Make My MMO: April 27 - May 3, 2014
Two of the more successful crowdsourced MMOs dominated the crowdfunding news headlines this week. First up was The Repopulation, Above & Beyond's sci-fi sandbox, which recently launched its third alpha. The game's latest monthly update letter featured an exhaustive list of bug fixes as well as confirmation that more players will be recruited for testing in short order.
Then there's Star Citizen, which just keeps going and going and going. Or should we say earning and earning and earning? Cloud Imperium's warchest is up to a whopping $43 million courtesy of over 442,000 star citizens.
On a smaller scale, Trials of Ascension met its $40,000 Light the Forge goal. The devs say the store will remain open for donations until just before the game's second attempt at a full-fledged Kickstarter campaign. You can check on the status of your favorite MMO crowdfunding project after the cut.
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
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
Red Blood (User Games/Gorilla Banana): IndieGoGo, ends May 5th
Action combat with four classes
in-depth pet system
Infinite number of instanced dungeons
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
Embers of Caerus (Forsaken Studios): Official site
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net): Official site
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions): Official site
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
Shadowrun Online: (Cliffhanger Productions) Official site
Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues (Portalarium): Official site
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium): Official site - Recent news: $43 million in funding
TUG (Nerd Kingdom): Official site - Recent news: Our hands-on
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.