Dungeon Runners

Like I said, sorry to ncsoft, because I love a lot of your games but what you did with this game really pisses me off.  The new bling gnome is what set me off.  I kind of have to explain why this pisses me off so bad.  I worked for Realm Interactive most of its three year creation project on TWDM/EXARCH which was finally taken by NCsoft and turned into Dungeon Runners.  Ok im not upset that NCsoft took it, it more that the game totally went goofy fantasy when we worked for three bloody years to make it a complete scifi action game.  Is the game fun now, hope so at least some stuff we did was worth it and still in the game, but I wont play it because they not only waisted a part of my life but they canned most people that worked on it so they could get more experianced people to work on it, and didnt offer us anything for our work.. it just pisses me off a little.   Yeah im bitter about it, nothing I or anyone can do about it, its the past, it just makes me sad to see something I put my soul into turned into such a spoofy fantasy.

Hey if you enjoy it, enjoy.. not even going to try and stop anyone

just have had something to say about it for a long time and this new release and gnome got me going.  Thanks

Sorry that you had such a bad time with NCsoft as a developer.

I'm also sorry that you take such offense to the Bling Gnome... which is an awesome feature.

As the lead developer for the game, I can speak to why we took it in this comedic direction.  It helps to separate the game from the pack of existing serious dungeon crawlers and RPGs.  The personality of the game also mirrors the personality of the dev team.  We're silly and we love making a silly (but seriously fun) game.

We kept a ton of stuff from the original Exarch / DR versions.  Most of it was art and engine code... although the engine code is being replaced piece by piece as we move forward.  What we didn't keep was any of the game design.  The mechanics were unbalanceable, messy and thus unshippable.  We pretty much ripped out a great deal of the gameplay guts and started over.  I hope you worked on the art...

It really sucks that Exarch never saw the light of day.  But do you really have to come here and air your dirty laundry to try and undermine the game?

steve

Its a free forum and I dont really care if the game is cool or not, im free to express my feeling towards it, and the companies that work/worked on it.   If you think its cool, great.. but I and others that worked on it, in its early stages look at it in a different light and I wanted to express to the people how it makes me feel and what I had to go though.. so that you could have the game that you love so much.  thanks

Originally posted by snichols

Sorry that you had such a bad time with NCsoft as a developer.

I'm also sorry that you take such offense to the Bling Gnome... which is an awesome feature.

As the lead developer for the game, I can speak to why we took it in this comedic direction.  It helps to separate the game from the pack of existing serious dungeon crawlers and RPGs.  The personality of the game also mirrors the personality of the dev team.  We're silly and we love making a silly (but seriously fun) game.

We kept a ton of stuff from the original Exarch / DR versions.  Most of it was art and engine code... although the engine code is being replaced piece by piece as we move forward.  What we didn't keep was any of the game design.  The mechanics were unbalanceable, messy and thus unshippable.  We pretty much ripped out a great deal of the gameplay guts and started over.  I hope you worked on the art...

It really sucks that Exarch never saw the light of day.  But do you really have to come here and air your dirty laundry to try and undermine the game?

steve

So now you guys have to use these forums for a dev soap opera? Get real this could be the beginnings of another SWG. Take it elsewhere some of us are not interested in the internal affairs of games.You make games and the gamers either like it or they don't its a gamble devs take when they start developing games. 
 

Well, Battleskar again... FREE FORUM if we want to come on here and add drama about the interworkings of games we can.  You dont know everyone on this forum and what they like to talk about or read about all the time.. so if you dont like my post, ignore it.. love it or hate it, its a viable topic and its here for anyone to read and comment on.. Like you just did, so thanks for the comment.

This is a joke right?  Haha, funny funny.  The odds that a "developer" from some game NCsoft bought would post here but then right after the "lead developer" of dungeon runners posting seems a bit too odd for me.

If it is a joke, tis a little funny, if not, go back and try to come up with another glimic, cause I personally ain't buying it.

Well I love the game for its comedic approach. I doubt I would be playing it if the game was a serious dungeon crawler even if sci-fi. I have other games that I think are more fun for serious gameplay.

I thought that was the nature of the industry? You could be developing games just fine and when done you get the boot? From what I read on Kotaku a bunch of devs at LucasArts are getting the boot after they finish Force Unleashed. It's like thanks for making this game for us and making it a hit, but btw you're fired come release.

Dungeon Runners has just the right amount of "fun" grind that keeps you coming back. The bling gnome is an imense time saver, even though he has never pooped out a rainbow item for me! I do wish I could outfit my bling gnome to make it look different from the rest of em.

Maybe now they will pay tribute to you in game and have an item named after you, "Frustrated Sword of Montagemh", or something like that and it could be a lvl 100 rainbow drop.

Hope whatever you're working on now is doing well for ya...

Edit: spelling...

snichols is the lead dev/lead producer for Dungeon Runners.  I don't see anything wrong with him defending the product he and his team have put so much effort into.

Fort the rest of you who aren't past or present devs on Dungeon Runners, or it's predecessors, Exarch didn't start off as Exarch.  It started out as a port of an old BBS game and was originally titled Tradewars: Dark Millenium.

In 2002, NCSoft announced it would publish Tradewars: Dark Millenium.

In 2003, Tradewars: Dark Millenium became Exarch.  The Tradewars IP reverted/was given/taken back (whatever), since the Exarch version was really nothing like Tradewars.

Here are some other interesting links:

From Dan Beaulieu,

That sadly died eight months later due to an industry climate not favorable to startup companies. Not long after that I found my self working in Phoenix, Arizona with Realm Interactive on a game then known as Trade Wars.

The next year and half was a very intense and valuable experience on nearly all fronts. A combination of working with a number of talented people and just the amount of time worked over all would become one of the greatest growth periods for me to date. After a time the project was canceled but fortunately we were acquired by our publisher and collectively shipped out to the NCsoft studio in Austin, Texas.

After getting set up, myself and several others within the "Realm" group worked on Tabla Rasa. This Game is the creation of game giant Richard Garriott or to those in the Ultima know, Lord British or if you’re into NASA, son of Astronaut Owen Garriott. This was the largest group I had ever worked with. I believe six months had passed when several of our original leads had struck up a deal with NCsoft to work along side yet another game giant whose name I cannot mention on a project I cannot reveal. Because of my previous work history with the majority of the people on board I began working on the new project.

I'd say six months after that the Prototype Project was canceled to what I speculate to be Soviet sabotage. Hat in hand I returned to Tabula Rasa and began doing early UI R&D as well as environment assets. At this same time a small number of game Ronin went about starting a new company, one focused not on MMO Games but platform games. During this period NCsoft contracted the team (now Vigil Games) to work once again on Trade Wars (a.k.a. Exarch) now named Dungeon Runners for an undetermined amount of time. Unable to resist the idea of finishing the game which we had started so many years ago I parted from NCsoft and began work at Vigil.

Cesspit Article

Cesspit Article

Moby Games Trivia

montagemh, I'm sorry you didn't see your work come to fruition, at least not how it was intended at the time.  You could be bitter, or you could be happy that parts of what you worked on ended up being part of something successful.  You could say "yeah, part of me is in that!"

Regardless, you posting this bitter tripe is incredibly unprofessional, whether this is an open forum or not.

~Ripper

Well ripper, I am bitter because I and others that work on the project didnt get any credit for doing  some work that is still in game, and I dont think it can be considered unprofessional coming on here and talking about what upsets me about this game and the politics behind its production.  I dont even work in the industry anymore, so really I dont have anything to gain or lose from people playing this game or not, I just had something to say and said it.  So Thanks for the comment. 

and another I worked closely with dan before most of us were let go, he was a great guy and if they offered him a job working on tabula great.. its a great game and im glad he got a good job..  I really have nothing against NCSoft..  its just most of us that started the company go screwed in the politics and I for one am still upset about it.  Not like my anger controls my life, its just there in the back of my head nagging me every now and then.  This was just one of those time.

So oh well

(edit) I would like to add that NCSoft does by contract own the work I and other did on the project.. so they can really use it any way they like and I cant do anything about it..

again oh well.. life goes on, still going to be pissed about the game, but oh well, wont be the last thing I get pissed at either.