Make My MMO: May 25 - June 1
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, we heard from Pathfinder devs on crafting as well as Guns of Icarus devs on how they managed to pull off two successful Kickstarter campaigns. EVE Online fans paid nearly $100k to Kickstart an internet spaceship history book, and Elite: Dangerous began its premium beta phase while fellow space sim sandbox Star Citizen delayed its dogfighting module release.
Finally, indie sandbox Trials of Ascension, fresh off its successful $40k crowdfunding campaign, announced a raffle that includes a demo pass, a Skype convo with the devs, and a free item from the ToA store.
Dream a little dream, get a little green, and before long you'll have your very own MMO... at least that's what these developers are hoping! Games seeking funding to make their plans a reality are listed in this section.
Citadel of Sorcery (MMO Magic, Inc.): Open donations, no end date
A vast, dynamic world where nothing is set in stone and each player will experience the game in very different ways
Contested Space (Zon): Kickstarter coming soon
Player-design spaceships and stations
Action-oriented combat, territory expansion and defense
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games): Open donations, no end date
Fantasy medieval setting with a classless system and unrestricted character development
Realistic weather system
Greenlit on Steam
Latest news: March 30 -- PvP raid and new screens
Neo's Land (NeoJac Entertainment): Open donations, no end date
A sandbox where the community decides development by round table discussions
Massively news: Voxel-based building demo available
Origins of Malu (Burning Dog): Kickstarter, ends June 12th
Sci-fantasy sandbox
Permadeath
Already in playable alpha
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms): Open donations, no end date
Old school fantasy MMO with focus on group content
The return of corpse runs
Race/class combos revealed
Shards Online (Citadel Studios): Kickstarter, ends June 12th
Create your own servers, rulesets, and content
Crafting, housing, questing, and PvP
Skill-based character development
Heavily influenced by Ultima Online
The Far Reaches (Samuel Ruggieri): Kickstarter, ends July 11th
Open-world sci-fi sandbox
Advanced NPC behaviors
Skill-based character development
Trials of Ascension (Forged Chaos): Open donations, pending new Kickstarter campaign
Skill-based sandbox MMORPG
Success has its privileges, including a spot in this section! Games that have reached their crowdfunding goals and that are currently being developed are listed here. Once a game reaches the closed testing stage, it will move to the hallowed halls of Betawatch.
Camelot Unchained (City State): Official site
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media): Official site
Divergence: Online (Ethan Casner): Official site
Elite Dangerous (Frontier): Official site Recent news - Premium beta begins
Embers of Caerus (Forsaken Studios): Official site
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net): Official site
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions): Official site
Guns of Icarus: Official site, Recent news - Post-mortem part three
The Mandate (Perihelion Interactive LLC): Official site
The Repopulation (Above & Beyond Technologies): Official site Recent news: The April report
MyDream (MyDream): Official site
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios): Official site
Pathfinder Online (Goblinworks): Official site, Recent news: Crafting dev diary
Shadowrun Online: (Cliffhanger Productions) Official site
Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues (Portalarium): Official site, Recent news - Release 6
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium): Official site, Recent news: Arena Commander delay
The Stomping Land: Official site - Recent news: Coming to Steam
TUG (Nerd Kingdom): Official site
Kickstarter puts the the fate of fledgling MMOs in the hands of gamers. Which will live and which will die? Check the pulse of MMO crowdfunding with Massively's Jef Reahard every Wednesday in Make My MMO. And for a look at non-MMO crowdfunding, don't forget Joystiq's Crowdfund Bookie.