Ever since Double Fine's Adventure game Kickstarter project ended up breaking records, game developers of all stripes have been flocking to Kickstarter to seek funding for their pet projects. Kickstarter Game Watch is an occasional feature calling attention to some of the most interesting and/or high-profile games currently seeking funds on the service.

Clang

Launched: June 11, 2012

Concludes: July 9, 2012

Current Funding: $277,213 of $500,000 goal

Kickstarter Link

Well-known cyberpunk author Neal Stephenson might not seem like the most likely candidate to seek funding for a video game on Kickstarter. Still, the Snow Crash scribe and self-described "swordsmanship geek" is using the crowdfunding service to fix what he sees as the wholly unsatisfying portrayals of swordfights in existing video games.

"It's not a sword game if you have to pull a trigger or push a button to swing your sword," Stephenson says somewhat angrily in the video introduction for the project. That's why Clang will use a "low-latency, high-precision motion controller" to let players simulate everything from feints and parries to grappling and pommel strikes. While the specific controller hasn't been discussed, the current plan is to use a "commercial, third-party, off-the-shelf controller that anyone can buy today," which has us wondering whether such a controller can really be accurate enough for what Stephenson is envisioning.

The $500,000 Stephenson is seeking will go toward hiring a small army of artists, animators, and expert swordsmen to make the game as realistic as possible—"it takes a lot of people to make a sword game that doesn't suck," he notes. The team's initial goal is to develop a prototype focused on one-on-one multiplayer duels with the two-handed longsword (which Stephenson calls the "queen of weapons"). Longer term, the plan is to expand that into a fully featured adventure, based around a fantasy world that is currently being built in books published under Amazon.com's 47 North publishing label. Stephenson's pitch also focuses on expandability, and making the game "in such a way that other people can use our tools to improve on what we've done."

A $25 pledge will earn you a download of the game, which is due to be complete in February 2013, while donating $10,000 will get you a real steel longsword and a studio tour with the team.

Alpha Colony: A Tribute to M.U.L.E.

Launched: June 14, 2012

Concludes: July 15, 2012

Current Funding: $6,151 of $500,000 goal

Kickstarter Link

M.U.L.E. might be one of the most influential computer games of all time. The 1983 game's combination of strategy elements and economic simulation with intuitive hot-seat multiplayer can be seen in everything from Civilization to Maxis' simulation games. In fact, Will Wright actually dedicated The Sims to M.U.L.E. creator Dani Bunten, who passed away in 1998 while working on an updated, Internet-compatible version of the game.

That sadly aborted effort can now continue thanks to a new Kickstarter project that aims to capture the gameplay and feel of M.U.L.E. while updating the experience for a new generation that has probably never heard of the original game. Creative Director Christopher Williamson went so far as to contact Bunten's daughter to get access to some "secret designs" the developer was working on before her death.

Just like the original game, Alpha Colony will be about mastering supply and demand as you race to colonize a planet using a robotic Multiple Use Labor Element. While the updated game will attempt to hew as close to possible as the source material, the team says it has been influenced by elements of modern games like Settlers of Catan and Words with Friends. And of course the presentation is being updated, with the blocky M.U.L.E. graphics of the early '80s replaced by full 3D models, complete with facial expressions and personality traits.

The core game is available for a $10 contribution on iOS and a $15 contribution for PC/Mac, but those that donate at least $25 to the Kickstarter effort will also receive a copy of M.U.L.E. Returns, a more direct port of the original game for iOS devices. Higher contribution levels come with rewards including early access to the beta edition and development forums, physical boxed editions, and more.

Word Realms

Launched: May 15, 2012

Concludes: June 21, 2012

Current Funding: $89,892 of $100,000 goal

Kickstarter Link

The world at large might not be clamoring for more games in the style of Popcap's Bookworm Adventures, but I know I am. That's why I was so excited to hear about the Kickstarter for Word Realms, another game in the much-too-small genre of role-playing-games-based-on-building-words-from-a-limited-set-of-letter-tiles-to-create-attacks.

Word Realms comes from the creators of the tongue-in-cheek, lo-fi, Web-based MMO Kingdom of Loathing, and it seems intent on capturing that game's irreverent, twisted sense of humor. What started as a six-month side-project squeezed in alongside constant KoL updates has now developed into a four-year labor, as the game's scope expanded to include more minigames, storylines, and polish.

That single-player version is almost ready to go, and a pledge of at least $11 will get you access to it before the general public. But the creators say they're also using Kickstarter to prove there's enough interest in the concept to justify the work it would take to convert the game into a full-fledged MMO. If they surpass their funding goals by a good margin, they've promised an iPad conversion and unspecified Easter Eggs as well.

$11 gets you the game, but donating hundreds of dollars lets you design NPCs in the game, while a contribution of $3,737 or more gets you a trip to Arizona to meet the creators and hang out playing board games for a while.