Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
[/quote]
I agree. The best way to test if something works is to put it to the test. I'm sure they've done that multiple times with the nodes.
Which begs the question... Why did you even pledge if you had doubts? Did you only start researching things after you pledged? If so that's an odd move; Is this a case of buyers remorse? The Devs said there would be a KS campaign ages ago where all these questions could have been answered long before this point. I mean I only dropped thousands on Star Citizen after I researched the game beforehand (And the there is still no definitive release date for SC yet...).
If you pledged because you wanted the rewards, especially the one that says "no subscription" you are taking a gamble at every step anyway. So you spend 2 years waiting for development (Assuming it releases on time which honestly would be optimistic) then you have to play for ~2 years to get a return on investment from the primary rewards from that tier of pledge. This game would be funded with or without you so if you think $400 is to much for the information currently available then withdraw it and move on and just play it when or if it comes out.
But if the primary thing driving your pledge is the rewards than you must enjoy gambling so enjoy the ride until either the game is released or it's canned. Pretty simple.
Pretty sure that was scripted and it from was a test livestream only intended for people in discord to know about as kind of a discord exclusive sneak peek. The last part of this video shows they planned what they wanted to show (this was when the stream froze and they came back).
[/quote]
Looks and sounds like they jumped into a test server which runs a simulation on node development. Tech who runs that simulation talks about the parameters given, like two guilds and node lvl, and Steven responds to that and asks questions. Nothing really fishy going on there.
OP,
You seem to have some intriguing questions. They are worded well to sow doubt. I wouldn't be surprised if they all have merits and the game is not as far along as many of us here believe or believed. At first you didn't bring up the issue of this "staged" game play scenario and after that it appears in many of your following comments... The entire methodology of your posting leaves me with the impression that you have already a solid opinion and that you have an agenda.
I also would not be surprised if that video WAS staged to try and show off INTENDED features with possible practical applications/results from interactions... or in other words, what things might be capable of playing out with the intended feature set in and working. I do believe that a Game Designer might do that all the while not being forthcoming that it is a "staged" demonstration. Hype is pretty important. Hell they could have working models of features only on whiteboards and have been doing thought experiments just trying to show fans what might be possible.
With all of the sandboxes under development right now and your own "so perfect" posting technique and measured tempo, you are looking suspicious and a bit like you are working from an agenda yourself.
I do thank you for "food for thought" though and I will keep it in mind.
You seem to have some intriguing questions. They are worded well to sow doubt. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all have merits and the game is not as far along as many of us here believe or believed. At first you didn’t bring up the issue of this “staged” game play scenario and after that it appears in many of your following comments… The entire methodology of your posting leaves me with the impression that you have already a solid opinion and that you have an agenda. [/quote]
I brought it up later because I just found out about it. See, there is a post on the first page, with a topic by another person:
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/where-are-the-engineers/
He wonders why the Ashes homepage only lists one programmer and nine artists. In that thread somebody answers that there are already guilds playing that game. That made me curious, I did some research and found the video.
Look, you can believe what you want. I did not know about Steven's past when I backed this game during the first couple of minutes because I was excited for this game as you are. Heck, I love all these concepts they are proposing. An yes, I have already formed my opinion. Based on my own personal judgement believe that Ashes of Creation is right now nothing more than some tech demos and voice over. I believe that Steven took some of his money, bought a bunch of assets off the UE4 marketplace, hired a couple of artists and one developer and produced some impressive visuals to sell his ideas. I believe that all you see is mostly smoke and mirrors and very little original work. I believe that the amount of systems they have already implemented by themselves has a tendency to zero.
About their intentions I am unclear though. In theory, there is nothing wrong to produce flashy images to sell their ideas to possible investors without having actually started on the game. If I am right and that's the case, if Steven had said so, I would probably still had backed the project. I am aware that a Kickstarter project is only the intention of making a game and it's always a risk for the backer that things don't turn out well. I also have no issue with that whatsoever. The difference here though is that I feel deliberately deceived. So my agenda is to see how Intrepid answers, if they do. My agenda is to see how the next 29 days develop to see if they can regain my trust. What you all do is none of my concern.
[quote quote=14777]I also would not be surprised if that video WAS staged to try and show off INTENDED features with possible practical applications/results from interactions… or in other words, what things might be capable of playing out with the intended feature set in and working. I do believe that a Game Designer might do that all the while not being forthcoming that it is a “staged” demonstration. Hype is pretty important. Hell they could have working models of features only on whiteboards and have been doing thought experiments just trying to show fans what might be possible.[/quote]
That's the thing though. Features on whiteboards have the same substance than this:
Steven: "I see a trebuchet! Why is that here?" - because you swiped your credit card in the UE4 marketplace and put it there, dude. It sure looks better. But only smoke and mirrors.
[quote quote=14777]With all of the sandboxes under development right now and your own “so perfect” posting technique and measured tempo, you are looking suspicious and a bit like you are working from an agenda yourself.[/quote]
Feel free to believe what you want.
''POSTING THIS AGAIN because it was deleted by the devs…..
I work heavily in Unreal Engine and visit the UE4 Marketplace regularly. I can confirm that at least the majority of the assets I am seeing in their videos are not made by IntrepidStudios. Just go on the UE4 marketplace and look for yourself. As soon as I saw one of their youtube videos so much of it looked familiar.
Although they can legally use any marketplace items they purchase in their game, why would I want to back a game that is at this point, just a bunch of ideas spoken over cinematic style footage of pre-done game assets on rails? And on that note, they haven’t given us much to go off of..
Games need money to be able to be made.. I understand that. You have to hire artists, animators, level designers, QA, producers, the list goes on. If they had more to show up front I may think about backing this game. The things I would like to see at the very least, working in-engine for an MMO Kickstarter would be.. Character Customization (even just different armor), Some Weapons, Classes, Abilities (not just payed for vfx with damage numbers), Inventory System, Crafting & Professions Like Mining (animations , procedural random scattering etc), a Working NPC System (not npc’s on rails), Party/Guild System, Approx Size of Map, if there is an economy then how will that work, and the most important for an immersive mmo, Lore & Story! They should go work some of this out and do a kickstarter at a later time.
The only thing I’ve seen of any interest is the Nodes system in which they have not shown even a demo in engine It’s just a guy speaking his idea about what he would want in the game. If this game is funded they will be instantly deep in money and there’s nothing wrong with that, but will they use that money to make the game of your dreams? Will they complete it and if so will it just be just a half baked game that barely fulfills their promise. I cannot say they won’t finish it or be great even, but from the very little we have actually seen who knows? Not worth the chance for me. Could just be another “Revival Kickstarter” failure. Ya go read about that if you haven’t.. poor backers.
What I am saying is be careful. This is a risk of your money but the main thing you are risking is showing other devs that they can make instant bucks with nothing to show and with no legal obligation to fulfill any promise. This has been going on forever and we would just be hurting ourselves in the end. It’s time as gamers that we start question devs. Great games can be made if we stop falling for this seemingly never ending loop of trickery. In the end do what you want with your money. Can’t hurt right?..''
[/quote]
Very sketchy. The whole "get real-money" deal is very suspicious.
You've posted this before. Can you link these ue4 assets they're using? I can't find them. It looks to me like they've done the work themselves. Anyway I would hope they would buy some assets are it reduces work.
It's more concerning that they don't have programmers.
To be fair, neither can I. The quote is taken from this thread here:
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/is-majority-of-ue4-design-bought/
and was originally posted by Evolover. So this information should be taken with a grain of salt. However speaking for myself, it has nothing to do with my original post. The impression that everything Intrepid Studios did in the last few months was producing fancy visuals without showing any proof of concept still persists for me, whether it's their own proprietary content or not. If they created the assets by themselves though, it would show some real original talent, which is indeed a huge plus on their side.
Again, I personally do not intend to hurt Intrepid unjustified. I only want to find out for my own if I can trust their capability of creating the game they are promising.
You’ve posted this before. Can you link these ue4 assets they’re using? I can’t find them. It looks to me like they’ve done the work themselves. Anyway I would hope they would buy some assets are it reduces work.
It’s more concerning that they don’t have programmers.
[/quote]
its not my post dude.
<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/some-friendly-questions-to-intrepid-studios-and-steven-from-a-400-backer/page/5/#post-14844" rel="nofollow">doford wrote:</a></div>
<a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/users/meagashira/" rel="nofollow">@meagashira</a>
You’ve posted this before. Can you link these ue4 assets they’re using? I can’t find them. It looks to me like they’ve done the work themselves. Anyway I would hope they would buy some assets are it reduces work.
It’s more concerning that they don’t have programmers.
</blockquote>
its not my post dude.
There is a market place to search https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/fantasy-werecreatures-weranglerfish
[/quote]
<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/some-friendly-questions-to-intrepid-studios-and-steven-from-a-400-backer/page/4/#post-14777" rel="nofollow">Bringslite wrote:</a></div>
OP,
You seem to have some intriguing questions. They are worded well to sow doubt. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all have merits and the game is not as far along as many of us here believe or believed. At first you didn’t bring up the issue of this “staged” game play scenario and after that it appears in many of your following comments… The entire methodology of your posting leaves me with the impression that you have already a solid opinion and that you have an agenda.
</blockquote>
I brought it up later because I just found out about it. See, there is a post on the first page, with a topic by another person:
<div>
<blockquote><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/where-are-the-engineers/" rel="nofollow">Where are the engineers?</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
He wonders why the Ashes homepage only lists one programmer and nine artists. In that thread somebody answers that there are already guilds playing that game. That made me curious, I did some research and found the video.
Look, you can believe what you want. I did not know about Steven’s past when I backed this game during the first couple of minutes because I was excited for this game as you are. Heck, I love all these concepts they are proposing. An yes, I have already formed my opinion. Based on my own personal judgement believe that Ashes of Creation is right now nothing more than some tech demos and voice over. I believe that Steven took some of his money, bought a bunch of assets off the UE4 marketplace, hired a couple of artists and one developer and produced some impressive visuals to sell his ideas. I believe that all you see is mostly smoke and mirrors and very little original work. I believe that the amount of systems they have already implemented by themselves has a tendency to zero.
About their intentions I am unclear though. In theory, there is nothing wrong to produce flashy images to sell their ideas to possible investors without having actually started on the game. If I am right and that’s the case, if Steven had said so, I would probably still had backed the project. I am aware that a Kickstarter project is only the intention of making a game and it’s always a risk for the backer that things don’t turn out well. I also have no issue with that whatsoever. The difference here though is that I feel deliberately deceived. So my agenda is to see how Intrepid answers, if they do. My agenda is to see how the next 29 days develop to see if they can regain my trust. What you all do is none of my concern.
<blockquote>
<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/some-friendly-questions-to-intrepid-studios-and-steven-from-a-400-backer/page/4/#post-14777" rel="nofollow">Bringslite wrote:</a></div>
I also would not be surprised if that video WAS staged to try and show off INTENDED features with possible practical applications/results from interactions… or in other words, what things might be capable of playing out with the intended feature set in and working. I do believe that a Game Designer might do that all the while not being forthcoming that it is a “staged” demonstration. Hype is pretty important. Hell they could have working models of features only on whiteboards and have been doing thought experiments just trying to show fans what might be possible.
</blockquote>
That’s the thing though. Features on whiteboards have the same substance than this:
Steven: “I see a trebuchet! Why is that here?” – because you swiped your credit card in the UE4 marketplace and put it there, dude. It sure looks better. But only smoke and mirrors.
<blockquote>
<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/some-friendly-questions-to-intrepid-studios-and-steven-from-a-400-backer/page/4/#post-14777" rel="nofollow">Bringslite wrote:</a></div>
With all of the sandboxes under development right now and your own “so perfect” posting technique and measured tempo, you are looking suspicious and a bit like you are working from an agenda yourself.
</blockquote>
Feel free to believe what you want.
[/quote]
Of course I will believe what I want. That is the privilege of the internet! :)
Do not get me wrong. I am concerned about most of what you brought up. I have, however, watched a team of around 13 produce a playable game model within a 2 year stretch of time. They had to release it (kinda) earlier than they wanted and it had some bad reviews but it did have a full progression system, some PVE content, some PVP content, and a fairly large world. They called it MVP too but it was playable . Pretty much like an early Alpha with some bells and whistles.
Were these people you are talking about talented game developers or con men that got rich by running pyramid schemes in the past?
When I do, I promise to let you guys know so you can snag it.
<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/some-friendly-questions-to-intrepid-studios-and-steven-from-a-400-backer/page/5/#post-14954" rel="nofollow">Bringslite wrote:</a></div>
Do not get me wrong. I am concerned about most of what you brought up. I have, however, watched a team of around 13 produce a playable game model within a 2 year stretch of time.
</blockquote>
Were these people you are talking about talented game developers or con men that got rich by running pyramid schemes in the past?
[/quote]
They were a mixed bunch. Some with names from other MMO titles. I am not positive, but I believe that they were actually too top heavy in "creative directors" yet they did get something done in that time that while not widely accepted as worthy of subscription was none the less a seamless world that takes about 1.5 hours to cross corner to corner. It is a pretty bland world with a "sameness" look to the terrain types. Full character progression. Full PVP allowing for captures of territory. Dynamic PVE. A few additional features like reputation system, achievement system, many skills and an open ended progression model.
But I'm not here to sell another game. Just to point out that it is possible. I would say it looks like there is at least as much experience in the Intrepid team right now as they ever had there. Probably more.
No, no one that had such a background in multimarketing that I am aware of. What is wrong with The Referral system here? I will admit that I feel a little weird about it and wouldn't mind if there were some incentive to offer the people that I might want to ask for referrals. A discount on their first month if they play from using my reference or something. Make it seem less... icky grabby. But that is probably just me. At it's base, it isn't like I have to buy a huge package and lose money if I don't get pyramid stones (players) underneath mine.(me)
<strong>The one thing that raises my eyebrows is the game consisting mainly of models being imported directly from the unity marketplace. Though I can't find any matching assets in the unity store? Can anyone actually back this up with links, if not I feel like most of the other issues are relatively trivial. I think this is the most important accusation that needs to be addressed or verified.</strong>
You get in game rewards and a discount on your sub/cash shop discounts for referring people, seriously people... How the hell is that a pyramid scheme? It's pretty standard to offer people a free month of game time for referring friends. Obviously a non issue.
Steven has a lot of money and worked for a dodgy company. Doesn't everyone? He's already clearly stated he's not the CEO or anything on that level, and that most of his money comes from his own personal investments.
So Steven made his husband CFO, why wouldn't you when starting a new company if your have shit tonnes of cash and your partner actually has a past managing money (and probably shares the same interest in mmorpgs) seems like an obvious choice.
There's accusations flying around that there's a plethora of dodgy business practices surrounding Steven and his partner and that you just need to check the google, I did..and can't find anything? Links, sources people?
I was also scammed when Everquest Next never came through though, and seeing it referenced on the kickstarter sort of triggered some alarm bells in my mind. Then again though the majority of people working on that game probably just wanted to make a great mmorpg right? The game was actually only canned after the company was acquired by some corporate Borg I believe anyway?
So intrepid clearly has a huge business space, plus a huge amount of talent working on the game. The numbers do seem quite low for an mmorpg on this scale, which seems kind of odd? But then again, how much money does it cost to rent a ridiculously big space, and hire all these people. So if the kickstarter is an apparent scam, it seems like Steven would barely cut even from the kickstarter proceeds alone. If their intention is to cash in with post kickstarter/game sale proceeds then they would probably have to have a much better final product close to launch time right? That doesn't sound like a problem to me.
Okay so how do you know this, links, sources?
[/quote]
QFT^
Lead environmental artist, lead character artist. Programmers could very easily be under Jason Crawford, lead technical director right?
" if they went through the trouble of detailing each artist and designer they way they have"
dude they are all senior/head roles, how do you know they have listed every artist lol. Everyone has either a senior or directive role on the staff page.
A week in to live play and the environment will just be a thing that is "there" without a second thought except for "how do I get around this hill without pissing off those bears?"
Seriously, you people are nuts.
Accusing them of fraud based on zero evidence and pure speculation.
Get some fresh tinfoil, ya nutbars!
I think you're probably going too far down the rabbit hole if you're like where is the lead server programmer, graphics programmer etc. Again this all could be under technical director.
Maybe they don't really care about literally showing all their employees? They may have literally been like.
"Hey let's go around the office and take some photos and bios of some people :)" not thinking that a giant conspiracy would be listed about every role that's not listed
If they had more developers they would show them. I don't believe it's a con. It's just questionable.