"The short and morbid tale of Sigil Games Online"
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:25 am
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"The short and morbid tale of Sigil Games Online"
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:52 am
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:59 am
Brad should go back and join the EQ1 team. You know, something he was actually good at.
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:05 am
Wow, that is sad. I'm surprised it fell apart so quickly. Hopefully SOE will turn it around.
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:07 am
he was good at eq1?
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 12:04 pm
I knew that was coming at some point =D.
Seems Kunark and Velious were 2 of the most talked about / best expansions while he was still on board (at least in design), so I'd think so.
Suffice to say..."The Vision - TM" doesn't translate too well into a Vanguard like game, but with the EQ system it kinda works.
Seems Kunark and Velious were 2 of the most talked about / best expansions while he was still on board (at least in design), so I'd think so.
Suffice to say..."The Vision - TM" doesn't translate too well into a Vanguard like game, but with the EQ system it kinda works.
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 1:04 pm
That's funny. I submitted my resume to them last week.
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 1:09 pm
I wouldn't count on being hired. 
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 2:34 pm
From the perspective of a person who doesn't play Vanguard all the seperate spheres in TheVision remind me of Dr. Doolittle's Pushmi-pullyu, in that tt seems like they're competing, not complementary. I'm assuming that the "end game" of vanguard is the typical raid. Given that, who wants to spend their time building a boat or uncovering 'lore' through a card game?
Or am I completely wrong in assuming that, and the average player's VG experience will go into each of these areas, not picking and choosing?
edit: comma
Or am I completely wrong in assuming that, and the average player's VG experience will go into each of these areas, not picking and choosing?
edit: comma
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 2:45 pm
Is that verified factual? It wouldn't surprise me, but I'd prefer something a bit more official newsy.
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 2:51 pm
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 2:55 pm
It's factual. Check the FOH board, there's a thread about it there, including a post from Nino, an old FOH officer who at least WAS a Sigil employee. He's supposed to post today what his plans are.
-Arlos
-Arlos
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:40 pm
http://www.fohguild.org/forums/mmorpg-g ... es-32.html
My Status
There is much I would love to unload about right now, but seeing as I am feeling pretty emotional while trying to respect the wishes of remaining Vanguard management, I will refrain.
I knew this was coming months ago, as did most others, so I made arrangements prior to the whole unfolding of events today. Sony was kind enough to invite me and a few others to form a small team and to start prototyping a 'new' project. While we've done some 'secret' preliminary work, we begin in earnest tomorrow after we officially sign on with SOE. Don't bother asking about details, because you won't get any.
I became increasingly disenfranchised with the situation since the forced premature launch, which then culminated several weeks back when I decided I could not, in good conscience, continue serving the Sigil management staff in my over-extended capacity and stepped down. I would have walked away completely if this recent opportunity had not presented itself when it did.
I did the best I could with the time and resources I had at my disposal, but in the end it simply wasn't enough to bring the game up to the standards we all had hoped for in the time we had remaining. I apologize for any disappointments players have experienced. During the final year, I was pulling 80-100 hour weeks, and I was not at all alone in the building. I wish things could have been different.
While I was fortunate to stay employed, there were near 50 people today who were not, and it was painful watching the procession of stunned coworkers packing their belongings into little cardboard boxes with blank looks on their faces. I've never had to endure something like this, and I hope to never have to do it again. I know it is easy to point fingers at 'why' things ended up this way, but the vast, vast majority of the folks losing their jobs today had very little control on how events unfolded and many were skilled and creative people who simply wanted to make a great game.
The Vanguard team, obviously now much smaller, will go back to improving and fixing the game tomorrow. Myself and four others will be moving to a new location and beginning anew. The others will begin the process of trying to find a new place to work.
I promised not to be publically scornful, but I will say this: I hope those truly responsible for the deep rooted failings of the company lay in bed tonight and relive the events that transpired today in their heads, over and over. For not ONE of you is without your job come tomorrow morning.
__________________
Nino McHammer
Fires of Heaven
Veeshan
Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 5:14 am
http://www.f13.net/?itemid=561
f13.net: How deep did SOE's hands get into it? What was the progression like?
Ex-Sigil: They were hands-off all the way up til today
f13.net: ... are you serious?
Ex-Sigil: SOE lent a few devs to us in the final days, but it was nothing like people think. I think design had 3 people, art 2, and programming 1 from SOE. They let us use their testing dept too somewhat. We felt somewhat reborn I guess, but with a sense of reservation. When the merger happened SOE embraced us, and spent a LOT of money on us right away. It felt really good.
f13.net: Do you know why they were willing to do that? Surely they saw the lack of... product within the project at that time.
Ex-Sigil: I don't know that they did really. They got the same show that MS did to some degree. I'll say this about Brad.. he's one hell of a salesman. He's VERY passionate about his projects, even so much as to be blinded from seeing reality.
f13.net: SOE knew Brad's game though. Smedley has been around through McQuaid Part 1 & 2 now.
Ex-Sigil: I know.. and I can't explain that part.
f13.net: Surely people around the office knew part of the history. What was the rumor mill like at this time?
Ex-Sigil: Some people were confused. Why would SOE buy a game that's a direct competitor to EQ2? There was always talk, but people who were working on the game continued to put their souls into it in hopes that we could somehow get it all together in the end.
f13.net: Without a scripting language or proper tools, it sounds like some of the people actually on the project were pretty amazing.
Ex-Sigil: The level of creativity to make things work where there were no methods to do so was incredible.
f13.net: What happened in the short time between E3 2006 and Beta?
Ex-Sigil: The dev staff knew the game wasn't ready. Brad set the beta start I think and was completely clueless as to the actual state of the game... not listening to anyone telling him it wasn't ready
f13.net: How hands off was he by this time?
Ex-Sigil: He was playing a lot right through about Beta 2 but then he vanished.
f13.net: As in, just outright disappeared?
Ex-Sigil: Yep.
f13.net: How deep did SOE's hands get into it? What was the progression like?
Ex-Sigil: They were hands-off all the way up til today
f13.net: ... are you serious?
Ex-Sigil: SOE lent a few devs to us in the final days, but it was nothing like people think. I think design had 3 people, art 2, and programming 1 from SOE. They let us use their testing dept too somewhat. We felt somewhat reborn I guess, but with a sense of reservation. When the merger happened SOE embraced us, and spent a LOT of money on us right away. It felt really good.
f13.net: Do you know why they were willing to do that? Surely they saw the lack of... product within the project at that time.
Ex-Sigil: I don't know that they did really. They got the same show that MS did to some degree. I'll say this about Brad.. he's one hell of a salesman. He's VERY passionate about his projects, even so much as to be blinded from seeing reality.
f13.net: SOE knew Brad's game though. Smedley has been around through McQuaid Part 1 & 2 now.
Ex-Sigil: I know.. and I can't explain that part.
f13.net: Surely people around the office knew part of the history. What was the rumor mill like at this time?
Ex-Sigil: Some people were confused. Why would SOE buy a game that's a direct competitor to EQ2? There was always talk, but people who were working on the game continued to put their souls into it in hopes that we could somehow get it all together in the end.
f13.net: Without a scripting language or proper tools, it sounds like some of the people actually on the project were pretty amazing.
Ex-Sigil: The level of creativity to make things work where there were no methods to do so was incredible.
f13.net: What happened in the short time between E3 2006 and Beta?
Ex-Sigil: The dev staff knew the game wasn't ready. Brad set the beta start I think and was completely clueless as to the actual state of the game... not listening to anyone telling him it wasn't ready
f13.net: How hands off was he by this time?
Ex-Sigil: He was playing a lot right through about Beta 2 but then he vanished.
f13.net: As in, just outright disappeared?
Ex-Sigil: Yep.
Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:33 am
Ex-Sigil: In-house stuff for the design side... but there was no scripting language for example, even though nearly everyone wanted one except for the people who decided if we got one or not.
f13.net: Because it would cost money to make these tools?
Ex-Sigil: No... because the people in charge just didn't want one
What. The. Fuck!?!?!
ONE QA person for the entire duration of the project? I repeat: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over?!?!?!
How can you make a modern MMO and NOT have scriptable content? Hell, how can you not have any scripting AT ALL??
How could people THAT stupid end up in positions of management? Fuck, I mean, if you read the whole interview and see how much blame he lays at the feet of Dave Gilbertson, among other people, and yet SOE brought him on board to continue running things? How could SOE be that stupid?
And then at the end, the way it was done, not only the callousness of dumping them in the parking lot with no warning, but apparently one of the idiot management team, Bill Fisher, literally talked about how he was going to use his Vanguard (now SOE) stock to buy a house AS EVERYONE WAS BEING FIRED..... Just. wow.
I do feel sorry for the average employee tehre at sigil, and hope they land on their feet, but man, some of those management people need to never work in the games or software development fields again.
-Arlos
Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 9:44 am
There are two sides to every story. Or actually more, as may be the case here.
However, there is no arguing that Vanguard was very ineptly run. That should be laid at the feet of the two guys in charge, Mcquaid and Butler.
Gilbertson was not the guy in charge, Arlos. He was a 'people' manager and not authorized to do the things needed to make change. My guess is he'll continue in that role, but the huge gaps that are missing will slowly be filled in. It's nice to see Mcquaid was not retained and was essentially fired from his own company.
However, there is no arguing that Vanguard was very ineptly run. That should be laid at the feet of the two guys in charge, Mcquaid and Butler.
Gilbertson was not the guy in charge, Arlos. He was a 'people' manager and not authorized to do the things needed to make change. My guess is he'll continue in that role, but the huge gaps that are missing will slowly be filled in. It's nice to see Mcquaid was not retained and was essentially fired from his own company.
Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 9:54 am