The MMORPG Crowfall mostly operates under the radar. News and announcements rarely manage to reach players looking for a new MMORPG. Nevertheless, Crowfall promises to be the next big hit. But how?
Crowfall has evolved from a small project by renowned developers into a much larger endeavor over time. Although development is progressing slowly, Crowfall has good prerequisites to become very big.
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Crowfall solves the problem of MMORPGs
Again and again, MMORPGs have tried to become “the next big game” or “the next WoW killer” in recent years. Some of them have suffered a fate like WildStar, which now faces its end.
Crowfall aims to avoid such a future through its unusual approach.
What problem do MMORPGs have?
The biggest problem with MMORPGs is that players must invest a lot of time to progress. Even if players have not played for a while, much can have changed in the MMORPG.
It is hardly possible to invest just a few hours in an MMORPG and then leave it for a few days or weeks. Progress is therefore hardly made or not at all. Players need time to catch up on everything they have missed.
That’s why time is a problem: MMORPGs struggle to fit into today’s lifestyle. Everything tends to cater to “short gaming sessions”. Other game genres like MOBAs or Battle Royale focus precisely on that. MMORPGs are at a disadvantage.
Market leaders like WoW still manage to hold on due to their sheer mass of players:
- There is still interest in MMORPGs.
- There seems to be merely a lack of playable alternatives.
Crowfall does many things differently than the MMORPGs currently available on the market. What it does differently is precisely what the genre may lack to help it gain more popularity.
Crowfall’s solution
Crowfall relies on numerous small events that continuously change gameplay and provide new, quick challenges. This allows players to jump back in even after a break.
There is also a kind of “meta-plot”, a progression driven by smaller events that represents long-term motivation. This addresses two types of players simultaneously:
- Hardcore players have the opportunity to keep expanding their kingdom.
- Casual players can join and leave through campaigns and still experience the entire game as vassals.
Crowfall captures the current zeitgeist better: This event structure could resolve a problem that many MMORPGs have: they are not suitable for being watched. Crowfall does it differently. According to the developers, Crowfall plays “like a season of Game of Thrones”.
This also eliminates the issue of time. Because the campaigns are constantly changing, and players can enjoy themselves as vassals of hardcore players, not as much time needs to be invested to achieve success.
Exactly this episodic structure could give the game high viewer value. Because something is always happening in Crowfall, it could achieve significantly more success on Twitch than its “big brother” WoW.
This is what Crowfall does differently
Crowfall has a different approach as an MMORPG than most other games in the genre. Although there are classic systems like Classes and Races, the process differs from that of MMORPG giants like WoW.
Kingdoms
The world of Crowfall is in constant flux. The core features of the game are Player Kingdoms. You have the opportunity to build your own realm, your “Eternal Kingdom”.
In your kingdom, which consists of plots, you can build and expand various buildings. You can buy land to enlarge your kingdom and position it as cleverly as possible to avoid wasting space.
To grow, your kingdom needs resources that you must continually gather. To avoid hitting your limits eventually, you can manage kingdoms together with other players.
Crowfall offers a Vassal System within the kingdoms. Invite friends to support you and build your own hierarchy where you can determine who has what rights in your kingdom.
Campaigns
Campaigns are your main source of resources. Campaigns are separate, closed worlds. They are subject to their own rules. Up to 1000 players can fight for resources simultaneously here.
Campaigns are time-limited worlds. They go through seasons, during which resources become increasingly scarce, and the environment becomes harsher. At the end, the world dies, and the campaign is over.
Seasons impact the area. In spring and summer, you have easier access to resources. In autumn and winter, it becomes increasingly difficult to find anything useful.
The seasons also offer seasonal events that affect gameplay. Thunderstorms increase lightning damage taken; snowstorms make players more susceptible to cold. Seasons also impact the day-night cycle.
The “Hunger” – Winter is coming
While you are in a campaign, the “Hunger” takes hold. The Hunger is a form of plague or disease. It afflicts areas.
Areas affected by Hunger are engulfed in winter.
Resources in the area of Hunger are frozen and inaccessible. Monsters and opponents are stronger due to their contamination and pose greater dangers. Even peaceful animals turn into beasts at night during Hunger – but can be killed in daylight.
By destroying the plague sources of hunger, you can liberate an area again. However, this doesn’t work in the long run. Hunger spreads faster than you can stop it, and soon the world will be lost to it.
A PvP MMORPG with some PvE content
Through campaigns and the own kingdoms, Crowfall places a strong focus on PvP. Players fight each other to expand their own kingdom and become stronger.
Thus, there are relatively few PvE contents. Raids and dungeons, as are standard in most MMORPGs, have no place in Crowfall. The PvE is limited to the open world.
In campaigns, you will repeatedly encounter groups of monsters and enemies that can occupy areas. They claim a part of the world and pose a permanent threat there.
These monster groups can also roam freely through the world, like packs of wolves or hordes of centaurs. Larger groups may also contain boss monsters that you can fight. However, you are constantly at risk of being ambushed by other players.
Crowfall has a promising development
Crowfall has been in development for many years. As early as 2015, we reported on the new MMO, which “wants to revolutionize the genre”. Back then, Crowfall was a small indie project aiming to raise 800,000 dollars for a kickstart.
The developers of the game are legends of the MMORPG genre. The studio ArtCraft was founded by J. Todd Coleman (Shadowbane, Wizard 101) and among others by Gordon Walton (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, SWTOR).
Crowfall quickly became a beacon of hope for MMORPG fans and raised 1.7 million dollars with over 17,000 supporters by the end of the backing. Later, the crowdfunding amount even grew to 3 million.
The studio did not stop here. Over time, ArtCraft has found more and more backers, partners, and investors, increasing the budget to over 20 million dollars. Crowfall is thus one of the largest crowdfunding MMORPGs of all time.
A proprietary engine just for the game
The studio has developed its own engine for the creation of Crowfall: the Artisan Engine. The development tool is intended to be a kind of kit for creating characters, equipment, monsters, and other MMORPG-typical content.
With its own engine, Crowfall should be better supported, developed, and further developed:
The Artisan Engine includes a down-to-earth feature set that can master the entire spectrum of challenges that arise when a world needs to support thousands of players simultaneously. – Crowfall press release
ArtCraft has already started selling licenses for the engine. The revenue from these sales will likely benefit the development of Crowfall.
Players have great interest
Crowfall relies heavily on the help of players and backers during development. Those who financially support the game gain access to testing at a certain value and can help shape and improve Crowfall.
The influx of players was sometimes so great that Crowfall briefly hit its technical limitations that the studio had previously implemented.
According to the developers, players are an important aspect of the creation of Crowfall. The constant communication and close collaboration with testers allows them to become an “extension of the development team”.
The more players play and the sooner they are involved, the more they understand the development process, it says. Their feedback helps developers make Crowfall the game players want.
Crowfall sounds like a promising game. But is Crowfall an MMORPG for you? – EVE Online meets Game of Thrones.
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