Creative Director of Ashes of Creation Shares Letter with Community
The Creative Director of Ashes of Creation has shared an open letter with the community looking back on the year that was 2019. Here are the highlights:
Yikes not putting alpha under NDA. I would like to think they’re being open with the development. However, I’m getting pay to enter alpha vibes...? Regardless the community is going to rip the game a new one after seeing game play and after so much development.
So it would be really hard to put a game under NDA when you'd have 10,000 A1 testers.
Could you do it? Sure. Would it be hard? Absolutely.
The trick here is they just won't put out A1 until its ready to be shown. Sure, they may show it at GDC in March, but what they show will be what's highly polished.
Here's to hoping that Alpha doesn't get postponed to 2021 or beyond...
Still, good news. I hope they make it, since it's the KS title I'm rooting for the most.
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Amazon has done a good job with the NDA on New World. You can only find footage from 1 year ago. (Most of it is the same recycled footage provided by amazon) The game releases in 4 months. I think NDAs are healthy for games.. most people are not open minded and can’t see where a game is going or how it will improve. Just my thoughts . I feel certain they will have pay to play options. My thoughts through their actions are they’re desperate for money. They also totally tried to start a full blown battle royal and sell it as “just testing” for the mmorpg. If the battle royal would have become successful you can bet you butt they would have dropped that mmorpg for further development on the battle royal. Same thing fortnite did.. remember that game was coop fighting zombie waves . Anyways the point is I’m seeing a lot of red flag in the development.
Amazon has done a good job with the NDA on New World. You can only find footage from 1 year ago. (Most of it is the same recycled footage provided by amazon) The game releases in 4 months. I think NDAs are healthy for games.. most people are not open minded and can’t see where a game is going or how it will improve. Just my thoughts . I feel certain they will have pay to play options. My thoughts through their actions are they’re desperate for money. They also totally tried to start a full blown battle royal and sell it as “just testing” for the mmorpg. If the battle royal would have become successful you can bet you butt they would have dropped that mmorpg for further development on the battle royal. Same thing fortnite did.. remember that game was coop fighting zombie waves . Anyways the point is I’m seeing a lot of red flag in the development.
There are flaws with your logic, but you may just be misinformed. The CEO has put millions of dollars of his own money into Ashes of Creation (MMORPG) development, he is an avid lifelong player of MMORPG's. He's not an idiot, and he knows full well that the BR space has been long since occupied by Fortnite and Apex Legends as it's distant but closest competition, and that BR's are on the way out anyway. They stand to make a lot more money from subscriptions and cosmetic purchases than they do from attempting to launch an early test model as a serious BR release which would not recoup any amount of personal investment he has made. If they had really were making an attempt for the BR mode to be viable and competitive on the market then they would have put a lot more resources into it's development, and supporting it post-launch.
Even if Apoc had taken off, there is absolutely no reason to believe they would have dropped the MMORPG and if anything, it would have just served to further invest in the MMO's development not just because that is the CEO's passion, but because that is the product they promised to deliver, and their reputations all hinge on it. They have recruited a lot of top tier talent from across the industry that would most likely not join the development team for this game if they had any concerns about these things. They have explained why they made Apocalypse, and yes, they handled that roll out terribly on several accounts but these conspiracies and straight to doom misinformed assumptions are irritating and old.
Alpha 1 is going to be accessible to kickstarter backers, as it should be, but I don't know how they intend to handle bringing people into it beyond that.
I just hope they are moving along at a reasonable pace. Unlike some crowd funded games that have become a steady slow paycheck for a huge development staff.
They are still putting time and resources into the BR, how many times do you have to hit yourself in the head with a hammer until you decide to put it back in the draw?
They opened kickstarter for mmo, then released first BR which they NEVER mention... wasting money and time on BS. Looking at mmo, graphics/gui and animation of skills/buffs are like playing some rpg from 1999.
Someone even called him out in a recent video about when he does the videos he is always on his phone. Since day one of him being on cam you can totally tell the guy is a scammer/con artist. He is only concerned about himself, his money, etc... If people cant see that, people need their eyes examined in 2020.
They opened kickstarter for mmo, then released first BR which they NEVER mention... wasting money and time on BS. Looking at mmo, graphics/gui and animation of skills/buffs are like playing some rpg from 1999.
You think this games graphics/gui/animations are like Everquest?
They are still putting time and resources into the BR, how many times do you have to hit yourself in the head with a hammer until you decide to put it back in the draw?
When they launched the BR out of nowhere I think it threw alot of people for a loop.....Since then I haven't had any interest in this title anymore.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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There is what now in numbers on Steam? A handful of players if that? Why would you continue to dev a failed game/mode like that? You are wasting time, resources, and money. It makes zero business sense to do so.
Yikes not putting alpha under NDA. I would like to think they’re being open with the development. However, I’m getting pay to enter alpha vibes...? Regardless the community is going to rip the game a new one after seeing game play and after so much development.
NDAs are not like they used to be when they were taken seriously. I can't remember the last time that videos were not leaked for a game under NDA. And it's usually from a troll's PoV showing just how bad the game is... according to them.
Much better to have no NDA so people can show the good also.
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Unfortunately I pledged on KS...then they did the whole BR release...and it immediately made me lose all interest. Originally they had stated they were aiming for alpha 0 in Q4 2019 by November, but instead, some stupid BR mode that I did not sign up for...such a shame.
Unfortunately I pledged on KS...then they did the whole BR release...and it immediately made me lose all interest. Originally they had stated they were aiming for alpha 0 in Q4 2019 by November, but instead, some stupid BR mode that I did not sign up for...such a shame.
I also backed their KS. Their early days were unheard of among all the KS game projects: almost a year of preparing the project in complete silence, followed by the unexpected reveal at the end of 2016 where they actually presented some early content with a pretty well thought out concept for what the game should be and how the key mechanics should work.
Granted, a lot of the early vids were based on stock UE4 market assets, but that was to be expected when the team was only about 10 people strong and the studio had just started hiring. Such a low profile, less talk - more content, start was what the whole KS scene needed.
And then the whole BR thing happened and for me the whole game just went.... meh.
Intrepid, you want to recapture the magic and the good will of your late 2016 days - you cut the crap, remove the BS nobody wanted, you keep your heads down and labour at this over the next months and years and let your actions speak - instead of your store updates, PR statements, unwanted game modes and the rest of it... Show us your hard work, show us how the MMO we kickstarted takes shape, leave out the weed you've been showing us for 1+ years and your rationalisations, and the community will get back behind you. Like it did three years ago.
Comments
Could you do it? Sure. Would it be hard? Absolutely.
The trick here is they just won't put out A1 until its ready to be shown. Sure, they may show it at GDC in March, but what they show will be what's highly polished.
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Paradox YouTube Channel
Ashes 101
Still, good news. I hope they make it, since it's the KS title I'm rooting for the most.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
There are flaws with your logic, but you may just be misinformed. The CEO has put millions of dollars of his own money into Ashes of Creation (MMORPG) development, he is an avid lifelong player of MMORPG's. He's not an idiot, and he knows full well that the BR space has been long since occupied by Fortnite and Apex Legends as it's distant but closest competition, and that BR's are on the way out anyway. They stand to make a lot more money from subscriptions and cosmetic purchases than they do from attempting to launch an early test model as a serious BR release which would not recoup any amount of personal investment he has made. If they had really were making an attempt for the BR mode to be viable and competitive on the market then they would have put a lot more resources into it's development, and supporting it post-launch.
Even if Apoc had taken off, there is absolutely no reason to believe they would have dropped the MMORPG and if anything, it would have just served to further invest in the MMO's development not just because that is the CEO's passion, but because that is the product they promised to deliver, and their reputations all hinge on it. They have recruited a lot of top tier talent from across the industry that would most likely not join the development team for this game if they had any concerns about these things. They have explained why they made Apocalypse, and yes, they handled that roll out terribly on several accounts but these conspiracies and straight to doom misinformed assumptions are irritating and old. Alpha 1 is going to be accessible to kickstarter backers, as it should be, but I don't know how they intend to handle bringing people into it beyond that.
You think this games graphics/gui/animations are like Everquest?
When they launched the BR out of nowhere I think it threw alot of people for a loop.....Since then I haven't had any interest in this title anymore.
I strongly suspect they don't have access to the $30K funding oft quoted for the project.
Either this or their projections were off and they foresee needing more than planned.
They once said the reason to monetize the BR was to make up for unplanned stress testing back in 2018.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Much better to have no NDA so people can show the good also.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I remember a time when "more" people paid for games as well.
And when game companies persuaded shareholders/owners that they had the next WoW. (So not the same need for money upfront from players.)
I also backed their KS. Their early days were unheard of among all the KS game projects: almost a year of preparing the project in complete silence, followed by the unexpected reveal at the end of 2016 where they actually presented some early content with a pretty well thought out concept for what the game should be and how the key mechanics should work.
Granted, a lot of the early vids were based on stock UE4 market assets, but that was to be expected when the team was only about 10 people strong and the studio had just started hiring. Such a low profile, less talk - more content, start was what the whole KS scene needed.
And then the whole BR thing happened and for me the whole game just went.... meh.
Intrepid, you want to recapture the magic and the good will of your late 2016 days - you cut the crap, remove the BS nobody wanted, you keep your heads down and labour at this over the next months and years and let your actions speak - instead of your store updates, PR statements, unwanted game modes and the rest of it... Show us your hard work, show us how the MMO we kickstarted takes shape, leave out the weed you've been showing us for 1+ years and your rationalisations, and the community will get back behind you. Like it did three years ago.