Make My MMO: Illness stymied Project Gorgon’s genetics patch, Dawngate revival goes to Kickstarter

This week in MMO crowdfunding, we learned Project Gorgon’s genetics system patch has been postponed very so slightly as a result of the serious illnesses of the two key devs.

“For the past 3 weeks Sandra and I have been very sick,” Elder Game’s Eric Heimburg tweeted. “We assumed Covid, but tests came back clean, so I guess it was a 3 week flu (?!) Worst flu we’ve ever had. Included a brief ER visit. Lots of fevers. We’re both starting to feel human again today, though. Brain is still not running at top speed again yet, so I’m going to punt the (extremely complex) Genetics system for a few more weeks. Will do a small bug-fix update next week just to get back in the swing of things. Hoping to upgrade major Unity versions too.” Here’s to hoping they recover fully!

Meanwhile, it’s not an MMO, but keep an eye on the Kickstarter for Dawngate. Remember that one? It was a Waystone Games MOBA that was sunsetted by EA back in 2014. Fans started a Kickstarter under the Studio Wayfinder to “prove the viability of Dawngate: The Revival by showing investors that there is a team willing to support the game long-term as well as players that are willing to play it.” It’s already met its goal.

Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last few weeks, plus our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!

Dawngate

Recent MMO crowdfunding news

Cyberpunk VR MMO Zenith says it’s ready to move from pre-alpha to alpha - Zenith, the VR cyberpunk-styled MMO that bounded into the crowdfunding scene last year, has officially announced its move from pre-alpha development to alpha development. In a press release, the developers…

Inside Star Citizen looks at the Vanduul fleet, shows off AI updates, a new ship, and new locations - I've always considered Star Citizen to be the Gran Turismo of internet spaceship games, particularly since the developers at CIG seem to be very detail-minded in making distinct spacecraft with…

OrbusVR prepares summertime events and an economy update for June 23 - The summer season is coming to OrbusVR in a matter of days, and with it will be a shiny new update full of summery event goodness and economic updates for…

Path of Exile’s Harvest League is live today – and the community bought the devs lunch - It's harvest day for Path of Exile, as the game's latest expansion is live this afternoon on PC (with PS4 and XBbox One to follow next week). As we've previously…

MMO sandbox Fractured addresses PvP balancing, may delay player housing test - When last we peeked in on upcoming MMORPG sandbox Fractured, it was running an open playtest. That test is over now, leading Dynamight Studios to discuss what went right, what…

Star Wars Galaxies Legends introduces two new buildings for Empire/Remembrance Day - One of the unique events in the MMO landscape was always Star Wars Galaxies' Empire Day and Remembrance Day, which intentionally crosses paths with the US Independence Day but always…

Camelot Unchained adds new members to its staff and completes a variety of dev tasks in its Top Tenish - It takes a village to create an RvR sandbox title and its maligned spin-off. I may be taking a bit of artistic license with the axiom, but it reflects Camelot…

The Repopulation replaces whiteboxes with art and improves harvesting regions - The May/June update from The Repopulation is available for fans to read through and it's once more chock full of steady yet incremental progress reports. Of note in this edition…

Albion Online talks about the features of its next large-scale update - The Queen update of Albion Online has done pretty well by game director Robin Henkys' reckoning, but as with every MMORPG, it's always about the next update, which is the…

Star Citizen kicks off its ‘Alien Week’ with lore, contests, and ship sales as it passes $300M crowdfunding - It's like Shark Week but with digital extraterrestrial life! Or more specifically, it's much like the game's St. Patrick's Day celebration. In any event, Star Citizen is celebrating Alien Week,…

Star Citizen shows off predatory creature concepts, previews new locations arriving in alpha 3.10 - Star Citizen has already briefly touched on a couple of creatures like the space cow and space whale, but not everything in the animal kingdom is friendly. In this week's…

Dual Universe shows off ship-to-ship combat in a new trailer - As much as Dual Universe can be about building things and coming together for impressive construction projects, there are going to be times where players cannot get along and decide…

Elite Dangerous is working on a list of Fleet Carrier bugs – including the blonde hair bug - The launch of the Fleet Carriers update to Elite: Dangerous hasn't exactly gone off without a hitch, as a number of players are reporting a variety of bugs with the…

Star Citizen shares answers and results from its Theaters of War AMA - This past Friday, the devs of Star Citizen posted their replies to an AMA all about Theaters of War, the combined arms PvP mode that was first unveiled at CitizenCon…

Elite Dangerous’ Fleet Carriers update is live today on PC and console - It didn't quite make its original launch time this morning, but it is nevertheless patch day for Frontier's Elite Dangerous, as the long-awaited Fleet Carriers update lumbers its way onto…

Shroud of the Avatar’s Vault cash shop is getting an upgrade to… auto-rotate what’s for sale - Shroud of the Avatar once more has another newsletter, and once again it's about its cash shop. Specifically, it's about changes to the Vault section of the cash shop, which…

Dual Universe

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. Closed beta.
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. Abandoned March 2020.
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) – Abandoned in 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, then again.
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.
Occupy White Walls (Stikipixels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
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 unsuccessful.
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.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; in  early access but not active dev.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
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.
Starfighter Infinity (Ben Olding) – Kickstarter funded. Early access.
Swords ‘n Magic and Stuff (Kindred) – Kickstarter funded.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded; now in early access.
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.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Trials of Ascension (Dragonfire) – Latest Kickstarter failed.
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; now in alpha.

Zenith

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?