Chris Roberts is now opening a new studio Cloud Impreium Games down in Santa Monica after raising $6.8 million on Kickstarter.  Chris Roberts is mostly well known for his critically acclaimed title – Wing Commander.

Star Citizen development will now start at Roberts’ new studio. Star Citizen will try to become a success that Wind Commander once was. The game has multiple development  groups based in Austin, LA and Montreal. Each development group will be contributing to Star Citizen.

“Each studio is working on key features of the game,” says Roberts. “In Santa Monica we’re working on some of the high-end creative elements, the structuring of our game engine and publishing. Other studios are working on technology, game design and production, customer support and web development.

Stay tuned on GamingBolt to hear more about Star Citizen and its development process in the coming future. Leave any comments or opinions you have in the comments section below.

Source: Develop

The site recently released stats for the year the Mayans forgot. And it seems that of the gaming projects backed – which number about 2796 (at least of those included in that category) – $83,144,565 was pledged by 561,574 backers.

Let it never be argued then that gamers are simply content to sit around and complain and do nothing to change things.

If Kicktstarter proved anything else, it’s that games have more or less superseded film, technology and art in terms of funding. The gaming projects garnered more pledges than all three of those categories combined.

Overall 2,241,475 backers pledged about $319,786,629 and helped successfully fund 18,109 projects, of which 17 went on to gross more than $1 million.

Many of the gaming projects we know that crossed that benchmark include Double Fine’s adventure game, Obsidian’s Project Eternity, the Ouya Android console, Wasteland 2, Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen, Shadowrun Returns and many more.

Source: GIBiz

Denmark-based developers BetaDwarf have released a beta for their Kickstarter funded top-down game called Forced. It’s being compared to Diablo and Left 4 Dead by the devs themselves, and are calling on the fans of both series to try out their game.

The devs plan on raising $40,000, with $7,562 raised already and 37 days still to go.

The game is a traditional top-down co-op centric game, and the devs describe it as having ‘fast-paced combat, skill experimentation and game systems that promote teamwork.’

It’s among the top 3 per cent Steam Greenlight games right now, and BetaDwarf are confident that it will be greenlit soon enough.

Have you tried it yet? Tell us in the comments section below!

Obsidian’s Project Eternity crossed $3 million funding over the weekend, and is now nearing $3.3 million. If it crosses $3.4 million, it will become the highest funded Kickstarter game ever.

Obsidian has also added some updates to the game. The game will now include strongholds, which you can defend properly with proper equipment. Obsidian is also releasing a documentary for the game after much demand. Backers at the $20/$25 will be able to stream the documentary. Backers at the $35 level will be able to download it. While backers at the $140 level will get a DVD or a Blu-ray.

Playing cards for Project Eternity will also be available for $10, and these, designed by the game’s technical artist Scott Everts, will feature characters from the game and more.

Obsidian has also released a new concept art. Have a look above. You can also check out the first ever screenshot of the game here.

Starlight Inception, a space combat game with modern elements of strategy and tactics is coming for the PC and PS Vita.

“I am really passionate about the space combat genre and am very excited to be putting together a game that is the natural descendant of beloved titles like Wing Commander and X-wing vs. TIE Fighter, but with a modern spin,” said Garry Gaber, the President and Chief Creative Officer of Escape Hatch Entertainment. “We have a robust storyline, and different single player and multiplayer modes to keep players excited and enthralled. We’re really taking a fresh approach to this material to give the players something borrowed and something new.”

Added Melissa Gaber, Vice President of Escape Hatch Entertainment, “Starlight Inception is a realistic free-roaming game that will have high quality music, great sound, richly detailed art and an involving storyline. It will have great production value from beginning to end.”

When asked about working on the Escape Hatch project, David said, “I’m very excited to be part of the Starlight Inception team. The design looks awesome, and I’m looking forward to crafting some unique and powerful music for the soundtrack.”

Melissa commented that, “as I was listening to David’s collection of music, I was transported to worlds full of magic and adventure. His music is evocative and stirring. I definitely see David’s music taking the game to the next level.”

Melissa states “After seeing some of the incredible concept drawings and art flooding into the studio every day from prospective partners, I’m really excited to see what can be done for Starlight Inception.”

Starlight Inception so far has barely even registered on the radar of national game news outlets. As a result, Garry and Melissa have personally turned to the fans and supporters of the game to spread the word and they have been instrumental in waging a grass roots campaign to promote the game. Garry commented, “We’re a small studio with a new I.P. and we kind of get lost in the noise. So we have to do other things to stand out and be noticed.”

“Our fans are the greatest. We place their needs very highly, and we bend over backwards to answer questions promptly and to thank each and every one personally. We also give a thoughtful ear to the detractors, listening carefully to their reasons or comments, and then take action to correct those things.”

Garry concludes “By offering AAA music and an unbeatable art look, as well as other strategic partnerships that are still in the planning stage, we hope we’ve positioned ourselves to be noticed by potential fans of the space combat genre, get on the radar of more journalists, bloggers and forums, and most importantly to develop a game that will knock the public’s socks off.”

Stay tuned to GB for more news and updates.

Wasteland 2 Kickstarter is almost successful with over $2 million funded and there are 40,970 backers for the project. Project creator Brian Fargo has explained in the Kickstarter page what will happen if the project reaches $2.5 million.

“This will not only increase the overall size and depth of the world, but it translates to more story lines and more player options as well,” Fargo wrote.

“At this funding level we would also bring more level scripters in to allow us to get levels in faster. When we get levels in faster it allows more iteration time to really hone things in. I believe that iteration time is the single most important factor towards shipping a polished and deep game.

“In addition, we will add more NPC portraits and equipment artwork as per what the fans have requested in the forums. We would also increase the music budget to allow Mark Morgan to layer in even more atmosphere. The bottom line is that this kind of budget ensures that Wasteland 2 is BIGGER than Wasteland 1.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.