This update is a shorter one and steps away from systems and code for a moment. April brought two things I’ve been planning for a while: Aarkun finally has its own site, and there’s now a Patreon page for anyone who wants to support development directly. Both are part of giving the project the foundation it needs as a long-term effort, separate from the dev blog itself.
Development is still moving in the background — the next devlog will be back to the usual technical format. But these announcements are worth their own post.
The New Aarkun Site
Aarkun now has a dedicated home: aarkun.com.
Up until now, everything about the project has lived here on the dev blog, on YouTube, and in scattered Discord messages. That’s fine for development logs, but it isn’t where someone discovering the game for the first time should land. The new site is built to be exactly that — a clean introduction to the world, the studio, and how to follow along.
What’s on it
- About page — what Aarkun is, the world’s tone, and where it’s heading
- Studio info — who’s building it, in plain terms
- Links out — to this dev blog, the YouTube channel, Discord, and now Patreon
It’s intentionally simple. No fake screenshots, no marketing fluff, no release date promises I can’t keep. The dev blog isn’t going anywhere — it stays the place for the technical, behind-the-scenes side of building an MMO in Unreal. Splitting the two means I can be more technical here without worrying about scaring off non-developers landing on aarkun.com.
Launching Patreon
The other thing this month: Aarkun now has a Patreon page.
Building an MMORPG as an indie studio is a long road, and the more sustainable that road is, the more time and care can go into the world itself. Patreon isn’t about funding the studio outright — it’s about creating a steady channel where people who genuinely care about the project can be part of how it gets built.
There are three tiers, designed to feel meaningful rather than gimmicky.
Adventurer — $5 / month
For anyone who wants to support the journey.
- Weekly Dev Screenshots — every Saturday, a curated set of raw development screenshots straight from the studio. Unpolished, unannounced, real progress before it goes anywhere else.
- Early access to news and announcements before they go public
- Patron-only Adventurer role in Discord
Champion — $12 / month
For people who want a bit more presence in the community and the world.
- Everything in Adventurer
- Champion role in Discord, with higher visibility in the community
- A chance to live in the world — raffle winners get a personalised NPC added to Aarkun with a name and custom dialogue. The raffle runs monthly once we hit 100 patrons, with one winner drawn per 100 patrons.
Legend — $25 / month
For supporters who want to genuinely shape the direction of the project.
- Everything in Champion
- Name permanently credited in-game as a Founding Supporter
- Monthly roadmap priority vote — many features are already planned, but you help decide what gets built next. Expand the map? Introduce fishing and cooking? Push PvP forward? Add a new race or class? Your vote helps shape the order.
Feedback welcome
I’m genuinely open to feedback on the tier structure. If something feels off, or there’s a benefit you’d actually want that I haven’t thought of, let me know — either in the comments here, on the Patreon page, or in Discord.
Discord — Where the Community Lives
If you want the most direct way to follow development or ask questions, the Discord is the place: discord.gg/8eB3BPRDA.
It’s been rebranded as Aarkun | Dev & Community and is now set up for public discovery. The pace there is calm — I’d rather have a smaller server full of people who actually care about the project than chase numbers.
Wrapping Up
Short post this time, but a meaningful one for the project. The site, the Patreon, and the Discord together give Aarkun the proper community surface it needed — somewhere for people to find the project, follow it, and back it if they want to.
Next devlog returns to the usual format — a deeper look at one of the systems currently in development. There’s quite a lot happening under the hood: more progress on the MMO backend, infrastructure work I want to write up properly, and continued work on the autonomous Claude Code workflow for sprint planning across the Unreal and Java repos.
If you’ve been reading along — thank you. Every bit of attention this project gets genuinely matters.
See you in the next one.
