Monsters & Memories Reveals Full Cost Breakdown of Development So Far, and Future Plans | MMORPG.com

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Monsters & Memories Reveals Full Cost Breakdown of Development So Far, and Future Plans | MMORPG.com

The Monsters & Memories team commits to transparency with dev progress update and by releasing a complete breakdown of what they've spent to develop the game so far.

Read the full story here

DigDuggy

Unusual and I'm not sure it's a good idea, tbh. Transparency is good, but they are gonna be inundated by people telling them how stopid they are for spending 40 on this or 70 on that.

Slapshot1188

That's the Saga of Lucimia model of sweat equity. Exactly how a project like this should be run. Not "CEOs" paying themselves C-Suite salaries from Crowdfunding while leisurely burning piles of cash because it's not theirs.

Raagnarz

I have been following this and a big fan of the dev team for awhile. The fact that they have planned all this out to this degree is a breathe of fresh air. No box price??? How awesome is that. I have no problem and prefer paying subs to games rather than buying garbage piece by piece. This will be a niche game but the second I can support them I will. They've given a big middle finger to a lot of other games on the market and are very realistic about what they are and what they want to be. This game won't be for everyone, we all know it and best thing is that so do the dev's and they're pricing accordingly. The fact that they have their pre-release and launch plans already set in stone so early is refreshing and transparent. I applaud them. And I've played the game, it is a rough skeleton currently, but it's improved and gotten closer to OG EQ every play test they do.

Unintended

If you told me it was made by a bunch of twenty year old modders that are making their passion project, I'd have faith in it. This is because it would cost them nothing to do, they have nothing to lose and would dedicate their entire life to it. This is how all the mods used to be made, why they became successful and they gained success on the back of it. However because they are already worrying about money, I see it will fail like all the others. They'll probably start pandering and dumbing it down to try and bring in an audience to pay their wages. Which I cannot blame them because I bet the audience willing to pay for this is less than ten thousand. You only have to look at the free Project 1999 and how few players it has to realise no one cares about EverQuest. Every project trying to recreate it has failed and why it really should only be made for free as a passion project.

Politicaldad

I've been following the game, watching the individual twitch streams as they build it.
I like the process in between tests and the interaction with the folks in the chat.
Is it "next gen" "cutting edge" "break through graphics" .... no ,is it their "passion project" ... yes .. is it going to be something I play and sub to .... yes, until it's wheels fall off.
Why ... I am old and have disposable income.. Yeah Me !!!!!!
They post/host twitch streams throughout the week or every other week (ish) so you can watch the progress of their game ..... or watch them play other games and or host a round table with other developers while they talk about the other games that are being made.
I like the 'community' feel of the process, more of 'talking to you' rather than 'talking at you'
Also ... Goblin Enchanter for life !!!!!!!

Below are 4 of the 6 that I follow, the other two are in the chats more than posting
On Twitch ; zukansculpts : padastheranger : thegoblinworks : alovingrobot :
Fun Fun as I play other things while waiting for the next play test

dragonusmc0351

Terazon

Based on what they have spent...it looks like the amount they spent.
A shame they have no budget for this.

cheyane

Unintended said:

If you told me it was made by a bunch of twenty year old modders that are making their passion project, I'd have faith in it. This is because it would cost them nothing to do, they have nothing to lose and would dedicate their entire life to it. This is how all the mods used to be made, why they became successful and they gained success on the back of it. However because they are already worrying about money, I see it will fail like all the others. They'll probably start pandering and dumbing it down to try and bring in an audience to pay their wages. Which I cannot blame them because I bet the audience willing to pay for this is less than ten thousand. You only have to look at the free Project 1999 and how few players it has to realise no one cares about EverQuest. Every project trying to recreate it has failed and why it really should only be made for free as a passion project.

It's not true that no one cares for Everquest. You're taking Project 99 as evidence but you forgot to mention that much of the disillusionment comes from the end game. Many people simply cannot have access to it due to how certain guilds have it locked down. Powerful guilds because of the open nature of the dungeons , planes and encounters make it impossible for smaller guilds to access that content. 

This is perhaps the singular most frustrating thing for a high level player to accept and they often quit in disgust. The fights between the guilds are well known and it can only be solved by opening more servers further splitting the fragile population.

Surprisingly however the live version of Everquest makes more money then Everquest 2 for Daybreak games. It's still making a profit. 

Monsters and Memories does not have to make a boatload of money and seeing that this developer has a team of volunteers and are using their own money. If they end up making a game that is moderately profitable it would be more than enough for them. It does not have to make a lot of money for it to be a success. 

The constant strive for huge figures is what has driven the current abysmal state of quality that dominates our games. Profit before quality and content... spit on it.