This week week in MMO crowdfunding, Shroud of the Avatar is gearing up for its 63rd release. Portalarium is currently testing pronged weapons, pirate cosmetics, new themed dungeon rooms, new deco, and more tweaks to the new in-game cash shop. Since the last update, the team has also tweaked player-owned towns to be upgradeable using crown currency. But the player dungeon system is probably the most notable bit:
“The first round of Player-Made Dungeon encounters are going live in Release 63, including a system to level-up these dungeon encounter rooms! For this first release, we’re adding one encounter type, but it’ll be added to multiple different rooms. It may be a ‘proof of concept’ encounter, but any effort you put into leveling-up the room will be saved. Additionally, a new set of prison-themed Player Dungeon rooms are coming into the game.”
Meanwhile, Project Gorgon dropped a big update, Pantheon previewed Project Faerthale, Camelot Unchained gave a peek at its revised ability UI, OrbusVR teased its new dungeon, Ship of Heroes pumped out new screenshots, City of Titans demoed its character creation, the Fuel Rats rescued another wayward soul in Elite Dangerous as Frontier prepares for a major forum renovation, and Legends of Aria addressed its plans on Twitch.
Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last few weeks and our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!
Ship of Heroes teases
More snapshots of Apotheosis City's latest upgrades!#SoH #gamedevelopment pic.twitter.com/DXt99Lto2i
— Ship of Heroes (@ShipofHeroes) February 20, 2019
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
After a month of quiet work, Valiance Online updates fans on internal progress - A while back, Valiance Online made a thread on its official forum to keep fans up to date on the internal progress for the game; that way, even with a lack…
Star Citizen previews NPC collision detection, geysers, and shiny spaceship VFX - In this week's episode of Star Citizen Around the Verse, there's a Hammer Time joke. You have been warned. But seriously, the episode focuses on multiple topics: The animation team…
Albion Online focuses on balance with the latest Nimue Patch - Albion Online's newest patch is all about finding the butter zone for maximum PvP satisfaction, which is probably one of the hardest types of butter to churn. The Nimue Balance…
Pantheon recaps January’s progress, previews atmosphere system in latest newsletter - The latest newsletter for Visionary Realms's in-development MMO Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has been released, and in it the devs pull back the curtain to give players a peek…
Project Gorgon drops big patch with solo dungeon and tons of balance adjustments - Yesterday, we covered Project Gorgon's development cadence and Elder Game developer Eric Heimburg's explanation for why he hadn't just hired on more devs to spit out faster updates. It's worth…
Here’s how AdventureQuest 3D’s brand-new PvP mode will work starting next month - Yes, the time-honored art of punching your fellow players in the face is coming to AdventureQuest 3D, and if you're the sort of person who isn't really fond of having…
Brad McQuaid’s Pantheon elaborates on its alpha timeline modifications - If you've been watching Visionary Realms' MMORPGÂ Pantheon closely, you might be wondering about its development cadence, especially given its timeline shifts. Back at PAX East a year ago, for example,…
Project Gorgon dev on hiring and content cadence: ‘I can confidently say we are not gonna fail’ - Are you grumpy about how long some indie games take to develop? Yeah, join the club - the indie devs are too. That's the takeaway from a long forum post…
Indie superhero MMORPG Ship of Heroes releases fresh batch of custom city screenshots - I'd be willing to bet that most fans of City of Heroes would point to things like flight and super jump - especially super jump - as key features of…
Check out the brand-new look for Camelot Unchained’s ability system UI - Camelot Unchained's latest dev blog runs down everything going on in the game's open beta this week, but it's the new ability builder UI and its slick almost Guild Wars…
CIG summarizes development progress for Squadron 42 - Considering the perceptual glacial pace of development for Squadron 42, it's pretty easy to assume that the folks at CIG are sitting on their hands. According to a recent newsletter…
Crowfall’s Raph Koster has some advice for community managers - Community management may be one potential path to making inroads at a development studio, but before you take that job, you'd best heed the advice of one of the MMO…
City of Titans demos the current state of its elaborate character creation - Yesterday's City of Titans update was... pretty horrifying. Fortunately, today's update is probably more like what backers had in mind, as Missing Worlds Media has posted several minutes of footage…
Crowfall welds leveling and talent systems onto its framework - There is a lot for Crowfall's team to discuss this month, what with the delay of the first sanctioned campaign and all of the systems being added to the game.…
Star Citizen Around the Verse is selling a new ship: The Argo SRV - This week's episode of Star Citizen Around the Verse is a little longer than usual, but don't get too excited: It's only because it's frontloaded with a commercial for Star…
Ashes of Creation is preparing a game director’s letter, fans infer that delays are incoming - It appears that all is not well behind the scenes of Ashes of Creation. Intrepid's Steven Sharif has made a few remarks on the game's Discord server to indicate that a…
Battle for divine favor in Crowfall’s Trials of the Gods campaign series - Now that Crowfall has had the time to do some campaign test-runs and make adjustments based on player feedback, thereby delaying sanctioned campaigns, the folks at ArtCraft Entertainment have introduced…
Albion Online adds in anti-cheat software with its latest patch - Cheating is bad in MMOs; we all know and accept this as a reality. Programs you don't really know about being installed on your computer are also bad. So the…
Saga of Lucimia developers are closing the game’s pre-order store as development enters its second stage - Remember the old story from The Onion about Starbucks beginning a sinister "phase two?" That's not at all what's happening with Stage Two of Saga of Lucimia development, but you…
Ship of Heroes updates players on leveling up, powersets to show off, and staffing - Leveling up feels easy enough in games; you get enough experience, there's a flash of light, your level goes up by one. But Ship of Heroes is hard at work…
Dual Universe studio Novaquark expands to Montreal with second studio - How big is Dual Universe? Big enough to need a second studio! While continuing to grow in Paris, Novaquark just announced that it is expanding across the pond by opening…
Camelot Unchained builds out Mages and clarifies how many people battlefields will host - Not even the Seattle snows this past weekend could put a damper on Camelot Unchained. As its latest dev letter notes, City State's multi-city dev team has continued working on…
Shroud of the Avatar’s cash shop is now dispensing buffs when you buy stuff - Shroud of the Avatar players dipping their toes into Release 62 for the first time might want to take a peek at the cash shop too, which is now dispensing…
OrbusVR
In today's Reborn Dev Spotlight, we show off our second Dungeon, the new Character Titles system, and the way you'll be able to modify existing characters to customize them!
Read: https://t.co/6RGMUm2InA
You'll be able to try all of these on Friday for this weekend's Beta! pic.twitter.com/EuY4FDbWse
— OrbusVR (@OrbusVR) February 20, 2019
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; Issue 0 delayed into 2019.
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. Probably dead.
Dragon of Legends (Thrive Games) – Successful Kickstarter.
Dual Universe (Novaquark) – Kickstarter funded, donor platform. Backer alpha.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded; in early access.
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and fully 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. Pre-alpha.
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. Early access.
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; now in alpha.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal;Â 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; in early access but not active dev.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Saga of Lucimia (Stormhaven) – Indiegogo. Intermittent pre-alphas.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon, Kickstarter funded.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Soft launch July 2016. Launch March 2018.
Squadron 42 (Cloud Imperium) – Beta delayed until at least 2020.
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) – Ongoing donations/packages. Backer alpha.
TUG (Nerd Kingdom) – Totally abandoned without a word. Now considered a scam.
Vigor Roads (NeuronHaze) – Kickstarter unsuccessful; early access planned for 2017.
War of Rights (Campfire Games) – Successful Kickstarter; in early access.
