Square Enix's new crowdfunding platform, Square Enix Collective , has launched today with its first three games. Unlike what we're accustomed to seeing on the likes of Kickstarter, however, these three projects are not yet seeking funding from gamers -- they're instead simply trying to find out if people would be interested in backing them.

As detailed last year , Collective gives gamers 28 days to express interest in supporting a project. Following that period, if enough positive feedback has been received, Square Enix will evaluate whether the developer in question is capable of handling the game and determine how much money would be needed to produce it. At that point, gamers will be able to pledge money to the project through crowdfunding site Indiegogo.One of the three games currently seeking feedback through Collective is one from Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games. Due to Ruffian teasing the reveal of something at the same time as Microsoft, it was believed a new Crackdown would be announced today; in fact, Microsoft's announcement was that it had acquired the rights to the Gears of War franchise. Ruffian was teasing Game of Glens , a game where players manage a Scottish clan as they build towers, collect resource, and attack enemy structures with catapults and trebuchets that launch, among other things, flaming cows.Another of the games is Moon Hunters , an open-world multiplayer RPG with a procedurally generated world. Among its features are a day and night cycle, crafting, and a non-linear story. The developer says the game "could be described as Starbound by way of Zelda."The third game is World War Machine , an action RPG where players control a machine. It's set in a version of Earth where all organic life has been killed off and humanity lives on in the form of AI. Like Moon Hunters, it features procedurally generated worlds.The launch of these three games on Collective is to function as the service's pilot phase. They'll have the next four weeks to earn the requisite amount of feedback to move on to the crowdfunding stage.You can vote for the projects you're interested in here

Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who spends his spare time agonizing over the final seasons of The X-Files. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN