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen takes place on Terminus, a high fantasy world of powerful deities, valiant heroes, insidious enemies and fantastic creatures.

What makes Pantheon unique is that in addition to traditional fantasy races and classes, the world of Terminus has been formed from the "shipwrecked" fragments of many different realms and worlds, bringing their unique civilizations and Celestial deities with them. It is into the current age of this wonderful and mysterious world that players will step foot for the first time. Realms long lost, explored anew. Peoples and cultures striving to gain a foothold in this unfamiliar world, forming alliances and vying for power. Uncovered civilizations and awe-inspiring locales that offer new and incredible adventures for you and your friends to experience. Enter a world where the environment itself tells the story and where content is always king!


-- Game Summary -- -- --

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is an MMORPG based on challenging gameplay and open world high fantasy, with a strong focus on group-oriented content. It takes place in a world called Terminus, populated by a vast variety of deities, locations, creatures and heroes. Mortal and planar realms have collided, creating the dramatic and epic environment of Terminus. With some of those realms came entire races and cultures, with Celestial deities that, over time, raised empires and forged a turbulent political landscape. Centuries later, this phenomena has continued to occur and the world of Terminus continues to grow in size and in depth.

The player is a legendary Hero, stripped of his or her home world, along with their powerful relics and prestige, and left to explore the distinct and epic regions of Terminus, guided by the hope of reclaiming their power and forging their place in this burgeoning new world.

Pantheon’s combat places a focus on preparation and awareness that will provide players with challenging scenarios that require not only understanding, but skill to overcome their opposition. The player can actively dodge, block, or deflect attacks – but this goes beyond active reactions to encounter mechanics. Spell and ability pre-selection is also critical to success, as are the alliances you will forge with other players.

You won't want to be caught in the wilds of Terminus alone, but the brave souls that explore the vast and divergent landscapes will discover a truly rich and rewarding experience. Through exploration the player can uncover ancient mysteries, hidden artifacts, unique adventures and ultimately rare and exotic spells and abilities. Because Pantheon values the paradigm of great risk vs. great reward, the player will always be encouraged to push themselves out the door and embrace adventure, danger and the community of players alongside them. Imagine an expansive, detailed and Lore-rich world where the environment itself tells much of the story, the content is challenging, meaningful character progression is upheld and group-oriented game play is paramount - welcome to Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen!

[Torrid]

I like a lot of that of course, but I'm a bit worried about this 'many worlds' shtick. I don't like teleports, and that sounds like teleporting around to different compartments. I much prefer large, seamless, open maps with no invisible barriers.

I don't get how every dude is supposed to be a 'legendary hero' either. That's a whole lot of superheroes.

MMOGs are about being a nobody. Not everybody can be Furor. Lore pretending otherwise just rings extremely hollow and fake. (i.e. WoW)

[Aerothas]

Isn't "hero" a synonym of character, toon, etc these days?

Doesn't bother me much. Neither does no flying, a couple TP classes, or boats.

[Aerothas]

uh okay.
No fast travel, teleporting around

I guess he means TP by clicking on the map?