Make My MMO: Pathfinder is alive, Starfighter seeks crowdfunds (March 18, 2017)

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Pathfinder Online resurfaced this weekend with good and bad news. Paizo’s Lisa Stevens tells fans that efforts and research into selling the game to a large MMO company to finish weren’t fruitful. While consultants said the game might appeal to a more indie developer, ultimately they recommended Paizo finish the game itself, which the studio is doing, putting together a one-year timeline to polish the title for “open enrollment.”

We’ve also got a new online multiplayer space sim cooking (thanks, Crow!). The game is Starfighter, Inc., and it describes itself as “Counter-Strike meets World of Warships in Space.” It’s about a third of the way to its $150,000 US goal with 27 days yet to go.

Meanwhile, we checked out the newly revived Repopulation, Chronicles of Elyria suffered controversy over its monarchy allotment, Grim Dawn got a new patch, Wild Terra began open testing, Dual Universe delayed its alpha, we spoke to Legends of Aria’s team about its name and design changes, OrbusVR’s Kickstarter funded for over 200% its original ask, Ship of Heroes announced it’ll seek $400,00 in crowdfunds, and Star Citizen gave a clear view of its level development. It’s been an incredibly big week for crowdfunded MMOs!

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’ve got our eye on.

Elite + science = win

Recent MMO crowdfunding news

Camelot Unchained shows off its weapon stances - While it's certainly tempting to focus on Camelot Unchained's progress in creating weeds (or as the devs put it, "the unsung heroes of the grass plains"), the star of this…

Chronicles of Elyria limits how many $10,000 monarchs will rule over its lands - If you decided to eschew the purchase of a reasonably priced car in favor of buying your way to a pretend throne in a video game, you would probably want…

Pathfinder Online has a roadmap forward and a plan for completion - If you'd lost hope in Pathfinder Online ever making any forward motion again, you should be happy to see that there's a new letter from Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens. You…

AdventureQuest 3D will launch this October after a mega-patch - Following a year of open beta testing, the cross-platform AdventureQuest 3D will launch on October 13th, 2017. Just prior to that launch, however, the team is planning on "one final…

Life is Feudal is shaping up to be a fine-looking MMO - Now that Life is Feudal has turned on the power to its closed beta program, more players than ever before are getting to see what this medieval sandbox MMO looks…

The Stream Team: The Repopulation has resurfaced - It's definitely been a long, long time since Massively OP's MJ has played The Repopulation, but that's that's not on her! The game had gone offline, but has now resurfaced…

You’ll need to put in about 20 hours in Albion Online to become competitive in PvP - As Albion Online barrels toward a summer release, the crew took to Reddit yesterday for a marathon AMA session to tackle any pressing community questions. Asked how much work an…

Star Citizen’s level design is coming along much faster than you probably thought - Following what turned out to be an intriguing Ten for the Chairman earlier this week, Cloud Imperium has released a Star Citizen Around the Verse episode that -- our tipster summed it…

2013 MMOARPG Path of Exile hit peak concurrency in March thanks to its latest patch - [AL:POE]Path of Exile just keeps getting bigger and bigger in terms of both players and team size, and it's actually providing the numbers to back it up. A press release…

Eternal Crusade prepares for its free-to-play shift - It is important to note that the official Eternal Crusade line is that the upcoming free-to-play option is not a full conversion to free-to-play, and that's largely accurate. Free players…

Pantheon attempts to woo the Kickstarter community with its progress - It's no secret that Pantheon and Kickstarter haven't had the best of relationships, what with the game's crowdfunding campaign failing to fund back in the day. But Brad McQuaid is willing…

Crowfall’s community tries its hand at building for the first time - Crowfall's campaign worlds won't exist merely to be shot, burned, and sliced to ribbons. There's going to be a healthy building component as well, which is something that ArtCraft is…

Star Citizen’s Ten for the Chairman basically describes Tramp Freighters Online - Star Citizen's Chris Roberts and Tony Zurovec teamed up to field backer questions on a new round of Ten for the Chairman this week. This episode is at least in…

Albion Online AMA on pay-to-win, free trials, and global servers - Sandbox Interactive ran an AMA for its in-development indie MMO Albion Online on Reddit last night, covering everything from the game's business model to how players in far-flung locations fare…

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has a brand-new wiki - If you've somehow missed it in every single discussion of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's design philosophy, the game is very much a throwback to the older days of MMOs.…

Ship of Heroes salutes City of Heroes in its network demo video - Ship of Heroes has a new video out today that is ostensibly a network demo showing off half a dozen remote developers spread across the country testing out 16 characters…

The Repopulation is back up and running - It might not have been everyone's ideal scenario, but the fact is that The Repopulation has come back under new management -- and you can access the game once more.…

Shroud of the Avatar’s Starr Long on the pros and cons of early access - Construction continues apace at Shroud of the Avatar, where the team reports that two new areas are being crafted for future releases. There's the Sepent's Spine Mines, a Kobold-infested underground…

Project Gorgon teases the musical Bard skill - It's an undeniable fact that Bards are flat-out awesome, and soon they'll be bringing their musical magic to the alpha of Project Gorgon. The dev team announced that the Bard…

Dual Universe announces alpha delay - You're going to have to wait a little while longer to see a playable version of Dual Universe, as the team announced last Friday that it will be delaying the…

Ship of Heroes will seek $400,000 in Kickstarter funding - Indie superhero MMO Ship of Heroes has just announced the details of its planned Kickstarter campaign, which was previously noted to begin on April 4th: The crowdfunding event will run…

PAX East 2017: Citadel Studios on Shards Online’s switch to Legends of Aria - Big changes for MMOs frequently involve giving up almost as much as you gain. Not so with Legends of Aria, the not-actually-new title from Citadel Studios. Legends of Aria is…

OrbusVR has fully funded on Kickstarter - OrbusVR, the blocky indie VR sandbox from Ad Alternum, has finished out its Kickstarter successfully this morning. The studio had originally promised a brief, one-week Kickstarter with only a $10,000…

PAX East 2017: Jumping and climbing through Chronicles of Elyria’s pre-alpha - I admit to my weakness: Despite years and years of games using it again and again, I still enjoy the simple gameplay benefits of jumping between ledges. I like parkour.…

The Stream Team: An AQ3D afternoon with Artix in Ashfall - Did someone say story? AQ3D recently released its big Ashfall update, the game's first big story-driven saga, and you know Massively OP's MJ is all about the story! She's excited…

Starfighter, Inc. Kickstarter pitch

Campaigns and crowdfunded MMOs we’re watching

3001SQ (Société des Mondes Virtuels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful. Work continues.
AdventureQuest 3D (Artix Entertainment) – Raised 368k; beta began Oct 2016.
Antraxx (Team Antraxx) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ascent: The Space Game (Fluffy Kitten Studios) – Successful KS. Fully launched 2016.
Camelot Unchained (City State) – Kickstarter successful; open donations/packages.
Caribbean Conquest (Invenio) – First KS canceled, second ended unsuccessfully.
Contested Space (Zon)
Crowfall (ArtCraft) – Kickstarter win, open packages, Indiegogo crowdfunding ongoing.
Chronicles of Elyria (Soulbound) – Kickstarter successful, open packages.
Citadel of Sorcery (MMO Magic, Inc.) – Open donations.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; launch planned for fall 2018.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama) – Three campaigns; now in KS early access.
Dogma: Eternal Night (Prelude Games Factory): Kickstarter over, donor preorder packs.
Dragon of Legends (Thrive Games) – Successful Kickstarter.
Dual Universe (Novaquark) – Kickstarter funded, now has donor platform. Alpha delayed.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded; now in pre-alpha.
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and launched.
Empyrion Online (Eleon) – Kickstarter canceled; launched on Steam early access.
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net)
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions) – Now in open beta.
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games) – Open donations, no end date; in early access.
Greed Monger (Greed Monger) – Abandoned, multiple times now.
Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Guns of Icarus (Muse) – Funded and launched.
Hero’s Song (Pixelmage) – KS canceled; Indiegogo. Canceled w/ refunds.
Infinity: Battlescape (I-Novae Studios)
HEX (HEX Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Legends of Aria (Citadel Studios) – Kickstarted as Shards Online. Currently in alpha.
Life is Feudal (Bitbox): Indiegogo ended. Currently in beta.
LUX (Chimera) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maestros of the Anthymn (String Theory) – Kickstarter canceled.
Mekria (Infinity Online Studios) – Kickstarter canceled.
Midair (Archetype Studios) – Kickstarter successful.
Nebula Online (Mizar Games) Kickstarter canceled; launched in November.
Neo’s Land (NeoJac Entertainment) – Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) – Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) – Open donations, no end date.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Successful Kickstarter.
Pixel Starships (SavySoda)
Project Gorgon (Elder Game) – Kickstarted in three tries + Indiegogo. In alpha.
Pumpkin Online (Monique) – Downgrading from MMORPG.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal; 2015 KS unsuccesful. In Steam early access.
The Realm: Reawakened (Stephen Nichols) – Ongoing GoFundMe.
The Repopulation (Idea Fabrik) – Kickstarted twice by A&B. Alpha relaunch March 2017.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; early access delayed to 2017.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter ends March 9.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Successful KS. Soft launch July 2016.
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) – Ongoing donations/packages.
TUG (Nerd Kingdom) – In middle of year-long revamp after funding surge.
Vigor Roads (NeuronHaze) – Kickstarter unsuccessful; early access planned for 2017.

Grim Dawn