The October video newsletter for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

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In this episode Creative Director Chris Perkins outlines racial passive abilities. JN Gerhart shows us the Spriggans from concept to model. And we wrap up it all up with some Burning Questions from the community.

Thanks Couchpotato!

A new video for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is now available on YouTube, showing the latest game content.

After much glee and celebration of our first stream in March, Visionary Realms is ready to show off all new game content for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. On Thursday, June 23rd, Brad McQuaid, Chris Perkins and John Diasparra took three guests from the Who's Gaming Now network through two hours of gameplay through Black Dagger Keep and into a surprise dungeon. Viewers get a first on-screen glimpse of the perception system some of you may remember from GDC earlier this year. Find out for yourself why MMO gamers are salivating at the promise of a new MMO that remembers the tenets of community, reputation, and cooperation.

(note: the focus has been on gameplay and environments -- the character models and animations are still placeholder -- this is pre-alpha footage.  That said, if you compare to the last twitch stream video, you can see the progress we have made.)

A couple of days ago a new race has been made public for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, named Dark Myr of Syronai's Rest.

"The Myr hail from the planet Issul. The race was born at a time when Issul’s oceans were dying. Wars between ancient leviathans had erupted beneath the waves, in battles so fierce even kingdoms on land were destroyed. But the gods of Issul did not stop the calamity - they fought each other instead of giving aid. At last, one humble goddess named Syronai begged the spirit of Issul for answers. Manifesting herself in the depths, Issul gave Syronai a sacred gift: power to bring forth a single, new creation. With this gift Syronai fashioned the Myr, a race with kingly hearts and furious might. The Myr struck against the leviathans with abandon, breaking them from war and driving the terrors back into their abysses. With the oceans freed, the gods came together to bless and rule over the Myr. Songs beneath the sea declared that the Myr carried "the heartbeat of Issul herself" and the race flourished under a unified pantheon. Yet of all the gods, Syronai remained their first love.

The Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen webpage has a link for a recorded Twitch Stream where Chris Perkins of Visionary Realms talks various topics dealing with MMO games.

I just wanted to let you all know that our very own Chris Perkins (Joppa) will be appearing as a special guest on the Theory Forge Twitch Stream.

The topics will be:

1) Music in MMORPGs

2) Pantheon's return to a social, community based MMORPG experience + player interdependency

3) The challenge of bringing innovative ideas into a spiritual successor

So make sure you tune in to watch and listen as Chris discusses Pantheon with the Theory Forge team!

Visionary Realms released a the second part of a new Developer Round Table.

Pantheon Community,

It is with great pleasure that we release Part 2 of our Developer Round Table!

I had the honour of speaking with the team and asking them your questions, we had really good discussions on multiple topics that I think you will all enjoy a lot. We had a few extra members of the team join us for the Developer Round Table this time around so I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you all!

The Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website has a few more updates from last month.

New Interview with Joppa and Montreseur

We are happy to release another interview with Sam Skatch - WASD Radio featuring our very own Chris Perkins (Joppa) and John Diasparra (Monty) speaking about new Environment Art and World Building plus other Pantheon related discussion, so head on over to WASD Radio and check it out!

Developer Round Table

I had the honour of speaking with the team and asking them your questions, we had really good discussions on multiple topics that I think you will all enjoy a lot. We had a few extra members of the team join us for the Developer Round Table this time around so I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you all!

The Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website has a few more updates this month. I will share the links to both of them below with a short summary of the content of each update.

Pantheon Update: 2.20.15

As we said at the beginning of this year: we are making a consciousness shift to raise the bar of Pantheon's visual quality, while not compromising performance. We have put a great amount of energy and research into making the Unity Engine give us everything its got! We've purposely not shown much of the game during this time until some of these visual overhauls had been completed and streamlined. Now we're ready to share some of the fruit of this work in today's update. This video is focused on highlighting our new World Building and Environmental Art workflow, and the visual improvements of this new pipeline.

The Dwarves of Khadassa

Few races can so intimately trace history back to the moment of their creation. Yet, so few gods were like Khazas of Oldassa and so few races show the fealty of his Dwarves. For a lone celestial to bring forth a new race is not unheard of; even among those now on Terminus, such ancestry exists in some number. But no other creation has remained so united with their creator as the Dwarves are to their king. And no other celestial has so stewarded their creation as he, forsaking even his own immortality to lead them.

The Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website has a new update about a new AMA.

The Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website has a new update this week .It seems the developer Visionary Realms has shut down the website store.

Please be advised that we have removed the Pantheon store, the reasons behind this decisions were well discussed by the team and we feel that the store is not part of our vision for this site, especially at this early stage of Pantheons development cycle and we also feel the store was in need of a re-design and reevaluation of products sold if it were to be brought back online in the future, so based on those points the store has been removed.

We will however honour any purchases made from the store, so do not worry if you have purchased an item or pledge from the store, we will continue to honour those purchases. We will not however sell anything that could be mistaken for giving a player an advantage, so if we decide to bring the store back online or create a new one in the future, it will only stock Pantheon merchandise and fluff items that supporters can enjoy, no item sold will contain stats or any type of advantage over other players.

If you have any questions or concerns over items that you have already purchased, please do not hesitate to send me or another team member a Private Message (PM) as we are more than happy to help you.

I would also ask that you please refrain from creating a new thread about this news, as the decision is final and we are not currently taking any feedback on the matter, please refer all questions to a team member.

The Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website has a few more updates this week. I will share the links to all three of them below with a short summary of the content.

Developer Round Table - 1.18.15

Due to the length of the discussion, we made the decision to drop the video and keep it to audio only, because the subsequent file size and turn around time would have been a bit unruly. We hope you enjoy this first of many more to come!

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen - Game Features and Summary

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is an MMORPG based on challenging gameplay and open world high fantasy, with a strong focus on group-oriented content. It takes place in a world called Terminus, populated by a vast variety of deities, locations, creatures and heroes. Mortal and planar realms have collided, creating the dramatic and epic environment of Terminus. With some of those realms came entire races and cultures, with Celestial deities that, over time, raised empires and forged a turbulent political landscape. Centuries later, this phenomena has continued to occur and the world of Terminus continues to grow in size and in depth.

Welcome to The Keeper's Vault!

We decided about a month ago that we wanted to develop a platform to share all of Pantheon's Lore that was well-designed and enabled us to publish Lore in a streamlined, organized and quality way. Thus, The Keeper's Vault was born - inside you will find a constantly updating repository of Pantheon's Lore as it continues to expand throughout development.

 As you visit the site, bear in mind that much of the Lore is still in development: being written, vetted, polished and finalized before it actually makes it into the Vault. Therefore, as you notice the sections of the site that are empty, those are areas where the content has not been finalized and therefore not released yet. The good news is that now there is a singular location you can bookmark and check often to keep up-to-date with all of the official Lore as it is released.

Visionary Realms released a new podcast today on Soundcloud.

1.11.15 podcast discussing recent promotions, the upcoming Developer Round Table Discussion and beginning to take a closer look at Pantheon's Achievement System.

The forums for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has information about the games development from Visionary Realms based on a Facebook post that is now blocked form reading.

Something I’ve observed after making MMOs for well over a decade is the Pendulum. It’s the tendency for an issue or aspect of the game to switch from one extreme to the other. People (including me, although I try to be aware of it and avoid it) seem to react to a problem or issue to the extreme. If there is an issue that’s problematic, the tendency seems to be to push the pendulum to the opposite extreme. This usually just creates a new problem. So what I’ve learned over the years is the middle ground is usually where you want to be. It’s all about balance.

All that said, sometimes you nudge the Pendulum gently depending on what’s going on and where you are at in a project. In the last 6 months, I feel we’ve had to prove that we are making a real game, that Pantheon is *not* vaporware. Because of that, we’ve been focused a little more on quantity over quality. A huge emphasis has been on actual MMO client/server gameplay. That’s not to say that lore hasn’t been written, or zones haven’t been made – they certainly have. But let’s be honest: graphically, visually, Pantheon is not where it needs to be. You know that, and so do we.

The plan for 2015 is about gently nudging the Pendulum the other way, more so towards quality and the visuals. We need to attract game news sites and get more coverage and get more people excited about the game. We also need to attract investors. Quite simply, we need to raise the bar.

The November update for the MMO Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is now available.

Thanks Black Rune.

Visionary Realms released a new work-in-progress video for Pantheon.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is a High Fantasy themed Massively Multiplayer Role Playing game (MMORPG) with a heavy focus on character development, an immersive world, and player interdependence (grouping). It is being developed by Visionary Realms, Inc., a lean and mean volunteer team. We are targeting a ‘niche’ audience who wants more of a challenge, with a mixture of classic MMO mechanics and modern ideas.

This October 2014 video shows our latest development progress, including:

- Database-driven NPC population
- New zones
- Combat and exploration
- Original music, atmospheres and sound effects.

You are encouraged to watch the August update video to see how much measurable forward progress has occurred since then. We are in full-on development mode. More videos coming soon!

Visionary Realms has a new post on the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website they're looking to hire a few more Experienced World Builders/Level Designers.

Seeking World Builders

Looking for Volunteer Experienced World Builders/Level Designers.

• Must have experience building both outdoor and indoor levels.

• Must have C# scripting knowledge as it relates to Unity.

• Be able to balance game performance with aesthetics.

• Able to take creative direction but also capable of expressing their own creativity when building a zone.

• Must have experience using the following tools:

 -Unity

 -World Machine or L3DT

 -Photoshop

Please email a link to your portfolio and resume to brad@pantheonrotf.com

Visionary Realms posted two new updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen this week. The first post talks about an updated game Atlas.

Updated the atlas of Terminus.  The map now shows some of the areas and names that are either complete or under development.

The second post shares a few Screenshots of the improved GUI.

Here are some new very-in-progress screenshots, including the first glimpse at our new but VERY early (but semi-functional) UI. You can also see some gameplay going on if you read through the text box. If you have any questions as to what you are seeing, let me know. We're making some serious progress and having a blast of time doing it. Enjoy!

Visionary Realms Brad McQuaid posted a new update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen this week that shares a few more screenshots on the game.

Bah, why wait a couple of days? I looked through the various zones being worked on and grabbed some graphical goodness. As always, please remember this is work-in-progress, and that the different areas shown are at different points in terms of being finished. So, for example, lighting and sky will look better in some shots vs. others. That said, I think it shows our world building team is NOT fooling around and we are building the world of Terminus!!

Visionary Realms Brad McQuaid released a new work-in-progress video for Pantheon.

Video showing latest development progress, including database-driven NPC population, polished zones, and original music. Make sure you set it to 1080p!

He also released a new progress update a day after the video.

Wasn't that video update fantastic?  This team we have built is composed of some awesome and very hard working people. Please give a big round of applause to all the team members who have poured out their time, their energy and sacrificed a fair amount of sleep to make this happen.  They are doing such a great job and giving so much of themselves to bring this game together and we are ever thankful for the time they have contributed to this project.

We have had a lot of new additions to the team, so many that we have now closed applications to the Lore team nor we are seeking any more music composers presently. We are only accepting applications for exceptionally talented (ie: extensive experience with) Unity 3D programmers, worldbuilders, and 3D artists. If you or someone you know qualifies in one of these categories please send us a PM here on the website or send us an email and we will proceed from there. Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest. We are so thankful to each one of you for your passion and dedication to helping us create Pantheon.

Visionary Realms Brad McQuaid posted a new update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Ok, the movie is not going to be ready by the weekend; maybe Tuesday... The team is working VERY hard, but there's 'too hard' and I don't want to see people get burned out. That said, here's a bunch of shots showing what we're working on, namely zoning, population (from the database -- truly data-driven), and putting some of the UI elements back in.

Once we have a couple populated zones (which will happen in the next couple of days) and once we've made a movie for you guys, the next step is NPC AI, movement, and pathing. Then after that, combat. So we are making HUGE measurable forward progress. That said, the screens I'm sharing have visual glitches in them and such, so please always remember we're still very much in development and pre-alpha Thanks I hope you enjoy them anyway -- I'm excited because it's really starting to look like a game!

The screenshots are from Halnir Pass and Mah'rela Island. Then there's two in-unity shots of the Weeping Isles. And then one shot from the database showing all the mobs and their x,y,z,rotations for you tech-heads.

(ps. yes, I know the majority of assets were purchased -- please read my earlier posts and blogs regarding this).

-The Pantheon Team

Visionary Realms Brad McQuaid posted a new mini-update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, and included a couple of new screenshots of the game.

Ok, we are getting ready to show some serious forward progress, hopefully by this weekend. In the interim, I wanted to post a few screenshots of Halnir -- you've seen the zone before, but not polished like this. Also, we changed our in-house tool to a web based asp.net app. Probably not interesting to everyone, but still worth posting a couple of shots I think.

Well its time for another update from Visionary Realms Brad McQuaid. He shares a few more images, and gives a brief update on the games development progress.

Update for this week: Programming continues to work on animations and other polish issues. Tools are being ported to web apps as opposed to native windows apps for a variety of reasons. We are interviewing a 3D artist that has promise. Lore is working on the map and we should have a world map soonish to share with you. World Building continues forward. The screenshots for this week are for a different island (Mah'rela Isles) being worked on by a different world builder, but they WILL look similar for now because of the shared assets.

Visionary Realms Brad McQuaid has posted the next monthly update for Pantheon.

Update 07/21/2014

Its update time again! Thank you for your support as we progress through development and Pantheon continues to take shape.  We have been making solid, steady progress these last couple of weeks.  Currently we have several island scenes that are in development and will share some early screenshots of those.  In addition, we have finished working out the races/classes that will be included at launch.

Visionary Realms Brad McQuaid posted two more updates for Pantheon.

Update 7/7

We now have 4 World Builders on the team, each of them working on a zone. I'm attaching some screenshots of their very early work in progress. They are using World Machine -- I wanted to thank all of you who've pledged $$ -- this allowed us to buy the licenses we needed for World Machine (and other software too, of course). Again, this is early stuff, but 1. I think it shows some cool potential and 2. The community deserves to see what the team is working on, regardless of how 'finished' or 'polished' it looks. (let me know if you agree).

Update 7/7 part 2

Here's another look inside of Visionary Realms: These are screenshots of the very early Windows database tool that Game Designers will use to create NPCs, items, quests, etc. It's a windows client that talks right to our MS SQL database. All MMOs have (or should have) something like this -- there has to be an efficient way to get content into the game. In the next few weeks, the zone server will actually load the encounter data and place NPCs into the world. Then, finally, we'll start turning some combat back on (that's server authoritative).

Visionary Realms  Brad McQuaid released a new work-in-progress video for Pantheon.

Visionary Realms has posted a new blog update for Pantheon on the games website.

Follow-up Update!

Things are proceeding very well. We now have a world server running all of the time and two zone servers. And you can zone from an outdoor area into a dungeon/cave. The lore team is also hard at work on a world map. We've also started to code the windows tool that will allow game designers to create NPCs, items, encounter tables, quests, etc. I am very happy with the progress this team is making!

The character animations are MUCH better than as depicted in the last movie, but we still want to do a little tidying up. We should have another movie for you all by end of next week, hopefully sooner. In the meantime please enjoy a new bunch of screenshots showing both outdoors and the dungeon/cave.
    
NOTE:  these were posted on this site earlier, but you can see higher resolution versions on our FB page -- please check them out!

Visionary Realms has released a new work-in-progress video for Pantheon.

We will be uploading videos here every 1-2 weeks showing the community the progress we are making.  These videos are not made to look spectacular, but rather to show functionality and to keep the community informed as to the measurable forward progress we are making.  This video in particular shows that we now have true Client/Server code working.  You can create an account, select a character, and log into the server.  Once in-game you can see and talk to other players. 

Earlier videos showed a client authoritative model, whereas as of this milestone, we have true client/server MMO code, where the server is logging you into a zone and handling movement, while the client also extrapolates movement.  Also working is time-of-day (although it’s sped up right now).  John Diasparra made the music and the environment and Branden Snowberger did the majority of coding to get us to this point.

For now they have two videos uploaded.

Brad McQuaid of Visionary Realms has posted another update on the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website with an update on the re-building status of the MMO.

Ok, here comes the plug: crowd-funding has predictably died down since a few weeks after we launched www.pantheonrotf.com. This was expected, but we still do need your help, especially with full development underway again. With the weekly updates so you can monitor our progress, our hope is that some of you will be able to send some more money our way. In addition to paying the volunteer team as much as possible, we are at a point now where we need to buy hardware & software. One of our team members has fiber to their house, so we won’t need to rent out server racks for quite a while during pre-alpha. But that does mean we need to purchase a couple of computer servers. We also have licensing costs, like Unity. We are also interviewing character artists, and once they are brought on board they will need licenses to Photoshop, Maya, and other art programs, as well as drawing tablets (likely Wacom Cintiqs or similar). The programmers also have some software they need (thank you BizSpark!), and we continue to download assets and packages from the Unity store to save us time and make sure nobody on the team is gated.

Brad McQuaid of Visionary Realms has posted his third update on the website for
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen about the games development.

 Re-building Pantheon Part 3

We are having great success re-building the team, including the Lore and Moderator teams.  A huge thanks to all who are volunteering their time!

 1. New Lore:  the WarWizard.  Check it out in the Wiki and on FB (the new art from JP Targete is full size on FB)!

 2. New Lore Master: Please welcome Sparkling and her growing team!

 3. New Lead Moderators:  Please congratulate Multisync & Kyndread!

 4. New Unity Zone builder:  Please welcome Montreseur!! 

I'm still working through all of the resumes, with help from Sparkling.  One of my main next goals is to find a Unity programmer who can take over from where the project itself was left.

Brad McQuaid of Visionary Realms has posted more information on three different updates about the continued development of his failed kickstarter MMO Pantheon.

New Status Report and Plan

Some changes are going on right now with the project.  The important thing is that Pantheon is alive.  We are moving ahead now with development, just with fewer people and at a slower pace.  We are continuing to reach out to potential investors, so we can bring the project to its next important phase:  having enough $$ to have an office and to make team members actual employees.

Re-Building Pantheon Part 1

We have some work to do to get the community active again, to continue work on the game itself, albeit at a slower pace at first, and to continue to simply get the word out there about the game.  Here's some of what we're working on:

1. I've been posting a lot in the Apprentice Developer forums because I'm starting to re-build the Pantheon Team.  But I need to also start posting on the other forums that many more people have access to.  I'm going to do that as are some of the moderators and others who I've begun a project relationship with.

2. I'm going to be doing blogs, at least once a week, about all sorts of things.  Posting the high level design of the Climate system, for example, was received very positively.  So you'll see more of that.  Also, I get a lot of questions about how does one build an MMO, or even a computer game in general.  So some of my blogs will be about that.  In general you're going to get a lot more information from me about MMOs in general and, of course, Pantheon specifically.  I've also made the decision that some of the more unique ideas behind the game that we were holding back (the sekret sauce) just doesn't make sense in a crowdfunded start-up endeavor like what VR is doing.  So I'll be posting and talking about some of those ideas as well (tease/example:  different types of mana, colored differently).

3. Lore! We're putting together a new lore team (more on this later in this update).  We will be building on what is there, making some changes, etc. The high level vision of the story and lore behind Pantheon was put together collaboratively, while a lot of the details put together by team members and volunteers. Building on what’s there we will do so with respect and appreciation to those who came before us. But there will be a few tweaks here and there --  I can say right now that the Dark Knight class will be re-named (unless Jim Lee calls me up and wants a DC universe shard to collide with Terminus -- then we can talk Dark Knights.

Re-building Pantheon Part 2

I have received over 50 emails (at last count, they keep coming in) from people all over wanting to help out.  We are blown away by the response!  In fact, I'm a bit overwhelmed going through them all.  I've got resumes from designers, programmers, artists, moderators, and lore people.  I'm going through them all, but it will take a little time.  Just wanted to do a quick update to say thanks and keep 'em coming!

If you would liek to see what the development status is of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, which failed to meet its funding goal on Kickstarter you can check out their facebook page, which has quite a few of them. They hope this will result in people donating some money to keep them going.

You may have also heard some of the bittersweet news.  While we have demos, builds, business plans and term sheets to show investors, we haven't received any funding outside of crowdfunding on www.pantheonrotf.com, and this money almost entirely run out.

At first, we told people to only continue to donate to keep the web site up and such, but we are now planning on the following and therefore would welcome additional crowdfunding in support of development and completing our dream:  Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen

1. Some of the team is returning, albeit it part time, giving what time they can

2. We have some new funding leads

3. People are getting excited about what I posted on FB (should have done so weeks ago -- my mistake)

4. I'm committed to this project and finding funding.

5. We are looking for new team members to add to the group -- people who can work part time right now without a huge income.

Anyway, to keep the board up and to help out those who need some extra $$ to pay the bills, if you are able, please donate at www.pantheonrotf.com.  If you can't, we understand -- please continue to spread the word about the game -- this is super important.

MMO-Play has posted a new article for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen whether the failed kickstarter MMO is finished.I wrote about how the developer mentioned cash was running out two weeks ago, and development was slowing down.

How did we get to this point? In early September, 2013, Brad McQuaid talked about working on a new mmo that would be a true spiritual successor to EverQuest and Vanguard. Four months later, he announced that the new game was Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and unveiled the Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $800,000. From that point on, McQuaid and his company, Visionary Realms, Inc., did everything right. They granted endless interviews, talked about the features that they wanted to implement in the game, and were responsive to the inquiries of players. One would think that such actions would lead to a successful funding, but such was not the case. The Kickstarter project ended with only $460,000 being collected from 3157 backers, so gears were switched to allow funding to be collected on the mmo's website. As I write this, they've raised $161,000 from a total of 1591 backers.

The most distressing news for fans of the Pantheon mmo is that the game has posted its current financial situation, where they honestly lay out the facts. Development on the game has slowed considerably as they are unable to pay the development team. Any funds given at the current time will be used for maintenance costs and keeping the website up. Now, McQuaid and his team are hoping to lure private investors to fund further development, but so far nothing tangible has been reported.

So what is the outlook for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen? To be brutally honest, I think it's highly likely that the game is done, and I come to this for a variety of reasons. First, the game was designed to appeal to old-school gamers who want challenging gameplay, having to group to succeed, and be forced to walk or ride to fully explore the game's world. The reality is that while many gamers talk about wanting to play such a game, their numbers are few as casual gaming has taken over. Players no longer want to spend eight hours running raids or having to spend forty minutes running across a zone to reach a quest point. The players that cut their teeth on EverQuest are older and have families and jobs now. They cannot afford to spend a great deal of time gaming, and newer players want to play at their own convenience.

Visionary Realms has a new post on the the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen blog that announces development will be slowing down due to low funding.

In the past few months we have seen some of the most passion bubble up from the Internet than we have in some time; all for an idea of a game we all want to see happen. It has been an exciting time for all of us.

Over the first month of development through crowdfunding, we’ve been able to achieve what was needed to be done in order to gain investor interest. That is, we’ve shown there is interest in a game like Pantheon, we’ve built the term sheets and business plan, and now have a prototype we can show to potential investors.   

The downside now is that our initial resources have depleted, which regrettably means that development is going to slow down until finances can be secured. It’s not something we want to do by any means, but as we cannot guarantee paychecks to the team, they each need to be able to spend time on other things to pay the bills.

Once we’re able to get that level of funding we can then secure much-needed studio space and be able to pick up the pace of production dramatically. We are deeply thankful to this community for getting Pantheon to this critical point, where we have been able to put together an attractive package to present to potential investors.

In the interim, any donations made at this point until further notice will be going directly to maintaining the website during this phase, and not towards development.

Visionary Realms released information in a press release about a new playable race in their MMO Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. So without further ado here are the details.

The Taurokian -  A Playable Race in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen

Visionary Realms, Inc. is pleased to announce today that the Taurokian has been added to the lineup of playable races for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

The minotaur-like race is a large one, considered to be frenzied fighters by the rest of the populace. They were once removed from Terminus, but they have now returned and are ready to fight for supremacy, even prepared to take on the mighty ogres.

From the Taurokian page:

"Their martial prowess originated from their culture that was steeped in brutal warfare and ritualistic dark arts. They learned to master the secrets of steel and iron, forging some of the finest armor and weapons ever wielded on Terminus. The taurokian warriors are known for their strength, speed and frenzied charging ability that they would often use to gore large formations of troops."

The Taurokian is the sixth confirmed race for Pantheon's launch, estimated to be arriving in 2017.

GamePedia had the chance to interview Visionary Realms Director of Public Relations   Benjamin de la Durantaye, and Chief Information & Operations Officer Tom Sampson.

The interview talks about their MMO Pantheon, crowd funding, and website features.

Two of the main Pantheon tenets that Tom, Ben, and the rest of the VR Team look forward to bringing back are a sense of adventure and community bonding. Once considered essential ingredients in early MUDs and MMOs, the folks at VR believe some of these important early online gaming tenets were lost during the last decade of MMO evolution. Danger, intrigue, curiosity, and a sprawling unknown landscape to explore will bring back some old magic to the gaming veterans of the late 90s, and give the newer generations of gamers an adventure unlike any they have experienced in recent MMOs.

“Within a few years after EverQuest was released, the total number of MMO players numbered under one million. Now we've got this nearly 400 million strong world-wide player count, half of which are paying something to play, and most of whom have never experienced a game that require grouping and making friends in order to get ahead and overcome obstacles. In every modern MMO that comes to mind, players can either solo play their way to the top, or get automatically put in groups and instantly teleported across the game world in order to experience nothing special, and all without ever even introducing themselves or taking the time to make friends. For most modern MMOs, it’s all about the destination, and the player’s journey has been simply reduced to fly-over content. Pantheon is now, and will continue to be about the journey, a challenging adventure you will need to make with friends new and old in order to survive. We want to not only satisfy our core community of fans who have been waiting a long time to take this journey with us, but to also bring back some of the old challenges that we think were lost along the way, and to also offer an entire generation of newer gamers a challenge the likes of which they have never seen.” Tom told us these words about recreating challenge and mystery, while discussing how sensible physics, a great user interface, spectacular visuals, and intuitive player controls are also extremely important components of Pantheon.

Visionary Realms released a new press release that talks about a new version of crowd-funding they are using after the failed Kickstarter for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Crowd MMO Development - A New Way to Make Games

Crowdsourcing turns to crowdfunding. And now crowdfunding becomes crowd-developing. Visionary Realms is taking a new look at how games are designed and developed from the ground up by deeply involving the community.

Funding for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, a classic take on epic MMO adventure, is taking place on VR's website at PantheonRotF.com but the team is taking things a big step further by involving the community in the very design and development of the game.

Through the website, the community is able to:

• Build a wiki for the game
• Participate in design discussions with the developers through the forums and chat channel
• Present and vote on ideas through a Think Tank
• Create their own guilds and recruit members
• Write their own blogs
• Participate in weekly roundtable discussions with the developers

And a whole lot more! Visionary Realms is taking ideas directly from the feedback and suggestions the community has been offering and working those ideas and concepts directly into the game.

Worlds Factory interviews Brad McQuaid about his failed kickstarter Pantheon.

It’s a period of upheaval within the MMORPG genre. Many upcoming titles have at least a few sandbox features, in an effort to go back to the genre’s roots as they were originally proposed by Ultima Online; simultaneously, there is also a certain trend to reject the comfort provided by the latest games, with many users yearning for an “old-school” experience, such as the one provided by Everquest for example.

Pantheon follows this road, mainly thanks to Chief Creative Officer Brad McQuaid, who also created Everquest back in 1999. His studio, called Visionary Realms Inc. and based in San Diego, recently tried to fund Pantheon through Kickstarter, but only $460K of the $800K requested were raised. Still, the team is going forward with the development and has already setup a crowdfunding system through their official website, so you can pledge right now if the following conversation with Director of Communications Benjamin de la Durantaye sparks your interest.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has failed to reach it's funding goal, and as promised the latest update links to the new website were you can donate to help make the game.

Post-Kickstarter Site Launch

With a little over four hours to go on the Kickstarter, we wanted to let you all know of our new website, which is now available for pledging to Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. After the Kickstarter we'd like to invite you over to PantheonRotF.com where you'll be able to pledge directly to the game. Should the Kickstarter not fund, no pledges from it will be charged, so the reward tiers have been copied over from those on Kickstarter, and there are a few new options as well.

Additionally the new site offers a deep social experience. You can create guilds, groups, join your friends, share photos and videos, and much more in preparation of Pantheon. You can even pledge a monthly amount to become an apprentice developer, where you'll get interaction with the developers during roundtable sessions to make your voice heard! (The Apprentice Developer perks are also available in certain reward tiers).

The benefit of a live pledging system such as the one on the PantheonRotF.com site is that the funds received can immediately go into development, with no delay. Your pledges or subscriptions will be directly responsible for the progress on the game!

We wanted to take another moment to thank all of you for your support of the game thus far. Through your feedback during the Kickstarter we've been able to gain a lot of valuable information in moving forward. We're very grateful, and look forward to seeing you all again really soon! The Kickstarter may be coming to a close, but the game is just getting started.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's kickstarter is entering the final hours, and Visionary Realms has an update on the game to help raise more funds.

Approaching the Final Kickstarter Hours

As we approach the last 24 hours of the Kickstarter, we wanted to give a shout out to all of our backers and community who have proved over the last 40 days that there is a market for a return to classic-style MMO gaming. Your support and actions have been inspiring for the past 39 days and we're all very much looking forward to hearing more from you over the next years to come as Pantheon heads into full development mode.

Over 3,000 of you heard the call and wanted to get on board and have already pledged over $400,000 to see this game made - no small feat and it speaks volumes about community for this game. We've already seen the interest, and now's the time to reach even further. We're going to continue to reach out not only within the next 24 hours, but beyond, to make sure that everyone hears about this game. We already know the interest is there - now it's a matter of what we can do to make the product appealing enough to continue pledging towards.

We still have a little over $375k that we can reach for within this last day on the Kickstarter, so let's all give it that extra push. Spreading the word through social networks, word of mouth and screaming from the rooftops will continue to get this project closer to completion. We've seen the passion in the community and if anyone can do it, we can.

For the final day we're also removing the caps off of the tiers - so if there's a tier you or your friends have been waiting for, now's the time! Also remember we have a whole load of addons to flesh out your Pantheon pledge.

As a little extra incentive, if we can reach the $800,000 goal before the Kickstarter closes, we'll offer ALL Kickstarter pledgers unlimited access to the post-Kickstarter development site for three months as an extra thank you. There you'll be able to interact directly with the team and become a part of the development of the game.

Thank you all again from the Visionary Realms team, and can't wait to see how the next 24 hours unfold! We're very proud of this community and are looking forward to many more good times ahead.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has two more updates from Visionary Realm, and things still don't look good. The project has 40 Hrs left, and still needs $360,000.

Update #51 - The Summoner

Summoners are masters of reaching through the dimensional rifts to pull items from other worlds into existence or create a portal allow you to travel long distances in a flash. Able to summon many things ranging from provisions to weapons, Summoners can be mobile resource centers. But they can do more than that. Summoners are manipulators of the elements giving them the ability to create elemental copies of creatures in the world or shape the body of a sentient magical core. A summoner and his or her pets are powerful foes whose versatility ensure they are always ready to go.

Update #52 - The Planes of Arcana

The fundamental elements that hold the fabric of existence together within the Pantheon universe are known as the Planes of Arcana. These intangible and abstract planes of magic were formed from the resonating forces that destroyed all life prior to the Planar Collisions. Each one of these planes is comprised of a specific arcane force that serves an important function in the universe. Unseen and infinite, these are not realms that can be visited, but their powers can be channeled through an array of complex and dangerous magical disciplines. Once tapped, they can be used like an artist’s palette to create masterful spells or imbue magical abilities.

Visionary Realms has another update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen were they share more screnshots, and a new developer video.

New Screenshots & Last Night's R&D Show

Vu's been making leaps and bounds with the environments in The Wastes this week.

Earlier we showed some screens of the new terrain details and some early work on shaders and lighting. Last night Vu continued the polish on the area in The Wastes, added in even more detail, some fog, more lighting and texture tweaks, and the result? See for yourself!

Also last night, Salim, Tony, Vu and Ben made another appearance on the Rob and Dan Show, streaming work from Vu's desktop directly to the audience. Meanwhile, the team answered questions from the Twitch channel about Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. You can see the archive of the show below.

Visionary Realms has posted multiple updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. 

Update #48 - New Terrain Screenshots

The art team here at Visionary Realms, Inc. has been working hard to create new, better looking environments for Pantheon. Vu's been working on getting some more details into the existing terrain, and developing a new look for the external areas. The result? I'll let the screenshots speak for themselves.

Update #49 - Post-Kickstarter Plans and Two More Dev Q&A Opportunities 

As we enter into the final week of the Kickstarter campaign we wanted to not only thank you for all the support you've shown over the past 35 days, but also to let you know what's coming up. We still have until Saturday to get the rest of those pledges in, so please help us spread the word, as you have been. We're very grateful for all the support that's been shown. 

Now, what happens after the Kickstarter? Whether the Kickstarter funds or not by Saturday, the plan remains the same: we will be continuing crowdfunding through our own website. Tom and his team have been building the site over the past little while, as you've probably noticed. The changes will all be in place by Saturday when the Kickstarter comes to a close. From the official game site you'll be able to pledge, much like you have been on Kickstarter, but with less percentage taken off due to fees deducted by Amazon and Kickstarter. So this means more of your money goes directly into the development of the game.

The reward tiers will be similar to those on Kickstarter, with some tweaking done. We've learned a lot about what you're looking for during this campaign and we feel we can deliver on getting you the kinds of rewards you want in a cleaner, easier-to-understand tiers. We'll also be able to add more rewards at any given time, without the new rewards affecting other tiers. This was something we've been unable to do too much of during the Kickstarter without a lot of confusion as to how specific tiers would affect the others. 

The new site puts a great emphasis on community and social interaction, much like Pantheon. You'll be able to connect with friends, see their status feeds, create guilds and groups, share images and videos, browse and participate in the wiki, toss around game ideas in the Think Tank,chat with friends in the IRC, post blogs, create events, participate in polls and surveys, and discuss topics on the forums. We feel this kind of community building is important prior to launching a community-centric game, so we wanted to give you the tools to do just that.

Visionary Realms talks about the Sunken Sanctum in the latest Pantheon update.

On the Sunken Sanctum

Constructed millennia ago by an ancient race of war wizards, the Sunken Sanctum is a foreboding monument resting deep within the dreadful marshland of ruins called the Wastes. It is a fortress built to contain the greatest treasures of the ancient Celestial Empire, worshippers turned foes of Nexus that have vanished from existence. Filled with the tombs of eternal guardians and sealed with arcane wards, this dark bunker of corrupted reverence has repelled entry by the greatest champions of Terminus. And to those few that entered the abyss and survived, a cursed life was their fate. Only the foolish or desperate dare to brave the Sunken Sanctum.

Visionary Realms talks about how death works in the games latest update.

On Death in Pantheon

The world of Pantheon is fraught with danger. With perils around every corner the player must be prepared when exploring the world of Terminus. Exploring is very important to us as is respecting your environment. While it is easy for us to make an area dangerous to get through it is hard to place the player in a situation where they truly fear their surroundings if they do not fear the consequences of death.

Being a fallen hero, players are familiar with breaking the bonds of death and being reborn. Of course being reborn means you come into the world with nothing but the skin on your back and some conveniently placed clothing, that is if you choose to embrace death and release. If not, you can sit above a corpse like a ghostly watcher, for a period of time, while you wait for someone to offer you a resurrection.

Regardless of the route you choose, your corpse is an important thing because not only does it hold all of your gear but a portion of your experience. Experience is a measure of how powerful you have become but, like most things, what has been gained can also be lost. This means that losing too much XP can reduce your level making that corpse even more important.

Visionary Realms shares news of a Twitch.tv stream, and  a new AMA in the games latest Kickstarter update.

More on Twitch, More AMA

In case you missed the show Tuesday night, Salim, Vu and Ben were back on the Rob and Dan show for another Pantheon Developer Series as Vu continued his work on Sunken Sanctum and a dragon.

The next show will be airing Monday, February 17th at 4pm PST, 7pm EST on the Rob and Dan Show (http://www.twitch.tv/therobanddanshow). Be sure to swing on by to chat with the devs and watch Vu's creations take on more shape.

The Return of Brad's AMA

As mentioned early last week, Brad will be doing another AMA this week. The time is set of tonight (Thursday February 13) at 6pm PST, 9pm EST. The link will be posted on Twitter and in the comments section of the Kickstarter once it starts up. Be sure to follow us on Twitter (@PantheonRotF) and head on over to Reddit to ask Brad... well, Anything! This AMA will be posting on the Gaming subreddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming).

Visionary Realms has posted multiple updates once agian for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. As usual links and a short description of each oneare below.

Update #43 - The Vrilaska (The Lost)

The Lost: that is the Vrilaska, a reptilian humanoid race that walked Terminus in the early days following the Planar Collisions. These were amphibious warriors of great agility and strength. Their martial talents extended far beyond their cast iron weapons, often wielding their tails and talons just as effectively. A spiritualistic race, they paid homage to their ancestors and often communed with them for guidance. The Vrilaska on Terminus were some of the earliest to arrive and the first to become lost. Their small world was one of mangrove and marsh, the land they called the Spirit Marsh

Update #44 - The T'Jinn (The Bound)

The Bound: that is the existence of the magical entities called the T’Jinn. These beings are magic given sentience. Their bodies are composed of arcane particles with an incorporeal humanoid form. They often don complex arcane armor to help contain the magical forces imbued within them, forces that can sometimes create adverse effects to those around them. By the same powers that destroyed and rebuilt the universe, the T’Jinn were given life.

Visionary Realms has posted multiple updates once agian for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #40 - The Gnome

The Gnomes are a diminutive enchanted race who place their arcane desires above all else. Their race was born of magic and their bodies imbued with subtle arcane forces that emanate in the environment surrounding them. To the Gnome, magic is life. It is the foundation of all. It is the blueprint to the universe. Their affinity for magic has led them to be one of the more proficient crafters of magical items and allowed them to unlock the arcane potential of even the most mundane of items.

Update #41 - The Shaman

The Shaman is a disciple of ancient mysticism that uses his powers to call upon spiritual forces. Residing within a planar realm called the Spiritual Arcana are the spirits of the dead and the energy they emanate. By following the techniques of Ethosian priests, Shamans can interact with spirits and syphon their energies to bolster their own powers. To the Shaman, death is not feared. It is a natural course all must take. Immortality is what they fear.

Visionary Realms has posted multiple updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #37 - "The Wizard"

Through the use of dangerous chaos magic, the Wizard taps into the array of magical energies that permeate Terminus to form devastating spells. They are capable of harnessing the powerful magic called the Terminus Arcana to grant them the ability to teleport themselves and others across the varied climates of Terminus. When not doing this they decimate their foes with a variety of magical disciplines. Regardless of the challenge, a craft wizard can root, snare, blink and nuke his way to victory.

Update #38 - "Class and Race Combinations"

You've asked for it, and here it is. Below is a chart of the playable races of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and the classes they'll be able to play. This chart is now also available on the main Kickstarter Page.

Update #39 - "The Halfling"

The Halflings are stubby humanoid race with a preference for domestic tranquility rather than high adventure. Being a small race in a dangerous world, they have honed their skills of stealth and acrobatics to hide from or evade threats. Most would consider the humble looking humanoids nothing more than helpless children with the prowess to match, but that would be far from the truth of the agile Halflings. Their powerful legs and tactical spryness make them difficult targets to strike.

BitPulse interviews Brad McQuaid to talk about his next MMO Pantheon.

What new and exciting features are you most excited about applying to the game that are different from what modern MMOs are doing currently?

We weren’t expecting that EverQuest would happen the way that it did. I still get very touching emails about how it touched lives, and I’m very humbled by it. Something magical happened there, that’s for sure, and I think most of it came from the players themselves. It’s been inspiring to me, and we want to see if we can’t get some of that magic to happen again with Pantheon.

I think the whole “secret” there is to promote grouping and socializing on a scale not often done. Humans by nature are social beings and giving them the opportunity to work together, solve problems together and help each other out is a very conducive environment to have some of that early day MMO magic come back.

Vanguard had a lot of that, too. Unfortunately, the launch saw some problems that made it so that only a few of the people who started out were able to continue playing the game for long periods of time. That was on us.

We had to ship the game early due to the funding situation, and were grateful that SOE was able to help out to get it launched. But for those that played Vanguard in its later days, they were able to see how much of the magic was still there in that game.

The experience I had with both games will contribute greatly to Pantheon. EverQuest was a success to levels we didn’t expect. And though we tried to have some of that in early Vanguard, a lot of it couldn’t happen at launch. In some ways I think I learned more from that experience than I did with EverQuest.

I learned how to better handle the stress of large projects and how to manage my own expectations and goals. With a smaller team working on Pantheon, that kind of knowledge is going to be valuable as we develop the game.

Visionary Realms has another update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen with some new
Posters, and Wallpapers.

Get Your Pantheon Posters and Wallpapers

In case you've missed these on our Facebook page, we wanted to give you a direct link to download all of the cool wallpapers and posters for Pantheon. Just click the image to download the full-rez version.

Visionary Realms has posted the next update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

The Enchanter

Enchanters are controllers; manipulators of the mind and soul. Through use of illusions they are capable of infiltrating enemy strongholds, bypassing city security and even hide in plain sight. On the battlefield, they focus on dominating their enemy and changing the course of battle to flow by their will. Enchanters are eager to find victory but are not proficient at direct combat. They buff and strengthen their allies with planar magic while stripping the enemy of their powers. The Enchanter can attack the willpower of an enemy, thus giving them control of their minds or mesmerizing them.

I also have a Q&A session about Pantheon's Partnership with Shroud of the Avatar.

Recently Pantheon partnered up with Shroud of the Avatar to provide cross-game rewards for backers of both games. This kind of camaraderie is not only impressive, but something that we as a community should applaud. Ten Ton Hammer was given the privilege of asking Mr. McQuaid a few questions in relation to this latest update.

And for last I have a video interview from Curse Gamepedia.

Visionary Realms has posted another update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Looking Ahead to Week 4

It's hard to believe that only three weeks ago the Kickstarter for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen introduced itself to the world. Over those three weeks we've seen a ton of excitement and so much support from the community for the project. People have been emailing, commenting and posting offering ways to help, and suggestions on how we can improve. For that, Visionary Realms would like to take a moment to thank you all for your support.

Back to AMA

After the last AMA, Brad wanted to do another one. And I'm guessing some of you would like another chance to ask your questions directly of Brad. Well, that opportunity is coming up! But we're going to do things a little differently this time. Instead of pre-selecting a time on our own, Brad has agreed to let you pick for him. So, simply post in the comments section of this thread the day of the week and time you'd like Brad to appear on AMA, and we'll get it scheduled. 

Three Weeks Left and Need Your Help

We're past the half-way mark now in our Kickstarter campaign time. And while we're thrilled to have broken 300k, we still need more help. So, this week we reach out to you once more to help spread the word. You all have been great in getting the word around, but this week we're going to ask for something a bit more personal. If everyone talked to one person each week and convinced that one person to pledge, we'd be on track to not only break the 800k but we could even begin to reach some stretch goals before the campaign is over. I think we can do it. We certainly have a passionate enough community that believes in this project. Together we can make it happen.

Visionary Realms has released another update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Pantheon developers Visionary Realms hosted a new Reddit AMA two days ago. The interview is over but he answered many questions you might find interesting.

Hi everyone! I'm Brad McQuaid and I'm glad to be here on reddit with all of you today. We have received a ton of questions and suggestions for Pantheon since we started the Kickstarter and I wanted to take some time today to talk to you directly, get your feedback, and answer your questions. This is a pretty open forum, so feel free to Ask Me Anything!

It would seem Visionary Realms once again has multiple updates for Pantheon. Here are the most important ones out of the batch of updates.

Update #28 - "Community Q&A #7, and Boogie's Interview with Brad"

If you didn't catch Boogie's interview with Brad today, let me tell you, it was something else. Possibly one of the most touching developer interviews we've seen in the MMO space in, well, as far back as I can remember. Thanks again, Boogie, and a huge thank you to the Pantheon community. This has been an amazing month for all of us in so many ways.

Enough words. Must. Watch. Video.

Update #30 - "Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and Shroud of the Avatar Collaborate"

Brad has been talking with Richard 'Lord British' Garriott this week of Shroud of the Avatar and the two of them have been brainstorming ways to support both games. The result? Backers of both games can now claim a cross-game cloak in both Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and Shroud of the Avatar. To qualify for the special Pantheon/SotA cross-game cloak you must be a Pantheon backer at the Fallen's Special tier or higher and the SotA First Responder (Kickstarter) or Adventurer (post-Kickstarter) pledge tier or higher. You'll then be able to wear the cloaks in both games.

Update #32 -"Reward Tiers"

One of the challenges of Kickstarter rewards is that we cannot modify the tier rewards after they have at least one pledge to them. This makes things a bit tricky when we want to add more to the tier as an extra thank you for your support. So, in light of that, we've made the following chart that lists all of our tiers, and all of their rewards. Please view this chart as the "real deal" as it will be the reward you'll be collecting at the end of the Kickstarter. This is the newest version of the chart, and will continue to be updated on the main Kickstarter page.

Visionary Realms once again has multiple updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #24 - "The Human"

Resourceful, tenacious and inquisitive, Humans have overcome many obstacles to become one of the more populous races on Terminus. No less than four tribes of Humans found themselves upon the continent of Celestius, each within their own realm and divided by many leagues. Unlike other races, Humans quickly adapted to their displaced environment as well as those of others. Driven by their curiosity they began to disperse beyond the fragments that ferried them. Once beyond their borders, their wide array of ideologies allowed for tolerance or alliances with most of the other races. Although their physicality claims no trait as supreme among the many races, they are masters of survival whose ability to acclimate to new environments has allowed them to settle many of the diverse regions of Terminus.

Update #25 - "Tier Rewards Made Easy"

One of the challenges of Kickstarter rewards is that we cannot modify the tier rewards after they have at least one pledge to them. This makes things a bit tricky when we want to add more to the tier as an extra thank you for your support. So, in light of that, we've made the following chart that lists all of our tiers, and all of their rewards. Please view this chart as the "real deal" as it will be the reward you'll be collecting at the end of the Kickstarter. This is the newest version of the chart, and will continue to be updated on the main Kickstarter page.

Update #26 - "Addons Now Available"

In response to popular demand, we've now included add-on rewards for pledgers.

What is an add-on?

An add-on is an optional item that can be added by increasing your pledge amount. These items are exclusive to Kickstarter backers and range from cool in-game items to physical collectors versions of the game.

How do I get my hands on these add-on(s)?

So you want to grab an add-on. Let’s explain how they work. Pledge for the $25 tier or higher, then look at our collection of available add-ons below. Decide which one you like, then increase your pledge amount by the value specified next to the add-on(s). When the project is funded you will then be able to choose the add-on(s) that caught your eye and voila! they will be added to your account when the game launches.

Follow these steps to adjust your pledge tier and collect the add-on(s)

Click ‘Manage Your Pledge’ on the Pantheon Kickstarter page. Modify the pledge amount you have chosen but do not change the selected reward. Click the ‘Continue to Next Step’ button and follow the steps to complete your pledge adjustment.

Update #27 - "The Dwarf"

The Dwarves of Terminus are stout and industrious miners whose societies have thrived in subterranean kingdoms for centuries. The “underfolke,” (as Elves call them) live most of their lives within the great halls and caverns of their vast underground societies. The stocky and brawny Dwarf physique makes them excellent miners and their affinity for minerals has led them to become masters of metalworking, which in turn allows them to achieve some of the most astounding feats of engineering. Need a hole through a mountain? Rally the dwarves! Because of the many dangers in subterranean realms, Dwarven societies have become compartmentalized with various clans being charged with specific tasks, all contributing to the overall prosperity. The Dwarves are also revered for their mastery of warfare. They are excellent warriors, with each and every citizen being trained in combat on some level. Bolstered by rare materials and superior arms, Dwarven armies are arguably the most powerful to march upon the battlefields of Terminus. For those Dwarves who choose to live beyond the borders of the Strontian Mountains, they are quick to find their skills extremely welcome in nearly every society.

Massively interviews Brad McQuaid and Director of Development Salim Grant to find out a few more details about Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

You mentioned that the purpose of Kickstarter was just "to get the ball rolling on development" and that other funding opportunities will be visited if the basic goal is all that is reached. What other avenues will you be looking to for additional funds?

It all depends on how much we receive from Kickstarter. The usual avenues would be investors and game publishers.

Along those lines, if additional funding is not acquired, then what are the long-term plans for the features whose funding goals are not met? Will crafting and housing (slated as $3.5M and $4M stretch goals, respectively) be off the table completely? What will happen to the game if the Kickstarter goal is not met?

If the stretch goals are not met sooner as opposed to later, then we'll do our best to implement them after the game has launched, as expansions, digital downloads, and the like.

The emphasis on old-school, hard-core group content brings to mind a focus on raid content, and raiders are known for storming through content at a quick pace. What convinced the team that there's enough demand for this type of gameplay to merit a game centered on it? And what plans do you have for keeping raiders from burning through content too quickly, especially on a smaller budget?

We're confident our target audience exists because we see the posts, we receive the emails, we see the emulators, etc. As for raiders and the consumption of content, we plan on having fewer levels that take longer to advance through. This means more content per level. We also are going to be careful to put our efforts into building content (dungeons, overland adventure areas, etc.) that is actually going to be used. It's a travesty when, in some games (including Vanguard), players can simply power level and skip all of that content. Not only did they miss out on some fun regions, we also pretty much wasted our time building these lower and mid level areas or cities.

Aghram in Vanguard comes to mind -- it's a huge, beautiful city, but it's always empty because there's no reason to go there. Our character advancement system includes achievements that must be met, many of which require the player to perform tasks around the world.

 Visionary Realms once again has two more updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #22 - "Community Q&A Video #6"

More answers to the community questions. These are great folks, keep 'em coming!

Update #23 - "The Revenant"

Faithless in life and bound by ancient rites, Revenants have been doomed to walk the lands of Terminus as the undead. Once nothing more than powerful spirits of atheistic warriors, the revenants are now powerful corpses bound to service through the use of Myraxian death magic. Due to their minds and bodies being dependent upon dark magic to sustain their forms, Revenants are most often malicious and psychotic, welcome traits for their original service as soldiers in Oranthel’s army of the damned. Now unchained from that service they are free to roam the world, but finding no refuge within mortal society, many have retained their sinister ways and continue to terrorize the living. Yet, there are those Revenant’s of strong will that have overcome their maddening desires to reap the living. These few have overcome great hardships to form a new life in undeath.

Visionary Realms has released two more updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #20 - "Watch Vu Create on Twitch.tv and Brad Does an AMA"

Brad's on Reddit for an AMA

Brad tweeted the other night that he created an account on Reddit. We can all guess what that means, and your guesses are right (well, most of your guesses. Some were really bizarre.) Brad will be doing an AMA this coming Wednesday at 1pm Pacific Standard Time to talk directly with the community, redditors, and random passers-by. You'll want to check this out as he's strapped on his turbo-gloves and is ready to type like no man has typed before.

Watch our Twitter @PantheonRotF as we'll be tweeting the link once it's up.

Reward Grid Updates

Now flowy-er and with 30% more fiber, our reward grid on the front page will make all your reward choosing sessions easier and fat-free. There's a lot of detail in there, so be sure to check it out when you're deciding which reward tier you want to claim.

A /salute from Woody

If you played EverQuest in the early days (and even in the not-so-early-days) you'll certainly remember Woody Hearn of /gu comics fame. In the spirit of a lot of our community here, it was pretty heartwarming to see Woody give us a shout out with another comic. Please go check it out, and send him our thanks for thinking of us. The comic (which is pretty awesome) can be seen at http://www.gucomics.com/comic/?cdate=20140124

Vu's on Twitch!

So, cool deal here. Throughout this campaign we've been asking your feedback. And while we got a ton of awesome suggestions, one really popped out to us. So, we've teamed up with the Rob and Dan Show to bring you Vu's master game design skills live over Twitch.tv. The show airs tomorrow night (Monday) at 4pm Pacific Standard Time. There you'll see Vu creating all sorts of cool stuff in Pantheon and even get to see part of Terminus! While Vu does his Vu-magic, Salim and Ben will be talking with Rob and Dan about the game, and fielding questions from the audience. How cool is modern technology? You can bookmark the Twitch channel by clicking the banner below. See you at 4pm PST Monday!

Update #21 - "The Ogre"

The Ogres are a nomadic race of barbarian behemoths. Nearly twice the size of a man, they are massive brutes with an uncontrollable rage and an anarchist view of the world. They take what they want and respect no one except those of their own clan. With dense muscle that can wield titanic weaponry and thick blubber to mitigate the harsh environment, the Ogre is an imposing figure that will send fear into most men. On Terminus they form small, but powerful raiding clans that have been pillaging the frozen northlands for over a century. If not for their internal clan wars, they would have united and invaded the empires to the south. Whether by choice or exile, some Ogres have begun to migrate to the south in search of mercenary work. With a reputation of brutality and iniquity, they are often shunned at best in communities that tolerate their presence.

The Pantheon devs have scheduled a Twitch session where it is possible to watch part of the design process of the game live together with the other developers who comment on it.

'PANTHEON: RISE OF THE FALLEN' REDEFINES COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT BY LIVE-STREAMING GAME CREATION

Visionary Realms, Inc. Includes Live Discourse with Community through Broadcast and Reddit Ask-Me-Anything

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Jan. 27, 2014 - The game designers from Visionary Realms, Inc. today announced a community outreach program involving live-streaming of game design, and an open discourse on the philosophies and design principles and plans for their upcoming MMO game, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Visionary Realms, Inc. has teamed up with the Rob and Dan Show on Twitch.tv to begin streaming live game creation sessions from the desktop of Vu Nguyen, Senior Artist for Pantheon while other team members from the project discuss the game over the stream's audio feed. The cast will be involving the audience by answering questions asked in the show's chat channel.

"This is a great way for our community to see the actual process in designing a game," said Salim Grant, Director of Development. "We've said from day one that we want the community involved every step of the way, and this is a chance to prove that we're committed to that."

In addition to the show, which will air its first broadcast later today, Chief Creative Officer Brad McQuaid is scheduled to appear on a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything later this week. "We're pretty open about what we're doing with Pantheon," said McQuaid. "An AMA gives me the opportunity to interact directly with our future players and address any questions they may have. They've already offered a lot of great suggestions and I can't wait to talk with them in more detail."

McQuaid's AMA is scheduled for 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time Wednesday, January 29th. The game design and Q&A session through the Rob and Dan Show airs tonight, Monday January 27th at 4:00 pm PST on Twtich.tv at  twitch.tv/therobanddanshow.

For further information about Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, please visit us on Kickstarter at  kickstarter.com/projects/1588672538/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen. For more information about Visionary Realms Inc., visit pantheonrotf.com.

Visionary Realms has posted a new update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen with information on the cities of Armada, and Archway.

Armada

Resting in the deadly waters of the Bloodflow Sea is the ragtag floating city of ships called Armada. First built as a secret trade port for pirates and rogues, this city has become a safe haven for anyone smart enough to find it and foolish enough to go. Its markets are often filled with rare trinkets of lost worlds, many swallowed up by the seas. This nautical hideaway may be dangerous and lawless, but it does abide by the Code of Marauders, a very vague set of laws that often seem to be in flux. Only those who serve the infamous mariner, Keelhaul the Pirate are immune to walking the plank, a near hourly form of entertainment. Deep below the shark infested waters of Armada is said to be an ancient fortress whose wards are so powerful that it has kept the sea at bay for centuries and helps to form part of the cities more secret chambers.

Archway

Resting in the western shores of Kingsreach is the majestic city of Archway. It gains its name from the titanic arch that spans over the Tears of Hydronus, a water god whose final stand against the forces of Oranthel formed the area. Sitting atop the crown of the arch can be found Trident Castle, the throne of the Human Triundan Empire. Over time, this city has grown to become a major trade port for much of the Continent of Celestius and the small outer isles of the Bounty Sea. Having been forged on the unification of three Human pantheons, Archway boasts the largest and most diverse arcane institute, the Athenaeum of Arcane Studies and Auxiliaries. It is also home to the largest army north of the Falmyrys Forest. With the valiant King Kaedryn the IV as its ruler, Archway stands as a beacon of valor in the world of Terminus.

Visionary Realms has released four updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. Now two of the updates are from before just updated so I will be skipping those.

All About Combat in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen

Combat in Pantheon will be built around a desire to change things up in the MMO space. Contemporary MMOs have become very fast paced and, for lack of a better term, spammy. While the combat is still reactionary in nature it tends to break down to focusing on your rotation while moving left or right. With Pantheon the desire is to shift things back to a slower paced combat where the frequency of ability execution is slower and your rotation is dictated more by your response to the encounter than just a sequence of abilities.

How will we accomplish this? By reaching into the past, and looking at games like EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, and Final Fantasy XI, and focusing on fewer abilities, and a slower pace of combat. In these games combat involved longer ability activation times, and refresh. They focused on the player or group reacting to cues from NPCs and environment and reacting through the use of ability or position. Current MMOs retain this mechanic but if you stop to watch and react you are not focused on your rotation that fills the in-between time. This results in a potential loss of DPS which ends up taking precedence over utilizing your utility abilities. The values of these abilities is then reduced because they end up just becoming a part of a rotation unless a particular encounter is designed around using them.

Abilities like stun, slow, snare, and root have lost their usefulness. In games like those mentioned previously these abilities were important to manage or execute at the right time. With Pantheon we want to bring some of that back while mixing in some current mechanics that exist in today’s MMOs.

I also have a new community Q&A Video.

Brad McQuaid answers more community questions about Pantheon.

As usual Visionary Realms has released two new updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #13 - "Community Q&A Video #4"

Hot off the presses, or the reel, or the SD-card, comes Q&A Video #4. We've gathered some of the most asked questions and put them together in this video to get you your answers.

Update #14 - "Introducing... The Crusader"

The Crusader

The Crusader is a powerful knight whose devotion to king or deity is so great that he has been blessed with divine powers. A paragon of virtue, the Crusader commands the battlefield and defends the weak. Brave and bold, the Crusader is always at the front of any fray, guarding his allies against harm with armor and faith. 

What is a Crusader?

The Crusader is a knight sworn to serve their king and country, to protect the lives of those who cannot protect themselves. A Crusader will pledge his or her allegiance to one of the kings or pantheons. They will abide by their laws, serve the people, defend their lands and travel great distances to strike down the enemy. This is the life of the Crusader, to prove their allegiance to any they serve. As the Crusader fights in the name of their god or king, their loyalty grows which allows them access to a vast assortment of benefits blessed by their lord. Their unwavering faith grants them the ability to deliver divine judgment and intervention. Many stories tell of the “white knight” in full plate armor on the hilltops accompanied by their squire proudly carrying the king’s banner. Wherever the Crusader may travel, whoever they may serve, word of their high loyalty spreads and the citizens will offer themselves up to become a squire under their stead. The squire yearns to please the knight, as they know they can easily be replaced. As the Crusaders loyalty and fame become stronger, so too does the squire that follows them. It has been known for Crusaders to change their allegiances from one country to another, though there may be consequences involved.

Visionary Realms has posted a new update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen with information about games timeline.

The Timeline of Terminus

The Celestial Era

Before the age of Pantheons there was the Celestial Era, a time where one deity would rise to rule the universe. Although her true name is unrecorded, her followers, the Celestials, came to name her Nexus. Over many millennia the Celestial war wizards of Terminus spread her influence across the universe eventually forcing all other civilizations and pantheons to bow before her might and benevolence. Under the gaze of Nexus, peace reigned for centuries until the corruption of Myraxys began to take form.

The Dark Era

From dark regions within every corner of the universe, a mysterious and malevolent force began to consume the souls it touched. This sinister force overtook many words including the throne world of Terminus. Although she was powerful, Nexus could not keep the corruption from advancing. Using the magic called the Terminus Arcana, Nexus destroyed all life in the universe, purging it of the taint of Myraxys. And so the Dark Era came to a close. But as planned, a spark of Nexus remained and would come to form a new age on Terminus.

The Lost Era

The time before the first planar collisions and following the Dark Era was a near lifeless void. The universe of Nexus was nothing but rocks drifting in the darkness. It is during this time that the residual forces of the Terminus Arcana began to reform into a spark of Nexus. In time, Nexus was resurrected and using her divine powers reached across the fractured veils of reality to seek out new life for her dead universe, creating the first planar collisions.

Visionary Realms has released two new updates again for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #10 - "More Screenshots of Sunken Sanctum, Tier Updates, and Later Today"

New Tiers

Your feedback continues to be invaluable, and as an example of that, we've added two more really cool reward tiers in response to your suggestions.

The Cartographer's tier will get you into alpha and beta, name reservation, pledger's forum access post-kickstarter, two copies of the game, 'Pantheon Explorer' and 'Pantheon Founder' titles, the tunic, the mount, the pet AND a limited edition cloth map.

And, by extremely popular demand, we've added in the Journeyman's Pledge, which combines both $250 tiers of Paragon's Pledge and Pathfinder's Pledge so you get very early access to help us test, and the $1/year subscription rate. Again, please ONLY select this tier if you're very serious about testing and providing feedback and filling out surveys. The extra-early game access can be revoked if you are not participating.

Update #11 - "The Player's Role in Pantheon's Story"

The Risen Heroes of Terminus

Every player in the Pantheon universe is a “fallen hero” that has “risen” upon Terminus to begin new adventures in a strange land. When the planar collisions erupted and fragments of worlds were transported to Terminus, many lives were lost along the way, left adrift within the void between here and there. Many of these souls were too fragile to survive and were lost forever. But for those who were strong enough, divine rescue would come. Nexus did not abandon those souls and so she reached into the void in search of the fallen heroes. Plucking them from a sea of nothing she deposited them upon her world of Terminus. There the fallen have risen and are left to discover the fates of the fragments of their origin worlds that most assuredly preceded their arrival centuries before. But their ties to Terminus not only rest in chunks of home worlds, but also the legendary artifacts that each hero once called their own. Lost in the world of worlds, their artifacts wait to be reclaimed, as do those of other heroes that were not so fortunate to find refuge upon the world of Terminus.

Visionary Realms has released two new updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #8 - Meet Nexus, the Lost Goddess of Terminus

Nexus, the Lost Goddess of Terminus

Nexus is the divine figure whose existence predates every pantheon on Terminus. Her mysterious visitations to gods and mortals began in the wake of the first planar collisions, saving their souls from the void and offering them refuge upon her once lifeless world.

Not much is known of the lost goddess, Nexus. Her name was first recorded within the Astral Tome, a magical and intelligent manuscript that has existed since the dawn of time. It speaks of a time before the world of worlds came to be and where Nexus ruled over the entire universe. In that era all other deities bowed before her benevolence, each offering her a portion of their might. The entity that was Nexus became the central power of the universe, supreme and omnipotent. So she reigned, unchallenged for eons until the rise of an evil league of dark lords from the void of Myraxys. What followed was the sundering of the War Before Ages. In an effort to preserve all life from the corruption of the dark lords, she unleashed the power of the Terminus Arcana, magic so powerful only she could wield it. Then all went dark.

Update #9 - Introducing... The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight Lore

Touched by the darkness that once consumed the universe, the Dark Knight is a formidable champion of evil whose battle prowess and unholy might instills fear within the bravest of warriors. Having trained in the dark arts recorded within the forbidden martial Tome of Myraxys, these knights have exchanged their souls for the powers of the void to be used in their evil endeavors within the world of Terminus. 

What is a Dark Knight?

The Dark Knight is a leader highly skilled in combat who takes charge on the front line. They’re seen wearing dark plate armor and thrive in the use of two-handed great swords, long swords, shields, and axes. Though there have been cases where they have used other types of weaponry such as maces, spears or lances. The Dark Knights have the ability to blend in the shadows, manipulate them to attack their foes or even summon sentries of shadow to protect and fight for them.

Visionary Realms has posted update number seven for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen with news of a Kickstarter redesign, upcoming lore, and a new Q&A video.

Kickstarter Redesign, Q&A vid #3, and Upcoming Lore

We're just a couple hours from week one of Pantheon finishing up and we're looking very much forward to week two. Your support throughout the first week has been tremendous in keeping this project on the right track. Your pledges, suggestions, and astounding dedication in helping get the word out has driven the entire team at Visionary Realms to put in even more effort in making this project a success.

Last night was the first major overhaul we've done on the site, and that was the result of your feedback. So let's take a look at some of the stuff that was redesigned.

Structural Redesign

We've moved some sections around a bit to make it easier to find what you're looking for. All of the new information and stuff just worth checking out is now at the top of the page.

Q&A Vid #3

The third of our videos where Brad answers questions directly from the community has been posted. These questions were taken prior to the Kickstarter having had launched, so please feel free to continue to send in your questions, post them, or contact one of the many awesome networks that are taking community questions for interviews that are happening with the team starting this week.

We will continue to work on ways to provide you with easy ways to get your questions answered throughout the campaign. This week we will be looking into setting up a reddit Ask-Me-Anything where Brad and the team will be available to answer you directly. Stay tuned for more information on when this is going down.

We've also gone through the entire Kickstarter page to make our points more concise and detailed.

isionary Realms has posted update number six for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen were they share something fo Sunday.

A Little Something for Sunday

Vu's been working steadily on dungeon design this week. He's made some great progress, and I, for one, got all giggly when he sent this over. Anyone else feel like jumping right in there for some dungeon crawling?

Early work on Vu Nguyen's newest dungeon for Pantheon

Visionary Realms has posted update number five for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen with information about more tiers, and Post-Kickstarter funding.

New Tiers

You guys are quick! We've added more tiers, and you were all over them. We have seen your concerns and suggestions about the new tiers and are looking at ways we can get that fixed up for you. Once again, we appreciate that kind of feedback as it is priority #1 to make sure you're getting what you want. We're also looking at ways to make all those tiers more understandable. Thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming!

A Note on Post Kickstarter Funding

This has come up in a few places so we want to make sure we address this. Our project starts with Kickstarter but that is not the end of it. If we get funded the campaign will continue on our website while we continue game development. When we sat down to look at what we wanted in the game we first had to consider our resources and what we would do with the money you all donate. What we came up with is a list of features that we feel are required to produce the core experience while allowing you to continue to back us like so many other projects have.

We believe that there is room for this type of game in the industry and, while we would all love to get everything at the minimum fund price, we know it will take more to include all of them. So please do not fret over those stretch goals because the opportunity to get them is not going away and neither is our need for your support. So lets consider this a call to arms we need everyone, who is willing, to rise up and get the word out on every social front you can. Lets ring the bells and bang the drums, separate we are but a lowly design team and some backers, together we are the heroes of Pantheon and the time has come for us to rise and make Terminus real.

Visionary Realms has two new updates for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Update #2 - What's Coming and What's Needed

We've passed the 90k mark and are headed to the first big milestone of 100k! You all deserve great commendations for that and for your continued support in this project.

But we're not done yet. We still have a ways to go and we have to reach out again for your help. We are reaching out to all of our channels, but we're only 10 people. Our backers, however, have us outnumbered by a large margin, and that right now is Pantheon's single biggest chance of success--you.

So what we're asking from you now is to reach deep into your contacts list and send a heads up to anyone and everyone you know as to what's happening here with Pantheon. There's nothing, absolutely nothing, that reaches as far nor as effectively as word of mouth. We can hit all the spots where eyes are looking, but if the eyes aren't looking there then we cannot reach them. Think about old friends you used to play MMOs with, or the second cousin who was into gaming as a teen, or even the neighbor who always showed interest in your gaming and has always wanted to check it out. Maybe the guy at the barber shop who talks to you about the games they play would want to hear about it. Everyone you think would have an interest in making this happen needs to know, and we all have to find them.

Update #3 - Community Q&A Video.

Prior to Kickstarter launch, we asked Twitter followers to send us their questions about the game. The response was overwhelming! So much, in fact, that we've had to separate the videos into three separate videos. Today we answer more of those questions with our second Community Q&A video.

Visionary Realms has posted the first update for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen that talks about new pledge tiers, and says thank you to all backers.

A Big Thank You, New Pledge Tiers, and More

Hello everyone! First I wanted to send a personal thank you to every one of our early backers for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. With the amount of emails and comments I've received over the years about how someone should make a game that returns to the roots of what made MMOs so popular in the first place, I knew there was a large crowd that wanted this game as much as we do. And with these pledges, you're proving that to be true. So, thank you, from the entire team, on getting this show started on the right path. Within 20 hours of launch we had already surpassed the $50k mark, which is commendable - and that's all you!

Also, for clarification to anyone who's wanting to pledge, the amount you pledge will not be charged to your credit card until the $800k goal is reached.

The Purpose of Kickstarter Funding

We've received some questions asking why $800k? Don't MMOs cost a lot more to make? Yes they do. Our intent for this Kickstarter is first to prove that there's enough of a demand for a group focused game that believes in the experience of the game instead of handholding, and to get the ball rolling on development. If we can get to the goal we will have proved that and will have enough to get this game started and be able to get our studio set up and operational. If we only get to the goal and little more, then we will visit other funding opportunities but first and foremost we wanted to make it possible to be completely crowdfunded so that you, the players, have more to do with what goes into the game than other powers would should we need to turn to those options later.

If you were a fan of the older Everquest games then I have a new Kickstarter that might interest you. The game is called Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen

Whats interesting is that the game  is being developed by Brad McQuaid. He was the creator of EverQuest, and was Executive Producer of Vanguard.