Trials of Ascension, Shady Practices and the Big Crowdfunding Debate

[lawow74]

It's kind of worse. The item shop is live and you can buy in-game items (and even game time!) for a game that doesn't exist.

But yet is so awesome the pre-pre-alpha concept screenshots have their forum community(which is totally not made up of a handful of people posting to one another on many accounts)acting like it's the Second Coming or something they've witnessed.

[Sunaka]

But yet is so awesome the pre-pre-alpha concept screenshots have their forum community(which is totally not made up of a handful of people posting to one another on many accounts)acting like it's the Second Coming or something they've witnessed.

Honestly, the pre-alpha screens must be just THAT AWESOME that it breaks their print screen key.

[Azrile]

Dude, I already agreed with you on this. You're the one not getting it.


Since the conversion to Unity - November 2013.
Like I said, the game is in limited development and the dev's have their own jobs to take care of which is why I am not expecting them to bust out with a ton of updates as if they were working on it 100% of the time.

And see. Some things I can laugh at.. l ike your reference to ´physical based rendering´, which is simply a term they pulled from the Unity website because it is feature coming with Unity 5.0

But can we please just use some freakin common sense here. Your excuse for the ´lack of progress´ is that there are only a couple devs, and they work full-time jobs during the day. How can ANY person, with ANY amount of common sense believe that a MMORPG with new features, that brags about ´breaking the mold´.. is going to be built by a couple guys working on it after flipping burgers all day. The latest WOW expansion probably has over 150 people working on it, who have educations in their field, working on it full time, and it STILL took 2 years to make an expansion.

Also, again to show you how incredibly incompetent the devs are at ToA... and how easy some of the stuff is that they still can´t figure out.

Here is an RPG ´package´ that you can buy on the Unity store.. it costs $90 and includes combat, spawning, spells system, experience and leveling, cut-scenes, inventory, crafting, a quest system, a bestiary system, a factions system and a bunch of other stuff... all for $90. One person created that package and did it so quickly that he can sell it for only $90 https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/14419

And now you have the ToA devs, who spent the last 2 years not being able to get their spider into the game, not being able to get trees to move and not being able fix their camera for 3 months. They have the most generic and ugly combat system I have seen since Y2K. They have that beautiful circle health GUI thingie that looks like something I saw in an Atari 2600 game. And you just have this long long list of comments they made on the Hero Engine forums last year that are just laughable because of how little they know about programming and game-making.

How can people not see the disconnect between how much work it takes to make a MMORPG and the skills of everyone else who uses Unity ( like the guy above) compared to what ToA has been showing. Everything the ´devs´ of ToA have been working on the last 2 years with $60k, this guy did by himself and is selling for $90. Youtube is littered with ´Unity MMORPG´corpses from people with far more skill than the devs of ToA. Most of those guys had full combat, inventory and spawning systems done before they even put up a youtube video.

By the way, I mentioned last week that they were going to try to get this thread locked.. and now you see it.

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Looks like a moderator caved to FC whining and edited the title of the thread. Whoever it was, shame on you. Now instead of the thread title grabbing the attention of potential victims and preventing them from losing money (we're the second result on google for the game's title), you're giving them the opportunity to scam more people.

Exactly, They specifically wanted the word ´scam´ removed from the title that appears on Google search as well as the first paragraph of text from my initial post ( that was edited) which sometimes shows up on the SERP page.

[Kyanion]

Welcome back Azrile! I know we aren't supposed to talk about the thread title anymore, even messaged a mod about it and that seems to be staying as is for now. However your first couple lines where the word scam shows up twice do not show up as edited for me at least.

Anyways, they still have not answered Pizzaman's post over there where he says "But if:
- Unity pro $1500
- Teddy programmer, I assume a full time salary, I don't know how much, but I'd hope for him at least $2.5-3k a month, so that'd be ~$18k to date.
- They've hired artists and design firms to create artwork, concepts and in-game assets
- They are going to hire someone to produce the new KS video
- Website, server, etc.

If that is correct. Then what is it that Brax and the group do exactly? Website management? Brainstorming? And are they making any of the artwork concepts themselves?"

Though Brax has created a thread and posted elsewhere, they just are totally ignoring real questions. How quaint.

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Of course some of the 'fans' chirp in with their thoughts on the matter, as usual.

[Azrile]

You know what? I want them to release it now, because I want to see how they manage to get dragons to work (if at all). That, or it will be a hilarious disaster of epic proportions which shall lead to much laughter on the part of everyone who wasn't suckered into throwing money at the game : P

Totally ready for massive playable dragons to have the same size hitbox as normal humans. IMMERSION!!!!

It isn´t even the hitbox... it is the camara. Trust me, I spent about 2 days trying to get it to work for a different project ( not dragons).. but basically a situation where one type of playable character is MUCH bigger than other characters after using an item. There is simply no easy way to deal with the camera other than forcing it to 2.5 view which makes controlling your character ackward ( in a game that is otherwise 3d)... or else you force 1st person camera, which again does not work well because it really exaggerates the wild camera swing when you move... if you are giant, and move 15 degrees ( generally the smallest turn you can make in a 3d game), the camera will make a huge HUGE swing and you will throw up on your keyboard. If you try to keep a 3d follow camera, well, you end up with the back of a dragon head covering 3/4s of your screen.

And again, it is great to dream on napkins about ´your game´.. but there are dozens of AAA MMORPGs that already know what they are trying to do will never be playable.

[-aiko-]

However your first couple lines where the word scam shows up twice do not show up as edited for me at least.

Probably because only the title was edited.

Anyways, they still have not answered Pizzaman's post over there where he says "But if:
- Unity pro $1500
- Teddy programmer, I assume a full time salary, I don't know how much, but I'd hope for him at least $2.5-3k a month, so that'd be ~$18k to date.
- They've hired artists and design firms to create artwork, concepts and in-game assets
- They are going to hire someone to produce the new KS video
- Website, server, etc.

I find it funny that this is supposed to be a 'team'. I think the role of Brax and friends is to manage and invest the money (into themselves of course)

By the way guys, the meta title has changed on Google, but the Google spot has not. Can we stop treating this like a conspiracy theory now? Continue providing more information in this thread and any potential buyers will be able to make an informed decision on whether or not this is legitimate.

A developer has not made contact with any mods with requests to changes titles, nobody is being censored. and life can going on as normal.

[Sunaka]

I find it funny that this is supposed to be a 'team'. I think the role of Brax and friends is to manage and invest the money (into themselves of course)

I really wish there was an answer of what everyone who isn't Teddy does all the time. A couple comments from devs that imply SOME work, but not their full role with FC/ToA, and a bunch of fan answers, but nothing from the devs.

Still seems odd that there's only 1 person doing real work on the game proper.

[Azrile]

Welcome back Azrile! I know we aren't supposed to talk about the thread title anymore, even messaged a mod about it and that seems to be staying as is for now. However your first couple lines where the word scam shows up twice do not show up as edited for me at least.

Anyways, they still have not answered Pizzaman's post over there where he says "But if:

Google will take about 2 weeks to update the information that appears on the SERP page (depending on their priority for indexing MMO-C). I once had a typo on the description part of a website (something you can only see on the SERP) and it annoyed me how long it showed up on Google after I had fixed it LOL.

I guess I will believe the Mod here who says they changed it on their own. But like I posted last week. The devs and fanatics on the secret forums over there specifically mentioned this thread and that they were going to try to deal with it and get it deleted. This thread has been here what, 3 months?, and a few days after they say it on the TOA forums, the important word ´scam´ gets deleted. Ok, enough about the title.

I was actually reading some stuff, and I think I am beginning to pity Teddy. Seriously, can you imagine getting hired into this type of project, and then find out you are the only one actually working on the game. Nothing like having 5 bosses with no skills telling you what to do and then you have to deal with feedback based on their mess. At some point maybe his eyes will open and he will realize he can probably grab a friend and make the game himself, without the clowns.

[-aiko-]

Who exactly is Teddy, anyway? I know he was hired on but does he have any professional experience?

[Sunaka]

Who exactly is Teddy, anyway? I know he was hired on but does he have any professional experience?

I guess this is his bio, or something. He's also this guy.

Other than those, I'm not aware of any actual information they've shared.

[Azrile]

Who exactly is Teddy, anyway? I know he was hired on but does he have any professional experience?

he mentioned in his intro blog that he had worked on an online game that uses Unity for a few years, but never mentioned the game or if it ever launched. To be fair, I wouldn´t either. I do some freelance work for games that I would never want to be associated with. He could have done a great job and still get linked with a horrible game and people would just assume he did the bad stuff too.

The devs from ToA put a bunch of help wanted ads on the Unity forums, I imagine that is where they found him. I would never take a long-term job from there because the launch rates of games from Unity is probably like 1%, but it is a fun place to pick up one-day gigs.

[Sunaka]

he mentioned in his intro blog that he had worked on an online game that uses Unity for a few years, but never mentioned the game or if it ever launched. To be fair, I wouldn´t either. I do some freelance work for games that I would never want to be associated with. He could have done a great job and still get linked with a horrible game and people would just assume he did the bad stuff too.

Y'mean like "I worked on Trials of Ascension, gaiz! ...wait, why are you laughing? No, really, I did almost all the work! ...no, only post-2013 Kickstarter. Oh, you already filled the position? I understand..."

[Azrile]

Y'mean like "I worked on Trials of Ascension, gaiz! ...wait, why are you laughing? No, really, I did almost all the work! ...no, only post-2013 Kickstarter. Oh, you already filled the position? I understand..."

But the other side of a job interview.. ´ so Mr. Teddy, I see here that you were unemployed from late 2013 until late 2014... is that correct?´ YES! I wasn´t doing anything during the time.. got high a lot, punched some dogs, downloaded a lot of porn... but I definitely was not working on TOA.

Would be interesting to see what he is actually doing and what is bought stuff. Some of it is just crazy though. Yes, you do not want to use stock animations for a live game, but the animations they are using are so much worse than what you can download from the Unity store for free. I think maybe he knows how to script and work inside unity, but he decided to learn to animate on ToAs dime. Just no reason for animations to be that primitive when you can get free stuff from Unity that is much better.

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Holy shit their YouTube channel. I can't.

They talk about things on their podcast as though it's a full beta about to go into release.

It really is a credibility thing. Even the stuff in their kickstarter.. they sound like they are almost finished, that all the big work is already done. Now here we are, and their one employee basically is saying the game only started being developed after the kickstarter, and by someone who wasn´t even on their team during the KS.

[lawow74]

This thread has been here what, 3 months?, and a few days after they say it on the TOA forums, the important word ´scam´ gets deleted.

And in my mind, the Monty Python Viking Longboat is sailing by as they sing 'scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam (O lovely scam! Wonderful scam!)'

[Yunru]

And in my mind, the Monty Python Viking Longboat is sailing by as they sing 'scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam scam (O lovely scam! Wonderful scam!)'

It was spam. But it stil sounds funny.

[Vespian]

Probably because only the title was edited.

I find it funny that this is supposed to be a 'team'. I think the role of Brax and friends is to manage and invest the money (into themselves of course)

By the way guys, the meta title has changed on Google, but the Google spot has not. Can we stop treating this like a conspiracy theory now? Continue providing more information in this thread and any potential buyers will be able to make an informed decision on whether or not this is legitimate.

A developer has not made contact with any mods with requests to changes titles, nobody is being censored. and life can going on as normal.

Changing of the title is still questionable though, in contrary to the Zoe Quin conspiracy thing, it takes away from the essence of this thread and takes away the warning from the title, which is very important, because study has shown that most people only read headlines. This change does not make any sense and is only an advantage to the developers, who are trying to scam other people out of their money. I really can't say this any other way, but shame on the person that changed it, shame on those that agreed.

[glo]

Changing of the title is still questionable though, in contrary to the Zoe Quin conspiracy thing, it takes away from the essence of this thread and takes away the warning from the title, which is very important, because study has shown that most people only read headlines. This change does not make any sense and is only an advantage to the developers, who are trying to scam other people out of their money. I really can't say this any other way, but shame on the person that changed it, shame on those that agreed.

Don't worry, they just wanted to remove "their opinion" from content that they didn't create in the first place:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post29447194

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A developer has not made contact with any mods with requests to changes titles, nobody is being censored. and life can going on as normal.

What you did is quite literally the definition of censoring.

cen·sored cen·sor·ing

transitive verb:

to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable <censor the news>; also : to suppress or delete as objectionable <censor out indecent passages>

Infracted -Marthenil

[Chelly]

Just PM a super mod instead of clogging this thread with ridiculous conspiracy theories, jesus christ.

[dextersmith]

I was actually reading some stuff, and I think I am beginning to pity Teddy. Seriously, can you imagine getting hired into this type of project, and then find out you are the only one actually working on the game. Nothing like having 5 bosses with no skills telling you what to do and then you have to deal with feedback based on their mess. At some point maybe his eyes will open and he will realize he can probably grab a friend and make the game himself, without the clowns.

See, I hate that ideas guy and can't imagine having all those backseat drivers breathing down my back with their perpetual demands. Typically, the ideas guy is talentless and contribute nothing to a project beyond "are you done yet?", "I changed my mind, I have a better idea!", "let's see it! let's see it! let's see it!", and "dude, that's not what I envisioned! (*emo_scowl)" They often expect you to magically fulfill their bad or impossible dreams for free and take all credit. Any such people should have "ASSHOLE" tattooed on their foreheads!

[Howard Moon]

Well said, Vespian. Too late though, I'm afraid.

Who exactly is Teddy, anyway? I know he was hired on but does he have any professional experience?

Who knows, but he is developing ToA all by himself(!!!) so he must be pretty badass programmer! /bow /worship