Tag: Kickstarter

Camelot Unchained Successfully Funded


CSE_Project1_Tease_12a_1440p

Camelot Unchained is the newest MMO from Mark Jacobs, who fans will be familiar with from his work at Mythic Entertainment and on MMO Fallout’s quote board. Camelot Unchained will feature three factions going at it in the massive realm vs realm battles introduced way back with Dark Age of Camelot. Players will be able to take part in battles with hundreds of other players, create dynamic buildings, and even choose a life of nonviolence crafting weapons for your fellow allies to use in battle.

With just over an hour to go, Kickstarter is well past its goal of $2 million, bringing in $2.2 million and counting.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Grimlands Cancels Kickstarter, But Has Funding


grimlands3

Grimlands has had a rocky life, and the game hasn’t even been released yet! Those of you who read our coverage of games still in development will know that Grimlands had its development shuttered by Gamigo, who are in the process of transitioning to solely publishing games rather than attempting to develop them in-house. The folks at DRAGO Entertainment in Poland decided that they were going to see the game to release regardless of Gamigo’s funding, and started up a Kickstarter to raise the $650 grand required.

Well the bad news is that the Kickstarter has been cancelled. The good news is that the Kickstarter was cancelled because DRAGO managed to secure offers for funding from several outside investors. The crew are in talks to get Grimlands fully funded and out the door. Sorry folks, no free Humvee.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Keeping Up With Kickstarter


sidequest

After several months of rehab from Kickstarter, I think it’s safe to talk about some of the MMOs that are seeking funding without opening my wallet and throwing heaps of cash into them. It’s been a pretty interesting past few months for Kickstarter in all respects, including that of the MMO world. If you haven’t been paying attention, Greed Monger made good on its funding goal of $30 thousand, at over $90 thousand raised altogether. Greed Monger is an interestingly named title that focuses on crafting, economics, and politics. Inspired by Ultima Online, Greed Monger brings back some much underused MMO features including non-instanced player housing. The game will be free to play and supported by the purchasing of houses. Players buy parcels of land on which they can build whatever they want. The kickstarter is long over, but you can still check out the features at its funding page.

I’m joking. I’m not even one paragraph into this and I’ve already dropped $50.

7a1a9d053398540bf7d3b339cb2e6732_large

Emperor’s Forge has a pretty interesting concept: Players divide into cities of up to 50 players, all competing for the Viceroy title to lead the city. Cities can form together and then form a country. The goal of all of this is to name someone King or Queen of the kingdom (or queendom?). Once a player is named king, he can actually be killed by players of warring factions, who will instate their own leader as the new king/queen. Players level up by gaining nobility ranks, and the higher a player’s nobility the more features they have access to. Emperor’s Forge will allow players to own houses, set up shops and hire NPCs to staff them, as well as soldiers, and more.

The Emperor’s Forge Kickstarter has until February 4th to hit $80,000. The game will be free to play and available on PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android devices.

(Kickstarter Page)

Xsyon-logo

Unless Xsyon gets some last minute funding, it looks like the Kickstarter is going to fall short of its goal. Xsyon’s Kickstarter ends on January 1st, and so far has only accumulated $6 thousand of the $250 thousand goal. Xsyon is live, and you can check out the game for yourself on the free to play server. Xsyon is a sandbox MMO where everything is player-crafted, from the equipment to the buildings. Set up in tribes and build yourself a compound, go out and kill wild animals (or players) for their precious goods and use them to craft even more equipment with which to kill more animals and players. Set up trade routes, level your skills, and help the new world rise from the ashes of nuclear apocalypse.

(Kickstarter Page)

Pathfinder-Online-1

Haven’t we seen Pathfinder here before? The answer is yes, we have. The previous Pathfinder Kickstarter project was for a tech demo of the full product. The latest Kickstarter, asking for $1 million dollars, has accumulated over $400,000 with 26 days to go as of this writing. Pathfinder is an upcoming MMO based on the Pathfinder pen and paper RPG. It will be a sandbox game with a focus on player interaction, be it in the form of politics, diplomacy, economics, warfare, and exploration. Otherwise, the Kickstarter page offers much more detail on what reward tiers are available than what the game will actually encompass.

(Kickstarter Page)

Xsyon Hits Up Kickstarter To Fund Full Release


Xsyon has been operating in a land we’d like to call “under the radar,” since it launched the “prelude” phase. Since its initial launch, the game has maintained a small community with regular live events from the development staff. We’ve seen the game pop up here on MMO Fallout a few times, including the recent release of an endless trial server (which wipes every week). Despite being a small release, Xsyon has some pretty intense ideas behind it. Players set up in groups and take over land in a world that is continually evolving as new technologies are discovered. Animals breed and migrate as resources move along with them, and players are able to terraform in a manner that permanently affects the world.

Well, Xsyon hasn’t technically gone “gold” yet. Notorious Games has several plans for the title, including separate PvP and PvE servers, as well as a major expansion in territory size as well as new creatures, magic, and more. So the team at Notorious has made its way on to Kickstarter, to seek funding for the game. The project aims for $250,000, with a due date of January 1st, 2013 to gather up all of the moolah. Check it out at the link below.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Kickstarter Updates: Old And New


1. SideQuest: Unfunded

If SideQuest does end up being funded successfully, I will gladly tip my hat and sell MMO Fallout to the highest bidder (minimum bid starts at $400,000), but with fifty hours left to go as of this publishing and only sixteen hundred collected of the ten thousand required, the prospects are looking bleak. If you haven’t been paying attention to previous Kickstarter articles here at MMO Fallout, SideQuest is an indie title in development by Fractal Entertainment as a free to play MMO. The game touts a fully immersive single player story as well as party based combat, player vs player, and a full collectible card game.

So why will SideQuest come away from Kickstarter with a low 15-20% of its goal? Perhaps it was the note that Fractal Entertainment doesn’t really need your money in order to make SideQuest a reality, the game is going to be completed no matter what the outcome of the Kickstarter funding. So rather than donate to ensure that the game sees the light of day, players are more likely to withhold their cash, regardless of the rewards offered, and wait and see if SideQuest is worth paying into in the first place.

2. Project: Gorgon

Finally an MMO for people who don’t want their hand held. Project: Gorgon aims for the old school MMO crowd, for players who desire a game that rewards exploration, an MMO that requires you to think before you act, and more importantly: An MMO with a crafting system. So Project: Gorgon aims to bring back the best of the old school (including being able to drop items on the ground and have them actually appear, apparently) with the new fangled contraptions like questing and guild mechanics. Players will have to deal with permanent, game altering changes, including being bitten by a werewolf and having to choose between rushing to find a cure or allowing their new found powers to consume them.

Oh and you can change into a cow, and provide your milk to other players. No, I’m not joking.

Kickstarter Implements New Rules To Protect Users


Kickstarter is not a store, and the folks at Kickstarter Inc want potential backers to know this without question. In the Kickstarter articles here at MMO Fallout, I’ve made a point in reminding viewers that making a pledge is a risk, closer to investing in a company than pre-ordering a game. Regardless, there are a number of people who have invested in Kickstarters without realizing, or without caring, that there is no real guarantee that the project will ever come to fruition. And for that matter, there is no real guarantee that the project isn’t a fly-by-night scam.

So Kickstarter is adding in a few new guidelines to projects. For starters, Kickstarter projects must post clearly the risks of backing a program.

  • Product simulations are prohibited. Projects cannot simulate events to demonstrate what a product might do in the future. Products can only be shown performing actions that they’re able to perform in their current state of development.
  • Product renderings are prohibited. Product images must be photos of the prototype as it currently exists.

Additionally, there is now a limit on hardware:

  • Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited. Hardware and Product Design projects can only offer rewards in single quantities or a sensible set (some items only make sense as a pair or as a kit of several items, for instance). The development of new products can be especially complex for creators and offering multiple quantities feels premature, and can imply that products are shrink-wrapped and ready to ship.

While the new guidelines only affect hardware, gamers should be very careful about what products they pledge to. Just keep thinking: Kickstarter is not a store!

(Source: Kickstarter)

More MMO Kickstarters To Watch Out For


Whenever I talk about Kickstarter projects, I always do so with a simple warning: Kickstarter is a crowd-funding tool for projects that may or may not see the light of day. You are acting as investor, and should be aware that the projects you fund may run into problems and never be completed. Whenever you invest, you should be aware that you are taking a risk. With that knowledge, let’s continue:

1. Island Forge

Island Forge features classic (old-school) RPG elements, with a unique (brand-new) game design. Explore player-created islands and stories, fight creatures, craft items, and level up with a unique health-based experience system. You can meet others in town and form party expeditions to explore and fight creatures. You can also go solo to follow stories at your own pace. Choose your level of peril when setting out on each expedition, or even choose no peril. Earn resources to craft weaponry, potions, spells, and other equipment for your character.

Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1391235405/island-forge-establishing-a-creative-player-commun

2. Forge

FORGE plays like a third person shooter, but with the abilities, strategy and pace of MMO PvP combat. It is built with a focus on fun and accessibility, but with the attention to detail and balance of a deep, competitive game. Whether you’re new to first person shooters and MMOs, or a veteran, FORGE will be easy to pick up yet offer much to learn as you play. FORGE places you into an epic fantasy setting, taking on the role of a warrior from a culture unlike any you’ve seen, fighting for your right to return home. FORGE is built to be enjoyable even if you have only a limited amount of game time available each night, keeping the low time requirements and ease of access of a traditional first-person-shooter (FPS). Skill is the only determining factor between victory and defeat, not whether you were able to grind out a set of armor or weapons better than your opponents.

Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/166522941/forge?ref=live

3. Sidequest

With SideQuest, we’ve decided to tear down those walls and treat game ideas like they came a la carte, rather than as part of a fixed menu. We’ve taken MMO PvP and endgame elements and married them to a robust single-player campaign; we’ve taken the aesthetic and feel of classic console RPGs and leavened it with modern PC design innovations; we’ve taken Japanese aesthetics and paired them with Western narrative techniques; and we’ve crafted a deep, rich setting and populated it with absurd characters. In short, we believe that it’s possible to have your cake and eat it too.

Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1460827633/sidequest?ref=live

4. Quest Fallen

Quest Fallen is an upcoming, multi-platform, massive multiplayer online role playing game for browser, Android and the upcoming Ouya console. It will feature classic top down rpg gameplay with mmo features like guilds/clans, chat/messaging and PvP arenas. There will be an extensive map to explore with multiple dungeons in the beginning. New content and quests will be continually added and updated to keep you coming back.

Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ariahstudios/quest-fallen-a-retro-style-mmorpg-web-android-ouya?ref=live

Kickstarter: Shadowrun Online For Just $500,000


Hey bro, can you spot me some cash to fund Shadowrun Online? I only need ten grand for the top level Kickstarter perk. Shadowrun is a game all about gritty action and player factions warring it out over a persistent world. According to the description, players will be able to shape not just the world of Shadowrun inside of the MMO, but that decisions will also affect the future of the pen and paper game. It will be free to play (but not pay to win) and set on the Unity 3D engine similar to Cliffhanger Productions’ other MMO, Jagged Alliance Online.

Based on the pen and paper game of the same name, Shadowrun Online has taken to Kickstarter because publishers are notorious for not knowing their elbows from their, well you get the picture. Players are able to play for free, or opt into a premium subscription that offers perks including boosts in experience, rewards, and discounts at vendors.

There are 24 days left as of this publishing with about $400,000 left to go.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Kickstarter: The Repopulation


The Repopulation currently has 27 days to go (until July 2nd) and has reached nearly nine thousand of its twenty five thousand dollar goal. Sandbox MMO? You have my attention. Player-created cities ala Star Wars Galaxies? You have my money. Three faction PvP with territory conquest ala Dark Age of Camelot? You have my pledge.

The Repopulation displays itself as all about the players. Quests are generated, tailored specific to each player, with branching outcomes that alter how the world reacts to the player. Cities elect their own mayor, advancement is accomplished through a skill based system rather than overall levels, and the game has equal focus on crafting and combat.

The game will also feature engagements, similar to what you may have seen in Tabula Rasa, where (for example) enemy mobs may raze a village and burn it to the ground, resulting in the quest givers and merchants not being available.

There is a lot more to this MMO than I can explain here, and you can read up about it on the Kickstarter website.

(source: Kickstarter)

Kickstarter Is Not The Last of Storybricks


I hate to be the pessimist, but with 65 hours left on the Kickstarter and about $225,000 left to go, I think there is a small chance Storybricks may not make its goal in time. Now, I’d hate to see Storybricks fade into the background after the Kickstarter falls through, so I got in touch with Brian “Psychochild” Green and asked if the developer has any plans moving forward.

“We’ve been considering alternatives and will start up another Kickstarter project focusing on more of a game if it seems appropriate.”

Here’s hoping development continues on Storybricks despite this setback. Although the team may not have reached their goal this time around, the increased media exposure through Kickstarter has hopefully helped the fledgling MMO receive the attention is very much deserves.

And hopefully the next time I update this story, it will be with good news.