There has been a rash of high profile crowd funded projects lately by big names in the video games industry. Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions recently raised a whopping $3.3 million dollars towards their Kickstarter project - an unnamed point-and-click adventure game. 

Within 10 hours the project was already half funded, $200,000 dollars. Jordan is promising to build a game that follows the pen and paper version of the game very closely, will be available on Mac, PC, and iOS and Android tablets, and will feature a level editor to allow people to tell their own stories in the Shadowrun universe.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Shadowrun world the basic story is this: In 2012 the Mayan calendar predicts the end of one age and the dawning of another. In the Shadowrun world the new age marks the return of magic to the world, and suddenly the technology of 2012 is mixed with elves, dwarves, trolls, spirits and dragons. Of course when the original RPG was written back in 1989 everyone assumed that we'd be quite a bit further ahead than we are now. Still, it's an incredible universe filled with magic, hacking, cybertechnology and high powered weapons.

The Shadowrun world has been the subject of several video games (including a 2007 first person shooter that was widely panned by critics) and has also been the subject of a series of books.

Here's some of the buzz about the project:

What I love about this trend is that through the power of crowd funding gamers are starting to decide which projects they want to see made rather than an account executive somewhere deciding for them. Traditionally companies like Electronic Arts would review a game design and decide if it was worth backing based on previous sales numbers and market trends. This trend puts that power directly in the hands of the people who will be playing the game - and could also allow more creative projects get off the ground.