The wonderful land of crowd-funding is thriving, all thanks to a little platform known as Kickstarter. We’ve covered Kickstarter before, particularly its primary function and how it allows a collective of independent backers to fund a project.

Just to reiterate what Kickstarter is, for those of you who don’t know, here’s a brief description taken from our previous coverage of the platform:

“Kickstarter is an independent funding platform that can be used by any and all creative projects. Entrepreneurs turn to Kickstarter to fund a project through the support of independent backers, a community of people who share a common interest and want to see the project succeed.”

The beauty of the platform is that independent developers, engineers, and artists can fund innovative projects with the support of ordinary folks like you and I.

Kickstarter – Indie Game Funding Done Right

One of the biggest boons of the Kickstarter platform is that it has helped fund lots of independent video game titles; games which would never have found funding through alternate means. Several well known projects that have been funded by the Kickstarter community include the Double Fine Adventure, Wasteland 2, Shadowrun Returns, Republique, and Carmageddon Reincarnation.

Although, lots of projects and games have already been funded, there are still plenty of Kickstarter campaigns worth throwing you’re money at. We thought it would be a brilliant idea to highlight some of these crowd-funded projects, in an effort to help secure indie devs the spotlight they deserve.

So, without further ado, here are some of the best gaming related projects that are still undergoing funding for the month of August.

Worthy Kickstarter Campaigns For The Month of August, or Essentially Games We Want Developed

Castle Story by Sauropod Studio

“Castle Story is a creative voxel-based strategy game in which you can build castles one brick at a time using an army of little characters called Bricktrons. Your goal will be to explore a vast landscape full of mysteries and dangers, and defend your castle against onslaughts of hostile creatures and possibly other players.”

Castle Story is essentially a mesh between Minecraft and RTS strategy games. You will take control and manage your Bricktrons as they build custom structures to shelter them from the dangers of their magical world. Castle Story will features sandbox gameplay, realistic physics, and strategy based combat and tactics.

With just 18 days left to go, as of the time of this writing, Castle Story has already reached its funding limit of $80,000- it was actually funded in just under five hours, after the start of the Kickstarter campaign.

Castle Story Kickstarter Page

Forge by Dark Vale Games

“FORGE places you into an epic fantasy setting, taking on the role of a warrior from a culture unlike any you’ve seen, fighting for your right to return home.”

Forge will be a third person shooter that also features first person elements, set in a fantasy world and presented in a regular MMO PVP style setting. Phew, that sure was a mouthful, hopefully you understood all that.

Dark Vale is advertising Forge as a class-based multiplayer combat game that will offer an experience equivalent to modern MMOs. They claim, however, that there will be no grinding for experience or high level items and that the game will rely on skill alone.

“FORGE is built to be enjoyable even if you have only a limited amount of game time available each night, keeping the low time requirements and ease of access of a traditional first-person-shooter (FPS). Skill is the only determining factor between victory and defeat, not whether you were able to grind out a set of armor or weapons better than your opponents.”

Currently, the Forge campaign has raised a total of $20,000, out of its projected $300,000 goal, with a time period of 31 days left to go.

Forge Kickstarter Page

Insurgency 2 by New World Interactive

“Five years ago Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat was first released as a mod for Half-Life 2. The main features of Insurgency were intense realism, objective based gameplay, a squad system with commanders that can give orders, and it featured the Iraq war which was still going on at the time and brought the mod a lot of attention. In the first week, it received a million free downloads, and the very same year it won Mod of the Year. Five years later, you can still see people playing at any given time.”

Insurgency 2 will pick up right where the first title, or mod, left off. It features realistic first person combat, with class based multiplayer gameplay at its core. Two teams square off, the insurgents and the security forces, in various game modes which include players fighting one another in brutal, open combat.

With 31 days left to go, the Insurgency 2 campaign has accrued $36,000 of its $180,000 goal.

Insurgency 2 Kickstarter Page

Global Endemic Online by CircleBox Studios

“A zombie game where you do more than just fight or run from zombies; you actually survive in the post apocalyptic world. An MMO that isn’t just quest, dungeon, and battleground; instead you have far more options in an open, dynamic, and player driven world. A large world where players aren’t only your enemies; they are your companions, neighbors, merchants, trainers, bounties, and brother in arms. Your survival may very well depend on them. A game where the developers rely on your input and approval to create your favorite game. Global Endemic Online puts you in the chaotic zombie ravaged world to create order, or if you prefer, more chaos.”

Global Endemic will apparently be an open world zombie survival MMO, where players can influence the dynamic world. The developers, CircleBox, have made it abundantly clear they want this game to be shaped by the community and will allow plenty of input during development.

“We want YOU to participate in the game development. It is YOUR game so we want YOUR approval and input from early stages of development all the way through.”

Currently, with 25 days left to go, the Global Endemic campaign has raised a total of $350 out of its lofty $600,000 goal.

Global Endemic Kickstarter Page

Honorable Mentions (because you always have to have them)

• Defense Grid 2 by Hidden Path Entertainment
• Shadowrun Online by Cliffhanger Productions
• Project Lodus by Leviathan Interactive, LLC
• Rack n Ruin by Tyler Hunter
• Bad Planet by Red Fly Studio

Help Fund These Games, or Look For Your Own Projects to Support

We chose these creative game projects because they look fantastic. You may not agree with us, and you may think that some of these projects don’t fit your personal tastes. That’s of no consequence, however, because Kickstarter is a tremendous platform that includes lots of creative projects looking for funding in several areas like comics, film and video, fashion, dance and more! If you don’t like our collection of Indie game projects look for your own, or go look in a different category altogether.

The beauty of Kickstarter is that ordinary people can support wondrous ideas and innovation with just a couple dollars here and there.