Scape-IT’s upcoming game SKALD: Against the Black Priory — the first game built using Scape-IT’s RPG engine plugin for Unity, also called SKALD — will be coming to Kickstarter on June 3rd of this year; Scape-IT is hoping that the infusion of funds from crowdfunding will enable the completion of Against the Black Priory in a more timely fashion.

My strategy for the Kickstarter is simple: Run a low risk – low rewards campaign with a low target number and an emphasis on digital rewards. There’s a couple of good reasons for this:

First of all, my primary motivation for running a Kickstarter is to put SKALD: Against the Black Priory in your hands as soon as possible whilst making it the best game it can be. For a one-man team, even whilst working with freelancers, this means prioritizing coding, writing and designing the game itself.

Oh, and the feelies will (of course) have some costs attached to them, as well:

Second, I’m based in Norway. Most of my backers are not. Neither are most of the production facilities for physical rewards. Shipping costs and logistics add up.

You can find a summary of the planned Kickstarter rewards at the SKALD website. Currently, it looks as though the minimum spend to get a digital copy of the game upon release is 100 NOK, or about $11.50 USD at current exchange rates. The current plan for physical rewards — manuals, maps, etc., all done up with artwork suitable to a game that aims to homage the earlier Ultimas — is that they’ll require a minimum spend of about $55 USD.

For further updates, you’ll probably be best advised to follow @SkaldRPG on Twitter, and the SKALD website as well. Once the crowdfunding campaign kicks off next week, the Codex will of course also have some news about that.