Visionary Realms is an ambitious game studio that recently launched early access for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, an online social fantasy game with massive multiplayer gameplay.
Launching on December 13th on Steam was a bittersweet moment for the team led by EverQuest pioneer Brad McQuaid. McQuaid died at the age of 50 in 2019, in the middle of developing the game.
But the team pressed on, and after years of development, the company was able to launch early access for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, a social high-fantasy MMO game for PC. It is available for purchase on Steam for $40.
In an interview, the game’s executives said they were honored by the reception they received for bringing back the classically vigorous challenge, discovery, wonder, and social experience to MMOs, and hoped that sharing the story would inspire other indie games.
“Getting to this point is a very proud and humbling experience,” CEO Chris Rowan said in an interview with GamesBeat. “But we got it into early access on Steam and the response was spectacular, with mostly positive reviews, great sales. We’ve been looking for a way around this concept of open development, doing things with open doors and windows, and inviting the community to be a part of it, and sharing what’s going on, taking their feedback and incorporating it into early stage testing. than ever actually happened.”
He said the process has had its ups and downs, but the network has been positive. The game is still in development, but it can now earn money through early access payments.
Early Access features six zones, six playable races, and 12 playable classes. Players can reach level 40 and more content will be added during the early access period. So far, the game has reached 40,000 unique players and more than 6,000 have signed up for early access.
“The numbers are great and the competition on Steam is strong,” said Rowan. “The competition was better than expected and quite healthy. It went really well the first day and has been steady ever since. We actually got into the top 10 on the first day, which was exciting for a small studio like us.
Game features
Available features include “co-adventures” where players form adventure parties and guilds with friends to overcome greater challenges and earn greater rewards. It also has a “climb everywhere” feature where players can climb almost any surface in the game and experience adventure in every direction.
It’s also meant to explore with perception, where you can use the perception system to uncover clues, dialogue, and outcomes that will enrich the story and your travels. And you can plunder the depths, where you can dive with other players into numerous dungeons, where each cave can lead to a treasure, a battle or a new friendship.
Players can battle a menagerie of monsters in challenging battles where strategy, knowledge and teamwork make the difference between victory and defeat. Players can adopt roles such as Tank, Healer, Damage or Support and choose from different class skills to customize their gear.
Players can also earn powerful and iconic gear and rare abilities that show off the places you’ve been in the game and the battles you’ve won. These items can strengthen your character with enhanced attributes and unique effects. The inhabitants of the world of Terminus have a wide variety and can be born with many different behaviors that alter their actions and strategies, ensuring that no two adventures are the same.
Origins
The team started thinking about the game back in 2015, in the days of casual games, pay-to-win and other kinds of new business models that were being tested. World of Warcraft had its success and the team wanted to make a classic MMO that would set a really high bar for quality.
“Brad and I worked together and he felt like it was very passionate that it was time to bring back the spirit of MMOs, what really made them great at their core, in the very beginning and there was a lot of it. people who were into the idea,” Rowan said. “There were a lot of people who felt like they were missing out on what made MMOs so great. That momentum has built. And before we knew it, the Visionary Realms were launched and it was time to build the Pantheon.”
The game was slow at first and was very poorly funded. The idea came to fruition and the first serious funding came in 2017. This helped recruit more people and helped accelerate the company. But then tragedy struck.
“When Brad died in 2019, people thought the project was going to die,” Rowan said. “Perhaps intuitively, the community and the team got even more charged. You know, when you believe in something, when you make a game because you want to play it yourself, when you’re really passionate about it, then people will see through. We were largely driven by passion and sacrifice, creativity and hard work. And to be perfectly honest, resourceful and brave.’
Overcoming challenges
This is the work of a small independent studio that has had to overcome a number of very serious challenges while watching other efforts fall short, Rowan said.
All the while, the company has remained independent and true to its vision through grit, persistence, and a few angels and crowdfunding.
Visionary Realms has challenged the boundaries of development transparency – with plenty of openness, interactivity and honesty to the community. That eventually became his path to success, Rowan said.
The team peaked at about 30 people and now has around 18 to 20, some of whom are part-timers who have other jobs. The company has raised just under $10 million through a combination of investors and crowdfunding.
“The amount of effort and determination and passion and sacrifice was just overwhelming,” Rowan said.
Asked how the team held together after McQuaid’s death, Rowan said: “I’d like to thank everyone involved in the project – their commitment, their passion, and that goes for the community as well. People wanted to see this game built. We built it because we thought the world needed a game like this. Again, we built it because we wanted to play it. Just like Sven Vinge said at The Game Awards.”
He added: “Sven said that the game of the year (for 2025) will be made by the studio. It might not be us, but it might be built by a studio building the game they want to build, not designed by a marketing department, but designed by passionate game designers. And after the man’s shock wore off, they all said, “We have to do this. We have to do this because the world needs this game. We have to do it for Brad. We have to see it through.’ Our determination has been renewed.”
The company also successfully changed the art style to make it more timeless and speed up development. There has also been a significant shift in management style resulting in faster production, iteration and progress.
“There’s a trend now for a lot of Souls-like games. I would describe our game as a classic MMO,” said Chris Perkins, creative director, in an interview with GamesBeat. “There is a classic MMO genre when the genre started. It was very different and unique in style than modern MMOs. They were very social. They didn’t hold your hand much. In some cases, they can even be pretty punishing. One of the ways I think we stand out is the classic style.”
Perkins added: “We’re bringing it to 2025 and we’re not interested in making a really cumbersome, like fossilized game that’s really hard for people to get into. We recognize the many advances in quality of life that have been made over the years. We want to make a game that’s more accessible, but we want to make a game in the modern era that really takes advantage of a classic formula that’s kind of been lost.”
For the team, classics meant games that were expected to be more of a shared experience between players. There is more of a social element. The game was not like in the dorms. And the goal was to create a more challenging MMO in mechanics, but also where there was a risk-reward in that there was some death sting, Perkins said.
“This may be the last chance we have. In fact, it may be the last studio to really hang on to the belief that this can be a style of MMO that has legs today,” Perkins said. “There is an opportunity here to do something that may not have another chance.” There’s a lot that drives us.”
For better or worse, the latest AI tools haven’t arrived in time to be truly useful in game development. The team is still experimenting with AI, but Rowan said it’s not quite there yet.
“We got into EA before the AI tidal wave hits,” Rowan said.
Travel map
The current goal is to take the huge amount of feedback that is now coming in and improve the game that has been released. The team considers the current offer a piece of the game. The next task is to launch another part of the world, which is huge. On the technical side, the company plans to upgrade to the Unity 6 operating system with new optimizations and better performance.
“It’s been a real journey, against many odds, with many bumps in the road,” Rowan said. “Last year we saw a really tough year in the industry where a lot of studies fell by the wayside. I’m just happy that with the support of our community and the passion of the team and the support of our customers, we’ve made it this far and we plan to go even stronger from here.”
The team was small, but made a good decision to focus on easy-to-use and affordable game development technology. The team built a custom platform with a focus on low code and no code using Node Graph technology. It allows non-programmer designers to get content into the game without having to interact with programmers, Rowan said.
“It’s really amazing that a team of this size with this budget was able to do this,” Rowan said. “The proof is in the pudding.” It’s there.”
“People love it, our passion and long hours combined with really good, affordable technology,” Rowan said.
