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Camelot Unchained's internal testing 'successful' so far
Camelot Unchained Producer Tyler Rockwell wrote a letter to the community today saying that internal testing on the MMO is going well and that the team is ready to work toward its second milestone. "We had a very successful start to internal testing," Rockwell reported. He mentioned that while Camelot Unchained's internal testing has taken place with small groups in limited environments, at one point the team had worked up to 286 players fighting in an area. With the game's first development milestone reached, Rockwell said that the team is now focused on hitting the second one. This includes work on the Depths dungeon and the Giants race. The project will also continue to refine the technical aspect: "Moving forward over the next month we'll be focusing on continued server and client performance and stability. We hope to continue adding art to the client and recently added some simple combat. The big goal is even larger numbers of people in testing with a continued frame rate of 60fps."
Camelot Unchained Q&A talks PvP looting, physical growth, and crafting
There's a new community Q&A up on the Camelot Unchained site dealing with a wide range of topics concerning this up-and-coming RvR MMO. The topics in it range from hooded cloaks (yes, they're in) to just what players will be able to loot from enemy corpses and structures. Perhaps one of the most interesting pieces of information is that the team is putting in a physical growth system similar to the one that was promised but never delivered to Warhammer Online. Mark Jacobs confirmed the feature: "I'm happy to say that yes, certain races (I won't commit to all of them yet) will have meaningful changes happen to them, both cosmetic and gameplay. For example, our Dvergr might have more stone covering their body and their beards will grow. Other examples could be with our HelBound's faces, Hamadryad's tails, etc." The Q&A also addressed the role and importance of crafters, emphasizing that those players will be able to generate basic materials from their land and that they'll "contribute majorly" to battles.
Camelot Unchained meets Depths stretch goal, Giant race next
Camelot Unchained has met another of its stretch funding goals, which means that The Depths are now confirmed for the forthcoming fantasy RvR title. CU's website has updated with the next stretch goal, which is "the giant races of Camelot." "Giants will be used as both player races and as inhabitants of The Depths," says the update. "Each giant race will be unique to their Realm (no mirrors used here either). While the concept of giants isn't new, it wouldn't be Camelot Unchained if we didn't do things just a wee bit differently." Details as to what "differently" means are pretty scarce at this point, but keep on eye on this space for more Camelot Unchained news as it happens. [Thanks Guinness!]
Mark Jacobs promises stretch goals won't delay Camelot Unchained
Camelot Unchained's Mark Jacobs penned an insightful piece today about how the possible dangers of stretch goals in crowdfunding. "Stretch goals are, in theory, generally a good thing for both players and developers," he wrote. "Unfortunately, while on the surface it looks all nice and serene, underneath the calm waters there is danger and that is the ever-looming problem of <insert theme from Jaws here> DELAYS." To avoid any future conflict with funders, Jacobs went on to list several principles that his studio will adhere to for stretch goals. He said that future stretch goals must add something very useful to the game, not be thrown in just to raise funding, not require adding too many new people to the team, and be added only if they don't conflict with other goals. Jacobs also indicated that he's perfectly fine with halting further stretch goals or waiting to put them in until the time is right and the team has already finished what it needs to do. Finally, Mark Jacobs made a sacred vow to fans: "I PROMISE, ON BEHALF OF CSE, NEVER TO ADD, OR ALLOW TO BE ADDED, STRETCH GOALS THAT ENDANGER THE ESTIMATED LAUNCH OF CAMELOT UNCHAINED IN DECEMBER 2015. Okay, now it's official."
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding January 26 - February 8, 2014
The crowdfunding train just keeps rolling right along, with passengers always coming and going. New passengers hop aboard while others hop off at their desired destination. Sadly, some have to disembark early -- such is the case with Universe Rush and Antilia. Although the Kickstarter campaign fell far short of its goal, Antilia does plan to continue development on its own. On the brighter side of things, some passengers reached their stop; Tales From The Strange Universe reached its goal, and both it and Novus AEterno (which brought in over 3.5 times its initial goal) will now take their places in the funded category. The Repopulation, earning over 175K during this latest Kickstarter run, disembarks at Betawatch station thanks to its ongoing alpha testing. Catch up on all the news for all these titles as they journey through crowdfunding here in Make My MMO.
Camelot Unchained's internal testing begins
Mark Jacobs just announced that fantasy PvP sandbox Camelot Unchained is officially undergoing internal testing. "Over the last 24 hours, we have done two stress tests of our client and server. This afternoon's peaked at around 407 client connections from our pool of internal testers," he wrote. "We experienced no crashes even though many players ran multiple instances of the client on their machines." Full details are available via the CU Kickstarter page.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding January 12 - 25, 2014
After a sleepy holiday season, the crowdfunding crowd has woken up and gotten down to business. And amidst that new bustle of activity, Make My MMO's ranks are altering a bit. Two games leave our listing, but each for different reasons; the cross-platform space sim Space Unfolding folded after missing its goal, and Face of Mankind moved along to Betawatch to join the ranks of the games in testing. And now that War of Omens' campaign has wrapped up, it moves into the fully funded category. Some campaigns have really kicked into high gear. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen joined the crowdfunding race and has delivered a slew of nearly daily news. Novus AEterno has nearly tripled its goal and is closing in on yet another stretch goal these final days of its campaign, while The Repopulation has also blown away its initial goal and is aiming for its eigth stretch goal (not to mention revealed plenty of juicy new bits). A smaller title, Tales From The Strange Universe, is more than halfway to its modest goal with a week left. And newcomer Star Rider also jumps on the Kickstarter bandwagon. Unfortunately, others aren't faring as well. Things aren't looking promising for Antilia or Universe Rush, whose campaigns end soon and are still over $85K and $98K short of their respective goals. Want more details on these stories or an update on all the already-funded projects? We've got the round-up right here.
Camelot Unchained eyeing $2.5 million Depths stretch goal
City State has updated its Camelot Unchained website. It's also unveiled some new pledge tiers designed to speed the RvR sandbox on its way toward the next stretch goal. That stretch goal is The Depths, and it will be realized once the crowdfunding total crosses the $2.5 million barrier (it stands at nearly $2.41 million as of press time). The Builders Tiers start at $35 and go all the way up to the $425 level. You can browse all the tier rewards individually or scroll down to the bottom of the page for a handy-dandy tier comparison chart.
Camelot Unchained dishes out details on alpha testing, combat, and player interaction
So, are you a backer of Camelot Unchained? Are you wondering when you'll be able to get your hands on the game in a playable form? The earliest build will be available to players in August, but just what will that early alpha contain? In an interview with Eurogamer, Mark Jacobs has stated that at a bare minimum, players should be able to get large-scale battles going in the game. Progression will be there but will not be fully tuned or adjusted, and the earliest stages of building systems will be present. But what will that large-scale combat look like? In an interview posted today by Keen and Graev, the game's development team confirmed that the game will be avoiding an action-based engine, since it's not in keeping with the old-school ethos of the design. The interview also discusses the social features in the game, including a chat client that will allow players to talk even if they're not in the game. We'll know in August how many of these early concepts make it into testing and whether they work out on the road to release.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding December 29, 2013 - January 11, 2014
Was 2013 the year of Kickstarter? Whatever you think personally about the funding model, you can't argue with the fact that over $480 million was pledged through the crowdfunding platform in the last calendar year. That's definitely one hunk of change! But whether or not that figure translates into a tidal wave of awesome games has yet to be seen; the jury will remain out until even more funded games actually release and players get to experience what they backed. As for specific MMO news this past fortnight, the bulk of it involves new titles vying for a slice of 2014's crowdfunding pie. The CCG War of Omens has already grabbed a piece; it met its goal and has moved on to stretch goals for the last couple of days. Other hopefuls include more two space strategy games. Learn more about all of these, as well as the news from the funded front, right here in Make My MMO.
Some Assembly Required: Virtual world roundup for 2014 and beyond
Just over two years ago there was a great disturbance, as if millions (or so) of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Yes, something terrible had happened: a beloved virtual world was destroyed. And that left a number of sandbox refugees looking for a new place to call home. At that time, Some Assembly Required offered a roundup of the then available virtual worlds that could possibly offer accommodation, depending on what qualities players most desired in their games. But as things are wont to, they changed; a lot can happen in the MMOverse in 24 months, from additional features in existing games to new games to the loss of more worlds. So it's time to update this list of virtual worlds to reflect 2014 and beyond. Take a look and see what titles or titles-to-be have the sandbox features that best make a game a home for you.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding December 15 - 28, 2013
'Tis the season... but not for news! With minds focused on the holidays, it looks as if not much happened in the realm of crowdfunding since our last Make My MMO update. Just how slow was it? It was so slow that Star Citizen did not announce earning another $2 million. A few tidbits did, however, did trickle out. Novus AEterno met its goal within 102 hours and still has a month of funding ahead. On the other hand, Empires of Tahn followed what seems to be the new norm: cancel the project before getting the dreaded "unsuccessful" label. And one title that is already strong in its development has jumped back into the crowdfunding realm; The Repopulation aims to incorporate even more features into the sandbox. There are also a couple dev blogs to speak of and a few odds and ends, all of which you will find rounded up for you below.
Camelot Unchained producer: 'Be excited. Be very excited.'
Camelot Unchained Producer Tyler Rockwell has emerged from a busy year of work on this upcoming RvR MMO to look forward to the next year through the lens of the game's development. Rockwell's December producer letter claims that a game is beginning to emerge from all of the hard work. He reiterates that the main focus is preparing Camelot Unchained for January's internal playtest. He also praised many members of the team, including the animation editor, the engineers, and the artists, for their hard work. Rockwell says that fans of Camelot Unchained have good reason to be pumped for the title: "[Bat shit crazy] is a favorite term of Mark [Jacobs] that, honestly, I believe defines what is going on, mostly in secret, right now. We use the term BSC knowingly because many of the ideas are counter to much of the current MMOs out there. We hope our fan base will be excited by these ideas as we are here. Be excited. Be very excited."
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding December 1 - 14, 2013
If it seems as if crowdfunding's gone into a turkey coma lately, you aren't just imagining things -- at least as far as funded games are concerned. News on that front has seemed scarce compared to the deluge of some other two-week spans, but the current campaigns are trying to make up for it. Life is Feudal canceled its Indiegogo campaign, but devs vowed to "survive according to Plan 'B'," so we'll keep an eye out to see whether it moves into personal funding as other games have done. (That route is working for Neo's Land, whose donations keep creeping higher.) Similarly, Novus AEterno scrapped its second Kickstarter campaign, but in a twist, it's already restarted another with a lower goal. Outer Worlds Online, however, just didn't make the funding cut. On the successful side, manners and dinner parties will be coming to an MMO near you; Ever, Jane got an invitation to join the funded club. A few other funded titles also saw some progress, and still others joined (or re-joined) the race for your support. And topping all that, we also bid farewell to Elite: Dangerous, who leaves Make My MMO for Betawatch now that its alpha has started. You can catch all the updates below.
Camelot Unchained Q&A talks box copies, name reservations, and stretch goals
The community got to kick several questions at the Camelot Unchained team lately, the answers to many of which were returned with gusto in a new Q&A post. Some of the topics included boxed copies of the game being limited for collectors only, name reservations being done on a first-come basis through Founder's Points, and additional funding stretch goals for developing the Depths and adding more team members to the project. The magic system is coming along as well: "Mark [Jacobs] has been writing and editing the magic and combat systems documents and we have had team meetings to give him feedback. Once we have these systems to a point where the team feels that they are exciting and workable, then we can start releasing details to the community." The team also gave its monthly update regarding the development of the game. Special mentions were given to work being done on the archery system and preparation for the January playtest.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding November 17 - 30, 2013
One thing gamers can definitely be thankful for this year is crowdfunding! Thanks to this phenomenon, we have many more options opening to us than ever before. And there are definitely some good gaming prospects on the horizon, even if news about all but one is seeming a bit scarce lately. While it's true that a few funded projects tossed out a news morsel or two, two new campaigns replaced two unsuccessful ones (neither The Zodiac Project nor Omuni Online made their goals), newcomer The Mandate already made its goal, and another hopeful -- Ever, Jane -- has secured three-quarters of its goal with only a couple of days left, the majority of the spotlight has been stolen the upcoming space sim Star Citizen, which continues to blast the crowdfunding record to smithereens. If you missed any of the news, you can catch up on it all right here in Make My MMO.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding November 3 - 16, 2013
A quiet fortnight in the land of crowdfunding these past two weeks have not been. In fact, with the popularity of this funding model, it may never be quiet again. The past two weeks have had their share of campaigns starting, campaigns closing, and campaigns obliterating goals and funding records alike. Three new prospective games have popped on the radar (including one for those with impeccable manners!), and one has disappeared. But even that game isn't gone for good; although pledges had climbed to over $86K, Trials of Ascension canceled its campaign in order to "regroup, rework, and return." Another title, City of Titans, is taking its place among the fully funded crowd. And there there is Star Citizen, which proved that a single fortnight can't go by without the game's gathering another million or two. All that information and more can be found here in Make My MMO!
Camelot Unchained dev blog talks leprechauns
City State Entertainment issued a lengthy update this week centered on the Luchorpan race of Camelot Unchained. In the post, CSE walked through the lore of the Luchorpan, a short humanoid race that lists teleportation, ore detection, and distraction as its strengths while confessing slower movement speed, reduced attack chance against tall foes, and line-of-sight restrictions as its weaknesses. The post also included a collection of concept art for the new race showing off possible hair styles and jewelry; the Luchorpan appear to be quite fond of beards and gold.
Camelot Unchained has rougher-than-expected development stretch
City State CEO Mark Jacobs has an update on Camelot Unchained's development, and it looks as though the recent "sprint" period was rougher than expected. "Unfortunately, this sprint was not as successful as the last one. Due to illness and travel, a number of items either were not fully completed or in a couple of cases, didn't get started [...] Now, we still had a good sprint but it wasn't as good as the last one," he wrote in his latest update. Jacobs said that the team is still working to get infrastructure in place but has basic combat functioning and animations improved. Other interesting tidbits from this dev cycle include hints of the next Camelot Unchained video, the initial concepts for a new race, and work being done on the game's magic system. He reports that the team is on track to begin IT testing in January.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding October 20 - November 2, 2013
The news meter for crowdfunding keeps right on ticking. The last two weeks have seen a score of changes in the realm of community funding initiatives, with some titles experiencing success, others not meeting their goals, and even more joining the ranks. One big name in gaming, Brad McQuaid, is even planning on launching a campaign in the near future. The zombie-centric The Living was unsuccessful, and Story Quest Online failed for a second time. Mixmaster Online removed itself from the field and canceled its campaign. On the other hand, 8BitMMO met its first stretch goal, ensuring that a Mac edition of that game will be available for players. And then there's City of Titans, which is climbing closer to doubling its goal with only two days left. Finally, there are all the progress updates for those already-funded campaigns, conveniently rounded up right here for you in Make My MMO.
