Making friends in MMOs is one of the best parts of our genre, but sometimes those connections can feel tenuous at best. The devs at BetaDwarf, creators of the Clash Royale-like minion battle game Minion Masters, are hoping to craft a game where making friends is part of the gameplay loop in what the studio calls “friendshipping.”
The game is currently called Project Haven, and is described in a post on the studio’s website as “a cooperative PvE MOBA where you play as tight-knit groups of heroes saving the world from a time-twisted fate.” The devs hope to make the game fast-paced and endlessly replayable, with promise of “tons of systems” to create variation and interesting choices to be made on the fly. As for the game’s friendshipping loop, that seeks to be done via co-op gameplay, guild-building mechanics, and other systems like the ability to matchmake more often with people that players enjoyed teaming up with.
As of right now, the game is in extremely early development, with an Imgur post announcing the devs are looking for early testing of gameplay using some placeholder character art. That said, BetaDwarf doesn’t appear to be doing this development work without some fiscal support, as the studio has raised $6.6 million in funding for the project. As for Minion Masters, the devs have stated that the team running the minion battler is set up to operate “for years to come,” and the studio has even announced a 2.0 update for the game.
