Rapid Reality released a statment that memorized the history of the company.
When Rapid Reality opened its doors last year, the idea was to rapidly bring games to reality. As we moved into production on The Chronicle, however, our vision for what the game could be began to outstrip the technical capabilities of our original platform. We faced a tough choice: lower the bar or pursue our vision. We chose the latter. To build the game you want to play and we want to build, we needed to control our own technology. We thus acquired the Aura 3-D platform in December 2005. Our programmers spent the next six months upgrading the graphics, re-architecting the server layer, and expanding the engine’s capabilities.
While we’ve made great strides in technology, we did a poor job of communicating our progress to you, our customers. Many of us here at Rapid Reality have been frustrated about the lack of communication, but were not in a position to do anything about it. That has now changed. As of last month, Rapid Reality is under new management and creative direction. Things will be different from this point on. We apologize for how you’ve been treated in the past. If you pre-ordered MMOCenter for The Chronicle and would like a refund, we will send you the funds ASAP, either via Paypal or by check. Luke, our community relations manager, has been VERY eager to make this happen for you.
Despite our company’s past missteps, we – the programmers, artists, designers, and staff who now make up the studio – will continue to push the envelope on game design. We’re all here because we share a common vision of making great games. We’re passionate about what we do and we enjoy the creative challenge.
Looking ahead, we will make it our policy to keep you informed about what we’re working on and where we’re going in the future. In that spirit, we want you to know that while we have produced over two hundred Gigs of art assets for The Chronicle, the code still has a long way to go. We’re at least two or more years from completion. We’ve thus asked the MMORPG.com staff to take down this page while we weigh our options on the title. The project is on hold, since we need to put the company on a path to profitability in the coming year.
Our plan for Q1 2007 is to launch our first title, an MMOFPS based in part on the original Endless Ages. The game showcases the technical excellence of our server layer and the efficiency of our render pipeline, as well as the beauty of our graphics. We’ve made some fun innovations in the MMOFPS genre and look forward to sharing them with you. We expect closed beta to begin at the end of January. This title may, in time, become part of the MMOCenter Service, but until we have multiple titles to offer for one low price, we are going to hold off on launching the portal. This new game will thus be its own subscription.
It’s been a long and bumpy road to get to where we are, but as a team we’re excited about the year ahead. We can’t undo the past, but we can and will be the kind of company you deserve in the future.
Sincerely,
Rapid Reality
We look forward to working with you as we go closer to launch with our new Title.
