8th January 2025
This post explores the history of MegaPlanet, from its conception to where we are in 2025!
March 2019 – The Dream
Before March 2019, the project was something we had tried to get off the ground a number of times with a number of developers. However, none of these attempts actually materialised. Finally, in March of 2019, production of MegaPlanet began with 4 people. 1 2D Artist, 1 Web Dev, 1 Game Dev, and 1 Researcher. We got pretty excited, releasing screenshots and videos and declaring our intentions to the world. Project MegaPlanet was born!
May 2019 – Pre-Order Demo Release
We release a very early stage Pre-Order Demo of the game. The sales profits from which would go on to fund the freelancing of 3D furniture items. Despite the extremely basic nature of this Demo, our loyal community received it with excitement and warmth!
July 2019 – Inside Access Version 1
We launched what would be the first version of Inside Access. A monthly subscription service that would allow you to become a bug tester of MegaPlanet and give you both credits & gold loaded into your full game account for every month that you where subscribed!
April 2020 – Us against the world
During the height of the pandemic, our Game Developer left the project due to personal commitments, and demanded £50,000 for the source code to what was at the time, a very early stage prototype of a game. Whilst we searched for a new developer, the project was seemingly finished.
May 2020 – Community Heartbreak
With the project coming to a screeching halt, our community started to doubt our integrity and intension. We where branded liars and scammers after a failed crowd-funding campaign as an attempt to pay for a developer.
Christmas Day 2021 – Renegotiation
On Christmas Day of 2021 we entered into another negotiation with our original developer. Now with a lowered price of 10k, we where still too far apart on what we saw as a reasonable price that could be potentially crowd-funded.
January 2022 – A new hope
Yes that was a Star Wars reference. Having tried for almost 2 years to find a developer, we decided our best bet, was to bet on ourselves. And so, we began to learn to code. Prototype 2.0 was born, and quickly began to surpass the quality and development rate of the original Prototype Demo. Not all, but a large number of our community returned to lift us up and support our new found hope!
August 2022 – A New Vision
Whilst the new demo was progressing well, we where still novices in the programming and game development world. So, in August of 2022 when we where approached by 3 aspiring friends looking to breakout into the game development world, we made the decision to start over. Moving to a new and more advanced game engine with our 2 new developers and 1 new UI expert onboard, we where back to square one in the hope that our new fire-power would help us to quickly catch up and surpass the progress of the prototype 2.0
Christmas 2022 – The 2nd Demo
Although we had began programming MegaPlanet in a new game engine, we didn't want the last 12 months to be in vain. So 1 member of our team continue to work on the prototype 2.0, with the plan to release it for Christmas of 2022. The launch of the 2nd Demo game was a huge success and extremely popular with the MegaPlanet community. Due to its success, we decided we would continue to release small updates the now 2nd fiddle game as a way to keep our loyal followers entertained whilst we worked on the full, new engine MegaPlanet.
May 2023 – Changing Direction
Our new team had ambitions far beyond a nostalgic virtual world game, as they set out ambitions to target a more modern competition. Introducing a new, vector based and animation rigged version of the MegaPlanet character. Our community where disappointed at this new direction, and expressed concern that MegaPlanet was moving further and further away from the virtual world that was promised to them back in 2019. Although on the surface this was a small issue, behind the scenes, it was just the beginning of a number of creative differences within the team.
September 2023 – End of the line
With professional differences multiplying within the team, in September 2023, our UI expert and 2 Developers decided to step away from the project. This marked the end of what had been to date, our best shot at success.
October 2023 – From the ashes
After a few weeks of contemplating, the remaining members of our team came to the decision to once again, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start again. This was no easy decision having once again fallen short. However, this time felt different. Although the drivers of the “New Vision” had left the project, during their time involved they had installed a new culture within the team. One where we treated the project with the respect and integrity it deserved. No longer “winging it”, and instead working within well structure processes and ways of working which laid the foundations for what was to come. With new methods of recruitment, we where able to build our biggest, most skilled team yet, with in-house artists, composers, designers and developers. We where even able to begin training aspiring developers, marking the beginning of our programmer development program.
December 2023 – Discord do-over
Now that we where back on the horse, we decided to lay the groundwork for a close-knit community to thrive, by revamping our discord server. Over the next 12 months this discord server would grow into a central hub of news, discussion, feedback and friendship with our wonderful community members!
March 2024 – 10 year teaser
One the 10 year anniversary of the closure of a virtual world that played an enormous part in the inspiration of MegaPlanet, we announced that we would aim to finally release MegaPlanet in the Winter Season of 2024. This season spans from Sat, 21 Dec 2024 – Thu, 20 Mar 2025.
March 2025 – A fairytale target
With Winter 2024 coming to a close in March of 2025, we are slightly behind schedule. With the cruel and ever changing nature of voluntary project work, our predictions for a possible completion date have taken a hit over the later months of 2024, but we are still working hard to try to achieve a fairytale release date, 11 years after our community lost their first virtual home.