Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Newsletters

If you’re curious to see how the development is progressing on Visionary Realms’ upcoming MMO Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, you can check out the recent newsletters for the months of September and October on the game’s official website.

In the September one we get a state of the game breakdown and a number of screenshots that show us how the game looks after the latest “lighting pass.” Then, as October brings news of a new playable race in Pantheon – the Halflings, the newsletter reflects that and tells us in great detail what Pantheon’s Halflings are all about; it also gives us an update on the game’s art and animations. Here are the intros for both these newsletters and you can take it from there:

September:

Here we go with another newsletter, and this one is jam-packed with lots of goodies. We’re sure you’re eager to start digging in so let’s see what we’ve got in store.

First, we have a state of the game breakdown. We want to continue to improve our communication with you, our valued community, and as a part of that effort we’ll take a look at what the team has been working on this past month.

Next, we take a first look at what the art department has been doing with the internal game client. As part of Series A completion we were able to bring on a technical artist, among other staff, and Bruno and team dove right in to a lighting pass. What does this mean? In short, the game looks way cooler and we have an interview with Bruno to tell us a bit about the process and its effects on the game.

We’ve got a few screens to see these visual changes but that got us thinking: how else could we show you this content? Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a way we could talk to the dev team live to tell us more about lighting? If only there was a way we could sort of “stream” this info directly to your screen. We’ve got something “twitching” in the back of our minds on this one. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and Twitter over the next week to find out more.

And last, but not least, take your shoes off, sit back, and have a hot cocoa with Kilsin as he and Manouk have a chat in this week’s community spotlight.

October:

October is an exciting month for us as we get to lift the veil on the halfling race. Learn about the creation process of these playful folk as we dive deep into a roundtable discussion with the developers who brought them to life. We speak with Senior Concept Artist Jared Pullen, Concept Artist Forrest Imel, Lead Writer Justin Gerhart and of course, Creative Director Chris Perkins. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the halflings and check out the artwork in How Halflings Happened.

But wait! There’s more.

Halflings aren’t the only thing the team has been working on these past few months. We talk again with Jared and animator Julien Abenhaim to see what they have been up to. We may even hear of new places in these interviews. Read more in October’s Art and Animation Update.

And to wrap it all up we close with another Community Spotlight. This month we talk to Saicred in efforts to find out what makes a Pantheon fan tick.