In a recent post to the Fires of Heaven guild's official forums, former Sigil developer Vincent "Teclisen" Napoli speaks in candid detail about what exactly went wrong during the development process of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
Despite attributing the failure of Vanguard to himself -- a point he's rather proud of -- during the first few sentences of the post, Napoli then decries everything about the title's development from (Sigil co-founder) Brad McQuaid's reported addiction to narcotic pharmaceuticals to Sony Online Entertainment's lack of assistance in the game's completion.
In addition, Napoli claims that "Vanguard was made (exclusively the design staff, I should say) COMPLETELY by amateurs." Continuing, he says the title was "designed in a single year by people with 0 experience."
Vanguard was originally seen as World of Warcraft's first key competition.
Helmed by one of the main designers of the original Everquest and backed by Sony Online Entertainment's sizable bank account, Vanguard
was poised to steal the MMO scene, but due to a number of issues, the title was launched with a good deal of unfinished content, and was widely seen as a critical and commercial failure.
Napoli's rant comes on the heels of Vanguard being awarded Gamespy's Biggest Disappointment of 2007.
Game|Life attempted to contact Sony Online Entertaiment for further information on the matter and were met with a solid "no comment" by the company.
and accepting the award... [Fires Of Heaven Forums]
