I'm excited to announce that I've launched a Kickstarter project to complete the development of Amberfell, the game I started writing a few months ago. I'm hoping to raise £20,000 so I can hire a graphic artist to make the game look amazing, spend some on promotion and marketing and the rest to fund me taking time out of contract work to finish the programming.

For those that haven't see it before on my blog, Amberfell is a resource collecting video game set in a steampunk alternate history. It has some vague similarities with Minecraft but may play a bit more like Warcraft. It'll support singleplayer against the computer or multiplayer against friends over the Internet. Each player takes on the role of a prospector seeking a substance called amberfell which not only is incredibly valuable but has amazing properties too. To gather it they need to build tools and machines to help them and hinder their opponents. This is set against a backdrop of a wilderness world populated with dangerous creatures and natural hazards. You can read more about my ideas for it on the kickstarter page.

You might ask why I am seeking to fund this through kickstarter and why now? The simple answer is that Kickstarter have just launched in the UK, literally just a couple of weeks ago. Earlier this year I looked into signing up with them but was stymied by their restriction to US bank accounts. I looked at a couple of other similar services, but Kickstarter has the biggest audience and numbers matter for crowdfunding.

Also, running crowdfunding project for a game of like this isn't really about raising the money, it's about gauging audience demand. I could continue to develop the game in my spare time and launch it in 12-18 months time but this way I get to find out if anyone is actually interested in the game much sooner. I'm hoping to get some feedback on my ideas: does it capture the imagination; does it sound like fun; would you pay for it and if not, what would you pay for?

If i don't get over 100 backers then it's going to be a clear signal that the game doesn't light any fires and I'd better rethink it. I might still continue with it just because it's a game I want to play myself, or I may radically shift it. For me, that's the most exciting part!

I'm tweeting about the game and the funding drive on amberfell's twitter account so follow me there to keep up to date.

Here's a quick video of the game in action so far:

I'd love to have your feedback on the game, even if it's something you would never buy yourself. I want to hear your opinions and thoughts on it. Please leave a comment here or head over to the Kickstarter page and tell me there. If you are also able to donate to the development fund then that would be wonderful - thank you! You can get a copy of the game as a reward or even get a likeness of you built into the game and playable by (hopefully) tens of thousands of people around the world! :)