Pathfinder MMO

[UnSub]

This came across my news feed today.

https://goblinworks.com/blog/index.html#20120201


Bringing back the 90s must be all the rage these days 

So its the Communists versus the Hazardous Waste people?

It's oddly fitting.

[Stormwaltz]

This Kickstarter will fund the Technology Demo of the Pathfinder Online Massively Multiplayer Online RPG.  The Technology Demo will be fully playable, integrating account management, character creation, a virtual world server, multiple simultaneously connected clients, middleware used for rendering landscapes and characters, basic game mechanics, and player communications.  The demo will only support a few simultaneous users exploring a couple of small locations, so the general public won't be able to play it, but we will produce a short video of the demo that everyone will be able to experience, and a special longer video exclusively for backers of this Kickstarter.

Your support of the Technology Demo will help us raise awareness of Pathfinder Online and will show potential investors what the game is really about.  Funding this demo will also signal to potential partners that Pathfinder Online has an audience that's large enough and dedicated enough to allow the long-term success of the MMO. Nothing speaks louder than a ton of people putting up money to show their support of a new concept—that’s the genius element of Kickstarter!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1675907842/pathfinder-online-technology-demo

[Modern Angel]

Jesus Christ, they don't even have 50k backing for the tech demo? Help me out here... this is really insane, right?

[Ratman_tf]

I should kickstart my goddamn dentist visits.

[Ard]

It's not just insane, it's horribly optimistic that they think 50k will get them an MMO tech demo.  The hardware costs alone will probably eat into a huge portion of that.

[Modern Angel]

They're going to hit that 50k mark and then some, so they may pull it out. But that lack of tech demo money and misjudging their minimum costs just made me flee from any good things I said about this project completely. That reveals some pretty dire lack of planning.

[Montague]

Maybe Ryan Dancey can bring Bunky Bartlett on board.

[Xuri]

But...but... they're going to post a video of the demo that you can experience!

Maybe this is the future for MMO development. Separate kickstarter projects for each section of development. Game pitch, prototype/tech demo, art/design concepts, then production phase etc. :P

[Stormwaltz]

Update: in one day they've persuaded 841 people to part with their money - more than enough to provide the funding they wanted.

I've wondered if crowdsourcing could be used to add "niche" features - for example, a Kickstarter to pay for the engineer and art time to revamp housing in LotRO (a project which would otherwise not be cost-effective). Running a series of fund-raisers to create the whole game seems... abusive of one's customers.

[UnSub]

I can only imagine the sour glee of a developer telling players that if they want feature X, they'll have to pay for it themselves.

EDIT TO SAY: And congrats on funding a demo that Pathfinder O is going to use to hock themselves to publishers / investors. Well done all on that one. 

[Modern Angel]

Spot on

http://yourbusinesssucks.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/the-kickstarter-that-is-almost-but-not-quite-the-pathfinder-mmo/

[Phred]

Seems like a questionable solution to the wrong problem to me. Any solution that boils down to "don't let people buy our game" sounds like a bad starting point.

And while I agree that a smaller title should aim for a more sandbox / interesting mechanics style of play over theme-park content (like Eve did and Fallen Earth didn't) I still don't see how that ties to the solution presented. You need to get a user base established ASAP (and an income stream) that will keep people sticking with the product while content evolves. And likewise you need a substantial population to make most of the interesting mechanics work. Eve would never have worked if the growth of player organisations had been stymied, and space been empty, as this  suggestion encourages.

You don't think 4500 is enough for one server in the first month? Dunno where you're getting the 'space is empty, etc' comment from.

Just as a data point. The average population on EQ servers at peak was about 4500.

Oops Necro. :)

[Lucas]

Necro...

...And RIP.

"Pathfinder Online lays off almost entire staff"
http://massivelyop.com/2015/09/02/pathfinder-online-lays-off-almost-entire-staff/

Work on the game will continue with the three remaining employees, paid by existing subscription revenue, which will also keep the servers online. Paizo is closing the Goblinworks office and moving the trio into the Paizo offices. Stevens says Paizo is seeking an external publisher to buy Goblinworks or investors to complete the game. There is hope, she says, since 75% of the game is already paid for; she expects the game will take between 1 million and 2 million dollars to finish.

[Falconeer]

Too bad. I had mild hopes.

[Ard]

The real lulz is this:  "Goblinworks CEO Ryan Dancey left the company two weeks ago for personal reasons unrelated to the layoffs."

[HaemishM]

I'd guess the reason is a fear of large gatherings in parking lots. 

[Montague]

The real lulz is this:  "Goblinworks CEO Ryan Dancey left the company two weeks ago for personal reasons unrelated to the layoffs."

To anyone familiar with him, that is not a surprise in the least. This project was doomed from the start with him in charge. 

[Ginaz]

Found some audio of Lisa Stevens, the CEO of Paizo and the creator of Pathfinder, breaking the news to the few people who cared.  I don't know her but I feel bad for her just listening to that.

https://soundcloud.com/duffy-swiftshadow/keepside-chat-with-lisa-stevens-9215

[shiznitz]

What is the "subscription revenue" for if the game was never finished?

[shiznitz]

What is the "subscription revenue" for if the game was never finished?

I mean I am pretty sure we all know it is some suckers paying for nothing, but...

[UnSub]

Well, I'm a month late on this news, but completely not surprised.

Good to see that they haven't the money to finish the game, but are still looking to ship those Kickstarter rewards.

[Ginaz]

So an update of sorts.  It looks like a really passionate fanboy has decided to try and buy the game and keep it going.  If only Star Citizen had fans this dedicated.

"But there is good news to be relayed!  Just today, I received a signed letter of intent from a company that wants to take on the Pathfinder Online legacy and see it through to completion.  One of the principals of this company has been playing Pathfinder Online since day 1 and understands the vision for the game we are making.  The company recently came up to Seattle to the Goblinworks offices and we had 2 productive and exciting days planning for the future and what this game can be."

http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d794c3305fc1a1655632d3121&id=2626f55212&e=d8f4491bb5

[HaemishM]

Why can't I find suckers fans stupid passionate enough to give me millions of dollars to fail?

[shiznitz]

If they just online'd the Pathfinder Card Game, it would make good money.

[Rendakor]

Making online card games is hard.

[UnSub]

Two things about that letter:

1) Unreleased games don't get "expansions". They get "patches / updates that progress the game towards feature completion".

2) The comment that the new company "expect to take over the game entirely by March 1, 2016" means a bunch of people in charge of Pathfinder Online are now off the hook (assuming the deal goes through) to deliver the game. They just sold out.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

[shiznitz]

Making online card games is hard.

Easier than MMOGs since all the mechanics are fixed and there is no world geometry to worry about.

[Rendakor]

In theory, I guess. MODO is shit and has been for years, Hearthstone is so dumbed down it's only enjoyable on the toilet and Hex releases content slower than fucking WoW expansions. What examples do you have of good online card games?

[Hoax]

Here's some very sketchy thoughts.. Not sure what of these are alive still. Def not endorsing any of these as good ideas/games.

Duelyst
Mabonigi Duel
Yomi
Card Hunter
Ascension
SolForge
Soccer Spirits (really reaching now)



I know people still play Yugioh (dueling network I believe) and Pokemon TCG's online.