Guild Launch is a web hosting platform focused on social networking and site hosting for gaming communities. Designed by gamers for games, Guild Launch makes growing your gaming guild and community easy.
They are also currently hosting the only awards show for gaming communities, decided by the gaming community: The Dragon Slayer Awards. These awards are voted on by you, the gaming public, not industry experts or by corporate sponsorships.
Voting is open until September 2, allowing this year’s DragonCon attendees to vote from the convention floor.
Notable Kickstarter of the Year
Of the nine categories to vote in, one of the big ones has to be the Most Notable Kickstarter of the Year. Ever since the ‘Ouya Outbreak’, Kickstarter and indie game development have been almost irreversibly linked. Crowdfunding campaigns undeniably bring to the gaming community a whole new level of diversity and risk-taking creativity, amplifying the effects of Steam Greenlight and Xbox Live Arcade.
Many have tried their hand at turning to the internet machine to help make their projects a reality, but only a few have managed to meet those goals… fewer still who have exceeded them, and gained incredible fan support and attention from the community.
Nominee: Camelot Unchained
Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, Camelot Unchained liberally mixes fantasy and horror elements into a nightmarish realization of the world we know. Unlike most fantasy games that are crafted with the stamp of J.R.R. Tolkien’s influence, players in CU are drawn into a world inspired by horror movies, H.P. Lovecraft, and H.R. Giger. Crafters and warriors alike must work together in order to succeed, otherwise they will die and become the monsters that roam the Depths.
Completely at odds to the usual run of MMO flavor, CU promises the purest form of RvR-focused gameplay you will ever see. Not for this game, the empty promises of Guild Wars 2 where the much-hyped World versus World feels almost unfinished in its realization compared to all the rest. Epic RvR battles for CU are the be all and the end all. With the creation of the internal Unchained Engine, players will be able to fight those epic battles promised in so many other games within a dynamic world without slideshows or limitations.
The Kickstarter Victory
If you’re excited just learning about this, just imagine how the backers felt. Leaping onto the Kickstarter scene on April 2 with an ambitious goal of $2 million USD, the 30-day crowdfunding project was a rousing success even before the full funding period was done.
With 24 hours to go, the team was pushing for stretch goals, offering things like new races and the CU version of herald/armory as incentives. When the funding period closed on May 2, $2,232,933 had been raised by 14,873 backers, some chipping in as high as $10,000 each.
Between its intriguing premise, the reassuring figure of industry pioneer Mark Jacobs at the helm, and enthusiastic fan support, it’s no wonder that Camelot Unchained is up for nomination as the Most Notable Kickstarter of the Year.
