New to P99

[Ennewi]

Originally Posted by BlackBellamy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Now that the driving force behind the project passed away, people will realize that there is no market for this game. I mean yeah, couple of hundred die hard Dark Age of Camelot nostalgia warriors and some others, but that doesn't make a healthy game.

I bet Brad brought in a lot of investors because of his personal history and his vision and passion, but what is going to attract VC money into the game now? Remember they've been paying a full development and management staff for like 5 years now without a single source of revenue. As a rich guy, would you be willing to say well the main guy is dead and the whole thing smells iffy but let me go on and plop another 2 million into the hole? I think the money will run out and that will be that.

https://www.pcgamer.com/breaking-the...ed-everything/

Most of the people at Sony were just as skeptical as the industry veterans Smedley tried to recruit. Rappaport says other developers at SISA took to calling the game "NeverQuest," while Smedley adds that the team was mockingly referred to as the "Ghouls and Goblins Guys" when they'd gather to play Magic: The Gathering in the lunchroom. "This was a studio that was filled with sports people," Smedley laughs. "And then this small group of us that was into Dungeons and Dragons."

That's how EverQuest first came to life, in the bullpen of a PlayStation studio where everyone was either ignorant of its existence or convinced that the bizarre high-fantasy RPG would fail. As Smedley would later realize, it was the perfect place.

A well-written article with lots of obscure details about the game's early beginnings, like how the bumble bee girl from the Blind Melon music video became the inspiration for bixies and how the team often slept underneath their desks in order keep pace with development. It also points out that there was no real market for EverQuest during its embryotic period in 1996. There were MUDs (free) and there were online sports games that charged users by the hour to play.

Also, not to take anything away from McQuaid, but it wasn't his singular vision. The article mentions Brad McQuaid along with Steven Clover, Rosie Rappaport, Bill Trost, John Smedley, Vince Harron, and even a pizza guy who became one of the level designers on enthusiasm alone, but obviously there were others. Even so...

"After EverQuest had shipped, John told me that it was almost cancelled five or six times," McQuaid says. "He never told me at the time and I'm glad he didn't."

Oh and welcome to the OP. Hope your IP exemption went through.