SpatialOS MMORPG sandbox Fractured has just gone live with its $116K Kickstarter

Bree Royce
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SpatialOS MMORPG sandbox Fractured has just gone live with its $116K Kickstarter

If you’ve been following Fractured and SpatialOS as long as we have, then you’re probably right on top of the game’s Kickstarter launch today. If not, then now is the time to pay attention, especially if you’re a sandbox MMORPG fan. Dynamight Studios is making its pitch:

“Fractured is the first open-world sandbox MMORPG mixing action combat with fully interactable environments, appealing equally to lovers of competitive and cooperative gameplay. Jump right into the fray from day one. Defeat your enemies through your own skill and cleverness, not equipment or level. Gather resources, craft, trade and venture into legendary travels as a solitary hero, or start a settlement with your guild and grow it into the next empire.”

The game features races with significant impact on the game, an anti-grind horizontal leveling progression system (“enjoy the freedom and level playing field of a MOBA without losing the persistence and sense of progression of a real MMO”), a knowledge system, action combat, dynamic content, player cities, and a proper trading system. Oh, and did we mention it’s sci-fantasy, so there are multiple planets and ecosystems in play.

PvP is barely mentioned in the Kickstarter pitch, but the devs explained their philosophy in detail back in March: The game will run with a karma and alignment flagging system with all kinds of rules to keep the ganking in check. Players who flag good can’t harm other good players, but players who flag neutral and evil can screw with everyone at the cost of their own karma (and good players can kill them at will). If that’s not secure enough for you, then you’ll want to head to Arboreus, which is the PvE-oriented planet; it “features large areas accessible only by Beastmen and characters with Good alignment, and a great degree of protection from hostile PvP in the rest of the world.” Stay away from the more hostile, PvP-oriented planets, in other words, and you’ll be fine.

As I type this, the Kickstarter has raised $22,000 of its $116,561 goal. Dynamight has until July 25th to meet it. The cheapest buy-in with a copy of the game will run you €25, about $29 US. Worth noting is that none of the pledge packages appears to include anything particularly unbalancing or pay-to-win. The studio says it’s already “financially stable,” having already worked on the game for a year and a half; it’s apparently in discussions with “large game publishers that have shown interest” in the game. The Kickstarter is intended to allow the company to add fresh hires, bolster features, and expand the game’s audience.

Here’s a quick look at all of our coverage to date:

Source: Kickstarter

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Scott Johnson

Fractured has put back up some of the Kickstarter packages. If you are interested they are in limited supply. Head over before they are gone.

https://fracturedmmo.com/?refcode=40076e7fd311

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2 years ago
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???? ???'? ???? ??'? ??? ?????.®

A new game just went live…oh…kickstarter went live……………………….ugggghhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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2 years ago
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Michael18

I’ve recently backed Jeff Vogel’s Queen’s Wish project (Spiderweb Software), so I’ll be holding back a bit on this one but might still back it later towards the end of the campaign because it sounds interesting.

Shameless plug (63 hours left to pledge ;-):

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/619141553/queens-wish-the-conqueror

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2 years ago
Cyclone Jack
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Cyclone Jack

Nice! Vogel makes some great games. I, for one, appreciate the link.

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2 years ago
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peor togs

I like isometric, mmorpgs, pve, and sandbox. I like no levels and horizontal progression. What’s not to like?

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2 years ago
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Solaris

I backed it. Looks like a game I’d like to play. Soft opening day is worrisome.

Good luck to the Devs!

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2 years ago
Count Oakland
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Count Oakland

Lag in the demo video is worrisome.

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2 years ago
Vexia
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Vexia

I am somewhat interested in backing, probably just one of the lower tiers for now, but I asked them something for the FAQ that’s very important to me. If it gets an answer later on, I’ll update on that and state my opinions accordingly.

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2 years ago
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GamingSF

First I’ve read of this, and I’m actually rather interested. I like the ‘three worlds’ cosmology idea!

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2 years ago
Karma_Mule
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Karma_Mule

I always applaud games that take on the additional challenge of offering a wider array of choices rather than focusing on one aspect.

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2 years ago
P3lli
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P3lli

In my opinion it’s still too early to do a kick. Prometheus(one of the devs) worked on LinkRealms tho, so there is your quality insurance.

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2 years ago
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jay

Prometheus(one of the devs) worked on LinkRealms tho, so there is your quality insurance.

Sarcasm?

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2 years ago
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Michael18

LinkRealms was pretty solid, tech-wise.

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2 years ago
packagegrope
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packagegrope

in what world can you make an mmo with all of these aspirations for only $116k?

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2 years ago
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john lavallee

The founder and 2 cofounders of Dynamight Studios already put a large chunk of their own money into it, as well as a few private donors/backers. The use of SpatialOS allows for all these “aspirations” at far lower margins then a custom engine, and going top-down isometric cuts down significantly on art/visual costs. This Kickstarter is mainly aimed at using this upfront cash flow to hire on the extra personnel needed for an increased production rate.

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2 years ago
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angrakhan

Yeah from what I understand SpatialOS isn’t exactly cheap. Not like it’s some open-source npm package you just include in your game for free. While it can cut your development time up front, total ROI remains to be seen. Chronicles of Elyria dropped SpatialOS over the “financial viability” of using it over a home-grown solution.

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2 years ago
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Siphaed

With top-down on a more 2D scale, the geometry and artistic design of the game’s cost can be significantly reduced. So can the appeal, but that’s another issue entirely.

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2 years ago
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Jo Watt

Clearly did not read. They have been developing the game for over 1.5 years and are “financially stable”. The 116k is to hire and few more and clean up stuff and in most of these cases it’s just to get the community involved or “feel” involved.

Kickstarters do not necessarily mean that a development team is using only that money requested to begin producing an all out game. Tbh the ones that ARE doing that are the ones more likely to fail and not worth investing in.

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2 years ago
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Sally Bowls

But $116K is a few – six? seven? – person-months of developers. It just seems so insignificant relative to my concept of MMO budgets.

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2 years ago
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Nordavind

Top-down view. Pass.

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2 years ago
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Siphaed

I know, it is 2018, right? Not 1999?

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2 years ago
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Minimalistway

In the other hand, i admire top-down view, no need for all the games work in the same way … but, everyone and have different opinion and taste :-)

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2 years ago
Bree Royce
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Bree Royce

Right? It’s one thing to dislike it, fine, people can like what they want. It’s another to pretend that it’s dated to use it. It would be equally ridiculous to pretend sidescrollers are hopelessly antique when one look at Steam proves otherwise. Not every game is or needs to be first-person 3-D ultra-realistic graphics folks, just like not every movie needs to use live action.

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2 years ago