MORE, the turn-based space 4X game currently at Kickstarter, has made it! IdeaLcenter managed to reach the $50,000 mark with 16 days to spare.
Now, the devs promise to get to work hard for the next 14 months for a planned release on December 2013 for the Win PC, Linux and Mac. At campaign start they talked about reaching alpha by July 2013 and beta in October 2013. $20 grant you beta access, $150 will allow you to take part in the alpha phase.
After reaching the funding goal, required to advance with the project, the devs announced the last stretch goals: advanced space battle module for $150K; single-player campaign and campaign tutorial for $170K and advanced ground combat for $200K. The details about these last three stretch goals are on this kickstarter update page.
They don’t believe that it will be possible to reach these last stretch goals in the remaining 16 days however (judging from the game’s funding pace it’s unlikely they will), but they revealed them anyway to show what they plan to do in the future, to “show you our direction in creating futures M.O.R.E. DLC’s.”
This is a game to follow closely people, and to pledge if you think IdeaLcenter has what it takes to make this happen. If you didn’t know yet, MORE is a proposal for a turn-based 4X space strategy gaming experience, one that wants to pickup from Master of Orion 2’s gameplay and expand it, putting emphasis on in-depth ship design, challenging AI and diplomacy, and on an innovative solution to reduce late game micromanagement.
For more information on MORE checkout our small preview, the kickstarter page or the game’s official website.
\Edit Oct 14, 2012: In a recent update (#8) IdeaLcenter released a new trailer showing off (preliminary) actual game footage of space battles. More of a taste on what to expect, but, looking good. Nice music by the way.
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Uh oh, Alpha in June 2013 and a Release in December… this is really something. I don’t think this is realistic with all the features they try to achieve. The game will be out mid to end 2014 – mark my words, because I hope they want to deliver it bugfree. Nevertheless I’m happy that they made it. :)
The word DLC is somewhat of a concern, but I dont hold much hope for this project anyway.
DLC (Demands Leeching of Customer) is just a ticket for getting more credits out of folks, like DRM, DLC I avoid like the plague. Oh for the good old days when the devs for a game used to put new things in updates, now its just ‘leave that and that out, we’ll put that out for a fiver on DLC’
hmm … I backed this project early but the more I know about it the more skeptical I get. I’m not sure but I get the impression that a lot of projects tend to sell features as ‘stretch goals’ which one would expect as being a basic part of the project
salvo why are you getting skeptical, what has changed?
The bull people are pretty stupid. They do not have appendages to operate tool, so how would they have developed sentience? If it was not for tools, we would still be scavenging the plains eating raw meat. A race of sentient bull men, would never exist. When making a game, please back it up with actual laws of science. That is what is 4X games should be about.
I went on their kickstarter site and they are saying that all future DLCs will be free for those who pledged 50$ or more. I think that is a good and honest deal. :)
@Chop – maybe big companies are doing something like that. We simply needs more supporters to do those parts of game…
@Nihilist, i don’t think that time will be a problem, i fear the will run out of money before that date.
And their stretch goals somehow let me think that without these goals the game will somehow be incomplete. When you know that was planned or what was “possible” the lack of these feature is somehow you will miss immediately. And some of the stretch goals are a little bit of weird. “Periodic consultation of an experienced game developer” So they are noobs? “Adding Text content at the end of turn”? Something you have to read while the next turn is calculated? Turn summary? “more cut scenes”? Is that really more important than the “advacned space battle module” or the campaign or the menaces?
@Evil Azrael They have answered that question about consultation:
“We also have received questions on the periodic consultation with an experienced game developer. We already have 10 years of planning on how this game should look and be structured as well as drawing from the M.O.R.E. community at http://www.morethegame.com/forum. We have taken a look at where all other games of this genre have done well and which have fallen short. We have plans to develop a rich, well-thought out game already. So instead of consultation of what to put into the game, we seek consultation on how to best get the game developed. Any inital project for a company is a learning experience. There are do’s and don’t’s. It is this experience we seek to help us deliver the game we all have been wanting for years now and one the gaming community deserves. We are seeking someone to help us past any pitfalls and bypass problems ahead of time. So we are seeking someone who may not be as well known, but has great experience in having delivered a game to market.”
I guess that those of us who contributed will find out how this develops. The MORE presentation impressed me so I sent in a couple sawbucks.
This is the beauty of crowd funding: we go in with our eyes open, get to follow the development closely, and can’t blame anyone if the game doesn’t work out.
But I sure hope it does…
1. running out of cash
50.000 doenst sound a lot at first but knowing the usual income in poland it is like a little treasure in that country. Plus they do have their normal jobs so i think a more realistic fear is the schedule. Eventhough the mentality in poland is close to what people think about chinese work attitude – work or die – they might run into timetrouble.
2. campaign and adv. ground combat
they are stating that moo2 is the reason they are developing this game. moo2 didnt have a campaign neither any adv. ground combat. you could call that ground combat very basic. so o fear here.
3. adv. space combat
i do hope whatever they plan which is labeled their normal combat is good enough since i would consider that an integral part of the game.
4. periodic consultation of an experienced game developer
i didnt read that part myself yet but from my early read i remember they do have experience in programming and all so consulting somebody that knows the expert hints and tricks just sounds as a bonus to me. afterall we wouldnt talk kickstarter here if we have a well known studio working on a big title. that part reminds me of why would the nexus2 crew need funding when they are all pros and created titles before? i would worry more about those kind of people than this group here.
5.
since this is somehow a pretty open approach to developing a game we get a lot of insider information that you usualy wouldnt get from other games. I believe a lot big titles cutted out some features because of money and time trouble so here we get to know what could get in if time and money is sufficent. i dont believe those guys would ship an unfinished game since they are moo2 players themselves and they should have a common sense of whats fun and what not – namely an unfinished game.
I think M.O.R.E. will in fact release 14-16 months from now. Why do I think so? Simply speaking- the devs have been already working on this project for some time now. Secondly, it’s their ‘baby’ and not a simply patch-something-together and sell. The devs said themselves, that they were waiting for some big studio to follow up on MOO2 and create something worth playing, but unfortunately it never happened.. I still remember buying MOO2 and Star Control3 in 1996, then Pax Imperia in 1997 (I don’t even want to talk about MOO3 in 2003 it was such a downhill run..). After that.. Nothing for years and years..
As to DLC releases.. I’m perfectly fine paying for the hard work of programmers. Nobody really works for free, do you? They release good product, I am willing to pay.
I don’t even want to count how much cash I wasted buying various big-studios crappy games for $59.99 (standard cost of new game in Canada). Most of them sit on my game-shelf or are given away. Crap!
There are only few games I keep on my computer and return to them every now and then. One of them is MOO2. I am pretty sure M.O.R.E. will be on the very forefront! :)
Usually the ones that give nothing or the very minimum complain the most. I say ‘put your money where your mouth is’ and support great ideas as I have.
(Please watch update 8 on Kickstarter)
@MayPlayer Thank you for the tip with update number 8. That looks amazing, and the music is…awesome:)
Adam, could you take a look at their update 8 (I know you are busy playing X-COM :D) and maybe include the movie from update number 8 here. So others could watch it. I think it is worth to show:)
@MayPlayer @Wodzu
You guys convinced me. Updated the post to include the new space combat video.
@Wodzu
You’re right, I am busy playing X-COM :D The review will come out next week, most probably early week. Hint: Can’t stop playing ;)
How is the game? Too much stripped down from the original game?
I ask because i forgot to cancel my american preorder which i did before a knew that it was steam infested.
If you can wait a few more days you will know by reading my review. Although reviews stand by themselves I’m a fan of the original games, so, I think I’m in a position to judge the game from both its own merits and from an X-COM veteran view. Just wait a few more days and it’ll be out. I only received the review copy from 2K on the 12th …
@Adam, thanks for listening:-)
I don’t want to be nitpicking but the video show 3d objects and effects + some concept but nothing gameplay wise.
The combat module description is only some title in the video, so when we will see any practical gameplay video?
I wonder if sometime some studios sells a game or a 3d engine.
Atleast they have something to show:) Compare this to for example Project Eternity (which I am a big fan BTW.) They already have over 3 million of budget and they have shown one rendered screen :) and some graphic art. In their updates they are talking what will be in their game instead of showing what they already have done.
I do not think that M.O.R.E. has started yet for good. If they will not show anything for lets say 2 months then I will be worried.
@farcodev – In almost every update we want to show you something more from our game. We can’t write all game in 2 moths…
The update #9 is out! :)
With each update it’s more and more optimistic as to what has been done with the game and what’s more important – what will be done. I see more artwork, more of the stretch goals included in the main release, more input from the backers allowing to forge the better game..
For now we know, that the kickstarter funding HAS been successful, the game will be produced. It’s going to be a fantastic game for these gamers that did like to play MOO2 and maybe other strategy games. I wish more backers were talking about M.O.R.E. on various forums and include links to the kickstarter project and backers that are in already to increase the pledge at least a notch ;)
That alone would allow to reach 100K and the same, most of the stretch goals INCLUDING the single-player campaign mode! It is possible! :)
Am I the only one who thought MOO2 was not the be all and end all of Space Strategy games? It is horribly outdated and I could think of a dozen things that it was lacking. It might be blasphemy among gaming nerds to say this but in all honesty it was good and nice but not great or unbelievably awesome.
How lazy are game makers today that are yet to top this game style.
Yes you are :P
I would love to hear from you what exactly was MOO2 was lacking? ;)
Imagine this; why is it that after years of playing various games of all sorts (from real time strategy to role playing and shooters), many players come back to MOO2 or Sid’s Alpha Centauri?
My answer is simple – these games were just pure joy to play!
Even now I switch between Civ V, Diablo 3, StarCraft 2, Guild Wars2, soSE:Rebellion and the two oldies!
Gaming nerds? Haha, so everyone who plays console or PC, iOS games is a nerd now? ;)
We all have our favorite space strategy game. Some will say Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, for others is Stars!, or Imperium Galactica, Homeworld (even Star Wars: Rebellion in a way), Master of Orion or more recent titles like Galactic Civilizations, Sins of a Solar Empire or Distant Worlds.
However, Master of Orion, and particularly its sequel, are considered by many to be the best space 4X gaming experiences ever created. Some even say they created the 4X genre itself. Not that there weren’t games of that type around already (Civilization 1991 or Spaceward Ho! 1990) but because that’s where the ‘4X’ acronym was used for the first time. We are talking about 1993 here.
So, it’s widely consensual to (still) consider Master of Orion 2 to be the space 4X gaming reference. But, I guess you had to have played it back then when it was new to know exactly what we’re talking about. Now it’s probably too old for younger eyes and hears. But the core gameplay, the concepts, are still intact and I imagine equally enjoyable still today if you give it the chance.
So, like all classics, they stay in our minds and we recall not only the games themselves but also, and above all, the experiences we enjoyed playing them. So, that’s why some people consider impossible to overcome old classics like Master of Orion 2 or X-COM: UFO Defense. Those games, and our experiences playing them, dwell in our subconscious and we seem not to know why but we always think remakes, re-imaging versions or evolutions are never as good as the classics. Truth is, I think they can never be better if we insist in doing direct comparisons, something we avoid doing in our reviews.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that a game is nothing by itself unless it succeeds in connecting with you in a deep way. A game is not good because of its technical brilliance or gorgeous graphics alone. It is good if it allows you to suspend your disbelief and let you enjoy an unique and rewarding experience, with a scripted story or by letting you create your own. I loved both Homeworld’s story as I love to invent one in a good sand-box game. And, above all the game must be fun, it must contain a lot of surprises and manage to keep you in a state of “flow” (controlled progression). I think Master of Orion 2 excelled because of all of that. But, you still need a fully usable UI, superb stability and high replayability of course. And, good graphics if possible :)
Adam is making good point about the “nostalgia” factor, however in my case it is a bit different. I’ve played MOO2 since 97 untill 2008 :) I just like good strategic games. I also like Civ 1,2,3,4 and played them often:)
Bruce is saying about dozen things that were lacking in MOO2, I would like to hear them because there is always a room for the improvement. Maybe those flaws of Orion could be eliminated in M.O.R.E.
Speaking about nostalgia and good strategic games. Anyone played the game called M.U.L.E.? :D made by Electronic Arts in 1983? What a great game! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.U.L.E.
I just want to add to what @Adam and @Wodzu said; yes, it is the nostalgia… but also the clean interface, clean design, great background music and significant choices within the game; starting with the custom race design point system, research choices impact and ending with ascetic building of effective ships. Each choice mattered a lot. There was not much ‘flowing in-between’ or decisions with just slight impact on gameplay. Everything mattered a lot.
That’s why I keep such a hope for M.O.R.E. The devs really seem to ‘get it’ and what they offer is to keep the MOO2 spirit and add amazing graphics, ship building, 3-D both for galaxy and battles, races not just humanoid ;) and other concepts which will be fantastic if implemented well.
All of that causes that I am such an advocate for this game and wish everyone decided to increase own pledge a bit so the $100,000 can happen and so many stretched goals be included in the main release.
I’ve spend my ‘Christmas bonus’ on this game already! ;)
apropos kickstarter
http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/20446/kickstarter-title-haunts-stops-development-indefinitely
that’s what may kill the whole kickstarter model eventually, anyway I strongly consider stopping backing any more kickstarter projects and wait for the ones I’ve pledged for to actually deliver what they’ve promised
Update #10 is available.
I am not going to say anything, just … Watch it! ;)
well, I really really hope they succeed and that the young developers, unlike some others, will actually be able to manage the complexity they are planning to create