Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen development ongoing thanks to volunteers

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has been unable to secure alternate funding since its Kickstarter failed, but the project is ongoing.

EverQuest designer Brad McQuaid attempted to Kickstart the MMO, but was unsuccessful. Independent crowdfunding began in late February and yielded some funds, but by mid-April the funds had run out.

Nevertheless, in a new developer post, McQuaid said work is ongoing.

"I'm starting to re-build the Pantheon Team," he wrote.

"Development of the game continues, albeit right now at a slower pace. We are looking for volunteers who can help us during this phase and, if everything works out as planned, we hope that some of the volunteers will be part of this new team going forward."

McQuaid said the project needs to be able to show more progress in order to win community trust and hopefully investors.

"One of our goals (along with continuing to make the game of course) is more to show potential investors in the next one to two months," he added.

Currently, McQuaid intends to manage a remote team, with the eventual goal of having a meatspace office, and said that the volunteer period will allow the team to get to know and trust each other before they are hired, assuming the funds to do so turn up. We're anticipating the professional development community will find this idea a little distasteful, despite the opportunity for new blood to get a foot in the door.

"Pantheon lives and we will not only make it through this period, but we'll come out of it stronger, with more people involved, with the community better taken care of and informed, and with demonstrable progress, both for the community to check out as well as potential investors," McQuaid concluded.

"I think 'rising from the ashes' is going to be challenging, yes, but also a great deal of fun."

Thanks, Massively.