Volunteers & Remote Development Key to Continuing Progress

Brad McQuaid has posted a lengthy letter on the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen site. In it, he lays out the ways that development of the game can and will continue albeit at a slower pace. Key to the plan is the inclusion of a volunteer development staff and the necessity of remotely working together to move Pantheon forward as the team continues to look for funding sources.

First, team members will begin as volunteers.  This is because 1. we don't have the funding right now to pay, 2. we're a little weary and concerned about setting a bunch of people up as remote, paid contractors like we did when this project started, and 3. because since these people are not necessary local to VRI’s home base in San Diego, we need to take the time to get to know each of these volunteers, spending time with them on teamspeak or skype, having them deliver some assets for evaluation, etc.  

When we do bring in funding and restart that campaign to reach out to Angel Investors, Publishers, and the like, and when we can have an office and paid employees, we will then look at the volunteer force and, on a case by case basis, determine if that person wants to and should become a contractor or, if they can re-locate, possibly a full employee.  But, in the meantime, I think this is a very exciting start.  So many people have contacted me wanting to help with this project, and I remain very humbled by it.  And some of those people have the talent we are looking for as we re-build the development team.

The second thing, because of the remote nature, the community involvement, how this site is structured, etc., is that there will be more official positions/jobs than the typical manager, programmer, designer, and artist set-up.  We are adding moderators and lore writers to that list, and possibly more positions TBD.  The Moderators position is the first part of the team I am focusing on.  We need to do a lot better with this site and building community.  There are quite a few of you who are part of this site and community, but we don't hear from you often.  This is understandable, as posts by me and other people involved have been insufficient and simply not as exciting and fresh as they need to be.  As mentioned earlier in this announcement, that is going to change.  More posting and more blogging is coming.  The Moderators group is going to be a huge part of this -- not only are they going to moderate, but they are also going to be posting about various game-related topics as well, and making the general forums an active and interesting place to browse and lurk and hopefully a bunch of you will start posting again as well.  Lastly, they will also be reaching out, outside of this site, answering questions on other boards, and trying to drive traffic here, so we can grow this community, again not just larger, but healthier and more informative and open as well.

Find out how to get involved and/or read the rest of the letter on the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen site.