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Global Chat: Guild Wars 2's economy is broken
Guild Wars 2's economy remains a hot-button issue even two-and-a-half years after its release. In this week's exploration of the blogosphere, one writer pulls out all the stops to let you know what's broken about this MMO's economy -- and how it can be fixed. In addition to this thoughtful read, Global Chat will hear some snark on silly hotbar icons, pontificate about poor MMO names, deliver The Repopulation first impressions, and invite you to participate in a grand MUD experiment. Let's get going!
Project Gorgon is coming to Steam
Indie sandbox Project Gorgon finally caught a break this week in the form of Greenlight approval on Steam. Two separate Kickstarter drives failed to fund, one in 2012 and another earlier this year, but former Turbine and Perpetual developer Eric Heimburg continued work on the project and has now announced a forthcoming Steam launch. "There's a lot of work to be done to get the game Steam-ready, and I don't know the exact timeline yet," Heimburg wrote. "But the hard part was getting Greenlit." Gorgon seeks to marry old-school and new-school MMO design; it includes features like player-authored books, exploration without signposts, and additional goodies that you can see in the video past the cut.
Make My MMO: September 21 - 27, 2014
As usual in the Kickstarter corner of the MMO industry, this week saw ups and downs for hopeful MMOs. Trials of Ascension hit its $60,000 crowndfund goal, Star Citizen broke $54,000,000 (count those zeroes, folks!), and Camelot Unchained got a new website. Yay! But TUG laid off half its staff, Pathfinder Online's early enrollment has been delayed until almost Halloween, and Project Gorgon's Kickstarter campaign has fallen short of its $100,000 goal. Boo! Bringing balance to the universe is Shroud of the Avatar, which was successfully Steam greenlit but has resorted to enticing testers with digital hats. Read on for our complete MMO crowdfunding roundup in this week's edition of Make My MMO.
Make My MMO: September 14 - 20, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Pumpkin Online achieved its Kickstarter goal and Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's Facebook page was updated with a few more screens from the fledgling Brad McQuaid-designed title. Apart from the that, it was pretty slim pickings, so you'll forgive us if we once again call your attention to Project Gorgon's Kickstarter. It has a week left to go, and it's worthy of your support if your into full-featured MMORPGs that tread well off the beaten grindpark path. The rest of this week's crowdfunding roundup lies just beyond the cut.
Global Chat: Blaugust triumphant
Last month, Tales of the Aggronaut issued a community-wide challenge for MMO bloggers to commit to posting (at least) once a day for all 31 days. This challenge was called Blaugust, and it caused a tidal wave of additional posts, top 10 lists, and random cat pictures as writers struggled to keep up with the rate of output. While not everyone who signed up succeeded in sticking out the entire month, it certainly injected some life into summer doldrums and got people talking. The 2014 Blaugust Wrap-up does a great job giving an overview of the challenge and a list of all of the blogs involved. If you're looking for outspoken opinions put forth at a prodigious rate, I'd suggest checking these out. Speaking of outspoken opinions, we've also got plenty of them in the form of the most interesting posts from the past two weeks! Global Chat... away!
Project Gorgon engages its second Kickstarter campaign
After its Kickstarter campaign fizzled back in 2012, Project Gorgon and its team regrouped to prepare a second, and hopefully successful, crowdfunding drive. The campaign launched a couple of days ago and is attempting to rake in $100,000 in pledges before the end of its 30 days. Project Gorgon bills itself as "an indie MMORPG with the deep gameplay of the classics, all the features of a modern game, and a unique immersive feel." The team promises a virtual world with a focus on exploration without signposts and immersive aspects such as being able to write in-game books for others to read. Project Gorgon also allegedly rewards certain types of gameplay with "behavior badges." Project Gorgon has been in development for four years and is nearing the production stage. The game is actually playable in an early state right now, so if you're curious, you can check it out before deciding whether or not to sponsor its development. We've also got a preview video for you after the jump. [Thanks to Gaming Conjecture for the tip!]
Project Gorgon seeks Kickstarter funding
Is your Kickstarter fund depleted yet? Designer Eric Heimburg is hoping that you've got a bit more money left in there for his small-scale game, Project Gorgon. A long post on the game's official site outlines several major updates to the game's systems as well as what the Kickstarter funding will be used for, with an eye toward an official launch date in fall/winter of 2015. Heimburg's post explains the current state of the game's testing, including what is working and what is not in the current build. He also explains why some skills level faster than others; Necromancy, for example, requires you to fight a boss, while Swords can be advanced from the start of the game. Take a look at the site if it seems like your sort of game and consider funding it if you like what you see; Heimburg states that while he'd like to bring on additional staff, he won't allow extra funding to change the launch date.
Project: Gorgon hits Kickstarter
Touted as "an indie MMO by industry veterans," Project: Gorgon has launched a bid for public affection (and donations) on Kickstarter. The effort is being spearheaded by Eric Heimburg and Sandra Powers, who've worked on titles like Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call 2, EverQuest II, and Star Trek Online. Project: Gorgon is meant to promote and reward exploration and remove constrictions on gameplay. Its creators are calling it a "thoroughly modern MMO" with a "quirky, old-school feel." The details of the game's cost and possible subscription fees haven't been finalized yet, but the rewards that have been set out seem to be hinting to a free-to-play model paired with subscriptions for extra access and goodies. Rewards include alpha and beta access, game time, special items (including a vial of -- we kid you not -- "wolf spit"), and the opportunity to vote on game features in beta and shortly after launch. Hit up the Kickstarter page to let the team speak for itself, or skip below the cut to see some pre-alpha footage of the game.
