The Kickstarter campaign to fund publication and distribution of the first volume of Andrea Contato’s Through the Moongate: The Story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems Inc., and Ultima, has begun!

According to the official press release, here’s what you can expect to find within the book:

Richard Garriott is one of the most well-known personalities in the video game industry, and one of the last of its pioneers still in the business today. Ultima, the revolutionary series of role-playing games he designed, and Origin Systems Inc., the company he co-founded in 1983, are inextricably linked to the history of videogames. This is their story.

Through the Moongate: The Story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems Inc. and Ultima is a comprehensive and organic work of research – the first of its kind – on the history and impact that Garriott and Origin Systems have had on the gaming industry. Within its pages, the author Andrea Contato reveals the story of Garriott’s entire creative career, from his first games to his most recent endeavor, Shroud of the Avatar.

Through the Moongate recollects the memories of friends, associates, and employees, giving the reader a truly privileged point of view. Many of the stories in the book have never been shared before, and all serve to give the reader an intimate understanding of one of the most eclectic personalities in the videogame industry.

This detailed and complex body of work is divided into two volumes. The first of these volumes will cover the career of Garriott from the groundbreaking RPG Akalabeth through Ultima VI, the first release in the Ultima series which was developed natively for MS-DOS-based PCs.

Through the Moongate includes dozens of interviews with notable figures in the world of videogames, such as Warren Spector, Paul Neurath, Starr Long and many others. It also features images from Richard Garriott’s personal archives and Enrico Ricciardi’s private collection of Ultima games. Embellished with new artwork by veteran Ultima artists Denis Loubet and Manda, Through the Moongate is a must-have book for Ultima fans, and those fascinated by the history of video games.

The campaign on Kickstarter will allow you to choose between eight options, each named after one of the eight Ultima Virtues. Further, the book can be purchased either in English or Italian, and is available in either the Standard edition or Collector’s edition, as well as an e-book version.

If you haven’t already, do consider giving Through the Moongate a Like on Facebook; the good Mr. Contato (among others) regularly post updates thereto. And you can also follow the book’s official website.

But, of course, what you should also consider doing is backing the book on Kickstarter! The amount of work that has been put into Through the Moongate, and the depth and intimacy of the stories it conveys, will be well worth your support.