Metagods II


#1

Previous thread was closed, but this ripoff it still going. They just posted a new trailer, describing it

" So many developments upgraded, yet many more Metagods updates are still to be released!! NFTs staking, New boss & class, Social Hub you name it, we got it!"

https://twitter.com/PlayMetaGods/status/1522137996585467904

But the “social hub” is just the same badly edited screenshot of ROTMG lowlands they had on their website months ago (see the other thread). Apart from that there’s a couple of seconds of the tech demo they had months ago, and footage of someone playing a game on a mobile but shot in such a way you can’t see any of it – it could be a different game.


#2

Wow does this ever look bad… and NFT staking as the very first thing mentioned in the video… I can’t


#3

This is just odd. They posted it to twitter a few times but it was also posted to reddit which is easier to repost here. It’s, er, different. Superficially the same but utterly different art style: modelled edges instead of blended as in RotMG, 2D wall models, more restricted colour pallete, modelled shadows. Most importantly it’s not using embiggened pixels but 1:1 art especially for the one enemy. And it has Japanese text.

What does it mean? Is this a new style to be added to the game? A new style for the whole game (so the previous tech demo gets ditched)? Or just an utter fake using artwork from another game?

My guess is the third as that would be typical of them. It looks too good to be by the same people as made their tech demo. It would explain the Japanese text too – ripped off from some obscure Japanese game. But even if not, adding a whole new art direction is wasting time, for a game that was originally supposed to be released last year.


#4

Just to highlight this, the game was supposed to have shipped months ago.

https://twitter.com/PlayMetaGods/status/1461379423538606080

The “Path to Ascension (V 1.0 Game Release)” occurs in that initial roadmap in Q1 2022. It clearly didn’t. It’s shipped by a quarter twice so far. The sudden new art direction suggests further delays.

Games get delayed all the time, that’s not unusual. What is highly unusual though is them using the time to do things not on the roadmap, such as land sales, staking, Gleam campaigns. All things to earn them money or social media mentions. Instead of dedicating their efforts towards finishing the game on time.

As I wrote in the other thread, I’m not here to persuade any RotMG player this is a scam. Experienced gamers won’t be taken in by a project which keeps asking for money upfront despite repeatedly missing deadlines, run by people hiding behind the anonymity of crypto and social media.

If someone asks about Metagods though do point them here. Or to the excellent Web3 is going just great, which documents many similar scams.


#5

A longer look at the curious new art style with sound, from YouTube. It sounds like repeated SFX from a 16-bit game, mostly not synched to the ”gameplay“.


#6

AMA (ask me anything)

https://medium.com/@PlayMetaGods/metagods-discord-ama-recap-english-4f50cc762e79

Highlights. The game is now due out in July ,but not the final game but Alpha v0.0.1., which anyone familiar with software development knows means something far from actual release. It’s highly unusual to release a public alpha; most developers defer any public release until late beta, and even then tightly control access to it.

Mobile is due a “few weeks after the alpha launch”, but that seems highly unlikely. While you can release unfinished Alpha software on the web you can’t on mobile app stores, where software being finished and working is a basic requirement.

Apart from that lots of complaints about the value of the currency and NFTs tanking. This is not particular to Metagods, the whole crypto market is down 2/3 or more from its peaks. But it does destroy the main argument for buying into a game like this, to make money. Here is one interesting reply on this

This is a huge concern of ours as well. With the current market conditions, it is quite hard to get traction the old way. Quantity was the bull market play, quality is the bear market play. The only way we can get traction is to build an amazing product. The guilds are already ready to activate their scholars and players, so our DAU can get up there.

So it’s going to be Amazing ! Somehow though I doubt this sudden refocus on delivering a quality product is going to make any difference.


#7

New roadmap:

So what does a roadmap need that this one’s missing? Dates. Smart, I guess, as it means next time they miss a deadline they don’t need to change this.

The ticks are by things that are done, so everything up to Phase 3. Next up Phase 4 including both Alpha 0.0.1 and “App Release”. I presume that’s the mobile version but as I noted above you can put anything you want out yourself on the web but Apple and Google won’t let you distribute unfinished software on their platforms.


#8

A couple of short videos. Supposedly two different classes, the first Necromancer the second Warrior. The Necromancer shoots “burning skulls” but so does the Warrior. They use the same icon for the player avatar, which looks like something drawn by a pre-schooler. Gameplay for their attacks looks the same, even the sound effect is the same (in fact it sounds like exactly the same audio if you play one video then the other). The Necromancer does seem to have other attacks but unlike RotMG abilities it looks like you have to stop using your main attack to use them.

Still looks a long long way from finished. No animations, no shadows. No multiplayer, just single enemies. No indication you are damaging or even hitting enemies, until they die, No indication of the damage you are taking. Some of the art looks nice but it’s a painted background which can’t be interacted with and is inconsistent with much cruder gameplay elements.

The biggest issue is they’ve been showing just this gameplay for months now, which implies it’s all there is: even the limited scrolling dungeons they had six months ago is no longer part of it. We should find out soon – the AMA less than a month ago said it will be released in July in some form.


#9

Will you stop talking? Are you part of this game or something?? You’re pushing it so hard but it literally looks terrible and like a major scam. Just because you lost your money on it doesn’t mean other people have to.


#10

I am posting about it to highlight everything that is wrong with it, for two main reasons. First to warn anyone who might discover it and be interested, who is looking for alternatives to RotMG. Second as I find it funny how bad it is. Lots of people agree - my most popular Reddit post was on this. I decided to do follow up posts here though as Realmeye is better for ongoing discussions. And ongoing discussions are especially useful to highlight the worst problems with this – how e.g. the roadmap keeps changing, how they seem no closer to a release than 6+ months ago.

I have nothing to do with it - I am not a player, investor or speculator in it. Nor have I ever been, so I have not lost money on it.


#11

Lock this thread please


#12

If they were promoting the game they wouldn’t also talk shit about that same game. They even outright call it a scam, so they’re definitely not helping with marketing.

Gonna be honest, I’m actually interested in this event as it is RotMG-related since it steals from its graphics. If you don’t want to see this thread, just ignore it.


#13

I see no reason to, as there’s nothing majorly wrong going on here. In all due respect, if you don’t like what you’re seeing, you can ignore it and browse elsewhere.


#15

I don’t know man the name “skandling” is awfully close to “scandal” sooooo


#16

I don’t know man the name “shatter” is awfully close to “shitter” sooooo


#17

I don’t know man the name “mathician” is awfully close to “magician” sooooo


#18

Preview video. Spoiler: you only need to watch the first 90 seconds, less than half of which is gameplay. Everything after that is him exploring the Nexus/Town which is full of things that don’t work.

The gameplay looks the same as they had at the start of this year except the dungeon is even smaller, while the boss fight looks badly broken – he triggers a full screen setting dialog during most of it but doesn’t get killed, then obliterates it with a nuke like attack in seconds.


#19

2010 Gamemaker vibes


#20

Apparently the game is playable now, but you need to sign up with a crypto wallet, which means spending real money. Doesn’t seem anyone is doing this - except crypto promoters like I’ve already posted.

Noticed a blog post which is illuminating. First a direct quote which is complete BS, unless ‘first’ means something completely different to how we understand it.

That is why our focus is to build a great game first ,

That’s just par for the course for crypto scams, though. Claim your game/art/project is legit and going to be great, while you’re selling worthless tokens to anyone foolish enough to listen.

The more interesting aspect is the post goes into a lot of detail on the game design but doesn’t mention the MMO aspect. It sounds more like a rougelike single player. So another change of direction, again, and still nothing approaching a final game. No mobile version either, which should have appeared months ago.

https://medium.com/@PlayMetaGods/metagods-game-design-infinite-dungeons-combat-system-legendary-loot-and-more-d86f40e05904


#21

what I want to know is… is this a good scam or not? by “good” I mean “efficient way to scam people from a time and effort perspective”. Clearly the thing has been going on for months now, but if you consider how little effort they might be putting in each month, it might be very efficient if you are willing to wait long term.