Thank you everyone, and thank you Paragon

Hey guys,

Doctor Aeon here. I was thinking about posting something here for a while that would amount to a farewell letter. Seeing War Witch send hers got my rear in gear to send mine! But this won't be the last you hear from me - I'd like to continue posting fun stories from inside the studio, as well as videos of some of the cool things I enjoyed from the past. I also apologize for any typos in this post, but I'm sure you're all used to that from me by now.

Before I came to Paragon Studios, I was working at a position equivalent to customer service in a Pilates studio. I hated it. I had recently graduated from college with a degree in English and was living with my very supportive and loving parents. I wanted to write, and I loved video games. My life, however, was good and positive; I had great friends and a great family, and I knew life was good.

One day, my father had a heart attack. My sister and mother needed help taking care of him afterwards, so I decided to quit Pilates and help take care of my dad. I'd stay with him in the hospital during his visits and help take care of him at home.

During that time, I needed something to do to keep my writing skills up; I barely wrote anything when I was at Pilates, and I needed to keep my skills polished. That was when Mission Architect went into beta for City of Heroes. I decided that I would set myself up on a schedule - I would write a new story arc every week, publishing them on Sunday nights.

I would talk to my friends and family about the stories I wrote, and I was extremely proud of all of them. I read many books during this time, including one from my favorite author/philosopher, Luigi Giussani. Many of these ideas went into the stories I wrote. I would think of what to write while waiting for my father to come out from his appointments with various doctors or while he was sleeping.

One day, I received a message from Synapse - send me your resume, we want to look into hiring you. I was so excited, but I couldn't just leave my father. However, as destiny would have it, my father was getting better. This was the exact right time for me to be able to leave - in fact, my parents insisted that they would hate me forever if I didn't take this opportunity.

I sent in the resume and after the normal process of interviews etc., I had been accepted to work at Paragon Studios. I would be moving away from the comforts of New York and going to live on my own for the first time in California. I was terrified and excited at the same time (terrixcited).

It has been an extremely amazing experience working with everyone at Paragon. It would be impossible to put all the great experiences I've had into words, and this post is already long enough as it is. It's because Paragon was willing to take a chance on some kid from Brooklyn that I have everything that I do today; amazing friends in the Bay Area and in Paragon studios, and a loving fiancee who I met in California and who I will be getting married to at the end of April.

I don't know where I'll be going from here, but I will always know that Paragon studios was the method through which so many amazing things came into my life. A lot of us are sad now, but it's like Gandalf (NERD ALERT!) said in Lord of the Rings: "I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil." Amazing friendships were developed in Paragon, friendships that will last for the rest of our lives, both with the people we worked with and with the players.

It has been an absolute pleasure making stories for you guys, and I've always tried to be better and better at them. If there's one thing I want my stories to show, it's this: life can be positive, even if it looks like everything is negative. That's what I learned through my life and through great books such as Lord of the Rings. The story of Dark Astoria, which I'm most proud of, is the best representation of that belief.

We all may be scattered, but our friendships will remain, as well as the beliefs and philosophies we put into making games. Wherever we go, I, and I'm sure everyone that worked at Paragon, will work with those same values to bring people amazing games that can help change their lives.

Sean McCann

*hug*

Thank you!

Hey,

Thanks for being the mad doctor. Someone had to.

Awe inspiring.

Thank you for your hard work

Thank you for sharing and best wishes.

Thanks for all your hard work, hope you can find a job at least half as good.

Much love Sean.

You guys should get together and start a new studio.

Thank you for sharing all of your stories with us and for your part in such an incredible game. Your work with AE has been incredible, which made me feel even more guilty when my villains wheedled you for inf during the Luddite uprising in Cap. Looking forward to reading more Paragon Studios tales from you in the near future

May life treat you well. It has been a pleasure having you tell your stories to us.

I want every one of you to somehow find a way to tell us about what you are doing at a new job in the future.


I've never been this attached to a game, or game studio before, You guys are -THE- best.

I can't stop crying, Everything i love is dying D:>

We may not have always seen eye to eye, but I'm glad to have known you. Clear skies and safe landings (and gratz on your upcoming nuptials).

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I wish I could've played Dark Astoria all the way through its incarnate revamp: the premise is one of my favorite stories in the game, and it's one of the most consistently praised arcs on the forums (and that's a pretty rare feat in itself!). I'd tried to avoid spoilers before getting there, but now... well, anyway, thank you for all the stories you wrote for City of Heroes. I hope we'll get to play more of them soon...

I never always saw eye to eye with the writing team, but...gods damn. This isn't fair

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Aeon, I loved the stories you wrote for MA and I recall writing and playing through yours and so many other great ones. Even when I had to come to the conclusion that my own writing skills were subpar.

I appreciate what you did for the MA community when you became a developer even if most players decided it was just a handy leveling and inf tool you tried to help us write great arcs and play them.

I am sure that I have enjoyed your ingame arcs as well. I know I love the DA ones!

I hope that a man with your talents will find employement elsewhere soon.

Thank you for the work you did on Architect Entertainment, Sean. I still think that it had the potential to be one of best engines for player creativity ever conceived.

And on a completely personal level, thank you for playing and enjoying and choosing 'Night Calls the Weaver' back in February, 2010. It really meant a lot to me that someone who was writing on a professional level experienced my work and found it to be worthwhile. It's hard to explain just how much that validation meant. And I never really talked to you about it at the time, but let me just say now that it was important. And maybe as someone who was a player who became a developer, you already understand this.

It was that sort of thing that made this group of developers unique. Good luck to you. I hope that all of you land awesome jobs in the near future.

- Mike

Thanks for everything BatAeon! You and the rest of the team are awesome, and I hope you all find even better things to move forward to, even if I have a hard time believing in better things to be found.

Have a Heroic Day!

Thank you for the stories and everything else.

One of us...



Actually, that was always the great thing about this entire staff... The entire team has always felt like "one of us", because they are, if not literally like some of the players turned employees, then just figuratively.
And not just one of us, but we often felt like one of them... Because we were all in this together.

I don't think we ever knew each other from Virtue and we didn't really interact as player/dev... but... we're family.

I still wish you would have been able to do more with the Mission Architect, but I understand that you didn't have much say in the fact that you were working more on story than on the MA. It was always nice knowing one redname's personal account, and seeing him on it every so often. You were always great to the MA writing community, and we will miss you.

-Bubbawheat

Bubbawheat@msn.com

Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights
http://FlightsTightsAndMovieNights.com

*LATCHES to Dr. AEON* D: IM GONNA MISS DA BATAEON!!!

Dr. Aeon was one of my instant fave characters, I have to say.

It's good that your situation - while not necessarily favorable at the time - turned into such a boon for you. I certainly hope that you continue to have the kind of good fate that will keep other companies or whoever you choose to work with afloat in talent. Good work, sir. Thank you for doing it.