MMOs follow a different development pattern than normal (offline) games. For offline games, the development stages are Design -> Alpha Testing (creating your systems and features) -> Beta Testing (Testing your features publicly, or privately) -> Release. I am pretty sure Funding is a step in there somewhere. After all of the above, there will be patches to fix bugs until the game is solid enough to be called complete. After all of that, there might be some DLCs/Expansions to add brand new chunks content to the game but NOT to complete the initial game.

If you are a bad publisher/developer, you will release partial games for a price and release the rest of the core game as “expansions” and “DLCs” to get more money out of your player base. That is evil in all sorts of ways, but I digress.

Now there is something called, Early Access. Some places charges you, others do not. Either way, you are the tester for the company. They should be paying you, not the other way around. Or at least be free during that phase. This could be alpha testing. This could be beta testing. Who knows.

MMOs… are a bit different. They are constantly in development there is no end. Although, some devs get fed up and create a new engine for a version “2.0” instead of upgrading engines in place.. hmmm.. Even though the main stages are the same… normally, after release, the cycle starts again on a chunk of new content. And, ethically and morally, if the chunk of content is big enough, it can warrant charging for it. (( -ahem- unlike Warcraft and Guild Wars 2’s last 2 “Expansions”. ))

Some free MMOs make their money from Microtransactions. Whether they are pay-2-win or glamour/mogs, money is needed to keep the servers up, staff paid, and shareholders happy.

Other MMOs, like mine, are passion projects. Zero microtransactions of any kind. Just play and grind.. play and grind. The upkeep costs are all paid out of pocket (and by donations). And the development progress is often slow as time is valuable and FREE doesn’t pay the bills. The process for mine is to constantly churn features until I am happy where they are at, and content… until I die. (fun, eh?)

My platform release path is as follows (all 64bit):

  1. itch.io / Windows
  2. steam / Windows
  3. steam / Steam Machine OR Steam Deck
  4. steam / (opposite of #3)
  5. itch.io AND steam / OSX (Macintosh)
  6. itch.io OR google play / Android (tablet/phone)
  7. Apple / IOS (iPad / iPhone)

Number 7 is my lucky number, and I love Apple devices, so that should be either lots of fun or total hell. I wonder how many shots were fired in that rant of mine above? Ah well…