Anyone play Shareplay’s Panumbra back in the early 2000s?

[danzibr]

I remember one of my first online game experiences was called Panumbra (right along RuneScape). First person dungeon crawler, loosely based on DnD.

Thing is... even knowing the name, I can’t find much information about it. Not its fate, anyway.

While I doubt there’s a version still running, anyone know what happened to this game?

[Alahra]

I played, introduced to the game by my dad.

While I don't know the precise details of what happened, I know that when Shareplay itself shut down, Panumbra went with it. I'm still in contact with a number of folks who played, and I sent the thread their way. Some of them might be able to offer more info if they decide to chime in.

[danzibr]

I played, introduced to the game by my dad.

While I don't know the precise details of what happened, I know that when Shareplay itself shut down, Panumbra went with it. I'm still in contact with a number of folks who played, and I sent the thread their way. Some of them might be able to offer more info if they decide to chime in.
Whoa, awesome! To be honest, didn’t expect a response.

It’d be neat to play it again. When I was a kid I didn’t understand the mechanics, never got very far. I’ve been wanting to go back to it for years.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I remember two things about players. The best player was, I believe, Erzivia Ktal or something. And I talked to one dude about LotR, and I asked if you could equip anything in the tail slot for the Tabaxi, and he said not yet but maybe someday they’d make a tail cozy, and I said lol, and he said he was glad someone laughed at his joke.

[Tayron]

Oh hey, it's me! You actually got that spelling right too, which is surprising since it's been so bloody long since Pen went down!
Man, I put an embarrassing amount of time into Penumbra back in The Day. But I was there for the lore the DM/programmer created. It was just so good!
A few of us formed a D&D group with him some years later, and played for...man, years, he's good people.

I'm fuzzy on the details, but it was sad and awful. I think in short, they were bought by some french company, who did some shady things and drove them into the ground, and being in france, the previous owners had no legal recourse.

But yeah, people say the internet is forever...but really, there's a lot of things that just kinda, vanish without a trace.

[danzibr]

Oh hey, it's me! You actually got that spelling right too, which is surprising since it's been so bloody long since Pen went down!
Man, I put an embarrassing amount of time into Penumbra back in The Day. But I was there for the lore the DM/programmer created. It was just so good!
A few of us formed a D&D group with him some years later, and played for...man, years, he's good people.

I'm fuzzy on the details, but it was sad and awful. I think in short, they were bought by some french company, who did some shady things and drove them into the ground, and being in france, the previous owners had no legal recourse.

But yeah, people say the internet is forever...but really, there's a lot of things that just kinda, vanish without a trace.
Whoaaaaaaaa what’re the odds? Crazy.

And huh, I totally thought it was Pan. My bad. Memories of a kid >.>

But hey, at least I got your name right. Stuck with me for some reason.

Huh. Cool that you played DnD with the creator. It’s a pity what happened with the French company.

I wonder if the code’s still out there somewhere.

[sensiman]

Infinities Blessings :-)
i would give a lot to see panumbra or a game based on it restored.

[Somna]

Whoaaaaaaaa what’re the odds? Crazy.

And huh, I totally thought it was Pan. My bad. Memories of a kid >.>

But hey, at least I got your name right. Stuck with me for some reason.

Huh. Cool that you played DnD with the creator. It’s a pity what happened with the French company.

I wonder if the code’s still out there somewhere.

It's Pan. You just don't argue with kitties.

[danzibr]

It's Pan. You just don't argue with kitties.
Kitties, eh?

I knew a guy who went by Somna. Real life, name is Van.

[Somna]

Kitties, eh?

I knew a guy who went by Somna. Real life, name is Van.

No relation. It's been forever and a half but I think one of the characters I used was Somnabulist or Somnambulist.

[UltimateCarl]

Oh man, registered just to reply here. Every few years I go looking for traces of this game and never come up with much. To be honest I'm not even sure if this is the actual game, but I have very distinct memories of playing a browser-based online fantasy game as a kid and from what little I can find I'm pretty sure this was it, but even finding screenshots of it is like pulling teeth.

A few years back I actually tracked down the main programmer/previous company owner on LinkedIn, and from the discussion there he both didn't seem to have any version of the game/code anymore, nor did he seem to have much interest in discussing it. Seemed like he was running for some kind of public office at the time and was distancing himself from game development in general, though I haven't been keeping tabs on the guy. I'm glad he seems to be doing well, but I remember being pretty disappointed that he didn't have the code or even some of the graphical assets stowed away somewhere. I love trying to preserve older games and I've tracked down (and probably annoyed) devs for info/source code/etc. before.

Don't really have much to add to the discussion (I think I must've been around like... 10? Assuming I played when it was new in '98, and I doubt I played it for more than a month or so), but it's crazy that I just randomly thought about and decided to look for this again and stumbled upon a thread about it made only a month ago. Did we ever hear back from any of the "old guard"?

[danzibr]

Oh man, registered just to reply here. Every few years I go looking for traces of this game and never come up with much. To be honest I'm not even sure if this is the actual game, but I have very distinct memories of playing a browser-based online fantasy game as a kid and from what little I can find I'm pretty sure this was it, but even finding screenshots of it is like pulling teeth.

A few years back I actually tracked down the main programmer/previous company owner on LinkedIn, and from the discussion there he both didn't seem to have any version of the game/code anymore, nor did he seem to have much interest in discussing it. Seemed like he was running for some kind of public office at the time and was distancing himself from game development in general, though I haven't been keeping tabs on the guy. I'm glad he seems to be doing well, but I remember being pretty disappointed that he didn't have the code or even some of the graphical assets stowed away somewhere. I love trying to preserve older games and I've tracked down (and probably annoyed) devs for info/source code/etc. before.

Don't really have much to add to the discussion (I think I must've been around like... 10? Assuming I played when it was new in '98, and I doubt I played it for more than a month or so), but it's crazy that I just randomly thought about and decided to look for this again and stumbled upon a thread about it made only a month ago. Did we ever hear back from any of the "old guard"?
Dang, we have really similar stories (playing it around 10 years old, looking for traces online every couple years), only I never got in touch with anyone.

Huh. Bummer it’s probably a lost cause.