Trials of Ascension, Shady Practices and the Big Crowdfunding Debate

[Bodoh]

"First problem was we trusted someone who didn't have any experience whatsoever at making video games."

NO SHIT.

http://rrvs.blogspot.pt/2016/03/the-...k-part_26.html

James has stated he had a team to help him. I could not find their arts or code or music portfolio:
1. Steven Davis doing his usual business of scamming others, as he scammed a week after part IV was published at the unity 3D forum.

2. The person doing environment, Paul Hemmings does not have a portfolio. Either I don’t see it or a google search of “Paul Hemmings Portfolio” has 0 results. So you can imagine what kind of Unity environment work he is doing...

4. Jason Appleton has 0 results for portfolio, a lousy person who uses ELance to hire developers to originally code and give it to James on a silver platter, website and treats others very badly as stated in part 3, and 4.

5. SlyJesse has 0 results for portfolio.
6. MagicRules has 0 results for portfolio.
7. Tyler has 0 results for portfolio.
8. Matt Eichler... no mention of GM on portfolio...
9. David Bennell… 0 portfolio.
10. Cindy ...can't find any info.
11. Patrick Tempond... 0 portfolio
12. Vincent Foster... no mention of any prior games.

13. Joel Hager, Lumpyguy, the artist with nothing on his portfolio.

Lumpyguy claims to do post-production audio. No musical tracks exists, nor is he credited in any album, track or discography. So you can imagine what kind of musician he is...

[Azrile]

yeah, freaking common sense. It takes Blizzard, with 100 developers, 2 years to make a freakin lame expansion to an MMORPG. But yet he thought they could just learn it as they went.

Also this stuff about Proctor being a volunteer because he wasn´t being paid... of course not, because he wasn´t a programmer. Nobody in the world would have paid Proctor for anything because he couldn´t do anything. His experience up until GM consisted of a space invaders clone that didn´t work, and being fired from a different game AS A VOLUNTEER. How can Proctor who has never done anything in a game, who has no education, think he should be getting paid like a developer?? After 3 years, James was able to produce a single player video that looked like someone´s first weekend in Unity. And he wasn´t sympathy because he wasn´t paid?

MD just sounds like another person afraid James is going to commit suicide.

- - - Updated - - -

He's a lot, lot nicer towards Jason and James than they deserve, IMO. But his core message stands true: Don't back someone who doesn't look like they have any ability to do what they say.

You have to remember that Markee Dragon was partially responsible for this also. He has like 60,000 youtube followers as well as other places and he pushed GM strongly during the kickstarter. I am not saying he was part of the con, but when you have that much of a following and you recommend something so strongly, well, it is your reputation on the line. The things he is saying in this video.. he should have been bringing up during the KS.

[lawow74]

http://rrvs.blogspot.pt/2016/03/the-...k-part_26.html

Thanks for pointing that out. Also, Jason actually managed to make something? Are we sure that's the same Jason?

You have to remember that Markee Dragon was partially responsible for this also. He has like 60,000 youtube followers as well as other places and he pushed GM strongly during the kickstarter. I am not saying he was part of the con, but when you have that much of a following and you recommend something so strongly, well, it is your reputation on the line. The things he is saying in this video.. he should have been bringing up during the KS.

Ah, that makes sense. Don't be so quick to point fingers since three of them will be pointing back at you at the same time, as it were.

[Bodoh]

Thanks for pointing that out. Also, Jason actually managed to make something? Are we sure that's the same Jason?

It's the same person. Jason was advertising Billy Bolts game on the Electric Crow website. The website is gone, but App is still there.

[Azrile]

Ah, that makes sense. Don't be so quick to point fingers since three of them will be pointing back at you at the same time, as it were.

None of this is rocket science. ´ Oh, you are making a MMORPG and nobody on your team has ever made a single game´..

Not insulting young people, but Markee Dragon is an older dude and should have had a lot more wisdom when he was interviewing Jason and really questioned that they had nobody one the team who had ever launched a game before.

[lawow74]

We saw it a lot early on in the KS phase of people trusting much more those who put them up, making claims about what they would do. Many had no idea how much real work still awaited you even with the help of development kits and just thought they could jump out and be on Blizzard's level in a few months with some money behind them and a creative vision for things.

[Deleted]

Don't think I've posted this before. The new ToA blog is up:

http://trialsofascension.com/news/ar...3#.Vvqi5-KLSM8

Not much going on in this one.

[lawow74]

https://medium.com/@rubiimeow/watch-...753#.6a37j898w

Puts me in mind of the guys who showed some time back what a joke 'Energy Star Compliant' was when they got a gasoline-powered alarm clock certified as Energy Star Compliant. Just goes to show that sooner or later, people get complacent and security gets lax. And that's when shit like this slips through.

But I say Kudos to them for doing that. If you don't call them on their flubs, they're not going to fix them. It's not a guarantee something still won't get through, but fewer holes, fewer leaks.

[Edge-]

Puts me in mind of the guys who showed some time back what a joke 'Energy Star Compliant' was when they got a gasoline-powered alarm clock certified as Energy Star Compliant. Just goes to show that sooner or later, people get complacent and security gets lax. And that's when shit like this slips through.

But I say Kudos to them for doing that. If you don't call them on their flubs, they're not going to fix them. It's not a guarantee something still won't get through, but fewer holes, fewer leaks.

To be fair, Valve has been pretty open about the fact that they want to have as little involvement with/oversight of things like Greenlight.

So yeah, you end up with bullshit like that getting through the process : /

[Edge-]

Wasn't valve talking about bringing down green light ?

Yeah, they've talked about phasing it out and replacing it with something else since they weren't happy with how it's currently working but haven't made any movement on it yet.

[Deleted]

Here's a ton of nothing from the next ToA blog:

http://trialsofascension.com/news/ar...s#.VwN2tPmLSM8

yawn

[Kyanion]

Here's a ton of nothing from the next ToA blog:

http://trialsofascension.com/news/ar...s#.VwN2tPmLSM8

yawn

Typical ToA, bunch of talking and one screen shot.

[lawow74]

I know from their perspective it's about showing every step of their process and documenting it all and trying to make it seem as professional as possible, but...they still have nothing substantial to show people. They have no alpha release, no recorded demos, they barely have screenshots. The closest they came were a few little animation loops. I have to give them credit, they're actually trying (unlike Proctor) but I really feel like they're trying to finish a 10k marathon by dragging themselves across the ground purely on arm strength.

[Deleted]

It's like reinventing the wheel... 2 paragraphs to tell you that running the fuck away is an option.

haha, the sad thing is, that's actually accurate.

The Elder Scroll games didn't need to teach me that backing off prevented damage! Hell, even avoiding a Goomba back in Mario Bros prevented damage, and nobody had to tell me that when I was 5 years or so!

This entire blog is a big joke. Could've summed everything up in 1 paragraph. But no! It needs to look bigger than what is actually is, as with all blog posts.

[Deleted]

http://trialsofascension.com/news/ar...4#.VwrLovmLSM9

Gets more boring the closer we get to the 'testing phase'

[zaxlor]

"Yevi continues to work on the launcher, though his available time is limited. He will continue to work on it until he is finished."

I don't know if it's because i'm tired, but that final sentance made me laugh so hard! How do these guys come up with this way of speaking that manages to use about 50 words when only one needed to be said. Of course he's going to keep working on it until it's finished, else it won't become finished!

[Post]

"Yevi continues to work on the launcher, though his available time is limited. He will continue to work on it until he is finished."

I don't know if it's because i'm tired, but that final sentance made me laugh so hard! How do these guys come up with this way of speaking that manages to use about 50 words when only one needed to be said. Of course he's going to keep working on it until it's finished, else it won't become finished!

It kind of reminds me of when I'd be forced to write essays in school. Gotta make each paragraph 5 sentences long no matter how little I had to say.

[Bodoh]

"Yevi continues to work on the launcher, though his available time is limited. He will continue to work on it until he is finished."

This should take a developer a week to do at most.


I know because I did this before and delivered many times.

[Deleted]

They should hire Proctor. Finishing the launcher was his specialty, he got it done much faster!

[Bodoh]

They should hire Proctor. Finishing the launcher was his specialty, he got it done much faster!

That's a store-brought asset.