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Lance Multiplayer Demo, Funding Still Needed
9:06 AM | Michael Eilers | Comment on this story
Some time ago we brought you the news that long-promised shareware RPG Lance had stalled due to lack of funding. The author, Ryan Joseph, came up with a novel method of both funding his software and testing the progress of its development at the same time -- beta testers would essentially "subscribe" and thus help fund the game they were testing. Now a multiplayer version of this game is available as a small demo download, to give a preview of what might be possible in the future if sufficient funding is found to complete the project. The author has also made a free demo available for those unwilling to subscribe; its only limitation is that you are not able to save your progress.
The game itself will be an online RPG with a strong sense of community, literally a user-created world. The real-time combat engine will support player-vs-player combat as well as wandering monsters, and will support at some point 14 character classes from which to choose.
In addition to the multiplayer-enabled demo, the author has also decided to be flexible about "subscriptions" to the software for those that want to participate in the testing and creation of this game. Here is an excerpt from the e-mail message:
In case you were not aware I have got around to making the multi-player
demo. The current version 1.005 is still fairly buggy but getting much
better with every week. The demo is fully functional (In fact it's the same
package the paying customers get) except you will not be allowed to save
your game. Visit the demo page at http://www.alchemistguild.com/Lance/
for the full details.
On a more important note I'm still looking for additional subscribers to get
this project off the ground so the real fun can begin! If you did not know
Lance is what you would call an independent project, i.e. there are few team
members and we do this all in our spare time. Because Lance has no fundings
I am reaching out to the community for support. If you are interested in
supporting this unique venture into online role playing please read on.
Jumping right into it the problem seems to be that $9/month is too much to
ask for development quality software. I know that some of you have enough
money around to afford such a fee but many of you don't so I'm trying
to make a stretch to help those of you in need as I *fully* understand.
Joseph goes on to state that he is willing to cut the subscription fee in half or waive the initial $30 cost for subscribers if testers feel they can't afford the current level. Drop by the Lance page for the demo download and more details on this RPG and The Alchemist Guild's other projects.
 Lance Available for Order
 Lance Web Site
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