2025: Return Announcement

A Message from the Age of Aincrad Team

We are grateful to welcome you to this detailed update, where we share our return to social media and reflect on the progress of Age of Aincrad over the last few years.

For those who are new, we are a small but dedicated team working on an ambitious MMORPG project. Development began from scratch once our team fully took over in mid-2019 and has continued steadily ever since. Currently, the game is in the alpha stage, accessible to our internal testers and Patrons.

The name Age of Aincrad carries a decade of history, having passed through many hands before finding its way to us. We are honored to continue its legacy and are fully committed to creating a truly meaningful experience for our players.

Development Status

Over the past years, we have poured our time, effort, and resources into Age of Aincrad. What began as a simple prototype of players exploring an empty map has grown into a functioning online experience.

Our progress has been significant:

• Since 2019, the game has been rebuilt from the ground up.
• None of the content you may have seen from earlier stages exists today - as it was unmaintainable.
• Despite our small team of three full-time developers and a group of volunteers, we have worked tirelessly to push forward.

We remain a volunteer-based project, funded largely by donations from our community on Patreon, as well as personal contributions from the team. These funds help cover essential costs like servers, licenses, and occasional legal fees. This is, above all, a labor of passion and dedication and will remain as such.

If you are primarily interested in development related updates, please read our public progress update here: December 2024: Public Development Summary

Our Approach to Development

Developing an MMORPG in our free time has been challenging, but we wanted to create as much as possible ourselves. While many projects rely heavily on pre-made assets, we strive to avoid this wherever possible. The integrity of our work is important to us, and we hope to create a world that feels truly unique.

Of course, building everything from scratch is not feasible with our time and team size, so we occasionally use placeholders or outsource specific elements like animations and music to avoid bottlenecking progress. Our long-term goal is to phase out all placeholders and create a world that feels entirely our own.

The Silence

We understand that our lack of updates over the years may have been disappointing. Managing development while keeping up with social media proved to be a significant challenge for our small team, especially without a dedicated community manager.

More than that, we wanted to ensure we had something meaningful to share. Posting frequent updates without substantial progress felt disingenuous. Instead, we chose to remain silent until the project reached a stable stage of development.

This decision was not made lightly. We understand how frustrating it can be to see screenshots with no real gameplay footage, and we share in that frustration. For almost five years, we focused solely on development, staying away from distractions to bring Age of Aincrad closer to our vision.

The Path Ahead

We invite you to view our roadmap for 2025, which outlines the milestones we have achieved and our plans for the future. This roadmap will be updated regularly to keep you informed of our progress - some initial plans for 2025 have already been laid out and there is more to come.

Currently, our primary focus is completing the first-floor experience, including the main storyline and floor boss. Age of Aincrad already features many core MMORPG systems such as combat, party mechanics, dungeons, NPCs, quests, leveling, and mounts. However, there is still much to do.

Our ultimate goal is to secure funding that will allow us to dedicate ourselves full-time to development and expand our team with experienced
developers. We believe in taking the time necessary to create something truly special and will not compromise our vision for the sake of speed or external pressure.

Game Testing Opportunities

If you are interested in testing the game, there are two ways to get involved:

• Become a Patron – Supporting us through Patreon at the mid or higher tier gives you access to periodic testing opportunities.
• Engage with Our Community – Active members of our community may also be invited to join the testing process.

Testing can be a demanding and repetitive process, with frequent progress resets and significant changes from test to test. However, it is essential for improving the game, and we deeply value the feedback we receive from our testers.

For those who are serious about testing, you can apply for a tester position on our website. Applications will be reviewed based on several criteria and in the order they are received.

A Gift for the Community

As a thank-you for your patience and support, we are happy to share two gifts with you.

• Single Player Demo

A single-player showcase demo of our game world is currently in development, and should be available for everyone to download and explore on the 5th January of 2025. Unfortunately, we cannot provide an online experience for everyone due to licensing restrictions and the high costs of running high-capacity servers, which we currently cannot afford. While it’s not an MMORPG experience, we hope it offers a glimpse into the world we are creating.

As soon as it is ready, we will publish information on all our social media and the website with download links.

• 2024 Yearly Gameplay Update

With the help of our Patrons and testers, we have prepared an update video showing some of the world and areas in the game. There will be more detailed video updates coming in 2025.

Age of Aincrad: End of Year Update (2024)

Join Our Journey

If you are passionate about game development, we are looking for new team members. While we cannot provide full training, we are happy to help refine your skills and offer a unique opportunity to build your portfolio.

We are currently seeking:

• Composers
• Sound designers
• Quest writers
• 3D artists
• Level designers
• 3D animators
• Q&A Testers

If you happen to be interested, please apply here: Apply

Stay Connected

Here are our primary media sites for news & updates:

• Official Website: Age of Aincrad
• Facebook: Fanpage
• Twitter / X: @aoa_mmorpg
• TikTok: @ageofaincrad

If you have any questions you’d like to ask, send us an inquiry or ask us directly on our Discord:

• Contact: Contact Us
• Discord: Join Discord

Supporting Us

Our most in-depth updates get released on Patreon. If you like what you see and would like to become a part of this journey, you can do so here:

• Patreon: Support Us

A Heartfelt Thank You

To everyone who has supported us over the years despite our obstinate silence, thank you. Your patience and encouragement have made this journey possible. Without you, Age of Aincrad would not exist in its current form.

As we take a brief moment of rest to recharge, we look forward to continuing this adventure together in 2025. Our goal remains the same: to create a game worthy of your time and support.

Thank you for believing in us and we wish you all a wonderful New Year.

With gratitude,
The Age of Aincrad Team