Make My MMO: The vanishing of Seconds from Silence

Remember this past summer when we covered the emergence of Abstract Era’s new sandbox MMO Seconds from Silence? At the time, we expressed a bit of skepticism as the company kinda sorta seemed to be harvesting MMO gamers’ email addresses with the promise of free premium time in some distant future. A month later, it pushed into alpha, and in early November it began charging $10 for access to that alpha, which we hope nobody reading this paid. And now? Well, silence. As MOP reader Ryan pointed out to us, the game appears to have vanished, as the company’s website, forums, and email have been down for the last few weeks. Multiple gamers have been pinging the studio’s Twitter and Facebook accounts over the last month with no answer too. At this point we’re hoping it’s a misunderstanding of some sort, as the developers, one of whom was apparently involved over at NexusMods, claimed to have a team of 30 people, and you’d think of them would pipe up.

Meanwhile, Crowfall’s Odynak Campaign began, Project Gorgon teased the overhaul of Sun Vale, OrbusVR kicked off the Festival of Strangers, Fractured launched the next leg of its alpha, Dual Universe set its beta for summer 2020, Star Citizen set off fireworks with its new $1700 space mall, Temtem plans to release to PC early access next month, Past Fate began its Kickstarter, and the friends and family of Pantheon’s Brad McQuaid are sponsoring a scholarship in his honor.

Temtem

Recent MMO crowdfunding news

Star Citizen’s $1700 Kraken Privateer mobile space mall drives fundraising past $250M - Remember during our Star Citizen interview when we went wink-wink about a commerce-based announcement? That announcement has been fully realized with the Kraken Privateer. While the Kraken light carrier is…

MMOs you’ve never heard of: Past Fate, Rulers of the Sea, Legend of Mir Eternal, Dragon Raja, Fantasy Earth Genesis - Welcome back to another roundup of MMOs and MMO-adjacent games you've (probably) never heard of - or have totally forgotten about until now! First up: Past Fate, which we learned…

Creature survival sandbox Day of Dragons flaps its way into early access - Have you ever found yourself the khaleesi of an exotic nation and, somehow, misplaced your dragons? You could throw beautiful temper tantrums about it -- or you could get smart…

Star Citizen takes a closer look at wormhole creation and the planet microTech - CitizenCon had a number of reveals for Star Citizen players, but not many of them were quite as dramatic as the trip into a jump gate, through a wormhole, and…

Temtem announces an early access launch on PC January 21 - The massively multiplayer critter collector Temtem is taking its next big step forward with the reveal of an early access launch, as Crema Games is making the game more widely…

Dual Universe’s roadmap dates beta for summer 2020, release in 2021, and outlines post-release content - So, yes, summer 2020 seems like a long way away, but we're also literally weeks away from the new year, so the new stuff coming to Dual Universe will be…

The Repopulation’s new tutorial area is expected to arrive with December’s patch - Getting started in a sandbox like The Repopulation always seems to be the hardest landing to stick. I should know; I've played more than a few sandboxes where the onboarding…

Pantheon’s Visionary Realms and Brad McQuaid’s family are sponsoring a design scholarship in his memory - Given that Visionary Realms has already made clear its commitment to continuing development of Pantheon in the wake of studio head Brad McQuaid's untimely death, you probably shouldn't be too…

Crowfall’s J. Todd Coleman looks back at past progress and ahead to 2020 milestones - As we close out 2019, we all tend to get the urge to look back at past accomplishments and feel proud, even if they are small. Crowfall has certainly made…

Fans are invited to a real-world memorial for Brad McQuaid later this month - MMORPG fans have been in mourning for the last few weeks following the death of Brad McQuaid, one of the most popular veteran developers in our genre thanks to his…

Frolic in Fractured’s alpha public stress test this weekend - If Fractured had a theme song right now (which it probably does but ignore that right now), it's got to be Simple Minds' Don't You Forget About Me. It might…

BBC tech program Click promises investigation into Star Citizen’s delays - No matter what sorts of progress the alpha builds of Star Citizen make, there's always going to be a question of when the game will actually be considered fully complete,…

Learn how to play Project Gorgon with this community video series - You have listened to us fawn over the unique spirit -- and mechanics! -- of Project Gorgon here on MOP, but chances are if you've ever tried out this fantasy…

Ashes of Creation revels in the majesty, the lore, and the creation of the Beer Bear mount - Ashes of Creation seems to really be in love with this particular mount they've made. It's a bear mount. A bear mount with two immense beer kegs attached to its…

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen offers a look at class resource bars - When is a resource bar more than a resource bar? When it gives you a sneak peek at what a class is capable of. The most recent devstream from Pantheon:…

Camelot Unchained’s knockback will send your heart (and torso) soaring - Just because Camelot Unchained is switching from a weekly to a monthly developer update doesn't mean that it is skimping on the news. From Skald testing to ragdoll tech to…

Chronicles of Elyria starts selling $75 Longest Night advent calendars - There has to be a measure of masochistic joy in stocking up account items that you can't use (yet) for a game that is not out (yet). But if this…

The first PC beta for Elite Dangerous’ January update has begun - Elite Dangerous is in the middle of a major bug fixing phase, so big it delayed the originally planned December content update. "Our first and foremost priority is to ensure…

Ashes of Creation highlights work on castle sieges in its latest devstream - Yes, castle siege mode in Ashes of Creation is still coming. The first half of the latest livestream from the Intrepid Studios devs was almost exclusively about siege mode, laying…

Fans hold a solemn memorial of Brad ‘Aradune’ McQuaid during a livestream - The death of developer Brad McQuaid is still being acutely felt by many in the MMO gaming community, and no more is that apparent than during a memorial livestream that…

Sales of the Carrack exploration ship appear to create a funding spike for Star Citizen - It's perhaps no surprise that this year's CitizenCon would cause a quick jump in Star Citizen funding, but it would seem that the presentation surrounding the Carrack exploration ship may…

MMO Book of Travels’ Kickstarter finishes successfully with $261K, hitting all stretch goals - It's been one small step for video game crowdfunding, but one large step for Book of Travels. The "serene" tiny online RPG ultimately raked in $261,183 by the conclusion of…

Dual Universe shows off a community race from the Earth to the moon and back - The thing that keeps me intrigued about sandboxes is the fact that the community can come together to create its own events, and one such event was held in Dual…

CitizenCon 2019: Star Citizen previews alpha 3.8, details Theatres of War, teases next star system - While the opening beats of Star Citizen's CitizenCon event may have started with some disappointment, the remainder of the event had lots of things for fans of the space sandbox…

Shroud of the Avatar adds Krampus, Lua integration, and the ability to make unicorn stew - Have you ever looked upon a unicorn and been hit with, not a child-like sense of wonder, but the desire to turn it into food? Shroud of the Avatar's Release…

CitizenCon 2019: Star Citizen keynote kicks off Carrack delay and community disappointment - The start of Star Citizen's CitizenCon convention appears to have arrived with a bit of a thud, if the community temperature is any indication. During the keynote presentation, players got…

Book of Travels talks roleplaying, meaning, and being an ‘oasis’ in a world of frenetic Steam games - A glossy spread in Killscreen may not be what anyone was expecting out of Might and Delight, the Swedish studio whose adorable little indie MMO Book of Travels just ticked…

Interview: CIG’s Jake Muehle on the player economy and doing crimes in the Star Citizen universe - We're zooming on toward CitizenCon tomorrow, when Cloud Imperium will deliver its annual live showcase of the state of Star Citizen - and drop the requisite tantalizing nuggets that tease…

Remembering the life and work of legendary MMO designer Brad ‘Aradune’ McQuaid - When the news hit last night, it brought everything to a screeching halt in the Massively OP office: At the age of 51, veteran MMORPG designer Brad McQuaid had died.…

Book of Travels provides a quick primer on how combat will operate - The tiny multiplayer online world of Book of Travels is not going to be without its dangers despite its painterly style and promise of roleplay-focused community gameplay. There will be…

Star Citizen

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.
Book of Travels (Might and Delight) – Kickstarted successfully.
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.
City of Heroes Homecoming (Homecoming) – Monthly donation rounds.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; Issue 0 delayed into 2019.
Day of Dragons (Beawesome) – Kickstarter successful.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Destiny’s Sword (2Dogs) – Kickstarter successful June 2019; demo avail now.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama) – 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. Abandoned, then not?
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. Alpha 2.
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) – 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. 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) – Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
Oath (Ready-Up) – Kickstarter funded.
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017. In early access.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) – Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) – Open donations. Pre-alpha.
Pantropy (Brain Stone GmbH): First Kickstarter canceled, second funded.
Past Fate (Icy North): Kickstarter running until Dec 31.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Path of Titans (Alderon) – Indiegogo.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Kickstarted, early access launched sans multiplayer.
Playcraft (Bebop Games) – Kickstarter funded May 2019.
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.
RAW (Killerwhale) – Kickstarter canceled by Kickstarter.
Starfighter Infinity (Ben Olding) – Kickstarter funded. Early access.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded; now in alpha.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal; KS 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.
Seed (Klang Games) – Kickstarter launching in 2020.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon, Kickstarter funded.
Ship of Heroes (Heroic) – Kickstarter canceled, beta expected before 2020.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Soft launch July 2016. Launch March 2018.
Spycursion (Defun) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
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.
Zenith (Ramen) – Kickstarter successfully funded.

Fractured

Yes, some crowdfunded MMOs most definitely do succeed. But others crash and burn, and you need to hear about the whole spectrum of games that sought your money early in exchange for the promise of input and transparency. And that’s exactly what Make My MMO does every Saturday. Help us keep ’em accountable, would ya?