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The Secret World: Joel Bylos Takes on New Role at Funcom

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
in News & Features Discussion

Funcom has announced that Joel Bylos will be taking on a new role with the company. He will be the Creative Director for the centralized live team in charge of Age of Conan, The Secret World and Anarchy Online.

The establishment of a joint, centralized live team comes as a result of the organizational restructuring process Funcom recently went through following the launch of ‘The Secret World’. It is the company’s ambition that each of the three live games will benefit greatly from a shared pool of the incredible skill, competence and creativity that makes up this highly experienced group of developers. The centralized live team is situated in Funcom’s North Carolina studio, which gives the developers the advantage of working closely with the company’s quality assurance, community, customer service and billing teams which are located at the same studio.

Read the full press release on the Funcom site.


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Comments

  • evilastroevilastro Member Posts: 4,270
    It sounds like they are trying to put a good face on downsizing, although if they can get the cross optimisation going it sounds promising. Hopefully the experience of both teams will benefit both games.
  • Ex0dUs101Ex0dUs101 Member UncommonPosts: 273
    I really do hope this means the start of something good for Anarchy Online. I have my Secret World sub which ill always keep running, but id love to have reason to sub back to Anarchy Online as well and if anyones going to bring life back to it I think Joel can.
  • FromHellFromHell Member Posts: 1,311
    Very good news, AoC will benefit I think

    Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. ! :D
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw

    Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
    .


    .
    The Return of ELITE !
    image

  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
    Reaching out to see what this means for Craig Morrison, as well.

    Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.

    My Review Manifesto
    Follow me on Twitter if you dare.

  • orbitxoorbitxo Member RarePosts: 1,956

    Although ive have jumped in this game post all this mayhem 'the secret world' unfortunately had to go thorugh at launch from reading past articles- I really havent seen any problems with their patches and expansion (issues #5 & 6 in march) releases!-so i hope they have sorted out to whats about to come from one of the best mmos out there atm!

    Congrats Joel! hes always stayed in touch with the TSW community.

  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 6,965
    Originally posted by BillMurphy
    Reaching out to see what this means for Craig Morrison, as well.

    Wonder that as well. Either a different position or exit.

  • i_evil_ii_evil_i Member UncommonPosts: 13

    Hi,

    I found this from the AOC site:

    http://www.ageofconan.com/news/game_directors_letter_february_2013

    ...Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank you Craig Morrison for the great work he has done leading the development on Age of Conan for the past few years. I had the pleasure of working with him during the development of Rise of the Godslayer, and I have many fond memories from that time. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

    And with that I give the microphone to Craig who has put together a few parting words for the community:

    "It has been an honor to be a part of this project for over four years. I have worked with a series of great, talented teams, and it has been a privilege to get to work with one of the best communities out there. With the move of the team to North Carolina this marked the perfect opportunity to pass that torch, and allow a new generation to put their own mark upon Hyboria. I have tremendous faith in the new folk, and your new Game Director will be a familiar face. Joel Bylos was the lead designer on Rise of the Godslayer, and is a huge fan of the game. I trust he will be making sure you all continue to enjoy your adventures in Hyboria. I am immensely proud of everything we have achieved and the fact that the game is still alive and thriving four years on is testament to a lot of hard work by a lot of talented people. There are always those who are quick to the nay saying, and whether you wish us well or are glad to see the back of us, I am sure that we can all agree that this world is an amazing and visceral telling of the world that Robert E Howard imagined all those years ago. While I will be moving on to a new opportunity within the MMO world, the world of Hyboria will always, always, have a very special place in my heart. – Craig Morrison”

  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,751
    Originally posted by Ex0dUs101
    I really do hope this means the start of something good for Anarchy Online. I have my Secret World sub which ill always keep running, but id love to have reason to sub back to Anarchy Online as well and if anyones going to bring life back to it I think Joel can.

     Well they are merging servers today as we speak.....It sounds like they are finally working on things for AO as the new player experience is being revamped and they still claim the graphics upgrade is coming (yeah yeah I know)......I think this last wave of firings at Funcom has woke up alot of people and they are taking things mopre seriously there now to keep the company afloat.

  • asmkm22asmkm22 Member Posts: 1,788
    Sounds like a really fancy way of saying "he's taking on more responsibility because we have fewer people now."

    You make me like charity

  • orbitxoorbitxo Member RarePosts: 1,956
    Originally posted by asmkm22
    Sounds like a really fancy way of saying "he's taking on more responsibility because we have fewer people now."

    he never denied that-actually he talks abt that so- theyre not hiding anything, theyre not gonna due monthly updates- beacouse of that -thats no secret, so trying to make them like they are trying to hide something just makes you look badly informed-do some research before posting friend.

  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 6,965
    Originally posted by asmkm22
    Sounds like a really fancy way of saying "he's taking on more responsibility because we have fewer people now."

    They have been very upfront from the start about the whole downsizing thing and centralizing resources.

    They have never hided that fact.

  • DoogiehowserDoogiehowser Member Posts: 1,873
    Originally posted by asmkm22
    Sounds like a really fancy way of saying "he's taking on more responsibility because we have fewer people now."

    Ehmm. FC and especially JOEL have been very honest with current  condition of their business. They are not hidding anything. You are confusing FC with EA. A little bit of research will prove what i am saying is true.

    Just read the long letter by Joel to the community where he talks about being heartbroken because his friends and good people at FC are losing their jobs and that he wants to put an end to it.

    "The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
    -Jesse Schell

    "Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
    -Luke McKinney

    image

  • EhllfhireEhllfhire Member UncommonPosts: 633
    So does that mean they are throwing the towell in on TSW? I mean AoC and AO are dead games that havent gotten any expacs in well a long time. Why they even need a creative director when they are on life support is confusing.

    Any graphical, audio, or gameplay restrictions not seen in other mmos but found in FFXIV can be blamed on one thing.
    PS3

  • EhllfhireEhllfhire Member UncommonPosts: 633
    Originally posted by JeroKane
    Originally posted by asmkm22
    Sounds like a really fancy way of saying "he's taking on more responsibility because we have fewer people now."

    They have been very upfront from the start about the whole downsizing thing and centralizing resources.

    They have never hided that fact.

     

    Actually they tried very hard to hide all the bad financial data.

    Any graphical, audio, or gameplay restrictions not seen in other mmos but found in FFXIV can be blamed on one thing.
    PS3

  • EhllfhireEhllfhire Member UncommonPosts: 633
    Originally posted by orbitxo

    Although ive have jumped in this game post all this mayhem 'the secret world' unfortunately had to go thorugh at launch from reading past articles- I really havent seen any problems with their patches and expansion (issues #5 & 6 in march) releases!-so i hope they have sorted out to whats about to come from one of the best mmos out there atm!

    Congrats Joel! hes always stayed in touch with the TSW community.

     

    Not likely to happen when they can't keep their promise of monthly episodes

    Any graphical, audio, or gameplay restrictions not seen in other mmos but found in FFXIV can be blamed on one thing.
    PS3

  • OrtwigOrtwig Member UncommonPosts: 1,163
    Originally posted by Ehllfhire
    So does that mean they are throwing the towell in on TSW? I mean AoC and AO are dead games that havent gotten any expacs in well a long time. Why they even need a creative director when they are on life support is confusing.

    Nope -- big plans for 2013, and AoC activity is up:

    http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/game_directors_letter_february_2013

    http://www.ageofconan.com/news/game_directors_letter_february_2013

    http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?t=604018

     

  • orbitxoorbitxo Member RarePosts: 1,956

    it boggles me how many people here who are not even involved in playing the game or in the community want this game to fail.

    Breaking it to yah now- this aint a Mythic/AE-  Funcom is fine , the major key designers/writers /producers are still in funcom,  and when the time comes for them to expand- they will do so.

    the main concern for everyone here should be: ' is if the game is good for me?'

     

    I found this game to be one of the best mmos to be released in 2012.

    and i just started playing it. after playing many hyped up games from last year-i finally gave this game a round= and i really surprised myself  as all my opinions and comparisons from all the mmos i played were thrown out the window when i started playing TSW.

    and will still do so.

    I forsee funcom heading towards CCP route-as the nitche for this game wont be for everyone- but exclusive for veteran mmo players.

     
     
  • DoogiehowserDoogiehowser Member Posts: 1,873
    Originally posted by Ehllfhire
    So does that mean they are throwing the towell in on TSW? I mean AoC and AO are dead games that havent gotten any expacs in well a long time. Why they even need a creative director when they are on life support is confusing.

    What? you gotto be kidding me. AOC just got Turan as content update and new zone dragon spine. TSW gets monthly updates and hasanother 9 to 10 issues rready to release for 2013. Could you define long time for us?

    "The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
    -Jesse Schell

    "Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
    -Luke McKinney

    image

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