The latest newsletter for Visionary Realms’s in-development MMO Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has been released, and in it the devs pull back the curtain to give players a peek at the game’s development.
Producer Ben Dean recaps the past month’s progress, which appears to be coming along well. On the creative side of the process, the studio’s artists have gotten “a good start on the upcoming new animations” and refining the environments of the game’s upcoming Project Faerthale pre-alpha build. The programming team has been hard at work as well, “addressing a lot of nagging issues” that need to be taken care of in preparation for Project Faerthale.
In addition to the development recap, the newsletter also includes a feature by Creative Director Chris “Joppa” Perkins in which he discusses the development and implementation of the game’s Atmosphere system, which aims to make the game’s environment matter by “[presenting] players with unnatural, metaphysical phenomena” that will affect the way they approach the game. Each of these “environmental dangers and obstacles” will have its own unique mechanical effects, such as burdening players with negative effects or providing buffs to their enemies, for which players will have to find “answers” in the form of artifacts, “legendary rare items players can discover that offer unique utility.”
If you want to learn more about these artifacts and how players will interact with the game environment through the Atmosphere system, the full feature is certainly worth a read. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out the Q&A with Visionary Realms Chief Creative Officer Brad McQuaid, in which the veteran designer provides some insight into his experiences in the industry and the process of bringing Pantheon to life.
