This week week in MMO crowdfunding, Star Citizen officially broke the $200 million barrier for total funding collected from the proverbial crowd. That’s a lotta ships. Unfortunately, the celebrations over on Reddit took a turn for the dramatic as posts attracted brigaders and were shut down. I’m sure you’re all shocked to hear a platform where popularity-via-one-upsmanship determines relevance still has a brigading problem.
Another fun Star Citizen bit: MOP reader DK pointed me and my spreadsheet-loving self to Star Citizen’s new telemetry page, which basically collects frames-per-second data from everybody actually playing in the alpha and then displays it all in an appealing chart, tracked by game resolution, graphics settings, other CPU usage, graphics tweak programs, drivers, gameplay situation, and so forth (vsync is also on by default, note). It’s pretty interesting to see where your rig would fall on the chart – and note how much the game benefits from having the right combination of CPU and GPU, though there are clearly sweet spots for different combos.
(Thanks to DK, Oleg, Quavers, and Cotic for the SC tips!)
Meanwhile, Elite Dangerous talked up the upcoming Thargoid incursions, Chronicles of Elyria is moving on to server-selection and lock-ins following its map voting period, Project Gorgon now has a demo, and Pantheon snapped up Brasse after Trion foolishly let her go. Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.
Star Citizen
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Brad McQuaid’s MMO Pantheon has snapped up Trion’s Linda ‘Brasse’ Carlson - Did you wonder where Linda "Brasse" Carlson was going to end up post-Trion Worlds' implosion? Because you had to know she'd end up somewhere; she's a force of nature in…
Whatever happened to Empyrion Galactic Survival? - Anybody remember Empyrion Online aka Empyrion Galactic Survival? It's one of those space sandbox multiplayer survival games that went for a Kickstarter back in 2014 but ultimately canceled it, having…
Star Citizen kicks off a free-fly event next week, welcoming non-backers to play over Thanksgiving - Oh yeah, you know a big holiday is coming up when every single game, even the ones deep in alpha, are cranking out demos and free-to-play events. Star Citizen is…
Project Gorgon now has a free demo as Elder Game previews upcoming development - If you've ever wanted to become a cow or learn phrenology in a video game, you're going to like this post: Project Gorgon now has a free demo. The outrageously detailed…
Elite Dangerous adds two new ships, new scenarios to Beyond – Chapter Four beta server - Frontier Developments is continuing beta testing of Elite Dangerous's upcoming Beyond - Chapter Four update, which is now entering week three, and the beta servers have been patched with a…
Crowfall examines its character creation for its first campaign - The first campaign for Crowfall approaches swiftly, which means it's time to take a close look at how you're creating your characters in the game. And it's almost all in…
Star Citizen’s alpha patch 3.3.5 introduces game’s ‘first planetary location,’ Hurston - Star Citizen's latest alpha patch is now available on the public test server for Concierge and Subscriber players as well as the Evocati Test Flight, and it brings additions of…
Legends of Aria will let you own land and rent it out for other people’s houses - The big selling point for Legends of Aria's housing is that the system does not actually require you to build a house on your land. You can let someone else…
Camelot Unchained’s 64-bit client is functional, CSE shows off regional home islands - What were the Camelot Unchained devs up to last week? Continuing work on rubble, the ability system, readied weapons, the particle system, armor mapping, the crafting UI and the animation…
Saga of Lucimia is in love with World of Warcraft Classic - You know who's super-duper excited that World of Warcraft Classic is becoming a thing? A competing fantasy MMO, that's who. Saga of Lucimia's dev team feels vindicated by the enthusiasm…
Camelot Unchained Q&A
Campaigns and crowdfunded MMOs we’re watching
3001SQ (Société des Mondes Virtuels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful, dev halted in 2018.
AdventureQuest 3D (Artix Entertainment) – Raised 368k; beta began Oct 2016.
Albion Online (Sandbox) – Launched July 2017, hit Steam May 2018.
Antraxx (Team Antraxx) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ascent: The Space Game (Fluffy Kitten Studios) – Successful KS. Fully launched 2016.
Ashes of Creation (Intrepid Studios) – Successful KS. Alpha zero.
Broke Protocol (Cylinder) – Unsuccessful KS. In free early access.
Camelot Unchained (City State) – Kickstarter successful; open donations/packages.
Caribbean Conquest (Invenio) – First KS canceled, second ended unsuccessfully.
Codename Reality (Orode) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
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.) –Â Open donations.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; launching fall 2018.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama)Â –Â 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, donor platform. Pre-alpha.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded; in early access.
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and launched.
Empyrion Online (Eleon) – Kickstarter canceled; launched on Steam early access.
Endless Trials (Fire Hurts) – Kickstarter canceled.
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net)
EverFeud (PSB) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions) – Now in open beta.
Fractured (Dynamight) – Kickstarter successful.
Global Adventures (SubaGames) – Kickstarter funded.
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games) – Open donations, no end date; in early access.
Greed Monger (Greed Monger) – Abandoned, now allegedly in refund process.
Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Guardians of Ember (Runewaker) – Funded and launched.
Guns of Icarus (Muse) – Funded and launched.
Hero’s Song (Pixelmage) –Â KS canceled; Indiegogo. Canceled w/ refunds.
Infinity: Battlescape (I-Novae Studios)
HEX (HEX Entertainment) –Â Funded and launched.
Legends of Aria (Citadel Studios) – Kickstarted as Shards Online. Alpha ended.
Life is Feudal (Bitbox): Indiegogo ended. Currently in beta.
LUX (Chimera) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maestros of the Anthymn (String Theory) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maguss (Maguss) – Indiegogo successful; open beta.
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) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017. In early access.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) –Â Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) –Â Open donations. Pre-alpha.
Pantropy (Brain Stone GmbH): First Kickstarter canceled, second funded.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Kickstarted, early access launched sans multiplayer.
Pixel Starships (SavySoda)
Project Gorgon (Elder Game) – Kickstarted in three tries + Indiegogo. Early access.
Project Oasis World (POW) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
Pumpkin Online (Monique) – Downgrading from MMORPG.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal; 2015Â KSÂ unsuccessful. Early access.
The Flower of Knighthood – Kickstarter canceled.
The Realm: Reawakened (Stephen Nichols) – Ongoing GoFundMe.
The Repopulation (Idea Fabrik) – Kickstarted twice by A&B. Back in alpha.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; now in early access.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon, Kickstarter funded.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Successful KS. Soft launch July 2016. Launch March 2018.
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.
War of Rights (Campfire Games) – Successful Kickstarter; in alpha.
