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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.
The Game Archaeologist: Going forward by looking back at the past
Have you noticed? I'm sure you've noticed. It seems as though ever since this Kickstarter fad flared up, the avalanche of retro-themed game projects has exploded. And it's not just on Kickstarter, either. One of Guild Wars 2's most popular content additions over the past year was a tongue-in-cheek recreation of 8-bit games. And now we've got Trove, which above its controversy is definitely appealing to the glory days of gaming past. The Game Archaeologist has always advocated that the past can influence our present and future in surprising ways. It sometimes irks me that current developers have shown a lot of ignorance for past ideas when coming up with new content, although that irritation has lessened recently now that I'm seeing a growing movement to embrace and incorporate what's come before, both ideologically and aesthetically. So what does the past have to offer the future of MMOs and how can game developers capitalize on it? As usual, I have all of the answers.
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.
Some Assembly Required: Mark Jacobs on Camelot Unchained's Kickstarter
Given all the MMO-hopefuls flocking to it, you'd think that Kickstarter is the only way to make a game these days. And in some ways, it is. Indie companies and niche games now have a real chance to see the light of day, whereas previously only the "sure sells" got financial backing. For developers like Mark Jacobs, who as City State Entertainment's CEO spearheads the development of upcoming sandbox Camelot Unchained, Kickstarter is a way to bypass those detached investors and appeal to the gamers themselves. As he told us, "Kickstarter is the perfect platform for an indie developer both to gauge interest in a concept and to receive either all or part of the funding necessary to make the game." Jacobs offered other musings and insights about the role of Kickstarter and updated us on the development of Camelot Unchained in our exclusive interview.
Camelot Unchained's second Piercing the Veil Q&A released
Two weeks ago, CityState treated us to Camelot Unchained's inaugural Piercing the Veil Q&A. Now a second act has followed that first performance, complete with all new community questions and Community Manager Renee Machyousky's official responses. This time around, the questions run the gamut from character characterization to advertising to lore dissemination. While not all of the addressed questions have definitive answers (groups size is still under discussion, and 3-D sound bites haven't even been considered), there's still information to be found. So feel free to take a moment and peek behind the development curtain to catch the latest answers to fans' questions.
Camelot Unchained details progress in latest update
Camelot Unchained has come to the end of another "sprint," City State's term for a roadmap, and CEO Mark Jacobs has whipped up another post detailing everything that was accomplished, noting what didn't make it into the completed pile, and laying out the next batch of tasks to tackle. Of the 25 + items on the list, the team checked off 23; it even threw in a few bonus tasks. According to Jacobs, "Our biggest accomplishment in Sprint 4 was pulling together our entire editor, build system, database, patch server, and patch client into a fully working pipeline." This way, when artists and designers make changes to the world it can be instantly downloaded by the workgroup or even the beta or live game. This paves the way for quick response in the live version. For more details on all the technical accomplishments, check out the full update.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding October 6 - 19, 2013
This was quite a fortnight in the realm of crowdfunding, and for once we don't mean just Star Citizen news! More than one game met its funding goals, with one title proving that fans can be a very passionate lot: City of Titans reached its lofty goal within days. On top of that, two other games joined the fight for funding. Conversely, Alteil Horizons pulled its campaign at literally the last minute to avoid the stigma of an unsuccessful stamp and plans to launch again. Want the scoop on all these stories and many more? Learn the latest right here in Make My MMO.
Jacobs pens new Camelot Unchained lore tidbit
Camelot Unchained continued its semi-regular progress reporting earlier this week with a new lore tidbit focusing on the Bean Sidhe. The Banshee, as the race is also known, is the subject of a new Becoming tale penned by City State's Mark Jacobs. Following the story is a list of possible racial abilities including Scream of Fear, Shatter, and What the Hell is That Thing! After that you'll find some possible racial banes and a Hamadryad animation test. Oh, and you'll also find that last bit embedded for you after the break.
CityState publishes Camelot Unchained Piercing the Veil Q&A
This week's Camelot Unchained update kicks off Piercing the Veil, which is intended to be a regular question-and-answer session devoted to both silly questions and "serious game-oriented questions," according to CityState community manager Renee Machyousky. The first round of questions covers everything from swapping out game music files to class specs to formal guild alliances. In a related post on CityState's Kickstarter page, CEO Mark Jacobs reaffirms that Camelot Unchained is slated for internal testing starting in January.
CityState teases Camelot Unchained animation test
CityState bossman Mark Jacobs has updated Camelot Unchained's website with a fairly meaty post that gives us a good idea where the crowdfunded RvR title stands in terms of development. There's a whole list of completed tasks, as well as a preview of goals for the next sprint. Jacobs also says to expect more updates before the week is out. Finally, the team has released a quick video look at some preliminary Banshee animation which you can view after the cut.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding September 22 - October 5, 2013
Not all games that turn to crowdfunding need a boost to get off the ground. In fact, one new addition to our column this week -- 8BitMMO -- is utilizing this avenue to help accommodate the exponential growth it has experienced over the last couple of years. The other newcomer, however, is actually trying to build from the ground up; City of Titans wants to give displaced City of Heroes fans a new home. In other news, Star Citizen was the news! Videos, interviews, new goals, and more poured forth from this crowdfunding giant this week. We also heard from Embers of Caerus (which has been pretty quite for a long while). Even Neo's Land chimed in with a new demo. And you can get the whole scoop here!
Camelot Unchained reveals the HelBound class
Want to meet a new Camelot Unchained class that's part of the Vikings and can totally sear your soul if you so much as smile strangely at it? Sure you do! Mark Jacobs took the opportunity today to share some early details, lore, and concept art for the HelBound, a healer class that revolves around the theme of duality. "Becoming a HelBound means pain and pleasure, power and weakness for we are as our mother, creatures of a dual nature," the backstory intones. The HelBound is given the choice of a HelMark that will distinguish the character as either a healer or a death-dealing fighter. The class has cool half-masks that channel special effects due to an ancestor hopping along for the ride. According to Jacobs, the HelBound are "quite intriguing and just a wee bit dark."
