Fans of the upcoming indie MMORPG Project Gorgon were given incredibly disheartening news this week as it was revealed that one of the lead developers, Sandra Powers, has been diagnosed with “a relatively rare form of cancer.” Powers, readers will recall, is married to the other key dev, Eric Heimburg.
“We try to keep our private lives private, but we wanted to let you know about this because it’s caused some development delays already and will no doubt cause more, not just due to Sandra’s absence but also my absence from work (driving to chemo, doctor’s appointments, etc.),” Heimburg wrote. “But we’ll keep trucking along!”
This announcement came as part of a rather lengthy dev blog, explaining why certain systems under Powers’ purview haven’t been updated yet. Apparently her absence from the project has prompted the team to expand. However, Elder Game is going to need more money to do so: “Adding another developer would let us push through this difficult period without too many delays. And the best way to help us with that is to subscribe to the VIP plan — all that money goes to hiring.”
The letter wasn’t all sad news, however. Project Gorgon’s team said that the MMO is getting stable again after a datacenter move and forging ahead with projects such as creating more mounts, smoothing out the leveling process, and making the “amazing city” of Statehelm.
And here’s a boon to current players: There won’t be a server-wide item wipe at launch. “We’re no longer planning to wipe your character’s items when we officially leave beta. The item-wipe is one reason that players stop playing in beta, and I need more high-level players during beta!”
