Mike Winterbauer has worked as an artist for over three decades; if you were a gamer in the 1980s and 1990s, you probably encountered a box cover or feelie that he worked on. His portfolio includes such games Might and Magic (both Clouds of Xeen and Darkside of Xeen, together known as World of Xeen), Wing Commander, Solstice, Wolfchild and Power Blade. He also self-published an ebook, Classic Game Covers, in which he recounts stories about about his experiences creating art for video games; the book is describe as “a must read for computer gamers and artists who enjoy classic cover art of some of their favorite games.”

The good Mr. Winterbauer is presently crowdfunding — via Kickstarter — a series of prints of the artwork he created for the World of Xeen games. These weren’t Ultima games, nor even particularly related to Ultima; the Might & Magic games took a very different approach to the RPG genre than did Ultima, and are more in the vein of the Wizardry games. That said, the Xeen games were something of a technological anomaly, in that they were standalone games which, when co-installed, would merge to create a third game. You could still play through the plots of both Clouds and Darkside, and in fact it was necessary to do so. But, you could also move between the two games, and their respective worlds, on a whim. And if you completed both plots, you could complete a third, somewhat smaller plot to complete the unification of the two worlds.

If you would like to nab an art print for yourself, you’ve got about ten days left to do so as of this writing. The minimum spend is $10 USD, which will net you a pair of 5×7 card prints of the cover art from both Xeen games. $16 USD will net you a Clouds of Xeen poster (signed!), and there are of course more rewards for still-yet-higher pledge levels.