Let's condense this to one thread...

For those who don't know, PEGShane (President of Cheyenne Mountain) has surfaced here, and has agreed to answer resonable questions.

Here's the history so far from other threads:

PUGLA WROTE:

Feel free to copy these questions and answer them into the SGW official forums with your status clearly indicated to show the world. This is your chance, man: shoot down ALL of the rumors right now.

1. Tell us that everybody is getting paid on time
2. Tell us that MMOGULs was never the official plan for SGW from the boss (not from the lowly developers who have no say)
3. Tell us when you will start the next beta
4. Tell us when the game will be finished

Unless you're happy with Lisentia, supremeaaron, Loheat, Asrayel, and xxxRetsopmi as your only subscribers, you need to start marketing your game and reaching out to potential customers. And if you EVER want my money (meager contribution though it may be), you need to prove to me that MMOGULs either is NOT owned by Gary Whiting or that he will never see a penny of my money.

SHANE'S RESPONSE
Hi Pugla,

1) We haven't been paid in a long time--over four months as of this Friday. I don't think we've ever denied that. And no, "Khestral" hasn't been paid either, despite what someone here said. If we were silent about it, frankly it's because all of the people who usually handle all the forums and public relations left some time ago.

I made it a priority this week to try and share some information--good or bad--so you would know the truth about what's going on here. It's far less mysterious than the silence may have made it seem.

The employees who are left aren't looking for your sympathy, though of course well-wishes are always appreciated. We all know the risks and are big boys and girls. And if we do manage to get the game out and you folks like it, we of course will be rewarded for sticking it out, so that's what's in it for us.

2) MMOGULS was never the official plan for anything directly related to CME. Gary Whiting does own MMOGULS and CME, and if he makes money on one it's certainly his perogative to support the other with *his share* if he decides to do so. Whether you care for him or not, Gary has put everything he owns into the company and is the most passionate person in the world about SGW.

Moguls did originally show SGW and other internal projects at their presentations. I know because some of them went up on Youtube. But they also showed World of Warcraft and other games. We at CME asked them to stop showing our projects because we felt it would be seen exactly as you've seen it, and it would imply an official relationship since Gary was involved with both. But an MLM gaming site is not illegal and no different than Amway or Avon from a business perspective, as far as I know. And if it ultimately proved to be a "pyramid scheme" rather than a legitimate MLM, those behind it would be prosecuted, I'm sure.

How it all works I'm not privvy to--MLMs are definitely not my cup of tea either--and as I said before we have no official involvement with them whatsoever. We don't know the people who work there and they don't know us.I beileve some of our artists did a few pieces for their website at one point, but that was before I was involved with that group, and those people are gone now. We also had some people do some freelance work for them way back in March, I think.

3) I have no idea when we'll start the next beta. We have to solve our financial issues and re-hire staff to finish the excellent work that Dan Elggren, Chris Klug, Howard Lyon, Demetrius Comes, and all the rest of the SGW team put into the game. Some of the original SGW folks are left, but a good number of us who are still here were working on other projects previously. There's no doubt that means a significant delay at best.

4) See #3. But marketing is our least concern right now. I understand you need more information than you've been getting, and I'll do my best, but our problems are far deeper for the moment and we're working hard to solve them.

I understand I need to answer these questions on the SGW forums as well--I just don't know my way around over there very well yet--but I will. I don't have a "red name" yet either so people probably wouldn't believe I was real if I posted without it.

I also have an email interview with "JStrike" that I'll post here and on the SGW forums when I finish it.

I'm happy to continue asnwering any reasonable questions you have.

Thanks,

Shane

_______

SHANE RE: AUG 1st Deadline from MGM

August 1st is a milestone in the MGM contract, but they've so far made no indication that they're going to pull the license. My firm belief is that if we have committed investment they'll be *very* happy to see us re-staff and refocus on SGW. If not, I would guess they'll just let us fade away and see if someone else is interested down the road sometime.

But as I confirmed in the other thread, those of us who have gone four months without pay are simply at the end of our ropes. I am one of these. There were about 20 people in the office today though--that's how many we fed--so I won't speak for all of them.

My personal plan is to stay in town for another couple of weeks and see if things work out. If they do and the management wants me back, I'm very likely to do so. If things don't work out, I'll continue to help as much as I can, and continue to help other employees get jobs at places where I have strong contacts and can personally vouch for their skills.

I hope you'll reconsider the invite, Kyrie. It's a genuine offer and you're welcome to walk around and talk to whoever you want with no restrictions.

Shane

1) We haven't been paid in a long time--over four months as of this Friday. I don't think we've ever denied that. And no, "Khestral" hasn't been paid either, despite what someone here said. If we were silent about it, frankly it's because all of the people who usually handle all the forums and public relations left some time ago.

Q: Who is handling the forums and public relations then? Why are negative comments on the official forums being censored?

Also...

Q: You say that assuming you still have the license after the August 1st "milestone" in your contact with MGM you plan to "re-staff" and continue work on the game. I assume that by "re-staff" you mean to hire new people to replace those who are no longer willing to work without pay. Now, considering the fact you openly admit you have not been paid in four months, what incentive is there for new employees to come work for you? What will you say if during a job interview with a prospective new employee you are asked about payment?

Originally posted by Raltar

1) We haven't been paid in a long time--over four months as of this Friday. I don't think we've ever denied that. And no, "Khestral" hasn't been paid either, despite what someone here said. If we were silent about it, frankly it's because all of the people who usually handle all the forums and public relations left some time ago.

 

Q: Who is handling the forums and public relations then? Why are negative comments on the official forums being censored?

Valid question. Why ban Mershu and permit the forum members to attack her? She was only telling the truth according to the answer we get from PEGShane. Meanwhile, other forum members were allowed to violate several forum rules of conduct in their attacks on her. She got the ban, and they got the "internet hero" badges.

Hi Raltar,

I admit to being rather ignorant of the SGW forums, but I certainly don't blame any moderator of any forum if blatantly hostile comments are deleted. Constructive criticism is appreciated--the rest just keeps us from trying to make good games. I know this topic alone could likely turn into a flame war with passionate people on both sides of it, so please just give me a little time to get immersed in the SGW culture a bit more and meet the moderators. Thanks in advance.

Our first choice to re-staff would obviously be former SGW folks--they know exactly what to do and I think a fair number of them are still around. Both those team members and any new ones would not be hired back if there's no further investment, however. I wouldn't ask them to. I don't ask the people who are here now, either. It's completely their choice, and many of those who have had to move on got great letters of recommendation from me or others here.

Shane

Originally posted by Raltar

1) We haven't been paid in a long time--over four months as of this Friday. I don't think we've ever denied that. And no, "Khestral" hasn't been paid either, despite what someone here said. If we were silent about it, frankly it's because all of the people who usually handle all the forums and public relations left some time ago.

Q: Who is handling the forums and public relations then? Why are negative comments on the official forums being censored?

Also...

Q: You say that assuming you still have the license after the August 1st "milestone" in your contact with MGM you plan to "re-staff" and continue work on the game. I assume that by "re-staff" you mean to hire new people to replace those who are no longer willing to work without pay. Now, considering the fact you openly admit you have not been paid in four months, what incentive is there for new employees to come work for you? What will you say if during a job interview with a prospective new employee you are asked about payment?

Originally posted by PEGShane

Our first choice to re-staff would obviously be former SGW folks--they know exactly what to do and I think a fair number of them are still around. Both those team members and any new ones would not be hired back if there's no further investment, however. I wouldn't ask them to. I don't ask the people who are here now, either. It's completely their choice, and many of those who have had to move on got great letters of recommendation from me or others here.
 

Q: So are you saying that you will NOT continue development on SGW if there is no further investment from new and/or current investors? What will happen to the game and the progress that has been made so far if the decision is made to stop development?

I know this may be a tough one to answer, but how do we know you are indeed Shane Hensley?

With a game surrounded in near-conspiracy-level speculation, it isn't beyond the reach of logic that some investor/employee/troll is upset and just wanting to trash SGW... Unfortunately, it's just too easy to lie on the internet, so I'm sure you can see how people could easily dismiss this all as a hoax.

I guess I'm saying that even those of us who have stuck it out this long won't be able to stay much longer. After that, I won't be involved and have no idea what will happen.

As I've said before though, Gary is passionate about it and will do anything and everything in his power to recover if it's at all possible.

Shane

Q: So are you saying that you will NOT continue development on SGW if there is no further investment from new and/or current investors? What will happen to the game and the progress that has been made so far if the decision is made to stop development?

He is the real deal. I will even vouch for him until he gets a more official color on these forums.

How do you know it's me? Hmmm. I dunno. Got a question for me?

Maybe one indication is that a pretender probably would have used a different screen name that looked more CME-like. I've had this one on all my accounts for over a decade. (The PEG in my name is for Pinnacle Entertainment Group, which is my personal company.) Someone said I've been registered on MMORPG for 3 years under this screen name too so if I'm a pretender I had a LOT of foresight. :P

Shane Lacy* Hensley

*Named after my grandfather, Lacy Ellis Davis. My kids have the same middle name.

How's that? :)

Shane

Originally posted by PEGShane

I guess I'm saying that even those of us who have stuck it out this long won't be able to stay much longer. After that, I won't be involved and have no idea what will happen.

As I've said before though, Gary is passionate about it and will do anything and everything in his power to recover if it's at all possible.

Shane

Q: So are you saying that you will NOT continue development on SGW if there is no further investment from new and/or current investors? What will happen to the game and the progress that has been made so far if the decision is made to stop development?

With all due respect, I believe the only thing Gary is "passionate about" is getting some more investor money in his pocket.
 

Here's a question: You guys have no money. Why? With all the money that was thrown at the project, why is there none now? We know very little made it to the actual dev team and development. So where did it go?

Thanks for taking the time to anwser my questions. I don't have anything else to ask and I'm pretty sure that lots of other people want a chance to ask their questions.

And you seem like the real deal to me, Although the endorsement from "Mershu" hurts your credibility more than it helps it in my mind.

Originally posted by Raltar

Thanks for taking the time to anwser my questions. I don't have anything else to ask and I'm pretty sure that lots of other people want a chance to ask their questions.

And you seem like the real deal to me, Although the endorsement from "Mershu" hurts your credibility more than it helps it in my mind.

Thanks Raltar, you are swell!   I take back my endorsement then. Getting answers is more important than your petty bullshit.

Last one for tonight--I gotta go to bed but will dive back in tomorrow.

You said:

Here's a question: You guys have no money. Why? With all the money that was thrown at the project, why is there none now? We know very little made it to the actual dev team and development. So where did it go?

SGW had around 80 people or so for 3+ years, I think. (I've been here since November of '06.) That's a ton of payroll, insurance, taxes, etc. Then there's the cost of the Unreal engine, BigWorld, facilities, etc. Some went to the other studios (like mine), and a bunch went to the publishing operation (too early, in my opinion). What it adds up to exactly I don't know--not my thing--and I have no doubt those who raised money took a finder's fee as they were entitled. But to say "not much went to dev teams" just isn't accurate in my opinion.

Shane

Originally posted by Raltar

Thanks for taking the time to anwser my questions. I don't have anything else to ask and I'm pretty sure that lots of other people want a chance to ask their questions.

And you seem like the real deal to me, Although the endorsement from "Mershu" hurts your credibility more than it helps it in my mind.

So far, I believe he's real. I've already emailed Jon earlier to look into getting Shane his forum title. Probably won't be until sometime tomorrow, asthings will have to be verified with Shane.

Originally posted by PEGShane

Last one for tonight--I gotta go to bed but will dive back in tomorrow.

You said:

Here's a question: You guys have no money. Why? With all the money that was thrown at the project, why is there none now? We know very little made it to the actual dev team and development. So where did it go?

 

SGW had around 80 people or so for 3+ years, I think. (I've been here since November of '06.) That's a ton of payroll, insurance, taxes, etc. Then there's the cost of the Unreal engine, BigWorld, facilities, etc. Some went to the other studios (like mine), and a bunch went to the publishing operation (too early, in my opinion). What it adds up to exactly I don't know--not my thing--and I have no doubt those who raised money took a finder's fee as they were entitled. But to say "not much went to dev teams" just isn't accurate in my opinion.

Shane

Well, I'll amend to say we've been given the impression that not much went to the dev team, which is why I asked the question. I'd like to get some of the "ugly" stuff out in the open and out of the way as much as possible. Anyway, thanks for the answers and have a good night.

Shane I'd like to thank you for being the first and only CME employee to "man up" and actually be prepared to speak on the current situation. Yes I've been harsh towards Khestral but I offer my frustration at being decieved or atleast the deafening silence as an excuse.

As for questions,

Q:  "We don't know the people who work there and they don't know us.I beileve some of our artists did a few pieces for their website at one point, but that was before I was involved with that group, and those people are gone now. We also had some people do some freelance work for them way back in March, I think.". This statement appears to contradict itself, you say CME staff don't know MMOGULs staff. However you've worked for them and have arranged work to be done for them. Also their offices are one floor above yours and owned and run by your CEO and are selling the product you make. Also they've put cash into CME (which Whiting would have to ok with his business partners I suppose), I've also read the internal emial to staff selling MMOGULS to CME staff. My question,  have you or any staff you know of been approached by other members of CME/Firesky/Cash sink studios, offering a financial contract of any type concerning MMOGULs?
 

Q: What do you know about Brad Wright and Michael Shanks comments? Why do you think they made them? How do you think they may have come to the conclusions they did? Was there any official comment on them at CME to staff?

Q: Why did your studio (superstion studio) get money that was meant for SGW? What does it do that CME can't?

Q: How long have you been President of CME? Doy you think CME will get SGW to launch anytime next year?

It's fine to just say "I don't know", I'd rather that than some bologne "Team Whiting justification" post. Since Mershu vouches for you then I'll take it you are who you say you are, which makes me suspicous of your motives for posting here. You are a minion of "Team Whiting" and only post after the first picture of Whiting ever seen in the 5 years of SGW gets slapped on the internet and just before the license comes up again.

Q: So my last question would be what is your motivation for posting here and not on the official site?

Originally posted by PEGShane

Last one for tonight--I gotta go to bed but will dive back in tomorrow.

You said:

Here's a question: You guys have no money. Why? With all the money that was thrown at the project, why is there none now? We know very little made it to the actual dev team and development. So where did it go?

 

SGW had around 80 people or so for 3+ years, I think. (I've been here since November of '06.) That's a ton of payroll, insurance, taxes, etc. Then there's the cost of the Unreal engine, BigWorld, facilities, etc. Some went to the other studios (like mine), and a bunch went to the publishing operation (too early, in my opinion). What it adds up to exactly I don't know--not my thing--and I have no doubt those who raised money took a finder's fee as they were entitled. But to say "not much went to dev teams" just isn't accurate in my opinion.

Shane

Hi Shane,

Vincent is speaking (CEO of VWORLD). I do have a question for you:

so, SGW makes use of the BigWorld technology suite and also makes use of the Unreal engine. Why? I mean, why would you need two engines since BigWorld is sold as a complete turn-key solution allowing to spend less time on the development per se , and for less money than many MMOs usually need, according to their marketing heads? 

Thanks! 

Heya, _Pix_! Long time no see.

Agricola1 and myself were pondering that same question in another thread just the other day. Glad you brought it up.

Heyahhh Zorvan, good to see you haven't exactly quitted there too! Well, I've been a bit busy with a few things over the last few months (as you may check on my new sig).

Well it seems that I 'm good at bringing things up to the surface of the World    

• As the President of CME, I’m sure you aware that various Sr. Management & Officers of CME spent time and effort to put MMOGULS back in place (in addition to all the art, web  & marketing efforts) after the first executive team left? In addition, Whiting owns MMOGULS, but with so much effort from CME employees given to MMOGULS, are you not concerned that revenue flows directly to Whiting’s pockets?
   
• Is MMOGULS = iSNAP?
   
• Were all of CME’s games to appear on MMOGUL’s social networking portal? 
   
• Initially, CME raised 55 Million.  However, they continued to raise funds and have investors through the offices of CME throughout most of 2008.   How much money did CME really raise?
   
• If CME did get their 8 Million (which is looking very unlikely) how much of that goes to past debts and how much to future development?
   
• What is the status on the lawsuits? If some people have judgments against whiting personally, are they getting funds employees could be getting?
   
• Will other games be developed with what is left of the 8 Million?
   
• How much time and money is needed to finish SGW?
   
• What is Stargate Battles?
   
• Is CME still making iPhone applications?
   
• When the money ran out, why did CME keep all the overhead from the other studios? Why didn’t they repurpose those employees onto SGW to get it complete and out the door?

Thanks Shane!