Kickstarter isn’t the only service where game developers can crowdfund their projects. Independent digital distributor Gamesplanet and European crowdfunding site Ulule have started Gamesplanet Lab, a new, gaming-focused funding platform.
“Gamesplanet Lab comes to the game development world as a fully formed design environment to give developers the support they need to bring their crowdfunded dreams into reality,” said Gamesplanet in an e-mail to GamesBeat. “It’s not just a funding platform – it’s an agreement between project holders, gamers, and Gamesplanet to deliver quality products that gamers can be proud to support.”
Crowdfunding is the process where people can pledge money to a project (games, in this case). Kickstarter is the most popular example of this. Unlike Kickstarter, Gamesplanet Lab vets potential projects for quality and heavily involves itself in the delivery process of rewards and the final game. Gambitious also has its own twist on crowdfunding.
“This is not a publishing house,” Gameplanet noted in its press release. “No matter what support Gamesplanet Lab offers, developers retain full control and copyright over their ideas. Gamesplanet Lab is also committed to putting the gaming experience first, by demanding not only good results but a gamer friendly approach to the issue of [digital rights management].”
The first project on Gamesplanet Lab is Magrunner (pictured above), a first-person action-puzzler set in a cyberpunk version of horror author H.P. Lovecraft’s famous Cthulhu mythos.