The tragic end of a game developers dream

What this episode is about

"Pray for the Gods" represents the ambitious vision of No Matter Studios, where a small team of developers aimed to create a deep, exploration-driven game set in a desolate world. Despite raising nearly half a million dollars through Kickstarter and crafting a visually striking premise reminiscent of titles like "Shadow of the Colossus," the project ultimately faltered due to insufficient developer support and timing issues, leading to its tragic downfall.

Key takeaways

• A small team waded into an ocean of expectations—'Pray for the Gods' had promise but lacked resources.
• Kickstarter success doesn't guarantee a smooth ride; Bethesda's legal storm rattled the ambitions of No Matter Studios.
• Limited developer numbers mean increased creativity, yet ultimately led to a development race against time and bugs.
• The game's storytelling cleverly relied on visual lore, marking a refreshing shift from over-expository dialogue—show, don’t tell!
• Even with mixed reviews, 'Pray for the Gods' showcased endless potential—a reminder that magic can thrive in struggle.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Unknown Host (Host) · 8 min speaking
• Ran Parnell (Guest) · 1 min speaking
• Chin Lao (Guest) · 1 min speaking
• Tim Weiss (Guest) · 1 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Pray for the Gods, Ran Parnell, Bethesda, Hung Chin Lao
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Pray for the Gods, Legend of Zelda
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Pray for the Gods
4. 9:00 – 10:05: Pray for the Gods

Notable quotes from "The tragic end of a game developers dream"

• Precedent of both fear mystery and a genuine Adventure styled game of exploration and Discovery pray for the gods the game set in a cold and frigid Wasteland where you begin as…

  about Pray for the Gods · at 0:05

• Future was bright the team's initial Road did start out quite Rocky in just may of the very next year the devs for prey for the gods were encountering a tra Mark dispute…

  about Bethesda · at 2:21

• Culmination of many games together it certainly followed closely in mechanical style to some elements of Legend of Zelda including the use of grappling hooks glider bows and…

  about Legend of Zelda · at 4:32

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Ran Parnell — Person · Referenced developer / quoted creator · 1 mention · first at 0:57
  Named as one of the three developers and implicitly quoted for the game’s environmental storytelling philosophy, supporting the episode’s explanation of design choices made by a tiny team.
  Understand the full scope of why pray for the gods failed we have the start at the beginning namely with the developers themselves you see no matter Studios began and ended…
• Hung Chin Lao — Person · Referenced developer · 1 mention · first at 0:57
  Listed as one of the three-person development team, reinforcing the episode’s argument that limited manpower contributed to slow updates and technical issues.
  Understand the full scope of why pray for the gods failed we have the start at the beginning namely with the developers themselves you see no matter Studios began and ended…
• Tim Weiss — Person · Referenced developer · 1 mention · first at 1:00
  Identified as one of the three core developers of No Matter Studios, used to emphasize the team’s small size and the constraints that shaped development outcomes.
  Understand the full scope of why pray for the gods failed we have the start at the beginning namely with the developers themselves you see no matter Studios began and ended…

Companies & orgs

• Bethesda — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 2:29
  Involved in a trademark dispute with the developers of Pray for the Gods, impacting the game's development.

Products & tech

• Pray for the Gods — Product · Case study · 10 mentions · first at 0:09
  The main subject of the episode, detailing its development, challenges, and eventual decline.

Media & podcasts

• Legend of Zelda — Media · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 4:37
  Mentioned as an inspiration for some gameplay mechanics in Pray for the Gods.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 in 2014 no matter Studio set up to build something profound game that could set a precedent of both fear mystery and a genuine Adventure styled game of exploration and Discovery pray for the gods the game set in a cold and frigid Wasteland where you begin as a lone player lost on the edge of a Dying World with only the scraps of clothing on your back you discover the lost and ancient gods that ruled the enshrouding land around you where you're challenged with having to scale and fight these massive beast in order to return the world to what it once was and despite the kickstarter support of nearly half a million dollars and the Intrigue and support of thousands sadly it would be one to succumb to its own lack of developer support and largely an unfortunate timing of events that would inevitably be its downfall but to understand the full scope of why pray for the gods failed we have the start at

0:51 the beginning namely with the developers themselves you see no matter Studios began and ended with only three game developers ran Parnell hung chin Lao and Tim Weiss and despite the very tiny team they were able to build a visually stunning title that took after different titles in likeness to Shadow the Colossus Day Z and bloodborne but because of how small this development team was they had to be smart about their World building instead of focusing on arbitrary dialogue stringing together complex stories and histories they left the backstory largely to the player and as Parell himself writes instead of telling me why the world is covered in snow know show me let me put the pieces together and come to conclusions of my own through the use of ruins statues murals the player will see what has happened to the world this style of Storytelling works well for smaller teams without sacrificing the scale and

1:45 scope of what we were trying to tell and even though the game certainly took idealistic aspects of shadow of Colossus game it simply wasn't meant to be an homage but instead was meant to be a game that exemplifies the beautiful mechanics and atmosphere of her for en World taken by the very gods that made it what it was and in light of this by early 2016 no matter Studios would finally announced pray for the gods was in official development further leading to their Kickstarter campaign being launched of July of that same year which not only reached its goal of 300,000 but surpassed it to nearly half a million dollars now all the outlook for the future was bright the team's initial Road did start out quite Rocky in just may of the very next year the devs for prey for the gods were encountering a tra Mark dispute Bethesda the very title Pray for the gods supposedly had the entire rights owned by Bethesda and

2:37 there were many threats of legal payouts and issues of doubting whether or not it was worth trying to fight and as one of the developers stated themselves it was something that kept me up many nights and no doubt shifted our Focus from our game frequently worrying about the outcome if we went to trial if we lose our fans and walk away from the mark and still potentially get sued for Millions on trademark infringement this is really something no no starting company should have to deal with let alone a tiny team of three and inevitably they worked to have the name change from pray for the gods with an e and simply make it an AE while still being allowed to maintain their original branding art of a woman on her knees praying and despite this major issue right out the gate they kept on pushing through by January of 2018 pray for the gods entered steam Early Access with initial reviews being very

3:25 mixed which some players really enjoyed the overall atmosphere an environment While others saw that it had many technical gameplay issues and an overall lack of Polish by mid 2018 that same year criticism did continue to grow as there were certainly many numerous bugs and needed flushed out mechanics Additionally the development seemed extremely slow which only Rose concern from other backers but even with these criticisms there was still a large majority of positive outlook on the game it definitely had something special that many came to see as a library of possibilities by 2019 the game was starting to get a lot of eyes many famous YouTubers were starting to create more content surrounding the game including igp and even Jack sepai whom were given Early Access keys to play test the game and as Jack went on to explain himself he was actually able to play pray for the Gods in its early demo stages years before

4:21 saying that both he and Felix were one of the only two people given a chance to do so which he noted was very rough around the edges but had insane potential for growth the game was starting to become more known as a culmination of many games together it certainly followed closely in mechanical style to some elements of Legend of Zelda including the use of grappling hooks glider bows and other PVE functions that you could engage in between the actual fights with the gods and while it certainly wasn't the most groundbreaking visual scenery it certainly was stunning incorporating many mysterious and Magical elements for when you engage in the bosses with in the Frozen t which was genuinely astounding as the gameplay of fights wasn't half bad by any metric and actually climbing the gods to ring the ancient Bells embedded within them was both a unique and visually interesting way to take down the ancient beings all

5:15 these different elements work together in harmony to create an authentic and magical experience that many came to love and especially when the total headcount of developers was only three one can only guess the kind of hard work time and effort that was put in to make this game even happen in the first place but despite their efforts people still had growing suspicions while throughout the year the devs were still making updates they were often few and far between a large bulk of changes would only extend to hot fixes maay improvements Cloud saving and achievements the mass additions were turning more into just a mitigation of existing issues and updates rather than actual major additions and changes to the overall gameplay which only led to more and more people to see it as though the devs weren't trying hard enough to live up to their audience's expectations while the reality was that

6:08 they simply were such a small group that having time to make too many grander additions was becoming extremely challenging for them without risking compromising other aspects of the game which in turn would risk creating more bugs and reports to add to its existing criticism and by 2020 the criticism only kept on additionally experiencing the setbacks of covid which only slowed the team's progress in which the devs had only put out about seven total updates most of which were again hot fixes a cloud safe function and new minion enemies but nothing in the realm of major change that would keep a more positive outlook on its progress for its backers and Community by 2021 pray for the gods officially releases out of Early Access and the launches met with mixed reviews many critics noted that while the game still had potential it still suffered from many of the same technical issues and somewhat unrefined gameplay a

7:05 lot of the inventory and crafting menus were lacking in explanation and some people found getting into the actual mechanics of the game from a fresh point was sometimes difficult and disheartening especially when during a boss fight you would climb to the top of a God and on very rare occasions experience some occasional glitches that would force you off and make you have to reset your entire progress and part of this lack in development came with the issues of Co most of the devs had entire families and young children that were all now remote and had to be cared for at home and as the devs explained further in their own steam posts there were instances of family emergencies that left them unable to progress in updates for months at a time which was an even greater issue when simply losing one member was 33% of your entire team not to mention aside from even the game development changes much of what the

7:55 team was focusing on was bringing the game to other consoles and platforms forms which largely was based in game optimization and improvements and other adjustments to loading methods and rendering which would allow people with lower-end consoles and computers to have a better experience by 2022 the game's interest in player base began to fade as the novelty of the title and ideas began to die out just like the vast frozen tundra that pray for the gods was built upon much of what made the game's dreams and ambition was simply lost and forgotten but was pray for the gods truly a bad game no absolutely not it definitely was and is an enjoyable unique experience that even I myself played and came to love as well and while it had its bugs and needed areas of attention it was a game that inevitably came to an end from a great Series of Unfortunate Events and a lack of able hands to go around in the end I

8:54 think pray for the gods was a game that came with so much promise and potential it was a game that was was built upon just three people's dreams the loving support of their families and friends that helped keep them determined and focused to create something that could Captivate an audience and Inspire others in my opinion pray for the gods is another primary example of how a dream no matter how great no matter how loved can inevitably fail but despite this it still meant something the devs of this game I thank you for your hard work and genuine efforts while it didn't last you left your mark on the world you put in the effort and genuinely gave it your all and that's what really matters pray for the gods now sits at around nine consecutive daily player count and this definitely a game I couldn't recommend you try more all have the links Post in the description but I hope you have enjoyed and like always have a beautiful

9:45 rest of your day boys peace

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The tragic end of a game developers dream"?

Unknown Host (Host), Ran Parnell (Guest), Chin Lao (Guest), Tim Weiss (Guest).

What is "The tragic end of a game developers dream" about?

"Pray for the Gods" represents the ambitious vision of No Matter Studios, where a small team of developers aimed to create a deep, exploration-driven game set in a desolate world. Despite raising nearly half a million dollars through Kickstarter and crafting a visually striking premise reminiscent of titles like "Shadow of the Colossus," the project ultimately faltered due to insufficient…

What is mentioned in this Adrift episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Pray for the Gods, Ran Parnell, Hung Chin Lao, Tim Weiss, Bethesda, Legend of Zelda. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The tragic end of a game developers dream"?

The episode runs 10 min; the transcript is about 1,822 words in 12 timestamped sections.

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