Set the wayback machine to 1997, Mr Peabody. John Romero of ID Software fame had joined ION Storm and was hyping his new FPS game he was rolling out named Daikatana. Romero had garnered fame as being part of the ID Software team, with it's early 90s hits, including Doom.
The Romero name was good enough to gather enough capital to spend an exhorbitant amount of coin to fund his team at EON to create his 'next gen' game, in which he would 'make you his bitch'.
The game was a flop, and is regarded as one of the worst ever, What went wrong? In the words of Romero's ID compatriot and programmer, John Carmack, Design is easy. Implementation is hard.
Vanguard: Saga of Hereos is Daikatana for the MMO market. It had lots of hype. It had a ton of cash infused based solely on Mcquaid's name and ties to EQ. It is currently a complete wreck of a game that could go down alongside Romero's heap of junk as one of the worst ever.
Everquest was successful because it was cutting edge and pretty much the only game in town. In 2007, the MMO market has done a 180 degree turn and is saturated with a lot of competition. MMOs thrive based on content, community, and communications. By communications, I mean the word of mouth and grass roots appeal that makes a large amount of gamers at a minimum want to try ones game. There is a lot of communications about Vanguard, but unfortunately for Sigil, none of it good.
Vanguard is an incomplete game due to a combination of feature creep, designer ignorance, and developer incompetence. The game is loaded with bugs and is neither easy to be immersed in, or fun to play unless one wants a larde dose of Sado-masochism. Sadly, there is no valid reason for any gamer to buy or play this wretch with the large dose of quality and polished games currently out.
The key to a good game is not following any of Jessica Mulligans ludicrous and wrong point papers, it is targeting your core audience, keeping it simple, and making it fun. It doesn't matter if your budget is 80 million, 8 million, or 8 dollars.
Fortunately for Mcquaid, there is always room in the cell phone games market for another 'game designer'.
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