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Make My MMO: Crowdfunding September 8 - 21, 2013
In the oft changing world of crowdfunding hopefuls, faces come and faces go... and sometimes they come back again. If one of the newcomers to this edition of Make My MMO looks familiar, that's because the game ran a shorter, unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign last July. With a longer run this time around, perhaps Story Quest Online will fare better. On the flip side, one campaign flipped sections: We congratulate StarCraft Universe on meeting its goal and joining the ranks of the fully funded. Plenty of other news came from the funded ranks as well, from the crowdfunding king hit more funding goals (again) to progress reports and new feature reveals. You can catch all the details right here.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 25 - September 7, 2013
If you build it, they will come. While that adage hold true for baseball diamonds in cornfields, it's a little bit different for MMOs. If you're set on developing a new virtual playground, you get them to come so you can build it! That's the philosophy behind crowdfunding, anyway, and many are latching onto it. So how fare the fields of crowdfunding lately? New projects (Alteil Horizons, Epic Space) sprouted up, one took root and grew stronger (Divergence), and others (Project Snowstorm, Realms of Creation, Enspira Online) withered away from lack of nourishment. See how your favorite projects are growing right here in Make My MMO.
Apocoplay unveils new digital CCG, Alteil: Horizons
Seems like everyone's getting into the digital card game business, with Blizzard's Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Cryptozoic's HEX leading a pack of big-budget, flashy releases due sooner rather than later. As of today, there's one more contender in the ring. Boston-based indie startup Apocoplay has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Alteil: Horizons, a digital collectible card game that relies on "turn-based RPG-style tactics" and the introduction of a day and night cycle that changes the behavior of specific cards. Apocoplay is reaching out to notable artists for card designs; according to the studio, interest has been "secured" from the likes of Ctrl+Alt+Del's Tim Buckley and Saturday Morning Breakfast's Zach Weinersmith, along with artists who have worked on things like Pacific Rim and The Legend of Zelda. Here's head producer Sean Molyneaux (no relation to Peter Molyneux) on the announcement: I've been in this industry long enough to see collectible card games grow from a niche interest here in the US to a hugely popular mainstream genre. Fast growth like this means that new CCGs have to be very high-quality to get attention, and with the caliber of artists we've signed and our focus on deeper, tactical gameplay, Horizons can be the best out there. Apocoplay is seeking $100,000 for Alteil: Horizons' development and is offering decks and other bonuses to funders. [Source: Apocoplay press release]
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 11 - 24, 2013
Just when you think it will be a quiet couple of weeks on the crowdfunding scene... it isn't. Crowdfunding hopefuls seem to be following the advice of The Gambler this week: Know when to hold them, when to fold them, when to walk away, and even when to run! The funded crowd is holding steady with only a few bits of news, but two projects are on the brink of folding as they are both far short of their goals. Legends of Firestorm, on the other hand, didn't just walk away -- it high-tailed it out of Kickstarter without a word of explanation. In the meantime, thwo new projects (StarCraft Universe and Enspira Online) have joined the scene, and another project resurfaced. Check out the details right here.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding July 28 - August 10, 2013
Ah, the joys of bringing more games into the fold. Sadly, we don't know whether this will be just a brief passing in the night or a more permanent stay; that all depends on how newcomers Project Snowstorm and Legends of Firestorm do on their respective Kickstarter campaigns. Will the community help them make their MMOs? We'll keep watch and keep you informed. Speaking of keeping informed, a few of the funded projects found themselves in the news lately -- and we mean more than just crowdfunding king Star Citizen! And we've got it all rounded up right here for your perusing pleasure.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding July 14 - 27, 2013
Another fortnight down; another MMO hopeful lost. The casualty? Story Quest Online, which didn't come close to meeting its Kickstarter goal. The newest addition to this list, Realms of Creation, is still moving toward its goal and has another 34 days left to reach it. To see more about it, check out the new video after the break. In other news, Pathfinder Online also has a new video, and Star Citizen's Chris Robert's talked at length in an exclusive Massively interview. Even controversial Greed Monger headlined with a demonstration of its house building feature. Catch all the links to these stories right here in Make My MMO.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding June 30 - July 13, 2013
The last two weeks haven't been quiet on the crowdfunding front. While Star Citizen takes the lead with the most news (from ever-expanding coffers to just "finding ways to make the game more awesome"), other titles had their own snippets to report as well. There's also some upheaval in our ranks: We gained a new MMORTS/MMORPG mix project but lost two others from our list when both Skara: The Blade Remains and Anthym didn't meet their goals. And yet another title makes its final appearance before moving on to Betawatch! That's right, folks; TUG is saying hasta la vista to Make My MMO in favor of alpha land. Curious as to what all else has transpired? Then check out the details after the break.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding June 16 - 29, 2013
Go ahead -- make my MMO. And here you thought this phrase only worked when interrupting a robbery! What was a unique phenomenon in the not-too-distant past has become an increasingly popular trend: crowdfunding new MMOs. Whether they're using the Kickstarter funding platform or another, more and more developers are turning to the public instead of publishers to take their designs from the drawing board and into reality. In fact, sometimes it feels like there are just too many to keep up with! Besides the new campaigns that seem to be popping up like dandelions, there are the successfully funded games to keep an eye on. So here's what we're going to do for you: We'll make it easier for you to keep tabs on both the new campaigns hitting the crowdfunding scene and the progress of those MMOs that already made their goal and have moved on in their development journeys (but haven't made beta yet). Join us past the break for the inaugural Make My MMO, a biweekly accounting of all MMOs crowdfunded. Have you heard about new campaigns that aren't listed? Send us a note and let us know!
E3 2013: Taking another look at HEX
HEX. It's a difficult concept to grasp: a massively multiplayer online trading card game, combining elements of roleplaying goodness and the thrill of building a deck of powerful cards to combat the next evil underlord monster. At this year's E3, Massively sat down with Cory Jones, president of Cryptozoic Studios, to get the skinny on what HEX is all about.
E3 2013: Hands-on with HEX
Before MMOs, I played the Pokemon TCG. I didn't just play it but dominated my local Pokemon league. Had it not been for Asheron's Call, I would have been the first gym leader who wasn't an employee of the local comic and cards shop, but my brother got that honor instead... until he caved in too. Before that, I played Magic: The Gathering and actually would have placed in the top 15 of a new-release tournament if my mother hadn't literally made me go to bed (that's what happens when you're 12 years old and have to get a ride from your mom). So when I was told that I could do a hands on with HEX, I made sure I made time to hit up the demo. For those who are familiar with MMOTCGs, I'm hoping my hands-on will be fitting, but for those who don't know how the stack works or what an untap phase entails, you may want to hit up an earlier hands-on that goes into much more detail on mechanics first.
HEX Kickstarter finishes strong
HEX: Shards of Fate is a trading card game and MMO hybrid created by Cryptozoic, the studio behind the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. If that sounds like a thing you would like to play, you're not alone: HEX's Kickstarter campaign just coasted to success on the pledges of over 17,750 backers, raising over $2,277,000 and obliterating the team's original goal of $300,000. (And those numbers are still rising!) Thanks to HEX's massive cash haul, Cryptozoic will be able to add 17 of its 18 stretch goals, including a HEX-themed novel from a "premiere fantasy writer," tablet support, a motion comics game intro, playback support, more particle effects for cards, 10 extra dungeons, and five additional game boards. Cryptozoic is continuing to accept pledges through its official website -- there are 17 backer tiers available promising access to the game's beta and the usual special backer-type items. [Update: All backer tiers are now sold out except for the $50 "Slacker Backer." Thanks to Eamil for the tip.]
HEX: The MMO is in the cards
Massively was recently invited to meet with Cory Jones, president and chief creative officer of Cryptozoic, to get some greater insight into HEX, the studio's upcoming MMOTCG -- that is, massively multiplayer trading card game. At first, I had a difficult time associating a "massively multiplayer" aspect with a trading card game. My two-decade-old memories of very briefly playing Magic: The Gathering simply wouldn't let me get past my initial assumption about the head-to-head nature of these types of games. Even the online version of Magic used essentially the same structure as the offline version, with digital representations of Magic cards and an online challenge ladder. So imagine my surprise when a well-established box-and-trading-card-game company like Cryptozoic announced it was producing HEX, an MMOTCG using Kickstarter as a funding vehicle.
MMOTCG HEX doubles Kickstarter goal with 3 weeks left
HEX: Shards of Fate, the MMO trading card game that we first introduced last week, is doing fairly well in its current Kickstarter campaign. How well, you ask? So far the company has raised over $600,000 of the game's $300,000 goal with 21 days still to go! That's thanks to almost 5,000 backers so far. While these numbers are impressive one week into the campaign, it should be no surprise considering the talent working on this MMOTDG. Cryptozoic Entertainment is a veteran studio that has developed and published several other trading card and board games for The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings, DC Comics, World of Warcraft, and more. With the game already funded at this point, it's still worth checking out the game's reward tiers and stretch goals to see if it's something you might be interested in supporting. You have only 21 more days! [Thanks for the tip, Sounder!]
Introducing HEX, the MMOTCG by Cryptozoic
Cryptozoic Entertainment has just revealed the Kickstarter for its upcoming MMO trading card game, HEX: Shards of Fate. Cryptozoic is claiming that the game "combines the amazing community and storytelling aspects" of MMOs with the "compelling collectible and strategic game play" of TCGs. Players will roll a character (from a selection of six classes and eight races), collect gear, explore dungeons and raids, join guilds, and do other stuff that you'd usually associate with an MMORPG. They'll also be able to unlock and utilize more than 350 cards (in the first set), socket those cards for customization, and compete in a manner fairly typical of TCGs. Each card tracks its own leveling bar (the completion of which will transform the card into its foil variant), a trophy case for showing off what you've won while using that card, card-specific achievements, and more. Cards can also be transformed mid-match, giving you the ability to, say, hatch an egg to produce a dragon to help you out during your fight. The Kickstarter project is trying to reach $300,000. Rewards start as low as beta access at the $10 level and go on up to the "producer tier" for the five people who first choose to throw $10,000 or more into the hat.
