Trials of Ascension, Shady Practices and the Big Crowdfunding Debate

[Pizzaman199]

Did anyone else notice that MassivelyOP did their one article on ToA when they started the KS. But since it's cancellation have mentioned it 3 times? xD I think their whole press campaign is coming in a little too late.

[Azrile]

Pretty funny, all the comments are slamming it for other reasons.. nobody even mentioned they had a pre-alpha cash shop.

Trials of Rejection ... my favorite.

[Kelimbror]

Not really, check the sources.

http://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comme...celed_failure/

He's talking about the Massivley comments.

[Azrile]

I know o.O;
They might not talking about it in the website, but they are talking about in the websites they took these information from.

Ah, I missed that Reddit.. Nobody used my name so Google didn´t send me an alert about it.

[Deleted]

My favourite response to all this was "trials of suspension".

[Juvencus]

I would love to know why when I start using ToA forums everything is just fine and after a couple days it just take me years to open a page.

The forum engine can't handle MMOs

[Azrile]

Does anyone else think Talon is trolling? I almost think he can´t be serious.

Here is my hypothesis of where the other $37,000 went. Forged Chaos paid for the mailing lists from a Nigerian Prince of people who fell for his scam. The 3 people still posting on the TOA forums in support of FC are people who also are waiting for news from their prince.

[Deleted]

Still no official word. I'm suspecting that the 3 'CEOs' are going to fade away at this point tbh.

[Fallen Angel]

Still no official word. I'm suspecting that the 3 'CEOs' are going to fade away at this point tbh.

Fade away until next cash shop and 700k KS.

[Sunaka]

The thing that confuses the shit out of me....
Were they that confident that they didn’t bother to think of a plan B in case Kickstarter failed?
…. Just what the shit? O.o

I'm curious what might've given you the impression that these guys were in any way skilled at planning.

[lawow74]

The thing that confuses the shit out of me....
Were they that confident that they didn’t bother to think of a plan B in case Kickstarter failed?
…. Just what the shit? O.o

My guess is they believed it would work in the beginning. Later, they decided it was better to play out the string than try and change their plan. Notice how hard Brax protested about working all week at his real job and all that. IMO this was never anything but a wishful thinking project. If it did, by some miracle, actually become a sustainable job, hey, awesome! And if it didn't, well, they weren't gonna put in any more effort than they felt like(as much as they protest otherwise).

I'm guessing they're shopping around to companies right now to see if anyone will buy their concept for a price they find reasonable. If that fails(which it is almost guaranteed to)they'll just go 'eh' and give up, failing the arrival of a genuine 'push button to make MMO' program at some point.

[Azrile]

My guess is they believed it would work in the beginning. Later, they decided it was better to play out the string than try and change their plan. Notice how hard Brax protested about working all week at his real job and all that. IMO this was never anything but a wishful thinking project. If it did, by some miracle, actually become a sustainable job, hey, awesome! And if it didn't, well, they weren't gonna put in any more effort than they felt like(as much as they protest otherwise).

I think the same thing. I think sometime last spring they realized this was never going to happen. I almost think they sabotaged everything. If you read Teddy´s post, it was clear that he had a lot of stuff done very early and couldn´t understand why they weren´t showing the good stuff, but yet they kept posting those horrible videos and screenshots..... which were just so bad that you almost had to try to make them that bad ( I´m looking at you Rebecca Black).

I still don´t see where they spent the other $37k, that could be a big part of the reason they sabotaged yet launched a KS. Like Brax said, they fullfilled their ´promise´.. they did a demo video and launched a KS.

[Azrile]

I'm curious what might've given you the impression that these guys were in any way skilled at planning.

that is the other thing that kills me. The 3 CEOs not only couldn´t make a game, but they basically mismanaged everything. The PR was horrible, their videos and screenshots were horrible. They wasted a ton of money on things like buying Unity Pro and had Teddy doing stupid projects that should have come much later in the process. And apparently their financial wizard CEO wasted $37k on who knows what. About the only thing they did right was put up a website and have a cash-shop.. nothing else they did worked at all.

[Kyanion]

that is the other thing that kills me. The 3 CEOs not only couldn´t make a game, but they basically mismanaged everything. The PR was horrible, their videos and screenshots were horrible. They wasted a ton of money on things like buying Unity Pro and had Teddy doing stupid projects that should have come much later in the process. And apparently their financial wizard CEO wasted $37k on who knows what. About the only thing they did right was put up a website and have a cash-shop.. nothing else they did worked at all.

They did what they said they would do! Make a demo! Okay!? Who cares how much money they pocketed after the fact! Who cares that game would never get made with such a shitty effort! They DID what they SAID they were gonna do! Make a DEMO! Okay!?

And man was that demo awful...thanks ToA for killing your own Kickstarter!

[Deleted]

The thing that confuses the shit out of me....
Were they that confident that they didn’t bother to think of a plan B in case Kickstarter failed?
…. Just what the shit? O.o

I think there is a very fine line between confidence, stupidity and naivety. Especially when these are clearly people who are just as heavily invested in their dream as their fans. I don't think it would be wrong to assume that ToA's community was a circle of yes men promoting a culture of expectation that everybody was instantly going to love ToA, which is why they felt that they could.

I'm just still amazed at how anyone who doesn't even know how to code, let alone have experience in the games industry can have the gall to think that they could pull off something so complex, especially just by outsourcing the process to other staff and taking a purely conceptual role. I had my suspicions for a while, but I never thought the outcome would be this ridiculous. The world really is just filled with idiots.

It is no surprise to me that they failed the second time round. It's actually quite logical; with their skills and management, the game was statistically never going to be a success with those odds.

[lawow74]

I don't think it would be wrong to assume that ToA's community was a circle of yes men promoting a culture of expectation that everybody was instantly going to love ToA, which is why they felt that they could.

There's a lot of truth to this, too. The fish-eye lens effect of the Internet made it easy to think that 'sooo many people!' loved their game so they just assumed it would be a cakewalk to raise the money. Then they ran smack-dab into reality. And despite how things stumbled and faltered, you still had the yes-men praising them at every turn. Until the funding dried up and their sole programmer quit. Now it's down to a few desperate stragglers hanging on against all hope that something will still come of it.

[Sunaka]

It's actually quite logical; with their skills and management, the game was statistically never going to be a success with those odds.

Yeah, and this would be true even if they managed to finish it. It would truly be an inferior game, overhyped to the point of heavy bashing, and would become a bad mark on the "successes" on Kickstarter. Only real way it could potentially turn out well is if they offloaded it. But I doubt any companies would take a mostly-generic game concept with hard-to-sell features and "features". It'd be on the fans, really, and there's way too many kooks in that kitchen.

[lawow74]

Funny how people keep trying to make comparisons between Trials of Ascension and other projects by completely ignoring the important things =/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...nt-underground


.... http://s11.postimg.org/rplauwaw3/Untitled.jpg =/

But the ToA devs are like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, so all that totes dun matter in the face of that much physically-based rendered awesomeness. They just said they needed yer help...yer help...yer help...to make you feel like you were included! Just you wait and see!!!! Dragon-Spider PvP is going to turn WoW into Hello Kitty Island Adventure!!!!!!!!!

(and in the words of the late great Sir Terry Pratchett, 'Multiple explanation points. A sure sign of a diseased mind.')

[Azrile]

Funny how people keep trying to make comparisons between Trials of Ascension and other projects by completely ignoring the important things =/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...nt-underground


.... http://s11.postimg.org/rplauwaw3/Untitled.jpg =/

Let´s see the difference

Descent Underground - A sequel to a very popular game
Descent Underground Developers- from Wing Commander, Star Citizen, Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, SWTOR, Gods and Heroes

Trials of Ascension - Based on fan fiction
Trials of Ascension - No developers.

Yep, I see the comparisons... completely legit.

[Taojnhy]

Let´s see the difference

Descent Underground - A sequel to a very popular game
Descent Underground Developers- from Wing Commander, Star Citizen, Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, SWTOR, Gods and Heroes

Trials of Ascension - Based on fan fiction
Trials of Ascension - No developers.

Yep, I see the comparisons... completely legit.

Come now Azrile, I believe it's already been established that they were all developers, including whoever's job it was to make a fresh pot of coffee.