April Newsletter

It has been an amazing month so far! April brought us some great new information from PAX East and the cherry on the top is the April News Letter. We are treated to three features this month! Starting off is a new series titled the Rogues' Gallery which shines the spotlight on various Terminus inhabitants. This month we get a look at The Ratkin.

Ratkin are one of the more ubiquitous races in the Western Hemisphere of Terminus. Nearly every continent has at least one colony, from Kinsgreach down to Whitethaw, with several having multiple colonies in multiple regions. As diverse as environments are, so are the types of Ratkin that inhabit them.

We next get to hear from one Daniel Krenin in the Dev Spotlight. It's always fascinating to hear from the devs to lear their background, what makes them tick and how intense their focus is on making Pantheon the best.

The scope of my work is quite broad. I've touched every major and minor system in Pantheon, and I'm not sure I can fairly quantify how much of the code I've written..

As well as being the lead programmer, I've been a key member of the the design team since I started. We're always in discussions, and working through new systems together..

Last and most excitingly, we get a lot of detail about a zone named Black Rose Keep! There's so much to read about the background and design. Grab a drink and enjoy the great writeup!

We excitedly unveiled our newest iteration of Black Rose Keep, a level spanning zone that begs to be explored, at PAX East this month - and the feedback was incredible.

Pledge and Help with the Pre-Alpha Testing

To celebrate the PAX East event, a new pledge level was added from April 03 to May 01, the "PAX East 2018 Pledge" This gives you all of the benefits of the SunHunter's pledge PLUS Pre-Alpha access. If you pledged at a lower level, you can upgrade your pledge (NOTE: to upgrade an existing pledge level, you need to open a support ticket.). This is a great opportunity for those who missed out on pledging at an appropriate level last year, to get in on the Pre-Alpha efforts PLUS, you will be helping to fund this amazing game!

Second stream of Pre-Alpha2 Play

You can catch Jim Lee's stream of his game play on YouTube. It was a great thing to watch!

Jim Lee has an appreciation for challenging, socially charged MMORPGs. Join him and the team on his journey through Pantheon Pre-Alpha. Despite a few pre-alpha bugs at the start, the group takes a quick look at Thronefast before heading to Halnir Cave to do some exploring and combat, ending in a crazy boss fight that's not to be missed.

Streams of Pre-Alpha2 Gameplay

We get a great treat this week! (make that two!) A stream of gameplay in Halnir Cave has been posted. Watching this really gets me excited to get in the game to give it a shot! Oh yes, I mentioned TWO streams didn't I? Well, the second stream will be happening March 20 at 11 PM EDT. You will be able to watch it live HERE. Once a copy is available to watch, I will post a link here on the Pantheon News site.

This stream was taken during a live pre-alpha 2 session in Halnir Cave. The group attempts (and wipes to) several boss encounters and ultimately determines that Pantheon is TOUGH. For more information and to pledge to make this project a reality, visit us at https://pantheonmmo.com

March Newsletter

The March Newsletter has been published and it was well worth the wait! We get a chance to learn some details about a very important part of our characters, the armor they wear.

First up, we've tracked down the elusive Joppa and our amazing Character Artist, Will Barry to give us the scoop on the process behind the virtual forging of armor in Pantheon. They discuss both the design aesthetics and the underlying mechanics that go into this crucial process.

Also we get some great details of one of the dungeons in Pantheon, Halnir Cave

Next, we strap some of the aforementioned armor on and delve deep into one of the first dungeons that will be available to many players in Pantheon, Halnir Cave. Our Pre-Alpha testers got their first taste of this zone recently, and the response was so overwhelming that our Lead Writer Justin Gerhart and Associate Designer Tim Wathen couldn't wait to spill the beans on the process behind creating that experience.

Voices of Terminus Interview of Pantheon Devs

Make sure you tune into listen to The Voices of Terminus stream on March 5 at 6 PM EST to listen to their interview with Pantheon developers Tod Curtis and Ben "Kilsin" Walters. You never know what new details will emerge from these interview so they are well worth listening to!

Updated: March 07, 2018

Bazgrim posted a great writeup summary of the show. You can head over the the Official Pantheon Forums to find it HERE

Bazgrim's Interview with Corey "Ceythos" LeFever

Bazgrim scored a chance to interview Visionary Realms' Senior Game Designer Corey "Ceythos" LeFever. It's a great interview and well worth checking out!

As always, hearing about the thought and effort which these guys put into the game is inspiring.

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

February's Newsletter is live and ready for your viewing pleasure! Lead Game Designer and Creative Director; Chris "Joppa" Perkins provides us with the latest State of the Game.

It's amazing that a year has passed since I wrote the last State of the Game - and like I said then, so much has happened in the last 12 months! As Oni of Thronefast will tell you, there is an Ocirican proverb that says, "The heart is trained by the ear…

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The big news for many is that Pre-Alpha has officially begun. The Pre-Alpha players have been spending their time running around, leveling up, questing and most importantly, testing in the human capital zone of Thronefast. 

The Elves of Terminus also get a thorough discussion by the team which delves deeply into the creative design decisions behind the elusive race, their cultural icons and teases us with mention of the mountainous Elven city of Faerthale!

Faerthale. I have dreamt more about that city than any of the other nine, and working through the environmental art has only made me more excited. I don't hope it only pleases me, I hope Faerthale is an intimate and iconic home for many, many people for a very long time. I hope the effort to consider details big and small creates a place that everyone can cherish, no matter how little of the story they care to know.

If Faerthale speaks for itself, we've done our job of telling.

I am once again blown away the intense focus on detail from this amazing group of talented designers. You can tell that these guys love what they do and are driven to make this the best game out there. I can't wait to see what next month's newsletter reveals!