CU Kickstarter Updates

[Talolan]

City State Entertainment has been posting daily updates to the Kickstarter, some of them are available to anybody, some are available only to backers. I'll try to summarize them there, with a link to the update.

Update 1

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!

Update includes a video that has some introductions to key players at CSE, and a thank you.

Update 2

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 from Andrew Meggs that we will release later in the day. That update will show off some of the early engine tech that he has been working on. It's a pretty neat little demo that is focused on building the foundation we need to build a great engine rather than just trying to put some pretty pictures on the screen and then saying "See! Bright! Shiny!" The demo was built entirely in C++ by Andrew over the course of less than a week and is not built upon some other rendering engine. He's off to a pretty good start. Keep your eyes on the screen to Andrew's left, lots of good things are happening there.

This video also has a thank you from Mark Jacobs.

That's it for today's morning update!

The video in the update includes additional information on the text above.

Update 3

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 roll our own?

There is more text in the update, but it is justification on why CSE is building their own engine for CU, rather than using an off the shelf solution. The video includes a tech-demo with 10,000 characters on screen at once.

Update 4

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 our Kickstarter. As with everyone who has pledged to support Camelot Unchained, they have our deepest gratitude.

Secondly, Andrew got to show off some of his "programming chops" today in Update #3 and we are thrilled by the response. The man can really code and I know that as the Kickstarter continues, you'll like his updates even as much as I do. His updates, like this Kickstarter, are just beginning and they will get even better

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This was pretty much a "Thank You" update.

Update 5

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 yours truly, the highlights are:

Ding Gratz on the 750K and our 2nd Dragonwhale sighting,

Update to 10K tier (it now includes choice of 1 of the 5k tiers). As per the video, our current inn/island owners retain their current positions in the queue no matter when the Dragonwhales landed.

Guild name reservation is coming soon to the Founder's exchange.

Later today we will be showing the first 3D model (rigged, animated, etc.) for the Tuatha Dé Danann. After Andrew's next fabulous piece (you should really, really watch the video), you'll find a surprise waiting for you.

And here's Andrew (cue Tonight Show music)...

This update includes Andrew talking about the in-game UI, which will be fully customizable, and based on HTML5. There is a more full update on the CU homepage at http://camelotunchained.com/en/making-a ... f-the-web/

Update 6

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 the early work done on the TDDs. After that we’ll show you one of these fellows in 3ds Max. For inquiring and curious minds, that model was made with about 12K triangles which is the limit that Andrew has set for in-game models in Camelot Unchained.

The update includes concept art and a video for the Tuatha De Danann faction (this would be equivalent to Hibernia in DAoC).

Update 7

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 together literally in a couple of weekends to play with here, and the architecture’s proven a lot of the tech plans we have for CU’s server side. We’ve got physics, user accounts, threading, concurrency, database integration, client-side prediction and lag compensation -- all working -- and best of all a great big hammer to hit other players with.

This is a fun little update with a video for the hammer fighting demo that Andrew talks about above.

Update 8

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!

This is another concept art/video update, this time for the Viking female (Midgard in DAoC).

Update 9

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 would be best defined as a sleep aid. So, we cut it down to 8 minutes and Part 2 will be posted tomorrow, along with a look at next week's updates.

This update is a video of Mark talking about combat systems.

Update 10

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 I’ve seen in the comment section here as well as around the web the past few days.

In terms of archers, I think that people need to understand how important archers/scouts are to so many people (including myself) and to Camelot Unchained. I just want to work on them a while before I commit to putting them in the game at launch. Frankly, I think we have the opportunity to do something really interesting with archers/scouts because that class will no longer be bound by having to succeed in a PvE-leveling track. I want to make archers/scouts awesomely fun to play but to do we should be willing to take some chances especially now and before Beta. Oh, and for those that think that only archers are being singled out for the whole “no tab-targeting” thing, I wouldn’t count on that. ☺ Again, my #1 priority is to experiment with different concepts and no matter what, to make them all awesomely fun to play.

Part 2 of Mark talking about combat systems.

Update 11

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 everybody who wants to talk to us (and then we can give their ducks back to them!) and I can focus on our Kickstarter again full-time. In the meantime, I’ve got three bits of info for you all.

1) Tomorrow afternoon we will have another video update from Andrew. As you know he is building the engine that we will need for Camelot Unchained. He has continued to work on it and his next, but not final update, will show you something almost everybody has asked us for since this first tech update. The update is pretty sweet but focused not on the pretty but on the speed and scalability of the engine.

2) I’ve included a grab bag of goodness based on questions that I have been asked a lot in comments and via email.

3) I’ve got my Aloha shirt all ready to go for tomorrow! ☺

The update includes a Q&A with questions coming from the backers of the project.

Update 12

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 support from all of you, our Kickstarter passed the $1M threshold and our journey is now more than 50% complete. While we still have a long way to go, we are off to a good start.

Video has Mark summarizing the updates that will come throughout the day.

Update 13

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 nothing that scales up to the epic battles we want to create.

Then, our art team showed off two of the races we're planning to put in the game: The Tuatha Dé Danann and the Vikings. There's some great concept art in those updates, as well as high-quality models for in-game.

Obviously, the next step is to put them together -- so we did! There are some further refinements and optimizations to the engine, and plenty more to be done, but I'll let the video speak for itself.

The next step for this, in terms of showing off what we want to do, is to hook this up to the networking layer of "CSE SmackHammer" from last week. We're working hard on this and a whole lot more, but for now, enjoy the show!

Update includes a video of the two sides that have been shown in concept art, beating the piss out of eachother. It tops out at 500 characters on screen, on a laptop, and maintains 60 frames per second. Not bad for the tech being all of a week old and nowhere near a finished state.

Update 14

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!

Updated video with 1000 characters on screen. Some notes from Andrew about technology.

Update 15

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 improved terrain. Coming soon (not this week) to a YouTube video near you!

This is just a teaser update.

Update 16

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 things done today (amazing how pain does that to you). So, let’s give a big shout out to Scott and Michelle who over the last week have really made a herculean effort to bring these updates to you despite “stay at home” illnesses/injuries. Today's updates are presented in two parts. The first part is the basic intro and a shout out to our backers and an acknowledgement of two packages we received this week. Sorry I had to break up the video into two parts but I talk a bit too much about the stretch goals, especially the second one. I wonder why?

Two videos in this update, one is a thank you, the other is talking about Stretch goals.

Update 17

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. It was originally intended to display some early server and networking code but because of the reaction of our backers, we’ve made it more like a game. This week we added day/night cycles, sun, moon, stars, capture the duck gameplay, scoreboard and ducks, more and more ducks. This morning I asked the team to put in our TDD model just to see how it would look and play in SH. This is, of course, not the gameplay that will be part of CU but simply a fun way to test some code before it is integrated into our main engine (Andrew’s demos). Besides, it’s just fun to shoot plastic yellow ducks at other members of our studio and run around with a big yellow duck on your head.

Update includes another grab bag of questions from backers, and some notes about the latest engine build.
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I'll pick up from UPdate 18 in another post.

[Talolan]

Update 18

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 Foundational Principle (Gamers’ Bill of Rights) that I didn’t get a chance to release before the Kickstarter launched. Back in the GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) days and before the all-powerful Internet was even commercialized, my first software company, Adventures Unlimited Software Inc. (A.U.S.I.) followed a “Gamers Bill of Rights” with its games Galaxy and Dragon’s Gate. With Camelot Unchained, we will expand upon it with these Subscriber Promises to both our backers and our subscribers. We will continue to tweak these during the Kickstarter and right up until launch.

In this update Mark details his Gamers' Bill of Rights.

Update 19

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 but also by their participation in the non-stop chat channel formerly known as our comment section. We have over 28K comments there already and we’re not even halfway through our campaign. Amazing! Finally, we have something very cool to show you, a new and rather interesting race for Camelot Unchained. Rather than spend a lot of time blathering on about it, here are some wonderful pieces of concept art, which are only part of what you’ll see in today’s video update.

The video has some Thank Yous, and a new race.

Update 20

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 engines need a proper name! The live stream for it can be viewed here and it will begin at 7:30 PM EST. Andrew has worked his usual magic and our engine now has a particle effects system built in. Enjoy the event and pay close attention to the weapons of both the Tuatha and the Vikings. ☺

Later tonight I will be visiting the OppositionPodcast guys for a little while to talk about Camelot Unchained. It can be heard live here and it begins at 8:30 PM EST.

Other than the live streams, the update included some concept art.

Update 21

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 art. Tomorrow, baring any more nonsense from dear little Wart, we will pull back the curtain on what I expect will be a very interesting and important update from us. That update will then be followed with another lengthy update, which will address other issues related to housing and mining that were not covered in the first video update.

This update includes some teaser information about building structures in the game as well as a couple new donation tiers that include mountain top estates, and private servers. Some concept art is included.

Update 22

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 will continue to run these kinds of tests with SH over the next two weeks and beyond. The crashes however underscored our decision to create our own engine for Camelot Unchained. Unity is a great multipurpose engine, possibly the best one out there. However, for Camelot Unchained we need an engine that is suited to do one thing and do it brilliantly and that’s why Andrew’s continued work on the Unchained Engine is so vital to our success.

Update includes more concept art and a video about crafting.

Update 23

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 plans for the one of, if not the most innovative building & crafting system in an RvR MMORPG to date. Over the next two days I am going to outline some additional features of the system. Here's Part One; Part Two will be posted tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday (unless of course it is already Monday in your part of the world!).

This update includes part 1 of Building a World, talking about building structures in CU. Building is Cell based and works a lot like minecraft.

Update 24

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 numbers are continuing to grow, albeit a bit more slowly than we all would like. While I expect that we will get a last-minute surge, it would be nice if our surge wouldn’t have to be so large. From our end, we will be begin tomorrow talking more about the lore of Camelot Unchained, followed by the races, classes (including a description of the BSC idea I have for stealthers) and much more. I am hopeful that these updates will help convince some additional fence-sitters.

This is part 2 of Building a World, it talks about blueprints, and RvR in the context of building.

Update 25

At 3PM EDT (one hour from now), we will be unveiling a new tier, "A HOME WITH A VIEW". This will be a limited tier and here is the current information regarding it. Please keep in mind that this tier is in a safe zone and that the house cannot be blueprinted as it is meant to be built into a mountain. Also, because of it's location in the main cities, you will not be able to look down into any RvR areas. It's just a really nice home with a spectacular view.

This is a backer only update, talking about a new $2500 donation tier.

Update 26

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 open them on camera but I may do a fun live stream opening and Q&A session this week. If not, I expect to open all of them around Friday/Saturday.

This update has a video building demo, and a brief preview of the upcoming lore update.

Update 27

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 and many (not all) of the events that precede the main story line for Camelot Unchained. I hope you enjoy it.

The video is Mark talking about the Lore of CU, and there is some concept art. They also tease that the next couple updates will have an update building demo, as well as discussions of Stealth in CU.

[Talolan]

Update 28

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 up, we'll be in good shape for our final few days.

This update is all about stealth, it includes a very long written post about stealth and a video from Mark. As always, there is some concept art attached.

[Talolan]

Update 29

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 and the VeilStalkers. The second idea was the concept of possibly using The Veil as a possible (again I must stress 'a', possible and idea) method of CC. Overall, the reaction was good to the first (though a lot of fear), very mixed on the second. All I can say is, as usual, "Don't Panic" and let's learn to love and embrace the concept of throwing around ideas without too much emotion. We have a long road ahead of us and it will go so much smoother if we keep that in mind.

Video includes and updated housing/building demo.

Update 30

The Mark-A-Thon begins now (well, actually it began here hours ago but)...

Update 31
Mark-A-Thon part 2.

Update 32
Mark-A-Thon part 3.

Update 33
Mark-A-Thon part 4.

Update 34
Mark-A-Thon part 5.

Update 35
Mark-A-Thon part 6.

Update 36
Mark-A-Thon part 7.

Update 37
Mark-A-Thon part 8.

Update 38
Mark-A-Thon part 9.

Update 39
Mark-A-Thon part 10.

[Talolan]

Update 40

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. Things are now back up and running but there were way too many hours of lost productivity for your truly. OTOH, lots of things did still get accomplished here and I want to share some of them with you.

Update 41

First, Penny Arcade Report's Ben Kuchera had some unkind things to say about some of our loyal, but slightly overzealous folks. After some apologies from me (on behalf of them) and others (including our members and I respect that), things settled down after he followed up the Twitter comments with an article about them and CU. My opinion on this hasn't changed; I respect the right of any journalist/writer to cover what they want and when they want to. It's their call. I do also respect the right of individuals/companies to ask for coverage but not to the point of going overboard. The passion and enthusiasm of our fans is admirable and heartwarming but it did apparently cross the line. For that, I again offer my apologies. I am also overwhelmed by the dedication and effort made by some fans to help get our Kickstarter additional attention and for that they do have my thanks and gratitude.

Second, Amazon Payments' server farm that Kickstarter relies on decided to, like my MacBook yesterday, lose its mind. During one of our busiest times and best runs of this campaign, the vast majority of backers weren't able to pledge for our, or any other, game on Kickstarter. While they finally did come back online, it did set our campaign back a bit. I've been in touch with both Kickstarter and Amazon (as I suspect every other KS did) and we'll see if this leads anywhere. While we will make it, the loss of those four hours and possible additional momentum (we had a promotion with XFire kicking off at the same time) hurts a bit, especially with the KS stretch goals.

All that being said, the day ended well as our pledge totals starting rising again.

Finally, it's fun time. In the video you'll see the first of our concepts and models for both an Arthurian bard-like character and well, something completely different. I hope you enjoy both!

[Talolan]

Update 42

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 successful game-based Kickstarters during their last 24 hours. If you know someone is still sitting on that fence, see if you can convince them that this side is so much more fun! Let them know that they can join us as we work together to create the next great RvR MMORPG.

Video is the requisite thank yous, etc. Update contains some concept art.

[Talolan]

Update 43 was the live stream, so I'm not posting it here.
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Stretch goal #1 has been met.
-An Archer class is confirmed, and each faction is getting a 4th race.

[Talolan]

With a combined $2,200,000 between the Kickstarter and the new PayPal account, all reward tiers now receive an extra 10% founders points.

[Talolan]

With a combined $2,250,000 between the Kickstarter and the PayPal account, the online Herald/Armory for CU is now confirmed.

[Talolan]

The Kickstarter is over. CU is the 6th highest $ video game project of Kickstarter.

The PayPal donations will run for 30 days as well (mainly for people in Europe who didn't want to use Amazon Payments).