KickTraq

With some Kickstarter campaigns of interest running of late, like the Massively Overpowered funding campaign and the much-talked-about Crowfall campaign, I decided to look back at the projects I had funded to see how the whole Kickstarter thing has treated me. (Read More)

They are not what you are expecting, unless you are expecting a wacky hodgepodge of projects. (Read More)

It's no secret that this is a time of great tumult for the MMORPG genre. With the imminent release of Wildstar Online, many are saying that the last of the great 'theme park' MMORPGs is going to hit the ground, and everything after this will be new territory. We're moving away from the hand-holding, quest-saturated, WoW-esque misadventures of 2005-2014, and into a land far more concerned with sandboxes and the encouragement of player freedom and creativity. Publishers everywhere are wising up to the fact that human beings with hopes, dreams, and brains are the ones actually playing their games, and have decided to fund their projects accordingly. (Read More)

Camelot Unchained has something big to celebrate today: the first anniversary of its successfully funded Kickstarter bid. According to today's newsletter, City State Entertainment has raised a total of $5.6 million dollars -- $2.6 million from backers and $3 million from investors, including $2 million from studio head honcho Mark Jacobs himself. (Read More)

It's no secret that many of the more successful Kickstarter projects over the past few years have heavily capitalized on player nostalgia, brand names, and former dev gods who are back for another round. The formula for drawing in the big bucks seems to be the following: Take something players hugely loved back in the day, dangle the concept of a sequel (spiritual or otherwise), and promise some measure of iterative improvement. (Read More)

We’re definitely living in a golden age of Kickstarter/crowdfunding video games, and whether this will see bountiful harvests or deflated failures or lukewarm efforts is the purview of the future. (Read More)

Kickstarter has become an extremely prevalent way for many people, including video game developers, to allow their core fan base to fund their interests.  (Read More)

City State Entertainment updated their kickstarter info for Camelot Unchained with a huge list of completed tasks. (Read More)

If you build it, they will come. While that adage hold true for baseball diamonds in cornfields, it's a little bit different for MMOs. If you're set on developing a new virtual playground, you get them to come so you can build it! That's the philosophy behind crowdfunding, anyway, and many are latching onto it. (Read More)

An update for Kickstarter-funded massively multiplayer online role-playing game Camelot Unchained sheds light on the mythology behind "another possible Arthurian race," the Cait Sith. (Read More)

The Kickstarter for the upcoming game Camelot Unchained from City State Entertainment ended successfully. The Kickstarter reached its target goal of $2 million only 19 hours before it ended. Additional pledges also resulted in the game achieving two of its three intended stretch goals. (Read More)

Glorious day to City State Entertainment! The Kickstarter Champaign for Camelot Unchained ended today. Looking for $2 million, they came out with more than $200,000 more than what they asked for in their initial goal. Camelot Unchained is a three faction RvR MMORPG. Now that the Kickstarter has been successfully funded, the game will be receiving another $3 million from private investors. Soooo in a nutshell, Camelot Unchained is definitely a thing. (Read More)

City State Entertainment's realm vs. realm focused MMORPG Camelot Unchained did it! They've successfully reached and surpassed their $2 million Kickstarter goal, despite still being more than 10% away as the project approached its final 24 hours. Due to its success, City State boss Mark Jacobs will drop his own $2 million in the pot along with another million from third party investors. Now lets see what 5 million and two and half years of development can make. (Read More)

Folks,    We're up and running on live stream! The plan is to keep this going either until tomorrow or until we all pass out!    Here's the linkage! Mark  (Read More)

Folks, The clock is really ticking now! We’ve got 24 hours to go and we’re still $152,000 away from our goal. While that may seem like a lot, it is less than 10% of our original ask and that percentage has been raised by all of the most... (Read More)

Camelot Unchained's Kickstarter odyssey is almost complete, and as of press time there's a little over a day remaining. City State's fantasy RvR sandbox stands at just over $1.82 million out of its $2 million goal, so Mark Jacobs has penned a dev diary designed to push the game's funding over the top. (Read More)

iGR is back with a new Kickstarter Spotlight full of projects for your consideration. We’ve had a fantastic track record with our picks in the past, and we hope that they’ll continue to succeed in the future! Today we officially say goodbye to Battle Worlds: Kronos. KING Art Games managed to hit the sweet spot with stretch goal #2 being achieved (meaning BWK will be going mobile!) congrats to them! Divinity: Original Sin also hit it outta the park, knocking off four stretch goals. So, congrats to Larian Studios as well! This week we continue coverage on two projects, and we introduce three new campaigns to the fray. Here we go! (Read More)

You might recognize that name if you ever played Dark Age of Camelot, one of the very first MMORPGs ever made. Camelot Unchained is something of a spiritual successor. Unlike most MMOs out there, it’s entirely player-vs-player, or “realm vs. realm” though apparently that is a registered trademark of EA. Jacobs and his company, City State Entertainment are calling this system TriRealm. (Read More)

Folks,  It's been an interesting day. From PA to KS to Amazon, it's been quite a ride. Let's have a recap of today's events:  First, Penny Arcade Report's Ben Kuchera had some unkind things to say about some of our loyal, but slightly overzealous... (Read More)

Folks, Sorry that today’s update isn’t as rich, gooey and filled with Camelot Unchained deliciousness as always but it was a rather busy PR/interview day here. That and of course my MacBook Pro decided it was time to take a walk on the wide side.... (Read More)

Jagged Alliance: Flashback arrives in the Katchup this week. I’ve expected (and hoped for) a Jagged Alliance crowdfunding attempt for some time now. As soon as it became obvious that Kickstarter was a place where old franchises could revive themselves, every week that the mercenaries didn’t appear was slightly more unsettling than the last. Would I rather have a direct sequel without a crowdfunding campaign? Perhaps. (Read More)

Folks,    Wow, what a day. Thanks to your generous support we had another great day and thanks to your questions, my mailbox is overflowing! :) You sent in over 700 emails to me today.    Tomorrow I'll go through some of them and also do another... (Read More)

Folks,    Another RvR update and this one has a BSC idea... -Mark  (Read More)

Folks,    RVR time! -Mark  (Read More)

Folks,    Getting bored yet? -Mark  (Read More)

Folks,   More user questions. I just recorded another segment (#9) that has some more intel for RvR including a possible BSC concept. :) -Mark  (Read More)

Folks,    As requested, the new "Twin Homes with a View" tier just went up and is available.    Here's Part 5 of the Mark-A-Thon. -Mark  (Read More)

Folks,    More questions. In Part 8, I turn back to game design (progression system).  Mark P.S. As to the reason for doing updates instead of a live stream, it is easier on my voice (downtime between takes) and I can get other work done as well.... (Read More)

And the info just keeps on coming...  (Read More)

This one focuses on the first 7 questions that I was asked. -Mark  (Read More)

Folks,     The video explains everything.      The Mark-A-Thon begins now (well, actually it began here hours ago but)... -Mark P.S. Please pay especially close attention to the last part of the video. Please give me an email folks, one question... (Read More)

Folks,     Well, it's been an interesting 24 hours hasn't it? Last night I talked about two, that's two BSC ideas for the price of one! First was the BSC implementation of stealth that we're considering here and its core classes, the VeilWalkers... (Read More)

There are five days left for Camelot Unchained's Kickstarter program, and it's less than $600,000 away from its lofty $2,000,000 goal. The developers figured that this was a fine time to explain not only how stealth will work in CU but also how stealth failed in past games. (Read More)

Folks, Okay, it's time to take a ride on the BSC train but before we do that, a couple of quick bits. First, another great day for our Kickstarter! We're on track to one of our highest daily number of pledges and pledge totals! If we can keep this... (Read More)

Folks, It’s been a good day for our Kickstarter (more than 200 backers), a great update from Tim and now it is time for the first lore update from me. In this update I talk about the Piercing of the Veil, the Veilstorms, the three swords, the anvil... (Read More)

Folks, Today will be a “two for one” day in terms of updates; so lots of information and tech will flow. In the usual housekeeping stuff, thanks for the additional packages that you kind folks have been sending to us. We’ve been way too busy to... (Read More)

Folks, It’s time for Part Two of my “Building a world” update. Before we proceed however, a little housekeeping stuff. First, we’re getting close to that all-important final week for our Kickstarter. We should pass 1.3M later tonight and our... (Read More)

Folks,   From what I can tell, you are enjoying Michelle’s live streaming today, great! Thanks for taking time out of your day to participate in her event.   Yesterday was a big day for all of us, both backers and CSE unlike. We unveiled our... (Read More)

Each time I hear or read something new about Camelot Unchained I get a bit more excited (or a lot more in this case). As outlined in the latest Kickstarter update, CU will have an ability to customize the game world which will be different to any other MMO currently on the market. The post-devastation era in which the game exists will require players to help in rebuilding the world in a way that extends beyond the usual narrative devices that players might be used to. (Read More)

City State Entertainment released a new video update for its current Kickstarter project, Camelot Unchained, that educates viewers on the finer points of building. Camelot Unchained launched April 2 with a goal of $2 million. It currently has 10 days left in its campaign and has raised more than $1.2 million of its goal. (Read More)

Today has been a lot of fun hasn’t it?  First, there was the SmackHammer stress test and it was glorious! The server never crashed (only the Unity Web Plugin) and overall performance was great and our backers seemed to be enjoying it immensely. We... (Read More)

Folks, We had a small setback with a character named Wart today, so instead of having our building & mining systems reveals, tonight’s update will have a text teaser, a few other juicy nuggets of information and a heaping helping of concept... (Read More)

Folks,  Tonight’s update will consist of two live streaming events. The first and biggest event will be Andrew Meggs showing off the latest build of our engine tech, herein and forever known as the “Unchained Engine” because all rendering... (Read More)

Folks, It’s been another great day here at CSE.  First, we got more ducks!  So thank you Matthew Kramer for those little quackers.  Secondly, our backers continue to prove why they are the best backers in Kickstarter by not only their generosity... (Read More)

Folks,   There’s an old saying about “Calm before the storm” and well, tonight’s update would qualify for that.  However, I would rework it by saying “Calm before the St’rm”.  Thus, tonight’s update is a heavily reworked... (Read More)

Folks,   I hope everyone is having a good weekend!  Ours got off to a fine start with a Live Stream of our latest build of SmackHammer.  For those who haven’t seen it before, SmackHammer is just a fun little tech demo masquerading as a game.... (Read More)

Folks,       First, sorry for the delay in releasing this update. Unfortunately our video guy (who is also our lead artist & lead animator) had his back go out on him last night. He’s pushing through it but it has taken longer to get some... (Read More)

Folks,    This is going to be a quick update. It was a busy day again and though there is not a lot to report I'm glad to see that Andrew's morning and yesterday evening's update were so well-received by our backers. Next step, spell effects and... (Read More)

Good afternoon from Andrew! Thanks to all of you for checking out the video last night. Here’s a small update, showing the same engine demo but with 1000 characters instead of 500. Epic indeed! A few things I wanted to emphasize:   Under the hood,... (Read More)

Hi everyone! Andrew here. In my first update last week, I showed off some of the rendering tech we want to use for Camelot Unchained, and talked about why we need to build a renderer and certain other components ourselves: Off the shelf, there's... (Read More)

Folks,    Time for a three-part evening update. Part one is more "talking head" stuff from me, a lead-in to Andrew's two-part engine demo and of course, the Aloha shirt.    Last night really was a special moment for all of us. Thanks to the... (Read More)

Folks,       So, another good day here at CSE and with our Kickstarter. I’m truly sorry I’ve been a bit pre-occupied the last two days but I’m almost through the interview cycle. I hope that by tomorrow night, I will have talked/emailed with... (Read More)

Welcome to the Kickstarter Compendium, a gathering of games and game-related projects that we’ve come across that deserve your attention. The crowd-funding model for video games has resulted in some interesting new game ideas, and new projects are going up on a weekly basis that deserve your attention. (Read More)

Camelot Unchained, the upcoming RvR-centric MMORPG from Mark Jacobs and City State Entertainment, could be the spiritual successor to the classic Dark Age of Camelot. We had a chance to talk to CSE co-founder Mark Jacobs and ask a few questions regarding the game and the decision to Kickstarter the project. So, why Kickstarter for Camelot Unchained? (Read More)

Crowdfunding is changing the way games are developed, there’s no doubt about that. With developers going straight to the players before development even starts, the process is being well and truly refined. Mark Jacobs (Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online) and indie game developers City State Entertainment (CSE) talk openly about the decision to crowdfund their latest offering. (Read More)

Folks,        Good afternoon everyone! Time for part two of my “talking head” chat about my thoughts on combat in CU and I’ll also talk about what’s coming up this week. Additionally, here are some thoughts in regards to things that... (Read More)

Folks,     Hello everybody! Here's part 1 of a two part "talking head" update on some of my thoughts for the combat system. Originally it was going to be a single update but I ran very long on the video. Frankly, at 16m and no shiny graphics, it... (Read More)

Tonight's update features a first look at a Viking female complete with concept art (from initial work to final) and her walk cycle. We hope you enjoy it! Another fine day for us with two updates and more pledges. Please continue to spread the word... (Read More)

Good morning from City State, and thanks to all the people who backed us overnight! Today’s update is a little different: It’s not Camelot Unchained, but it’s part of why we believe we can make the game. It’s a little project that I put... (Read More)

Tonight’s update is a really good one.  First, you will get to see some additional concept art for our Tuatha De Danann.  After that, you get to see a video where you’ll meet another member of our team, lead artist Scott Trolan and see some of... (Read More)

Folks,    Well, today's update took a little long than it was supposed to but I think you'll find it well worth your time to watch the video, especially the part where Andrew starts showing off his intellectual and programming prowess again. From... (Read More)

Dark Age of Camelot's lead designer takes to Kickstarter with Camelot Unchained at PC Gamer. PCGamer.com is the official web counterpart to the PC Gamer print magazine. Exclusive reviews, demos, and updates and news on all your favourite PC gaming franchises. (Read More)

Folks,    As the day turns to dusk and our Kickstarter continues to grow, it's time for a recap of today's events. First, we had our first Dragonwhale sightings. Those almost mythical beings whose appearance had been foretold for days have joined... (Read More)

Good afternoon from Andrew! Today’s Kickstarter update is a demo of some graphics tech. And it’s pretty neat, but more importantly it’s necessary. I want to talk a little about why that is. There’s a lot of good engine tech out there, so why... (Read More)

Good morning backers! This is our first morning update (Woot!) and in it Mark talks about what to expect later in the day from CSE: 1) Add-ons - We will have another update later in the day that will talk about our add-on program. 2) A video update... (Read More)

Releasing a new video, City State Entertainment announced the launch of a Kickstarter funding campaign for Camelot Unchained (working title), a new MMORPG from CSE co-founder Mark Jacobs, founder of Mythic Entertainment (known for Dark Age of Camelot). (Read More)

We just passed the $500,000 mark on our Kickstarter campaign! That is 25% of our funding goal in roughly 8 hours! You guys ROCK!  (Read More)

Have you ever heard of Poe's law? It originally applied to parodies of fundamentalist behavior, stating that it's impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing. Sometimes, though, the law finds applications elsewhere, such as in Camelot Unchained's suspiciously timed unveiling of its final Kickstarter reward tiers. We're pretty certain that these are legitimate; after all, there's plenty of room for absurdity in rewards that only a small fraction of people will ever pay for. But some of these are so out there that we wouldn't be at all surprised if Mark Jacobs popped out of our computer screens and yelled, "April Fools!" (Read More)