Citadel Studios' sandbox RPG, Shards Online, leaps into crowd-funding.

Shards Online, an Indie Sandbox MMORPG currently in development by Citadel Studios, launched its Kickstarter campaign earlier today. The game will feature a variety of rulesets, including player customization of their own. The "shards" and "clusters" system is akin to zones and servers, with Citadel running official ruleset shards, as well as players being able to rent and host their own shards. For more information on the game, check out our pre-alpha preview with co-founder and CEO Derek Brinkmann.

“The decision to go with crowdfunding was pretty simple, actually. We want to give players freedom. Big companies and publishers don’t like player freedom,” said Tim Cotten, creative director and co-founder, Citadel Studios. “So the only logical way to make Shards a reality is to stay independent. And the only way to achieve a massive scale independently is to bring our fans onboard up front.”

There are a wide selection of Kickstarter tiers to choose from. A $20 early bird pledge ($25 afterward) will score you a digital copy of the game, two weeks of premium subscription time and a unique in-game title, while jumping up to $50 also lands you alpha access. Pledges continue on from there with more perks added along the way.

Check out the Kickstarter campaign for full pledge information. You can also follow Shards Online on Facebook and Twitter!

Ann "Cyliena" Hosler, Managing Editor