Project Gorgon :: An Interview with a Lead Developer

#mmorpg #mmo #oldschoolgaming
Project Gorgon is a MMORPG currently in Early Access with nearly 2,000 very positive reviews on Steam. Developed by veterans from Asheron's Call 1 & EverQuest 2, it offers a rich sandbox array of features without a subscription fee.
However, news hit that they ran out of full-time development funds. But what happened next shocked everyone.
~GIVE AWAY~
The developers are giving away 10 free copies of Project Gorgon! To enter the raffle, download the demo and reply with what you enjoy about Project Gorgon (including fair criticism too). I will be in touch!
💖 Thank You for Your Support! 💖
✨ paypal.me/marlemmo
✨ / @marlemmo
Timeline
00:00 What is Project Gorgon?
01:30 Who is Srand?
03:07 When did Project Gorgon begin?
05:10 What does a typical development day look like?
09:52 Srand's MMO dev background
16:00 Project Gorgon is Asheron's Call 3?
21:43 Project Gorgon's Gold Saucer?
23:51 Storytelling
27:15 Animal classes
30:06 Should you play PG?
37:52 What's Srand's feature PG feature?
42:36 Grouping or soloing?
44:25 Star Wars Galaxies 2?
48:10 Financial Situation
55:15 BDO, RuneScape, FFXIV, Asheron's Call, EverQuest, SWG, & ARPGs

[@MarleMMO]

Question! ⚡ What do you think about Project Gorgon? Let us know. 👇 The links to PG are below. 👉 🌟 Project Gorgon on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/342940/Project_Gorgon/ 🌟 Website: www.projectgorgon.com 🌟 Project Gorgon's Discord: discord.gg/a7u8Zp3H 🌟 Project Gorgon Newbie Guide: bit.ly/PG_Newbie_Guide 🌟 Download the demo & reply below for a chance to win a FREE copy of Project Gorgon!

[@AnimusMoreira]

"So I built it, I decorated it. He filled it with cockroaches" Something about this line just warms my heart so much...

[@MarleMMO]

😂

[@timit2thelimit]

Thanks so much for bringing attention to such a wonderful game and developers

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@blue.lagoon00]

Absolutely loved wandering around the starter island and slowly putting the pieces together. There's so much to discover and figure out, and I appreciate how the game doesn't hold your hand and give you a series of point A to point B soulless quests. It was a breath of fresh air; looking forward to seeing how it develops from here.

[@minime7375]

I think I was one of the OG players, I remember when we were like 10 people online most of the time☺️ I think I consistently played it for about 4 years before they announced they were going on Steam and for maybe half a year after its Steam launch. The game is absolutely amazing and the community very friendly, I only quit because I started to have vision issues with the optimized graphics. Sandra and Eric were very involved with us and they really took our feedback on board. I remember when the GMs were newbies I think too☺️ I highly recommend the game, it’s not your average game by any means, it’s probably in my top 3 MMORPGs of the last 20 years or so.

[@MarleMMO]

💖

[@Flargenyargen]

A great interview with an incredible person! I should give Project Gorgon another go; it's been years since I tried it out. Thanks for this.

[@MarleMMO]

You're welcome. 💖

[@drkmgic]

sandra's voice is so soothing.

[@MarleMMO]

💯

[@Tall_Order]

Good to know she was involved in EQ2 during the glory days. I miss those days, when EQ2's community felt like PG's does right now. Small, everyone on the Antonia Bayle server knew each other, it was a role play server (RP is dead now), and we had a podcaster (Jethal Silverwing) doing a show every tuesday. ~Sugarbelle

[@Tall_Order]

Now if only PG had Ratonga in it. =^.^= I had something to do with making that race becoming neutral and beloved. My main was a Ratonga named Eschia Mousehold. All you have to do is spread love.

[@MarleMMO]

It was fun learning about her involvement. 🥰

[@MarleMMO]

Their playable races are fun! 🥰

[@user-ou7fe6td5b]

Checking PG out the past few days and love it so far. Hope ya take it easy and best wishes.

[@MarleMMO]

Cheers and enjoy Project Gordon! 🥰

[@RajeshMenas]

Really wish Project Gorgon succeeds! Super interesting game I especially love the psychology skill :D

[@MarleMMO]

Me too 🥰

[@VikoReEkore]

Glad to have found this awesome game and this channel! Keep up with the videos! I'm having a blast with Project Gorgon so far. I will definitely keep playing it for a long time. There aren't a lot of good new old school MMORPGs out there, so we have to support them in one way or another. The other game that has caught my eye is Embers Adrift. I will definitely try it in the future as well.

[@MarleMMO]

EA is a gem too, plus Monsters & Memories. Glad you're enjoying Project Gorgon! It's so special. 🥰

[@VikoReEkore]

@@MarleMMOHave to try EA out later. When I need a break from PG. Yeah M&M and maybe Pantheon will be great when/if they release. Played a bit M&M during the stress test this weekend - had a blast.

[@MarleMMO]

@VikoReEkore 🥳

[@ragebyte]

I miss Asheron's Call. My stabby dex build was so fun.

[@MarleMMO]

Thankfully there is a robust private server ecosystem! :)

[@ThePhalaeo]

I've played since 2016, and I adore it. And she's right, the community is the absolute best.

[@MarleMMO]

💖

[@draxx85]

wow she is a really brave lady. Very well spoken and i think i will check this game out after hearing her speak abou this

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@BeccaMorn]

FYI, the in-game graphics, if you have the card to support it, can be significantly better than many of the clips included in this. The current Unity engine supporting the game has been heavily modified and upgraded over the years, even now including the use of a full sky-box render. Otherwise though, a stellar review. (Look for me as 'Kadera' in PG... I joined a little over 3 years ago.) Best wishes to you both, Sandra and Eric.

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@drkmgic]

woot woot . another project gorgon video

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@Nurzuth]

I love how extra everything is in this game. The beast forms are awesome but the drawbacks are tragic

[@MarleMMO]

💖

[@HookahOtaku]

Nobody would be humanoid without drawbacks.

[@MarleMMO]

@HookahOtaku o.O

[@drkmgic]

gosh i loved the philisophy behind this

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@papersky9714]

First of all......... I wish you well @Srand and we are all pushing that you will get through this. #2... Awesome job ! @MarleVVLL (Hope to hear more content from you ). From a Long MMO player that came from "Ever quest, Ever quest 2, WoW, Final Fantasy XIV, Blade & Soul, 9 Dragons, Tera Online, Knight Online, Rohan Online, Combat Arms , Shaiya Online, Maple Story, Dream of Mirrors, RF Online, Cabal online, Ys Online, Requiem Online, Zu Online, Entropia Universe, W3K, Runes of Magic, Age of Wushu, Elder Scroll Online, Shadow Bane ..........(just to name a few, right?) This has got to be one of the best MMO I've played so far. The never ending leveling up content of Skills and Class has kept me busy for over 4 years+. Also meeting the awesomely friendly/helpful community surprises me till this date. IF.... you can get over the semi-underrated graphics (which will likely be improved over time), you find that yourself overwhelmed in things to do overtime (I mean a very long time, I've seen players playing for over 7 years still having lots un-done). (@Srand if you're reading this....... adding more improvement/graphics details to the Beginner Island...... like Grass, Trees, Sun lighting/Sunsets. I mean this is a great game but you need to let them know not to stop just because of bad graphics vs game play/mechanics. Maybe add a Shield trainer at the Beginner Island and a Ghost monster to let newbies players know that there are certain mechanics to defeat a mobs with Stun? ). The game design is like no other in which for example a Priest class can become one of the higher DPS class with the right mods/equipment. IF you don't give Project Gorgon a try, you're just missing out. IF you do....... look for me or any friendly Alharth Rebels online and we will be happy to show you the way.

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@shortyuk2008]

I've been an avid MMORPG player since the early days of Asherons Call, Played AC2 DAOC, WOW, EVE Online and tried a bunch of other games along the way. I am approaching 50 and having nostalgic thoughts for AC I decided to have a look around to see if I could find something to scratch the itch once more. I caught your video with Jackencola at the weekend while browsing and downloaded the demo. Straight away it reminded me of my first days in AC, although thankfully in PG there was a bit more hand holding. When I started AC from what I remember the starter dungeon didn't exist! I love the old school texture and colour palette's however I can see it could put off newer player used to the sharp photo realistic RPGs of today. That being said the mechanics are wonderfully diverse and I am enjoying playing with the different skill combinations in the demo. There seems to be a nice range of control options too. Although one thing that I do miss from some of the more modern games is the ability to switch skills bars quickly, depending on weapon types equipped. That being said I have only scratched the surface of the game and it might be an option I've missed in the settings? From what I have seen the community seems to be just what I am looking for, already very helpful in the limited form of the demo channel. I am looking forward to digging deeper into this little Gem I think it could be a keeper 🙂

[@MarleMMO]

Glad to read! Hit me up via my business email. 🥰

[@shortyuk2008]

Cheers email sent 🙂@@MarleMMO

[@PiperVlaar]

2:22

[@PiperVlaar]

❤

[@MarleMMO]

💖

[@papersky9714]

from my point of view....... people are so hungry for a new class/build....... that Cows/Deer/Spiders/Pigs/Lycanthropy/animals (in PG) became such a new/great thing (Kinda) that made players wanna explore it more in which other games/mmorpg do not have which made it so special.......... I mean..... every player has played sword & shield (which I'm not saying that its not fun, but a lot of player know/it's basics) which had became kinda boring over time. That is why...... if you create a few un-expected classes (Spirit Fox/Weather Witching in PG) some people will enjoy it. That is why I like to introduce of skills like Psychology, Mentalism, Battle Chemistry, etc........ which is un-like any other MMORPG that I've seen so far. Thumbs-Up ! If you know me or played with me before........ this is the game I'm currently playing. Hit me up and I will show you the way.

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@GTAmigo]

I love project gorgon, my channel is exclusive to it 😀

[@MarleMMO]

Cheers! I'll check your content out. 🥰

[@GTAmigo]

@@MarleMMO Thank you for answering me and I hope you like the content, I'm excited to know that someone I admire is going to invest time in my videos 😁

[@MarleMMO]

Keep them coming buddy! 💖

[@GTAmigo]

@@MarleMMO :)

[@matthewgagnon9426]

I haven't played in a few years, but I had a ton of fun with the game when I did play. Asheron's Call was a big enough part of my childhood that I went to a couple of the ACPL's with my dad. I played Gorgon during the time where the Cow Curse was a cow boss in the newbie starter cave and that made my main character a Cow named Moortan.

[@MarleMMO]

💖

[@TapTwoCounterspell]

This project close to getting its driver license

[@MarleMMO]

Half way there I think? 😂

[@KifF2603]

Well It comes from some of the AC2 Dev's so yea... just have to love it I guess. Wish they could make something work to bring back AC2 but oh well, thats just a wish thats never gonna come true I think ;(

[@MarleMMO]

Well, PG may be as close as we get. 💖

[@KifF2603]

@@MarleMMO True that! Happy New Year to you my dude. Btw. did you already give away a Key for PG? I would like to give it a try :)

[@MarleMMO]

You too! Have you tried the demo? 🥰

[@PiperVlaar]

Srand said "cockroaches".

[@MarleMMO]

😂

[@papersky9714]

in-game race is Aktaari

[@MarleMMO]

💖

[@casono]

👀

[@MarleMMO]

🥰

[@Okta808]

mhm mhm

[@MarleMMO]

😂

[@papersky9714]

I like how this game attract the older genre. Why not try to make the game free for older people at a certain age or maybe for people that have cancer.

[@MarleMMO]

🧐

[@WalkingLegacy]

Isn't this the game that banned a player for killing someone with admin connections?

[@GTAmigo]

I doubt that an admin of this game would do something like that, its community is very healthy and they are always helping each other, I invite you to try it for yourself.

[@redvoid7]

@@GTAmigo steam charts shows average players in November at 107. Doesn't seem very healthy at all.

[@GTAmigo]

@@redvoid7 That there are so few people playing it does not mean that it is not good, we are a small community yes, but it is a solid and quite healthy community, there are no toxic players

[@MarleMMO]

I suspect that the total unique logins per month is 10x the top concurrency metric per night. It can jump to 200+, so ~2,000 MAU seems about right.

[@thereal-ghost]

backend is in JAVA : dear god that explains a lot of the issues and performance problems. They really need to find a developer who knows a proper backend language.

[@MarleMMO]

Sorry, are you a data developer? Java is exceptionally well tuned for data work.

[@redvoid7]

@@MarleMMO you must be a rookie developer but everyone knows JAVA is not even remotely good for the games of today, and no they are not well tuned for data work whatsoever unless you want to make a mobile game.

[@MarleMMO]

​@@redvoid7 I think there is a misunderstanding. PG doesn't use Java for its frontend client (I believe that's C#). Java is for their data tooling and likely for their backend server infrastructure. A somewhat recent article provides a decent overview: www.spiceworks.com/tech/devops/guest-article/why-is-javas-use-in-the-gaming-industry-limited/ Note: I'm not a developer.

[@MapOfCydonia]

“Java bad” is a bit of a meme but meme aside it is perfectly well suited for this kind of task. Compared to popular compiled languages it is not that much slower, not enough for it to matter. I think you’ll probably find that any poor performance in Java is self inflicted. Bad code is bad code regardless of language or platform. Making the conversation about the language like this in software engineering is just unproductive bikeshedding.

[@MarleMMO]

@@MapOfCydonia A well reasoned reply; thank you. Are you a developer?

[@luisjordan4162]

'Promo sm'

[@MarleMMO]

Hm?

[@weebamf]

Spider rollerskates, worst mount form in game, just terrble. :(

[@MarleMMO]

😂

[@somervillettv2272]

This game looks cool ! Bit pricey but I want to try it

[@MarleMMO]

Check out the demo! It's free. 🥰

[@papersky9714]

@@MarleMMO how can it be pricey? It's like $40 normally and around $20 on sale. AND.... you get to play forever !! Everquest used to be $20 monthly.

[@MarleMMO]

Since most MMOs are FTP, the BTP model can come across as 'pricey' initially. 💖