Trials of Ascension, Shady Practices and the Big Crowdfunding Debate

[Azrile]

And then Hager was whining after while straining to sit up: I didn't know my posture mattered!

C'mon dude, you claim to be a businessman and you can't even make yourself look the least bit professional and presentable?

Admittedly I only watched snippets here and there, but it seemed that Proctor was noticeably absent/quiet throughout the video. Did he have anything of substance to say or was he too busy running his ugly default character around his ugly default unity world?

Very early on, maybe about 10 minutes, they put Lumpy on the spot because he had said that there were technical issues that prevented the second stress test, but Proctor had been telling people that all the tech stuff was good, he just was sick ( had a headache) which is why they didnt´have the second stress test. Lumpy told Proctor to explain what happened, but Proctor couldn´t get his microphone working ( he kept blocking it with his chin). Lumpy ended up telling him to just type it, and that he would read it, and it appeared Proctor did type the answer, but Lumpy never got around to reading it, so nobody knows what actually happened with the second stress test.

It is hilarious though, because Lumpy had mentioned in this thread that one of the problems in the past was that Proctor talked to much and had a bad habit of promising stuff he couldn´t deliver, and he even said that ´he´would do more of the talking and communications with the public rather than Proctor. It seemed that was the gameplan, as even before the mic problems, Proctor really wasn´t talking much, it was all Lumpy. The reason it is hilarious is because when Lumpy had been saying all this, he made it sound like he was some big PR businessman who could rebrand the name and turn things around with his professionalism and experience. In the end, he honestly looked as bad as Proctor did in that Fergeson video... he was just a rambling kid who obviously had no business or PR experience. To me, the whole charade fell apart when he started talking about prioritizing the t-shirts because of the cost to send them out.

There was one really interesting line that Lumpy said that I think explains this whole situation.. about the 15 minute mark they are talking about the t-shirts, and Lumpy made a comment to the effect of ´I really didn´t think they existed´... along with most of the people there, they all though Appleton was lying about buying the t-shirts to begin with. It sounds to me like what happened is Lumpy thought he was calling Appleton´s bluff when he said ´I will mail out the t-shirts in exchange for Proctor getting to keep all the software´.. but Appleton did actually have the t-shirts and sent them to Lumpy... and now Lumpy doesn´t have the money to send them out to the KS backers.

In any event, Lumpy and Brax are about the same level of stupidity and can´t think past their current problem. They say stuff and make excuses for the current problem, not realizing how much of a credibility hit or honesty issue that will create later on. As soon as Lumpy said he didn´t have enough money to send out the t-shirts(less than 100).. that was game over. Yes, he successfully explained why the t-shirts have not been sent out, but at the same time anyone who sees that no longer believes anything he said about his PR background, business background or ability to finish or self-fund the game. Brax did the same stuff repeatedly which was part of the reason I challenged him on some stuff, because I knew the easy answer was the one that he would give, and that answer would haunt him long-term.

When Lumpy was in this thread, for the life of me I couldn´t figure out why someone would willingly get involved in a project with Proctor after seeing what happened the last 3 years. (forget Appletone, Proctor was a trainwreck also). But after seeing that video.. Lumpy is just another version of Proctor, but without any computer skills. They are just gamers who never grew up.

[Taojnhy]

Admittedly I only watched snippets here and there, but it seemed that Proctor was noticeably absent/quiet throughout the video. Did he have anything of substance to say or was he too busy running his ugly default character around his ugly default unity world?

Once Proctor fired up the GM client, he kept his camera off (I'm assuming to conserve resources on his computer). But, he really had nothing of substance to say either; at the beginning he kind of introduced everyone, then after that he only spoke to answer more technical stuff, and (perhaps conveniently) that's when his mic kept getting blocked and garbling his speech. He stopped trying to speak shortly before launching the GM client.

A shame really, I kept hoping someone would ask Proctor to say "I taut I taw a puddy tat!". Yes, I know that's mean. I don't care; the man sounds like Tweety Bird.

[dextersmith]

Once Proctor fired up the GM client, he kept his camera off (I'm assuming to conserve resources on his computer). But, he really had nothing of substance to say either; at the beginning he kind of introduced everyone, then after that he only spoke to answer more technical stuff, and (perhaps conveniently) that's when his mic kept getting blocked and garbling his speech. He stopped trying to speak shortly before launching the GM client.

A shame really, I kept hoping someone would ask Proctor to say "I taut I taw a puddy tat!". Yes, I know that's mean. I don't care; the man sounds like Tweety Bird.

He could only add I screwed up repeatedly and pissed away $100k and didn't even get beer and hookers out of it (or did he?). His input would be What's Unity? Lumpy sufficiently humiliated them both.

[Deleted]

I'm curious how they'd be thinking back about all this. Not even reaching 10 unique watchers spread over the 2h mark I believe, and atleast 2 were there for pure entertainment purposes (Still hope the 'African' dude makes a visit on these forums :P). Seriously, if I were to upload a video expecting thousands of views, but only getting 5 views, I'd quit making videos, or perhaps, try one more time with a different approach. I'm curious if we'll get another 'google hideout'.

It's exactly the same as with the ToA podcast. The interest in both of these games is almost non-existant. There's almost more of us watching these videos (For entertainment purposes :P) than there are people watching who yet hope for a proper game.

10 unique viewers, huge success Proctor! Let's do another one next week!

[Azrile]

I do think the african guy and the other guy were there for real for the first few minutes and were seriously interested in the game, but reality quickly slapped them. These two guys are never making any game let alone a MMORPG. I think that is one of the things with Appleton and his interviews during the KS.. the guy seems competent and believable and talked like he had a real plan in place and achievable goals. But Lumpy just rambled and made excuses and used a lot of fake tech talk, which I am sure the other two guys picked up on.

Well that was fun, it is about time for Brax to do something stupid again to get us back talking about ToA.

[Kyanion]

Heh yup, back to waiting on the other shoe to drop when it comes to this 'plan' ToA has. I can't wait to break that down!

As a last note on GM, I'm sad we told the people to shut up and prove it, they talked so much shit and then did...that. LOL! I miss those guys almost.

[Azrile]

Heh yup, back to waiting on the other shoe to drop when it comes to this 'plan' ToA has. I can't wait to break that down!

As a last note on GM, I'm sad we told the people to shut up and prove it, they talked so much shit and then did...that. LOL! I miss those guys almost.

Brax is flustered, apparently Joel was going to self-fund ToA also.

[dextersmith]

I do think the african guy and the other guy were there for real for the first few minutes and were seriously interested in the game, but reality quickly slapped them. These two guys are never making any game let alone a MMORPG. I think that is one of the things with Appleton and his interviews during the KS.. the guy seems competent and believable and talked like he had a real plan in place and achievable goals. But Lumpy just rambled and made excuses and used a lot of fake tech talk, which I am sure the other two guys picked up on.

Well that was fun, it is about time for Brax to do something stupid again to get us back talking about ToA.

Bet Lumpy's Indian related racism helped his cause. Where was the righteous outspoken community manager for gm in that interview? Btw, did he stop chasing refunds cause he could make more from future profits? Is he managing both active fans on their forums?

[lawow74]

I dunno if we ever referenced this specifically, but here was their first hangout done not quite two years ago.

Meantime Brax seems to be dealing with the crazy man in the woods of World PvP.

[NotADevAlt]

Meantime Brax seems to be dealing with the crazy man in the woods of World PvP.

That PvP fella is beyond crazy and seriously obsessed with his made-up PK system.

[Kyanion]

Cute, clueless crazy arguing with clueless crazy ~ let me grab my popcorn.

Haha if you want some clueless crazy check out the thread about the wave of bans Blizzard just put out.

Oh but I only cheated a little bit so it was okay...right!?

[Deleted]

Came here for nostalgia, stayed for that Greedmonger hangout. OMG that foreign guy at the 1 hour mark. I died.

Also, a choice quote from the glory days:

- I was looking at a beautiful view of Mount Baker the other day with thousands of trees and wondered if they were optimized and had LOD or if my frame rate was about to drop.

- I was watching an eagle soaring high in the clouds in perfect circles and thought how many way-points that AI path must have or if there was an interpolation algorithm between the way-points.

- My wife and I drove by a field of cows and I asked her how many cows she thinks an ancient dragon should be able to eat.

- We went down to Seattle to a place we've never been before. I didn't charge my phone beforehand and the car charger wouldn't work. When my phone died, I joked about how we just lost our mini-map and the chance of getting lost just got real. Yes, we got lost but ended up having a great time and found some cool little shops we would have otherwise never found.

~Brax

[Kyanion]

God what a visionary Brax is. I wish I could go around in life and see how things could be wors...better if it was a video game! Also I feel really sorry for his wife. "Hey honey you remember that game I tried to make 13 years ago?" Yes dear..."And how I said there would be dragons!?" Yes dear... "Well guess how many cows a dragon could EAT!?" That's wonderful dear...

[lawow74]

Depends how much beer and hooker money went to her. "Yes sweetie, dragon-eating cows, I'm going to the mall now..."

[Dsonsion]

I was watching an eagle soaring high in the clouds in perfect circles and thought how many way-points that AI path must have or if there was an interpolation algorithm between the way-points.

This made me laugh but also pissed me off.
How can Brax, who has no idea of anything he mentioned, be so shameless as to post such a smoking pile of bullshit? First, he's asking for very basic help on the unity forum which shows he's clueless with programming. Then he says he's been programming the game and whatnot. Then again he confesses he hasn't programmed anything and that Teddy has done it all. And then he's spouting gibberish again about AI interpolation algorithms and whatnot.
As I said, the man is shameless.

[Azrile]

That PvP fella is beyond crazy and seriously obsessed with his made-up PK system.

What you are seeing in that thread is exactly what was going on in UO in the year or two before Trammel was invented and probably a big reason ToA ever became a website forum game. There used to be endless, mind-boggling intense debates about how to allow PKing, but keep it controlled so that it didn´t drive away new players. The biggest issues is that PKs were mostly jerks... they weren´t trying to make the game challenging, they just griefed players, mostly new players. In a game where stuff was hard to get, and you lost everything you were carrying when you died, a ton of new players quit after their freebie month just because they could not step out of town without being ganked.

The UO devs wasted years, and tried dozens of different systems and everything was circumvented by players... finally the devs said ´fuck it´and just created Trammel, a mirror world where you couldn´t kill other players. Player flooded Trammel, and the old world Felucca was left barren. And players like Brax and the guy in that thread were left saying ´omg, if you only tried ´my´ approach, there would have been no need for Trammel´. I played UO at the time before Trammel, and I saw how much dev time was wasted going in circles with players. The devs would create this big elaborate system and spend 6 months testing it.. and by day 2, players figured out how to kill other players without getting any punishment. The problem with the guy in this thread is that he thinks you snap your fingers and this system is added to the game. He drastically underestimates how much dev time it takes, and he drastically underestimates how quickly players will figured out how to cheat it (without actually cheating it). It is the same as Brax talking about this stuff while not being able to turn on his servers. You have to have some type of programming knowledge when creating any type of system just so you know how much effort it will take and if it is even possible.

- - - Updated - - -

Came here for nostalgia, stayed for that Greedmonger hangout. OMG that foreign guy at the 1 hour mark. I died.

Also, a choice quote from the glory days:

- I was looking at a beautiful view of Mount Baker the other day with thousands of trees and wondered if they were optimized and had LOD or if my frame rate was about to drop.

- I was watching an eagle soaring high in the clouds in perfect circles and thought how many way-points that AI path must have or if there was an interpolation algorithm between the way-points.

- My wife and I drove by a field of cows and I asked her how many cows she thinks an ancient dragon should be able to eat.

- We went down to Seattle to a place we've never been before. I didn't charge my phone beforehand and the car charger wouldn't work. When my phone died, I joked about how we just lost our mini-map and the chance of getting lost just got real. Yes, we got lost but ended up having a great time and found some cool little shops we would have otherwise never found.

~Brax

And that quote was given while their store was still open. But yet Brax now says he never tried to convince people he was a programmer....

[Deleted]

This made me laugh but also pissed me off.
How can Brax, who has no idea of anything he mentioned, be so shameless as to post such a smoking pile of bullshit? First, he's asking for very basic help on the unity forum which shows he's clueless with programming. Then he says he's been programming the game and whatnot. Then again he confesses he hasn't programmed anything and that Teddy has done it all. And then he's spouting gibberish again about AI interpolation algorithms and whatnot.
As I said, the man is shameless.

In his defense, he made that news post about his wife driving around in the countryside before it was admitted that Teddy did everything.

Still makes him a huge moron though :P

[Kyanion]

Looks like the hype is already cooling down on their forums after that PvP thread finally stopped for a bit, of course Brax had to stop by and be a bitch to Fornax: "Feel free to keep coming by, Fornax. Even being as snarky and pissy (your words, not mine) as you've been lately, I still consider you a valuable community member, but that doesn't give you a pass at disobeying the rules we've had in place forever.

I know the general feeling towards FC right now. You and others have done a great job at making that ABUNDANTLY clear. None the less, we are moving forward (the details of which will be announced shortly) and if you'd like to help with that, GREAT!; just keep all non-constructive comments to yourself or post them elsewhere. If you think otherwise and there is no changing your mind, I recommend you move on to other things in your gaming life that bring you fun and joy. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. "

Yeah man only be constructive over there so they can look like there is a real community that gives a shit! And keep waiting for that plan!!!

[Azrile]

or a paraphrase ´ we understand you are not going to give any more money, so your opinion no longer matters´..

Brax has like the shortest memory of anyone I know. It is like for 13 years now, he has completely screwed up every stage of what he is doing. Has not managed to accomplish anything except fail kickstarters and fundraising.... and yet ´we have a new plan, forget about the past 20 failures, this one is going to work´.. Each time saying they learned from their mistakes, and then just keep making the same ones again.

We were completely transparent about everything
we learned our lesson and will be completely transparent
We have an amazing plan in place, but we can´t talk about it.

Also Tubby made a post on Greedmonger.... ´Hey guys! I apologize for the delay, as I've been ill with conjunctivitis in both eyes (ugh).´

[dextersmith]

Looks like the hype is already cooling down on their forums after that PvP thread finally stopped for a bit, of course Brax had to stop by and be a bitch to Fornax: "Feel free to keep coming by, Fornax. Even being as snarky and pissy (your words, not mine) as you've been lately, I still consider you a valuable community member, but that doesn't give you a pass at disobeying the rules we've had in place forever.

I know the general feeling towards FC right now. You and others have done a great job at making that ABUNDANTLY clear. None the less, we are moving forward (the details of which will be announced shortly) and if you'd like to help with that, GREAT!; just keep all non-constructive comments to yourself or post them elsewhere. If you think otherwise and there is no changing your mind, I recommend you move on to other things in your gaming life that bring you fun and joy. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. "

Yeah man only be constructive over there so they can look like there is a real community that gives a shit! And keep waiting for that plan!!!

Takes his money and spits in his face! Disgusting. And other fanboys think they're too special to be treated like that. Sorry he treated you like that, Fornax. New announcements shortly......months passed already....

- - - Updated - - -

Also Tubby made a post on Greedmonger.... ´Hey guys! I apologize for the delay, as I've been ill with conjunctivitis in both eyes (ugh).´

Will the excuses illness never cease?