Another one bites the dust: DungeonRunners

[SunnyD]

Not a huge loss, but still it was an interesting spin on a Diablo-esque/Guildwars-esque game.

I suppose Torchlight will be taking its place.

Dungeon Runners is Shutting Down
September 16, 2009

Yes, that's right. Dungeon Runners is shutting down on January 1, 2010. The full scoop follows.

Dear Dungeon Runner,

Have you ever had to give bad news to someone before? Sure you have! I've found that the best way to give bad news is to make a "crap sandwich" out of it. You know... you say something nice, drop the bad news bomb, then say something else nice. Sound like fun? Let's do it then!

First, something nice! I've really enjoyed working on Dungeon Runners for the past three years. I've come to know many of you personally and have, without a doubt, had the best time in my nearly 20 year game development career working and playing with you guys! You are dedicated, passionate players that have really helped us to make Dungeon Runners what it is today. Awesome players for an awesome game! Kudos!

Now, it's time for the bad news. Dungeon Runners just isn't cutting the mustard. If she were a ship, she'd be taking on water. Yeah, she's been taking on water for a long time now. Are my cryptic references too hard to decipher? The game just isn't profitable. And, the first rule of business is to be profitable! Man, I must have missed that day in business school... but I digress.

We've been trying to figure out how to fix things for some time now. And, that's where things get sticky. We've got some ideas that could work. But, they're expensive to implement and pretty risky. Those two facts, coupled with the recent loss of some key developers, make achieving the success we seek pretty much out of the question.

As things stand now, we're a three man team. Yeah, we lost two of our five man team recently. Not nearly enough manpower to get where we need to be. Rebuilding the team isn't really an option for various reasons. So, where does that leave us? Can you guess? Yes, that's right, we're going to be shutting Dungeon Runners down at the end of 2009. New Year's Eve to be exact.

Okay, now that the bad news is out of the way, let's get some more good news to make the sandwich complete. NCsoft has worked with us on a plan to compensate Dungeon Runners players. I think we've come up with a nice package for all players with paid memberships as of today (9/16/2009). You'll be getting a 30 day game time serial code and digital copies of City of Heroes Architect Edition and Guild Wars Prophecies. FREE games FTW! I know, it's not Dungeon Runners... but it's still frigging nice! Of course, any of you guys that need refunds for multiple-month membership purchases will be taken care of. And, as always, our helpful support staff will be available to help you with any issues you have.

Wait, there's even more good news! While we may be going out, we're going out in style, with a few changes to the game for the coming "End Time". Mythic loot will drop much more frequently. We're significantly reducing the cost of expensive King's Coin vendors. We're also quintupling the rate of XP gain to help you finish the game before year's end! Finally, we're adding a huge nuke to Townston that will blow up on New Year's and take the game down with it. There's more, but what fun is there in spilling all the beans? Oh, its gonna be a fun time till the end of the year! Loot finding, leveling madness. I may finally make it to level 100 myself now...

So, try not to be sad. It may be the end of Dungeon Runners, but it's not the end of the world! I'll still be working on the game until the very end. We can chat, reminisce and play DR until the lights go out.

See you in the game!

Stephen Nichols
DR's Producer & Lead Programmer

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

They should release some sort of dedicated server app for the game, so that people could host games for it even after they shut down.

Of course, someone says that everytime an MMO shuts down, and it never happens sadly.

Ahh well, sad nonetheless. It's a cool Diablo-ish MMO clone and should have done better than it did.

 

[Juddog]

Originally posted by: Krakn3Dfx
They should release some sort of dedicated server app for the game, so that people could host games for it even after they shut down.

Of course, someone says that everytime an MMO shuts down, and it never happens sadly.

Ahh well, sad nonetheless. It's a cool Diablo-ish MMO clone and should have done better than it did.

^^ I wish all MMO's did this. Allow a small server with limited connects to be available so you can play with your friends, I wouldn't mind paying a few extra bucks for a server client (for example charge the equivalent cost of a new game, say $50). If I could have an old Everquest server, a WoW server, and a UO server I could use all those old disks I have collecting dust (I have 4 sets of everquest CD's for example, 3 full sets of WoW DVDs).

I used to love to multibox, but unfortunately it drains on the wallet. Emu servers as they are now are a bit of a pain to mess with, and you have to be patched just right in order to play on them half the time, then when you finally get on they don't offer as good an experience.

WoW would be fun if you could just log on with a handful of friends without a monthly sub cost and just do dungeon runs, or do a 5 man group into a raid level dungeon with custom crazy equipment, etc.. I would gladly pay money for a server client to be able to do that.

 

[Pelu]

I wish all MMO put a big announcement about their closure... specially WoW....

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Pelu
I wish all MMO put a big announcement about their closure... specially WoW....

Normally they do... when they close. Unless that's your point. :roll:

 

[Nohr]

That's sad. It had a good sense of humor and a nice price point of $5 a month for a full membership. I had a feather duster as a weapon at one point. I also remember having an item that made your character physically larger by a certain percentage. Felt like a giant with that.

 

[quackerww]

I liked the game... Shame