The Banner Saga Kickstarter Campaign Begins

I wasn't even aware that the former Star Wars: The Old Republic developers over at Stoic were going to take the Kickstarter route in order to fund their upcoming viking-themed strategy/RPG The Banner Saga, but that's exactly what they've gone and done. Following in the footsteps of Double Fine and inXile, they've provided funding tiers up to $2500, with a selection of framed artwork, posters, t-shirts, and other merchandise up for grabs, though you only have to pledge $10 in order to secure a copy of the game. So what makes these guys and their game worthy of your hard-earned money?
With 30 years experience between us in the games industry, and after working as leads on The Old Republic; one of the biggest projects in gaming history, we know what it takes to make a top-tier game.

When we decided to go independent we knew it would mean making some hard compromises, but it was never our goal to make something small and casual. We designed a game that, at its very minimum, would cost us $100,000 while still focusing on our top priorities - story and strategic combat - at the highest possible level of quality.

Our promise to you is that all the support we receive goes right back into the game to make it the best it can be. Your donations don't just let us tack on more stuff, they let us return to the full scope of the game we've always wanted to make.

Additional funding allows us to give you:

'¢ A bigger, richer world. More characters in combat, more animation, more diverse landscapes, more music, engaging animated cutscenes, and more multiplayer options. We have a huge story we want to tell and this will let us deliver it in the most compelling, meaningful way.
'¢ Porting to more devices. Our first release will be on PC and Mac, but funding would allow us to convert the game to iOS, the Kindle Fire, consoles like XBLA and PSN and maybe even portable gaming devices like the Vita.
'¢ Localization (translation) in more places. Viking culture is huge in Europe and turn based strategy is big in Japan. We'd love to bring The Banner Saga to both of those places and anywhere else we find significant interest.
'¢ The game the way we think it should be. By crowdfunding this project we won't be tied to publishers telling us to change the giants to orcs or dumbing the story down for children. We think this means a better game for everyone.
They've slated the game for a November 2012 release, too, so we won't have to wait too long to see the results of our pledges.  And a funding goal of $100,000 seems pretty reasonable, given the game's scope and development timeframe.