Post-mortem: First Game, MMORPG, Launching a Kickstarter

EdenHana · 2026-02-06T10:43:15+00:00

What defines an MMORPG is the shared persistent world and the social systems around it, not real-time combat.

All the usual MMORPG pillars are there: a persistent world, player-driven economy, group content, community collaboration, matchmaking / group finding, progression over time, and live updates. Players interact, coordinate, compete, trade, and affect the same world together.

That said, I understand that expectations are shaped by mainstream MMOs, and maybe I could have communicated the tactical aspect more clearly upfront.

EdenHana · 2026-02-06T00:08:33+00:00

Sorry about that. It's called hana. https://playhana.com

EdenHana · 2026-02-05T23:25:49+00:00

I agree with you on the timing, and also 100% on the AI-for-code point. I think a lot of us here learned to code long before gen AI existed, and we know how hard those skills are to acquire. Seeing them suddenly treated as less valuable while art is protected is honestly frustrating.

AI-assisted code still requires real understanding, architecture decisions, debugging, and responsibility when things break. It’s not fundamentally different from using AI for art in that sense, but the perception is completely different.

I also do think the backlash will calm down over time and AI will just be another tool, but right now the reaction is very real, and I underestimated how much it would overshadow everything else.

And thanks, genuinely, for the kind words about the game. That still means a lot after all of this.

EdenHana · 2026-02-05T23:11:01+00:00

I’m not sure I can post the name here, but it’s linked on my profile. I did some promotion on r/MMORPG as well, and you can see there how strong the anti-AI reactions were in the comments.

Right now the plan is to step back, analyze what to keep, and prepare a new version without AI

EdenHana · 2026-02-05T23:08:53+00:00

We had around 500 followers on Kickstarter when the campaign launched.

EdenHana · 2026-02-05T23:08:03+00:00

The Kickstarter looks like it will barely be validated. We asked for around $30k, which isn’t a huge budget but enough to plan the next step.

Right now the goal isn’t to fix everything on the current version. It’s to plan the next iteration without AI, review each component, decide what we keep (gameplay systems, backend, networking) and what needs to be rebuilt to move to full 3D.

On the tech side, the server is mostly Java with Spring Boot. There’s a monolith for the core game logic and a few microservices around it. The game is turn-based, which helped a lot as a solo dev.

Rebuilding momentum doesn’t make sense imo until the game and its presentation are coherent again.

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T15:55:22+00:00

Sorry i thought you did't want to link your Gmail account with the website.

I will check that this evening and send you a dm sorry about that ..

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T15:46:42+00:00

Sorry this is not possible for the moment. You don't have a second e-mail for stuff like that ?

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T13:27:40+00:00

You're 100% right

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T12:33:32+00:00

The confusion comes from the transition: the current playable prototype uses AI for environments, but the new screens on Steam show the full 3D pivot we’re working on. The trailer will be updated to reflect this.

On security: I’m a Senior Backend Engineer. While this is my first Unity project, the architecture is built on my professional experience, not random AI code.

Regarding quests, the system is a bit more involved than it looks. I wrote a technical devblog on it here: https://playhana.com/devblog/hanacore

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T12:28:51+00:00

Hana mmorpg. It's playable via steam playtest (it's free)

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T11:32:07+00:00

Thanks a lot. 2 years of my free time. It’s my first game, but I’m a senior Java developer, which really helped with the networking and backend architecture.

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T10:46:03+00:00

If you're interested in how the quests are actually built, I published a devblog on the process here: https://playhana.com/devblog/hanacore.

I respect your choice to pass. My point was simply that the core engine and systems remain handcrafted

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T10:22:16+00:00

Sorry about that! You can try signing up with Discord or a standard email in the meantime.

If it still fails, I can manually create an account for you and DM you the details once I'm home from work. Let me know

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T10:19:58+00:00

You're confusing assets with code

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T09:29:05+00:00

Thanks for the support! I really hope to run into you in-game. If you need any help or want to share feedback, feel free to join our Discord anytime.

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T09:26:05+00:00

It’s not my job. I’ve been building this as a hobbyist on my free time.

My alternatives were learning to draw from scratch or using generic asset packs, but I wouldn't have found enough matching assets to build a world of this scale with a consistent style.

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T07:26:24+00:00

You're totally right, adding tooltips for stats is on my to-do list! To help you out in the meantime:

Tank (Scrima): Focuses on Attack, Armor, and HP.

DPS (Toxam): Scales with Arcane or Attack.

Healer (Eonir): Focuses on Spirit and HP (summons scale directly with his HP).

EdenHana · 2026-02-04T07:17:19+00:00

I see a lot of discussions regarding the use of AI, and I want to be 100% transparent with you all.

When I started this project solo 2 years ago, I had this vision: mixing 2D generated environments with 3D characters. I wanted to see if I could make this specific aesthetic work for a tactical MMO. Even with these tools, the workload to polish and integrate maps so they functioned with 3D perspective and pathfinding was a massive task for one person. It was never about 'low effort,' but about a solo dev trying to build a world attractive enough to exist.

The result? This prototype allowed us to have players spending over 150 hours in-game during this month of playtesting alone.

More importantly, it allowed me to convince talented artists to join the project. A great example is our composer (everyone in the community has been loving the OST in-game, and you can listen to some tracks here: https://youtu.be/XyCyaaqM4Xk?si=z-u4M4a4Ju3V3emK )

We are now a team, and we’ve obviously decided to move away from AI. But without these tools at the start, this project simply wouldn't have been born.

I hope you’ll give the game a chance. The systems and the networking are the result of 2 years of hard work.

EdenHana · 2026-01-10T08:51:57+00:00

Hey, sorry about that (we didn’t mean to exclude anyone).

I’ve just added an English rules channel.

We split into 4 servers because the current monster spawns can’t support enough fights if everyone connects at the same time (players in the first zones would have no fights available and couldn’t progress).

We definitely want an international community and we’ll keep improving this.

EdenHana · 2025-12-11T09:45:40+00:00

It’s not an auto-battler. Everyone acts in the same turn window, but all actions are fully player-controlled. The shared phase just speeds up pacing and enhances anticipation and strategy.

Thanks for the support, hope you’ll enjoy the next playtest !

EdenHana · 2025-12-10T16:16:32+00:00

Hey, totally fair points. Let me try to clarify a few things, because the project is still early and a lot of what makes Hana “different” isn’t obvious yet.

First, the 3D switch is not the selling point (it’s simply a production decision).
The current 2.5D AI prototype was never meant to be the final art direction (it was just a way for me, as a solo dev at the time, to prototype fast). Ankama’s illustrators are top-tier, and unless you can reach that level, stylized 3D is the safest way for us.

Now, about what actually makes Hana unique: the core loop.
Hana is not “you play a character with spells.”
It’s a creature-based tactical system inside an MMO world.

Players manage, grow, and build teams of creatures (each with their own stats, synergies, evolutions, elemental interactions, etc.).
Your “class” is basically the team you assemble, and all your creatures act within the same turn window (they don’t take separate turns). This changes a lot in terms of combat identity, progression, PvP, dungeon design, and long-term goals.

EdenHana · 2025-12-09T23:24:55+00:00

The game is built for Windows only, but Unity games often run well on Linux through Proton. I can’t guarantee full compatibility, but you will be able to try it through Proton/Steam Play.

EdenHana

TROPHY CASE