Richard Garriott's 'Ultimate RPG' closes with $1.9 million on Kickstarter

Ultima creator Richard Garriott has traveled to space and to the Titanic wreckage. Now he can add a new achievement to his resume: Kickstarter success. The industry veteran's crowd-funding campaign for Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues closed today at $1,919,275 from 22,322 backers.

"A sincere thank you goes out to all our backers for pledging your support to 'Shroud of the Avatar' and helping us raise almost double our Kickstarter goal," developer Portalarium wrote on its Kickstarter blog. "This game would not be possible without your dedication and feedback--what a fantastic experience it’s been to interact with all of you, learning what is most important and desired in our new world."

The game reached its $1 million target ten days into its campaign. Though Kickstarter funding has ended, those interested in pledging can do so through the Shroud of the Avatar website.

Shroud of the Avatar is due out for PC by October 2014, though an alpha version will be available to backers by the end of this year. Since the campaign began last month, Portalarium welcomed Dragonlance and Deathgate writer Tracy Hickman to the development team.

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is the first of a five-game series, referred to as episodes 1 through 5. After the initial launch of Forsaken Virtues in October 2014, subsequent episodes will release on a yearly basis.

For more on Shroud of the Avatar, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.