Trials of Ascension, Shady Practices and the Big Crowdfunding Debate

[Kyanion]

No it's not. It does not generate any revenue until you game is greenlit and sold.

If your game gets greenlit and isn't read to go on Early Access or anything, you're shit out of luck.

Yeah but who checks to make sure the game is good enough to go? I mean they could update the demo isle and package it as 'the game' and would that be good enough?

[Edge-]

Yeah but who checks to make sure the game is good enough to go? I mean they could update the demo isle and package it as 'the game' and would that be good enough?

Then that's what would be sold on Early Access. If the game was that bullshit, people would call them on it like they have in the past and Valve would pull it.

Greenlight is now crowdfunding. It can be a nice complement to crowdfunding efforts, but it alone will not generate crowdfunding to build the game unless you have something that can already be sold on Early Access.

[Kyanion]

Then that's what would be sold on Early Access. If the game was that bullshit, people would call them on it like they have in the past and Valve would pull it.

Greenlight is now crowdfunding. It can be a nice complement to crowdfunding efforts, but it alone will not generate crowdfunding to build the game unless you have something that can already be sold on Early Access.

Good, I like to hear that Valve would yank it if they try to pull that crap. I'm just curious what options they might even have if donations/crowdfunding is out. Nothing comes to mind here anyways.

[Edge-]

Good, I like to hear that Valve would yank it if they try to pull that crap. I'm just curious what options they might even have if donations/crowdfunding is out. Nothing comes to mind here anyways.

If they can't launch a successful crowdfunding campaign, then they're basically shit out of luck unless they can find a publisher/investor or win the lotto to fund it, or have volunteers make it. Basically end up doing what Brad McQuaid did when Pantheon failed its Kickstarter hard, he took a large advance from what money they'd crowdfunded through his site and his developer friends bailed, and his begging for an angel investor didn't pan out. He's now got his own money invested and a bunch of volunteers (and I think like 1-2 actual paid employees) working on the game, and is making super slow progress.

Though he has the benefit of having worked on 2 major MMO's, one a success and one a failure.

[Kyanion]

Oh I remember hearing about that advance he took for himself, pissed people off royally from what I remember.

But yeah in the case of FC they have no experience with anything and no rockstar angels have come down to save them. I'm curious what 'plan' they are going to try though, haha.

[lawow74]

I'm curious what 'plan' they are going to try though, haha.

According to Brax, the sheer magnitude of the announcement necessitates it be done over a long timeframe.

BRB, making more popcorn.

[Kyanion]

According to Brax, the sheer magnitude of the announcement necessitates it be done over a long timeframe.

BRB, making more popcorn.

Ohhh damn, I need extra popcorn to go with my industrial sized Kool-Aid.

[lawow74]

Screw Kool-Aid, we gotta break out the good stuff.

[Kyanion]

Screw Kool-Aid, we gotta break out the good stuff.

I'm sorry but the Hawaiian Punch mascot pales in comparison!

[Deleted]

Introduction from the 2 new 'devs':

http://trialsofascension.com/forum/t...oduction.4826/

http://trialsofascension.com/forum/t...verybody.4827/

[Taojnhy]

Mr. Maddox seems pretty legit and he appears to know and work with Mr. Sims. Should be interesting to see what develops.

Still, if the Three Stooges are planning to remain at the helm, it's difficult to imagine this working out well.

[Deleted]

Introduction from the 2 new 'devs':

http://trialsofascension.com/forum/t...oduction.4826/

http://trialsofascension.com/forum/t...verybody.4827/

Eh? That Geoff guy is a "chief-software architect" specialising in full stack C#/.net development. In the UK he'd be on comfortably over £100k, how the heck do ToA afford someone like that or are these guys on-board as "hobby" programmers and working for ToA alongside their day jobs?

[Kelimbror]

Well, don't know how in the heck they got someone like this:

Geoff Maddox, Chief Software Architect, Projecis

Geoff Maddox is a software and graphic design specialist. As chief software architect at Projecis, Geoff oversees internal software development including research, design and development. He specializes in C, C++, C#, ASP.NET, PHP, XML, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, SSIS, SSAS, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, UNIX, Perl, Shell Scripting and Compiler Development.


Prior to working with Projecis, Geoff worked at Synteract, Inc. from 2003-2010, where he was a Senior Software Developer. There he managed the design and development of internal software projects, and handled research of third-party software purchased for in-house. At Synteract, Geoff also held the positions of Software Developer II, Application Developer II and Application Developer I. Prior to Synteract, Geoff completed an internship at Intel.


Geoff received his degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2003. He is a California native and was raised in the San Diego area. In his spare time, he enjoys working on electronics, FPGA design and woodworking. He also keeps his Xbox 360 warm much to his wife Rachelle's chagrin, and has weekly D&D meetings at his residence.

but yeah. That's pretty legit. No game development experience, but his technical experience is real cred.

Though if you think about it, it makes sense. All of the current 'devs' say they have real jobs and don't have time for ToA. The main person now 'working' for them clearly is doing it as a hobby. Welcome to 2015, the year that completely developing an MMO is now a 'hobby'.

[NotADevAlt]

In separate news, you may remember that the Greedmonger public 'stress test' was originally supposed to occur on April 25th and was postponed to the following week (May 2nd) because their forums suddenly went offline for several days. Well, the forums came back, and May 2nd came and went without a word, prompting 1-2 posters to ask what happened.

Here's James Proctor's response:

Like I said else where I was sick yesterday and ran into some issues with the build. We will be having some news this week though so stay tuned.

Sound familiar?

[NotADevAlt]

roflmao, shuddup NotADevAlt, you are just one of Myobi's alts, just wait and you'll see!

You're blowing my cover!!

[Post]

It seems a little misleading to say they have 15 yrs experience in the industry seeing as they apparently haven't ever even made or worked on an actual game that's out and we can play.

[Kelimbror]

It seems a little misleading to say they have 15 yrs experience in the industry seeing as they apparently haven't ever even made or worked on an actual game that's out and we can play.

What else is new, right? It's not misleading, it's an outright lie. No one hears 'industry' for gaming and thinks 'database programming and college homework'.

[lawow74]

But he was a for really reals PROGRAMMER. I mean, that's the same thing, right?!?

Yeah, definitely getting a hobby vibe on all this. I dunno what Brax promised them, but I somehow doubt two guys doing all the grunt work is going to get them any closer to a functional MMO, especially if they're not full-time on this. I have a suspicion the Stooges are trying a 'just make it enough to get it up for sale on Steam' push with their cash, which as we've said before is just a charge headlong into a brick wall.

[Kelimbror]

But he was a for really reals PROGRAMMER. I mean, that's the same thing, right?!?

Yeah, definitely getting a hobby vibe on all this. I dunno what Brax promised them, but I somehow doubt two guys doing all the grunt work is going to get them any closer to a functional MMO, especially if they're not full-time on this. I have a suspicion the Stooges are trying a 'just make it enough to get it up for sale on Steam' push with their cash, which as we've said before is just a charge headlong into a brick wall.

Sounds like they just outsourced work to their 'fan base' and likely guaranteed them cuts of profits instead of real money. This way they are motivated to do work for free, essentially trying to earn money from a hobby. Meanwhile the 3 stooges still sit around doing nothing like they always have.

I'm willing to bet we see another cash shop very soon to start tossing money to the ways of these starry eyed forum programmers to keep yanking them along. Essentially the people running FC are Social Engineers, which is not a good thing.

[Post]

What else is new, right? It's not misleading, it's an outright lie. No one hears 'industry' for gaming and thinks 'database programming and college homework'.

"projects and experiments" (what one of the dudes listed as what he did in Unity) vague terms like that are pretty telling in these situations I think.