David Allen : Quest Online, Alganon and MMOG

Focusing on David Allen, Quest Online, Alganon and the general history of MMOG. PC Game store all about gaming and the history of MMOG

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David Allen and Quest Online History

Curious as to the history of MMOG, and in particular Quest Online's Alganon, I asked David Allen a few questions about that. Question: David, tell me about how you ran the business of Quest Online? Answer David Allen: The first thing to do is establish the Vision of the company. What’s the purpose of the company and the goals of the company? This must be clear to anyone who joins the company. Let me know what the purpose of their work is

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David Allen: My Week at Quest Online

David Allen, formerly of Quest Online, and creator of the MMOG game Alganon was recently asked a goofy question....

What was your best week while at Quest Online / QOL?  Worst? Funniest?

David Allen: It’s hard to say, as the weeks at Quest Online can get kind of blurred over time. There’s great memories of the Prototype, the Alpha and Beta releases. Getting MyAlganon up and running, getting the core game functional. Ranged and Magic combat. Character progression. The auto-build system. The new "World Editor" releases were always a great thing. Releasing Alganon in December of 2009 was also a great event for all involved.

I remember Greg’s eyes lighting up like a kid when either I visited him or he visited me and I showed off the latest build. Running through Asheran for the first time, or seeing the undead attack Greenvale. That was a blast.

Experiencing it all come together was really the best reward and the best times while at Quest Online. Feeling the starter areas come together, watching the races and their animations, textures, and overall sound and appearance get refined. All of it is candy to those who love to create things.

As far as worst, we had many challenges while at Quest Online and while developing Alganon – with development, securing publishers, and capital. Most of the problems revolved around financial limitations. The rest were pale in comparison. We had very few personnel issues which were solved, but for the most part all team members were highly dedicated to the game and the company.

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History of MMOG : David Allen, Alganon and Quest Online

Impressions of a Discussion with David Allen, Co-Founder of Quest Online (QOL) and Creator of Alganon: Part III Read Part I of this series here. Read Part II of this series here. David Allen and Quest Online Part III Author’s Note: This article is the final installment of this series as I continue my researching the online gaming industry with a specific focus on David Allen, Quest Online, and Alganon. David Allen departed Quest Online in March 2010. This was after creating

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Origins of Alganon Part III – The Growth of Alganon

From 2006 to 2009, QOL and Alganon were constantly changing from what was initially planned to compensate for the unpredictable results related to investment, distribution, growth of technology, and everything else tied to building a MMOG over a period of years. Their business plan was constantly evolving as Alganon did, as was their core technology, support, and social systems such as MyAlganon. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing given

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Origins of Alganon Part II – Alganon is Born

In 2008 David Allen began to put feelers out for a distributor for Alganon, but most weren’t interested in financially supporting a MMOG in Alpha, especially a non-Free to Play game like Alganon. For this reason David Allen focused back on private capital because he had no interest in the F2P market. While securing additional private capital wouldn’t give them the amount he was hoping to secure from a Distributor, it would allow them

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Origins of Alganon Part III – The Growth of Alganon

From 2006 to 2009, QOL and Alganon were constantly changing from what was initially planned to compensate for the unpredictable results related to investment, distribution, growth of technology, and everything else tied to building a MMOG over a period of years. Their business plan was constantly evolving as Alganon did, as was their core technology, support, and social systems such as MyAlganon. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing given

Read more David Allen History ...

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David Allen QOL / Quest Online Part 2.2

<<< PREVIOUS MyAlganon and the Library are exceptional systems many seem to overlook; a social network tied into real-time game data and character statistics similar in nature to WOWHead or the WoW Armory. And QOL had these up and running before the game even launched. This was quite an accomplishment. Pairing MyAlganon with the online library, accessible both via web and in-game, Alganon launched with the ‘support’ features that most MMOs take years to develop. It was several years after their launch when WoW released the Armory, or when Lord of the Rings Online launched the MyLotRO.com, and sites like WoWHead still serve as the main repository for player information. With Alganon, all of this was available at the player’s fingertips at Launch and tied directly to their source data. This was a major accomplishment. According to David Allen, “One lesson I

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David Allen QOL / Quest Online Part 2.3

<<< PREVIOUS POST While David knew QOL needed a publisher, everyone involved completely underestimated the level of marketing necessary to gain exposure in the industry. He tried to find a sales and marketing specialist but with the market shift to F2P and other competitive factors he just couldn’t locate the right individual with the experience necessary to provide guidance and properly direct the marketing of Alganon. There’s no question that a MMOG is hands down one of the most complex software products a company can build and it takes time to refine the technology, especially when a company builds their own technology. With a push to release Alganon due to limited funds,David had to make a decision as to when Alganon was ready. Since MMOGs are never “finished” he had to determine when the game was ready for the public to play it. David commented, “The

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Impressions of a Discussion with David Allen

Article by Matthew Michael Owner of PCGameStore.net Author’s Note: This article was written after a short one-on-one discussion with David Allen. I am currently working on researching the origins of the online gaming industry, and I found this information interesting and an important part of the overall story. I am not claiming David Allen created online gaming, but am sharing this article because it is a small piece of MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) history. In the future,

David Allen Quest Online QOL ...

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Alganon and David Allen - The Origin of Alganon Part I

The Origins of Alganon & Quest Online How did Alganon begin? After working with Greg Wexler for nearly two years, David approached him in December 2005 about making a MMOG called Crusade (which would later become Alganon). Greg was new and unfamiliar with the MMOG industry so David brought him up to speed. David told him an “alternative to WoW and other fantasy-based MMOGs” would be a great first product. The company, Quest Online, was officially started in January 2006 with David and Greg as equal owners and Managing Members and Jason Blood as their first developer. David adds “When we began, we first built a prototype in parallel with an in-depth business plan, projecting development needs and potential sales based on known industry numbers for that time. I worked on the overall design and direction, fleshing

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David Allen QOL / Quest Online Part 2.1

Article by Matthew Michael Owner of PC Game Store Author’s Note: This article is Part II of a one-on-one discussion with David Allen. I am currently working on researching the origins of the online gaming industry, and I found this information interesting and an important part of the overall story. I am not claiming David Allen created online gaming, but am sharing this article because it is a small piece of MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) history. In the future, I plan to compile all information I gather and share that with the gaming world. David Allen is the co-founder of Quest Online ( QOL ) and the individual who created Alganon. David Allen ran the QOL, hired all team members, and managed the project from January 2006 to February 2010. CONTINUED FROM PART 1 of David Allen and QOL as can be seen here. David Allen says “QOL grew very slowly and

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