The new head of Quest Online talks about the company shakeup and the direction of the company's fantasy MMO Alganon.

After lengthy discussions (with legal, the investors etc.), the decision came down to remove him from the daily operations of the company and leaving me in charge. This way, he couldn't ship the game prematurely again or put the project in harm's way.

Since he was still a managing member and with other powers, the non-conflicting members of the LLC took a vote on the matter to remove him. Given his history with them, it didn't take more than twenty-four hours for all fourteen of them to come to a unanimous decision to remove him as a managing member of the LLC, leaving the co-founder, Greg Wexler as the sole managing member. And thus David was subsequently stripped of all powers which put him in a position to act against the best interests of the company, the investors and the game.

Even so, unknown to the team, he was trying to negotiate a Golden parachute out of the company while this was all going down. In the end, that deal didn't happen because I put a stop to it because I felt that given that David had been pulling a paycheck since day one and on the investor's dime, he had been paid in full for his participation. And such any additional money should go to the company in order to fund the team to complete the game. Since the investors owned the IP and indeed the company, putting money into the company in order to finish the game was more of a priority than putting money into David's pocket, especially given the mess that he was leaving behind for me to cleanup.

Since he had refused to comply with our directives and because he was holding on to certain company assets, access credentials etc and operating as if he were still in charge, the decision was made for me to step forward and make my involvement as President public. The goal was to send a clear message that someone with far reaching experience and track record had taken the reins at QOL and thus the game. Doing this also made it public knowledge while the legal team were working to file the necessary papers with the Arizona state office to make it all official.

During all this, I went from someone he came to for help to someone who became an enemy. The whole thing is that he flat out sold me a bill of goods that was based on lies. I told him that I wasn't going to be a part of that and that given that the investors had hired me to protect their interests, that I was bound by that agreement - as well as my own integrity - to tell them exactly what was going on. So once I told them that the game really wasn't what David said it was, that him and his other two (Mathew "Hue" Henry, Jason Blood) team leads were inexperienced and that is what hurt the product and company, the gloves came off and it just went further downhill from there.

All David had to do was work with my team and I, then none of this would have happened. Instead, he continued with the status quo, then tried to do things that put the company and project at risk.

So, that's how it all went down.

ZAM: When did you come onboard and in what capacity?

Smart: I came on board first in Nov 2009 when he called me up talk to his investors, since I had more experience and credibility that he did. Then during those talks the investors decided that they trusted me more than they did David and so said that they weren't inclined to put any more money into the company without my involvement. As things went on, they made me President -- with David's signed approval -- in late January.

ZAM: Jason Blood and Hue Henry were also let go because, according to you, it was business. Was their work slacking or was it because they ascribed to Allen's philosophies as his friends?

Smart: I can't speak to their work because at the time I wasn't privy to it. Hue resigned the day after David "departed" the company because he said that with David gone, now was the time for him to pursue other interests. So he left a pile of work still to be done and just like that he was gone.

I fired Jason Blood on March 3rd for things that he did and which primarily put the company at grave risk and danger. And like Hue, he too left quite a bit of work and largely broken code behind for the team to sort out.

Apart from the fact that they were all friends, all three of them were inexperienced and that in my opinion is what led to the problems that the game was having and all the missed deadlines, ship dates etc.  For his part, Jason Blood, who never ever had any game development experience, was Director of Development ... of an MMO, no less.

Mathew Henry, who had some experience (remember Cheyenne Mountain?) was Director of Design. Again, for an MMO no less.

Of course you already know that Dave Allen had a similar debacle with his previous outing at Artifact Entertainment, so I need not elaborate on that aspect and his lack of experience. So draw your own conclusions.

ZAM: What went wrong with the launch in December?

Smart: Everything. The game wasn't ready to launch. David launched because, after missing the Oct. 31 launch date, which he had told the investors and the team (some even have it marked on their calendars) was the "go" date, he couldn't miss another date or he would lose the last of his funding. So after assuring myself, the investors and everyone -- and knowing full well that the game was clearly not ready -- he went ahead and launched it anyway. You have seen and/or heard of the results of that particular mishap.