Pebble Armchair Arcade FacePaul, aka @prode81 on Twitter, has made available one of the first Pebble watch apps, a nifty Web browser-based watch face generator. The link is here, and it's a simple, but great way to experiment with your own Pebble watch without knowing a lick of programming. Check the image below to see how the Armchair Arcade watch face turned out, plus you can scan the QR code with your phone to put it on your own Pebble. If you like Paul's work, don't forget to donate!

Hi, all! I'm back this week to chat with Swen Vincke, the founder of Larian Studios, a Belgian outfit. Swen is a hilarious and passionate dude, so this is a riot even if you're not a big fan of Divine Divinity. The new game is definitely worth checking out, though, since it's a big move from action to turn-based battles. They've also got some great ideas for item combining and co-op concepts. This is one where I really want them to not just hit the basic goal, but start getting into their stretch goals. Check out their Kickstarter and see this thing; I'm sure you're enjoy it if you're at all into RPGs. Their kickstarter video has a genuine LOL moment that will have you in tears.

Download the video here.

This week, I'm pleased to present a very special guest: Richard "Lord British" Garriott, the father of computer role-playing games. I'm sure this man needs no introduction with you guys. We talk mostly here about his Shroud of the Avatar kickstarter, which you definitely don't want to miss if you're a fan of Ultima and Ultima Online. The game will offer some really neat innovations, including a scalable multiplayer option and tons more interactivity than we've grown accustomed to. I'm in at the $125 tier for the box and cloth map.

Download the mp4.

After days of planning and hours of editing, I have finally completed my Kickstarter announcement video. Please pledge right now to help me reach my funding goal of 100 million dollars in 30 days. That may sound like a large sum, but when you hear this pitch and what I'm planning, I think you'll agree it's well worth taking out a second mortgage on your home.

Download here. More details about the game below.

This week I'm joined by distinguished designer and id co-founder Tom Hall. In this first 20 mins or so of a 60+ minute interview, we chat about Tom's Kickstarter project Worlds of Wander. An ambitious platform game creator tool, WoW has unfortunately not done well, raising only $45,000 of a $400,000 goal. Tom's obviously disappointed and bit disheartened, but we still have a good chat about platform gaming in general and some of Tom's picks for exemplars that aspiring designers should study.

Download the mp4.

Here it is, the Matt Chat to end all Matt Chats! Gas Powered Games' latest project, Wildman: An Evolutionary Action RPG, hasn't been going well, and Chris blames himself. In this hour-long interview, we see Chris at times sad, grateful, guilty, and brilliant. Without doubt, he's a Good Person, someone that nobody should want to see fail regardless of the project he takes on. What makes the situation worse, though, is that Wildman actually looks like a great game, especially for folks like me who love Civilization-style tech building. Check out the video, and don't forget to pledge a few dollars to the Kickstarter campaign. Every little bit helps.

You can download the mp4.

Shadowgate designer Dave Marsh returns to the show this week to talk about ICOM Simulations' Macventure series. We also chat about Kickstarter and why his earlier effort, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, failed to reach an audience.

You can download the show here.

As someone who has been to bat for several Kickstarter projects lately, I'm becoming concerned with what's going to happen on the other end. After all this community support, will it be back to business as usual when the products hit the shelves? Will all this "fan outreach" end when they start worrying about maximizing their sales?

How will I feel when the games that I've not only helped fund, but--like many of you, have also promoted heavily with every social media tool at my disposal--how will I feel if those games end up on the shelf with the same kind of closed-source, DRM-encrusted, shrinkwrap-licensed bullshit that plagues the rest of the industry?

After some preliminary research, I've found that while most of the big game projects at least promise a DRM free version (at least as a limited option to backers), there are few promises that they will *exclusively* offer DRM free versions.

Let's consider how some of the Kickstarters I've supported are handling these issues:

For the future!There are so many great Kickstarters going on right now that I'm GRAVELY concerned some of these will get lost in the shuffle. So to that end, I'm going to post some notes about each of the projects I'm backing, and I encourage you to do the same! I'll order these by the time they have left to go: Salem, Star Citizen, Hero-U, Shadowgate, and Cthulhu World Combat.