Zero Point Software raises $125,000 through fan-funding for 'AAA Indie' title

The Danish developer of Interstellar Marines has described how it eschewed traditional publisher funding and reached out to its fans. The fans, it seems, have reached back.

Speaking in a GamesIndustry.biz interview, Zero Point producer and lead sound designer Kenneth Andersen explained how the firm is able to move forward with the development of Interstellar Marines, a proposed trilogy, without the aid of publisher funding,

"The negotiations stopped when it became clear to us that we needed to hand over all of our IP and make a lousy revenue share deal [on top of that]," Andersen explained.

"So it was time to make a new strategy. We came up with this crazy idea that our community should be able to pre-order the game years before it was finished and we haven't regretted this decision since."

The pre-order comes in two flavours: a $48.75 'Spearhead' version, that secures a copy of the entire trilogy, and a $31.25 'Frontline' option that offers the first game.

Both packages include other perks, as outlined on the game's pre-order web page. So far, over 2,000 community members have signed up for the Spearhead version and a little under 200 have opted for the Frontline option.

Zero Point has raised over $125,000.

Development of Interstellar Marines began back in 2006 for PC. No release date is yet confirmed with the website stating that, "With your support we will make the game bigger, better and sooner."

The game is described as "a AAA, FPS, sci-fi, action and adventure game with an original and unpredictable storyline featuring single and cooperative gameplay, with heavy focus on realism. Planned as a trilogy and targeted at a 17+ audience. The game is currently being developed for PC. In time aimed at the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."