Double Fine's "Massive Chalice" video game campaign gains steam

This week the folks at Double Fine have announced that they are – once again – taking to Kickstarter to fund an upcoming gaming venture. This time around, it's a game by the name of Massive Chalice, and they're pushing forth a world in which turn-based tactics meet "feudal fantasy", making what they call a "lovechild" of the two elements – this game will eventually be appearing on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines.

Once this game is under way, it'll be powered by Double Fine's in-house 3D Buddha Engine. This means that once they've raised the cash they need to move forward – and by the looks of it, it wont be long – Double Fine will have a big opportunity to once again make an in-house hit. Nothing like inspiring people to buy your game with funding project they put their own cash into.

ABOVE: A conceptual map made for "Massive Chalice" in pre-production.

The game is, as the folks at Double Fine say, inspired by games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and X-COM – this along with the game Fire Emblem rounding out some classic turn-based tactical strategy games that they intent Massive Chalice to join. This place in the gaming universe is one that's long-lasting: playing games from many years ago that were made in this genre continue to be a challenge, the best of them continuing to be cult-classics due to their intricate gameplay.

But why does Double Fine need a Kickstarter to make this game a reality?

"Last year, you Kickstarted Double Fine Adventure, shattering records and bringing video games to the Kickstarter spotlight! Now known as Broken Age, that game is in full production and is already a beautiful and unique experience—but the Broken Age team only represents a third of our multi-game studio.

Double Fine's goal is for all our teams to remain independent and responsible directly to their players. Kickstarting MASSIVE CHALICE allows us to maintain a pure creative vision, put out updates on our own schedule, respond to feedback without roadblocks, and release it all DRM-free." – Double Fine

Again, the campaign behind this game is already at $620,447 of its $725,000 USD goal with 26 days left to go, so it's not as if this Kickstarter wont be a successful one. It's just a matter of time before the next push begins. Now we'll see if the creators of Iron Brigade, Psychonauts, and Brutal Legend can create another successful video game title.