Camelot Unchained, the new effort from online game creator Mark Jacobs and his City State Entertainment startup, has entered its alpha testing.
Jacobs is the former head of Mythic Entertainment, which published the massively multiplayer online game Dark Age of Camelot in 2001. Electronic Arts bought Mythic Entertainment in 2006, but Jacobs left in 2009 and EA eventually shut down all of Mythic’s games. Camelot Unchained is a spiritual successor to Dark Age of Camelot, and it has raised more than $3.2 million via crowdfunding and Jacobs’ own investment.
City State Entertainment said it has begun the Alpha One testing stage for its Tri-Realm MMORPG Camelot Unchained. The C.U.B.E. (Camelot Unchained Building Environment), the game’s unique standalone building module, is included in the alpha test. It enables participants to exercise their creativity to design and erect a wide range of their own structures, even when the test server is not running.
“The entire team is very excited about starting this test,” said Jacobs in a statement. “Our development plan was to start by building a solid foundation of technology. Having done so, we’re now ready to increase our focus on gameplay and the three Cs, combat, crafting and C.U.B.E.”
Jacobs founded City State Entertainment with Andrew Meggs in 2011 in Fairfax, Va. More than 8,000 backers are expected to help with the testing.
“When Mark asked me whether we could make the kind of MMORPG we both wanted to make, I said we’d need to move the boundaries of both rendering and networking technology for that to happen,” said Meggs in a statement. “Building this is a chance to do some truly exciting work, and our Backers have given us the time and funding to do just that. The response we have gotten so far has made all the work that the engineering team and I have done very gratifying.”