My first post here about Project: Gorgon was back in October of 2012.

Titled Support Your Local Indie MMO, I was reporting on Eric Heimburg and Sandra Powers and their attempt to develop on their own, described as follows:

Project: Gorgon – An Indie MMO by Industry Veterans

Project: Gorgon is a 3D fantasy MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) for PC & Mac with a quirky, old-school feel. It is designed for players who want to explore a deep world with complex game systems and a tight-knit community that is friendly enough to actually chat while they group. Think Asheron’s Call crossed with EverQuest crossed with NetHack.

Well, mostly on their own.

The core of that first post here about the game was the Kickstarter campaign being launched to fund some art and sound assets for the game.

That campaign did not succeed.  Nor did the next one.  But the game never went away.  It carried on.  It was unique for the MMO Kickstarters of the time in that it had playable content available before they were asking for money.  I had played it before many of those later, and some yet to be finished, Kickstarted MMOs had anything but promises.

Death comes early in the life of the game

Two years later a second Kickstarter campaign also fell by the wayside, its goal unachieved.  But the game was not dead.  It fact it had improved over time.

Then there was a third Kickstarter campaign, which this time funded and even got into stretch goals territory, ending up with almost $75K in funding.

And then the work really began.  In March of 2018 it got up on Steam as an early access title and Eric and Sandra kept on working and improving the game.

Last year saw Sandra Powers pass away, a personal tragedy for Eric, losing his life partner and collaborator.

But a year after her passing their joint plan, Project: Gorgon, left Early Access on Steam with the 1.0 release.  We are more than thirteen years down the road from when I first became aware the game and now it is… well, what is it now?

I have always said that the transition from Early Access to live is no transition at all, save for a change of status on Steam.  Or that has often been the way of things, with the moment being a team being ready to move on to something else.  But with Project: Gorgon the 1.0 version brings a host of new things.

Welcome to the 1.0 version of Project: Gorgon! With this update we will be leaving Steam Early Access. We appreciate everyone’s support along the way, it’s been a long and winding road to get here, but we made it! The 1.0 update includes all-new character models, a new city, level 100 skill unlocks, and more.

So Cheers to Eric and Project: Gorgon and all of its supporters and players as the day arrived and the game is fully live… which for an MMORPG means that the work goes on.  It has been an amazing and unlikely journey so far and I hope it continues on for a long time.

And now we get to the embarrassing part, for me at least.  I know I have, at various past times, spent some time playing Project: Gorgon.  I have screen shots.

Strange screen shots, but screen shots none the less

But I guess it was before the game landed on Steam and went into Early Access.  I used whatever key I got from backing the third Kickstarters… I backed all three, but only the third counts… and added the game to my library.  But my play time… just three minutes.

Down there at the bottom of my play time list

My last played date was March 14, 2018, so nearly eight years ago.  Clearly once it landed on Steam I got my key, redeemed it, downloaded the game, gave it a test login, then went off to do something else.  What was I even playing in March of 2018?  EVE Online, Minecraft, and Rift, if the month in review post is to be believed.

That was all so long ago that I had forgotten what I even got for backing the Kickstarter.  That was a decade back after all.  The campaign page said I got the following for my $35:

• BackerClub Forum Rank and access to the private BackerClub forum section.
• Special thanks in the credits.
• Digital Steam Copy of Project Gorgon (Retail $39.99).
• Steam Alpha/Beta Key, access date to be announced.
• 3 months VIP membership.

I am not sure about the first two, or the alpha/beta access.  I think that was a thing.  But I clearly got the digital copy of the game as it is there in my library…  though I think the price went down to $25… and is marked down right now to celebrate leaving Early Access.

I just wasn’t sure about the VIP membership.

Anyway, I downloaded the client and logged in to find the opening area pretty busy.

Opening night for 1.0

I had made a character, though it was long enough ago that it was a very outdated character model.  But it lets you update.  There are a lot more choices now.

I poked around a bit, manged to slay something, and even found my redemption queue for items.

Things waiting for me

I grabbed the game launch celebration package.  I love me a “being there” reward.

However I left the VIP membership alone for now.  I will save that for when I am feeling more serious about the game.  The group is busying exploring a 20 year old game in Guild Wars, so 13 year old game may have to wait its turn for a bit.

Still, it is there are going and looks to have quite a few fans.

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