CoE abandons "VoxElyria"

Slapshot1188

This blog is even harder to get through than most of Caspien's stuff AND the baseball playoffs are on so please feel free to dig in and correct anything below if I get it wrong:

It seems like they discovered (just like we said way back when they announced VoxElyria) that spending time developing for a Voxel system that would not be used in the main game was an utter waste:

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/28843/Adventure-Completion-From-Pre-to-Alpha

First, while the voxel format allowed us to quickly create gameplay mechanics without concern for the assets, the mechanics weren't 1:1. For example, due to the camera position, several of the user experiences in CoE necessitated different implementations between CoE and VoxElyria. For example, combat, crafting, and world-interaction, arguably three of the most important systems in the game, had to be slightly different between VoxElyria and CoE.

Second, while the assets themselves could be created quickly, it prevented us from effectively visualizing some of the more advanced mechanics. For example, we couldn't easily animate the voxel models, so things that required animations were difficult to validate. Likewise, because they were voxel models, things like the equipment and layering system couldn't be effectively replicated in the VoxElyria client.

And finally, while we didn't have to use WebGL (and a web-based game-engine) for VoxElyria, it naturally evolved that way from Elyria2D. This meant that while the client-side implementation of the mechanics could be the same between CoE and ElyriaMUD, any features we wanted to test which required tighter client-integration would need to be either ported between the clients, or implemented twice.

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No shit Caspien.  It took you YEARS to figure this out?  Anyhow... it continues:
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We had a long conversation with the leadership, designers, and content team and decided there had to be a better way. To begin with, we recognized the value in having the low-poly, low-fidelity client, but we needed to make sure a few constraints were put in place. They were:

• The client had to use the same technology as CoE
• The client had to use the same animation pipeline
• The client had to be able to utilize the same UI/UX gameplay experience as CoE
• The client had to allow for the same rapid development of assets we had before

When all was said and done, we settled on keeping the idea of having low-poly assets, but moved back into UE4. And instead of developing voxel models, we decided to use low-poly meshes that can be developed even quicker than the voxel models we were using before. Of course, it comes at a cost to require the content team to develop assets for us, but the reality is, it's faster and more resource efficient to have the content team develop the assets than the designers and engineers, especially when it means we don't have to duplicate the UI/UX between the pre-Alpha client and CoE. It's also important to be flexible, and willing to reallocate work as necessary as our internal resources change. Fortunately, as you'll see below, our artist really enjoy working in the new client, and have gone wild creating amazing new content.

So with all that out of the way, the content team has been working on assets in Release 0.4.0 for our new pre-Alpha client. Since it's doesn't use voxels anymore, we couldn't really call it VoxElyria any longer. So we just call it Pre-Elyria, or "Prelyria."

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So there you have it...  no more VoxElyria which we told him was a waste of time but he stubbornly refused to listen.  Instead, The Ivory Tower defended it and lapped up his words about how it would speed development...  Yeah, that sure backfired didn't it?

Now we wait for "PreElyria"... what an utter and total joke this game's development has become...

ConstantineMerus

A dream, an idea, and a plan walk into a bar and ask the bar's patrons to pay for their drinks. 

When the bar is closing down the plan is singing and dancing alongside the patrons, and they decide to join an after hours party to keep the fun going. 

The idea shakes hands and exchange numbers with an old patron to meet up again later. 

The dream is found by the barkeep in the men's room; blacked out, head in the toilet, drowning in its vomit. 

Kyleran

As if they want folks to believe there ever really was a functional VoxElyria created in the first place.  

These folks really are first class at roleplaying developers.

Or clowns.

Solar_Prophet

Kyleran said:

As if they want folks to believe there ever really was a functional VoxElyria created in the first place.  

These folks really are first class at roleplaying developers.

Or clowns.

I think they need to go back to their old jobs. 

cochs

So basically they are moving to using prototype quality assets in the engine, to create functionality.

I mean if you even have to be told to do that, you have no business in this business.  It's not even game dev 101, it's like stuff that players know (as many have demonstrated here).

I'm still going with Hanlon's Razor here, although it's a close call at this point.

Albatroes

"No shit Caspien.  It took you YEARS to figure this out?"

Lets be honest here, he knew, he just knew he could extend funding without actually producing anything. Now he's gonna just go onto his next 'phase' of his plan, but this whole thing will just end up being a bust in the end. There's no real game in development, just easy cash from suckers.

Waan

I'm amazed every. single. time. 

OT: Are there still people buying into this, or are they just riding on the funds they already acquired? 

SpottyGekko

"...but you haven't seen my Gantt charts..." - Jeromy Walsh

Yeah, riiiiight...

Arrogance backed by a total lack of experience in actual MMO development have been a hallmark of this project so far.

It would appear that all the "miracle mechanics" (SpatialOS, VoxElyria, etc.) that were used to justify the claimed record-time development actually ended up making things take LONGER !
Not to mention the money that was burned chasing those mirages...

Dakeru

I read through those comments on the blog and was laughing.

2 years ago we said this was a bad idea because it will just waste more time and money.
We were labeled as haters who have no idea.

Now the master abandons his flashy extras and is praised for his wisdom.

Wellspring

It's also important to note that ElyriaMud is no longer planned to be released to the public. So, you might as well say that's been cancelled as well.

Without being able to deliver a single thing on time, ever ... they've somehow bought themselves more time -- with a few low poly screenshots (not even a video!). 

lahnmir

Surprise!

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Slapshot1188

Dakeru said:

I read through those comments on the blog and was laughing.

2 years ago we said this was a bad idea because it will just waste more time and money.
We were labeled as haters who have no idea.

Now the master abandons his flashy extras and is praised for his wisdom.

And the usual suspects who haunted this place for over a year... arguing with us... all disappear at the same time.  Most likely when they got this info months ago on the super secret high donor private forums. 

I will I’ll have to go back and find Caspien’s quote to me on these forums about VoxElyria.  It was about a year ago.  It should prove humorous at this point. At least it would if it weren’t for the fact that his utter incompetence puts other people’s livelihood in danger.

Slapshot1188

Dakeru said:

I read through those comments on the blog and was laughing.

2 years ago we said this was a bad idea because it will just waste more time and money.
We were labeled as haters who have no idea.

Now the master abandons his flashy extras and is praised for his wisdom.

And never forget this: 

EponyxDamor

No surprise, really.

Hows that timeline looking these days?

Wellspring

EponyxDamor said:

No surprise, really.

Hows that timeline looking these days?

Well, they are crossing things off the list...

EponyxDamor

Wellspring said:

EponyxDamor said:

No surprise, really.

Hows that timeline looking these days?

Well, they are crossing things off the list...

Crossing things off and erasing them entirely are slightly different.

Slapshot1188

Here you go.  One year ago Caspien posted this message in response to me.  I think it's the last time he publically posted here.  Take note of the last half of the conversation where he defends VoxElyria.  He even goes as far as to suggest that it was disingenuous to say that developing VoxElyria was a waste of time and resources.


https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/comment/7239021/#Comment_7239021

How many times does the guy RolePlaying as an MMORPG Developer have to be so utterly wrong before the Ivory Tower starts to listen?


PS: For bonus giggles go read his earlier post where he says:

"All that aside, the company is making huge progress, the game is coming along nicely, and our Alpha 1 backers will be getting into the game using the VoxElyria client as early as January."

Note that post was Oct 2017...

Albatroes

Slapshot1188 said:

Here you go.  One year ago Caspien posted this message in response to me.  I think it's the last time he publically posted here.  Take note of the last half of the conversation where he defends VoxElyria.  He even goes as far as to suggest that it was disingenuous to say that developing VoxElyria was a waste of time and resources.


https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/comment/7239021/#Comment_7239021

How many times does the guy RolePlaying as an MMORPG Developer have to be so utterly wrong before the Ivory Tower starts to listen?


PS: For bonus giggles go read his earlier post where he says:

"All that aside, the company is making huge progress, the game is coming along nicely, and our Alpha 1 backers will be getting into the game using the VoxElyria client as early as January."

Note that post was Oct 2017...

Lol that was a good one "Role playing as a MMO developer." I'm gonna use that in some of these other threads from now on.

Galadourn

Well, no surprises here. They have no engine, no assets, no game, but are full of ideas, ambition and passion.

We know how that usually ends...

YashaX

Good to see they are making some real progress

Slapshot1188

Albatroes said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Here you go.  One year ago Caspien posted this message in response to me.  I think it's the last time he publically posted here.  Take note of the last half of the conversation where he defends VoxElyria.  He even goes as far as to suggest that it was disingenuous to say that developing VoxElyria was a waste of time and resources.


https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/comment/7239021/#Comment_7239021

How many times does the guy RolePlaying as an MMORPG Developer have to be so utterly wrong before the Ivory Tower starts to listen?


PS: For bonus giggles go read his earlier post where he says:

"All that aside, the company is making huge progress, the game is coming along nicely, and our Alpha 1 backers will be getting into the game using the VoxElyria client as early as January."

Note that post was Oct 2017...

Lol that was a good one "Role playing as a MMO developer." I'm gonna use that in some of these other threads from now on.

Check my signature 

Scot

I just dip into these threads so my take on concerns about CoE comes from two sources, correct me if I have the wrong up coming MMO here.

A MMO needs to be able to understand what MMO gameplay is like and what their players are like. You naturally assume that's the case, surely no one who does not understand this would be making a MMO.

I was surprised at their reaction to players picking there in game names which were some sort of poke at other players or developers. Their reaction seemed more apt to finding their MMO was now a communications hub for neo-Nazi groups.

Then they had a fund raiser where a penalty was going to be imposed on your server or something unless you paid up. The CEO talked about directing his "mice" no doubt he was surprised when some players wanted their server to have this penalty as they wanted a more difficult MMO. No realisation that their player base might get pissed off by being made to act like mice?

Remember I just dip in, hardly see any of these, so to see two was really worrying. As far as I know none of the other upcoming MMOs including those out like Albion and SotA ever showed such a lack of understanding of how players think and behave. What else I have seen has impressed me, but having people at the top who seem to have no idea what it is to play a MMO means no matter what the reviews, I will only think of joining in several months after launch.

Wellspring

Scot said:

I just dip into these threads so my take on concerns about CoE comes from two sources, correct me if I have the wrong up coming MMO here.

A MMO needs to be able to understand what MMO gameplay is like and what their players are like. You naturally assume that's the case, surely no one who does not understand this would be making a MMO.

I was surprised at their reaction to players picking there in game names which were some sort of poke at other players or developers. Their reaction seemed more apt to finding their MMO was now a communications hub for neo-Nazi groups.

Then they had a fund raiser where a penalty was going to be imposed on your server or something unless you paid up. The CEO talked about directing his "mice" no doubt he was surprised when some players wanted their server to have this penalty as they wanted a more difficult MMO. No realisation that their player base might get pissed off by being made to act like mice?

Remember I just dip in, hardly see any of these, so to see two was really worrying. As far as I know none of the other upcoming MMOs including those out like Albion and SotA ever showed such a lack of understanding of how players think and behave. What else I have seen has impressed me, but having people at the top who seem to have no idea what it is to play a MMO means no matter what the reviews, I will only think of joining in several months after launch.

Yep, you have the right MMO.

Galadourn

Scot said:

 no matter what the reviews, I will only think of joining in several months after launch.

that's assuming there will actually be a game at some point that will be released....

Nilden

There are multiple reasons why nobody else in the industry makes a MUD before a MMORPG. This was a huge red flag when this started.

This is amateur hour run by an incompetent buffoon who has no sweet clue how to actually make a game.

What this "game" really is? A testament to how gullible people are with their money.

Kajidourden

Lulz.  So it begins.