The fans have answered, too. In under ten hours the project has received well over half a million dollars in backing. And with over 30 more days to go still, you almost have to assume that Double Fine will be forced to use dollar bills as toilet paper to rid itself of all the extra cash it's going to receive.

The project doesn't have a real name yet. It also isn't exactly slated to hit iOS -- the initial pitch was for the development of a PC point-and-click "utilizing modern touch technology." Double Fine says that if it raises more than what it's asking for, as the project has, it might put the game on Mac or iOS.

This seems like a big deal for Double Fine: it's a small, but notable studio that's triumphantly shedding the typical publisher / loan shark model that it usually uses to make something that it has complete creative control over. But, this is also a studio that has been OK with funny funding deals. It let a dude pay for several PC ports in the past, and it's apparently currently in talks with Minecraft creator Notch about funding Psychonauts 2.

So, when will you be able to play this game? It'll be awhile. Provided everything goes as planned, it might appear on Steam as early as October 2012. However, backers will see the game as it's being developed -- this entire experience will be documented by 2 Player Productions and private videos will be released on an ongoing basis.

So, it was really kind of a given that I was going to be thrilled to see The Lost City [99¢], which at a glance seemed to be aimed like a notched arrow at the heart of the Myst-era adventure game lover. Of course, anyone who was with me on the long ride through the adventure clones that Myst spawned knows that there were a handful of decent ones, but mostly many, many bad ones.

I'm quite pleased to report that this is not the case with The Lost City. Far from it, in fact. While the storyline behind the game is not quite as fleshed out as that of Atrus and his wayward sons, Fire Maple Games really nailed it in terms of atmosphere. But even more importantly, they got it right with the puzzles – and added a few extra things that Myst itself could have really benefitted from back in the day.

Navigating your way through The Lost City is as simple and pleasant as can be: the touch of a fingertip navigates you through the hidden city your grandmother promised you really did exist (apparently, she wasn't kidding). Your inventory is neatly tucked into a small briefcase in the bottom left corner of the screen, and touching it pops up a small row of all the items you've collected. Items for what? For solving puzzles, of course!

But The Lost City doesn't do that inane thing where you have to figure out the item that makes the least sense to use, cram it into another item and then use it to magically unlock some door that had no keyhole in the first place. No, these puzzles actually make sense, which as anyone who ever played a Kemco adventure game back in the NES days can tell you, was rarely the case.

Speaking of things that adventure games should have thought of a long time ago, another welcome one here is the map. Each scene of the game you encounter is represented by a numbered panel if you hit up the map screen, which you can move around with your fingertip so you can get an overview of the entire area.

You also have a journal which logs important notes you'll need for future puzzles, and it just so happens to contain (gasp!) a hint guide, so if you get stuck you can consult it. I know, it's not proper hardcore. And I don't care, because the days I spent crying and pulling at my hair in front of my computer because I couldn't solve that one puzzle were so bad that I don't mind one bit that this game doesn't want me to go mad with frustration.

One little touch about The Lost City I really adored was the addition of puzzles affected by seasons. You will encounter stone angel statues which you can place a heart item into to change the seasons, which affects which puzzles you have access to solve. This fit in beautifully with the overall coziness of the game, and it simply brought a smile to my face.

In the end, I found myself trying to slow down and simply enjoy being in the game's atmosphere. I really didn't want the game to end, and I suppose that's the best compliment I can give anything I play. If you've ever loved an adventure game of the Myst persuasion, then you're going to love The Lost City. But not because it's a clone, or even a really good clone. This one's got a magic that's all its own.

I would be ashamed if this was a cheap rip-off stemming from some copycat's attempt to cash in on a popular indie title somewhere but Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective isn't that sort of game. If you had to liken it to a gender-unspecific trophy spouse, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective would be a 6'2" Scandinavian model with a degree in rocket science and a part-time job as a professional comedian. You won't be ashamed to be caught with this one.

The only problem here is that not everyone likes a talker. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective's only real flaw (which is also, paradoxically enough, its strongest quality) is the fact that it is extremely heavy on the narrative. More than half of your time in the game will be spent reading. Sorry guys. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective doesn't come with a voice pack either. If you're the sort who thinks that actions are louder than words, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is probably not for you. (I still recommend giving it a whirl, though.) As for everyone else, why are you still here? Get the game already!

What? No? Fine. I see those raised eyebrows and I'll raise you with a more thorough explanation. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is the long-anticipated port of an adventure game Capcom developed for the Nintendo DS. The titular character in this eccentric little delight is, as you might have guessed already, sort of dead. Sissel is also sort of awesome for an amnesiac red-suited ghost with a bad haircut.

Unlike most of the recently deceased, he has to navigate between the Land of the Living and the Ghost World. Sissel can also traverse telephone lines, perform minor feats of telekinesis, communicate with certain living beings (we'll get to that in a bit), and go back four minutes in time to avert untimely deaths. (Sadly, that's only applicable for everyone but himself.)

Incidentally, you'll find yourself using that last power a fair bit. The supporting cast is somewhat uniquely skilled at dying repeatedly. At least, one of them is.

Meet Lynne. She's a somewhat bombastic little redhead of a detective, the sole witness to your murder and – according to the helpful desk lamp (yes, a literal desk lamp) you meet in the introductory sequence – the key to deciphering the circumstances behind your posthumous condition. Needless to say, you will spend a lot of time rescuing her only to watch her barrel headlong into yet another humorous tragedy.

Along the way, you will also meet the rest of the highly memorable crew. From an unbelievably adorable if loud-mouthed Pomeranian (To quote our very own Mr. Nicholson, "Just wait until you meet the dog, man!") to a shotgun-wielding assassin (His name is Nearsighted Jeego. He never misses his target if they're in range.) to a slow-witted prison guard who dances when distressed, every entity you encounter in Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is, uh, unique, to say the least. The development team definitely went all the way with the character design here.

(For those of you curious about how well Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective survived the transition to the iOS, I'm happy to say it looks pixel-perfect. While I've never played the original, I've seen the videos and if the videos are any indication of how things were, well, Capcom did you proud.)

Humor-wise, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is about as off-kilter as the menagerie that populates it. Facepalm-inducing moments are in abundance. The actual plotline, on the other hand, is deeper than what the initial twenty minutes might implicate. How so? I can't tell you. Games like Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective are kinda like Fight Club. You don't talk about Fight Club. You don't talk about games like this either. At least, not in the context of the plotline, the actual dialogue and whatnot. Not unless you want to peel away some of the magic. The only thing you're getting out of me on this front is the assurance that when the bleaker moments of the game hit, they will hit hard.

Of course, a good story's not much without decent gameplay. Though marketed as an adventure game, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective feels more like a puzzler sequestered away in a visual novel. When you're not otherwise thumbing through conversations, you'll be in what the game calls 'Trick Time'.

To make this a little easier to understand, we're going to use an example here. Let's say you're inside a flag and you have to make your way across the room to get something. In order to accomplish this, you're going to have press the 'Ghost' button, switch to the Ghost World, and then draw a line from the flag to, say, a pitcher of water. Sissel will then do the rest. Interacting with objects is just as easy. For example, if you're inside a candle and the words 'burn brighter' are present on your side bar, all you need to do is switch to the Land of the Living and hit the 'Trick' button. Once again, Sissel will take it from there.

The puzzles themselves are a lot more complex and likely to leave you going, 'Wait. So, how am I supposed to use two suits of armor, a set of curtains, a globe and a framed-up sword?'. To complicate matters even further, there is often a time limit associated with these puzzles. Luckily for you (and everyone else in the predicament), Sissel can rewind time as many times as he likes, something that makes Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective nicely balanced between the realms of 'forgiving' and 'why would you do this to me?'.

While we're on the topic, here's my only other infinitesimally tiny issue with the game. It's too linear. I know, I know. This isn't some sprawling, open-world sandbox of an action-RPG. However, they've done such a superb job at developing the environments that I kind of want to spend some time away from the main storyline. Ahem. If you haven't guessed it already, I think Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is the bee's knees and with the first two chapters available for free you should definitely give it a shot. Following that, you shouldn't have too difficult a time parting with the cash to unlock the rest of the game.

Here's the scenario being laid out:

You receive a transmission from the Evil Cortexians. You start a fight with them; your weapons begin to charge and you fire using a brief 10 second mini-game to target them. You then take a few critical hits and your shields drop; now, you have a fire from the last shot occurring on you're bridge so you move some guys from engineering to go fight the fire. Meanwhile, engineering gets hit by an even bigger blast and you have to split this repair crew... and ...

... then two different follow-up scenarios are introduced, both of which are fairly wide-reaching and strategically harrowing. The problem that the developers are running into is that they're afraid to ditch the methodical X-Com-ish strategy in favor of a more seamless, action-focused kind of approach. Your thoughts matter here, however it does seem like turn-based is currently out of favor.

Check out the thread to dive in, see everyone's thoughts, and add your own to the delicious pile. And speaking of thoughts, it looks like free-to-play might be thing in Star Command. Check out this post:

...the game will be fully playable, beatable and fun but with the monetization along the lines of unique characters, or something along those lines.

This way the game isn't forced to go slow or be painful just to entice to raise revenue. Instead, we will have random drops of non-important game items -- and if you want that specific one -- you will have to pay for it or just keep trying to grab it.

At SOME point we need revenue, and freemium might perhaps be the least painful way of doing it. Perhaps not, but it is also (as we are all mature) a good way of raising more revenue which leads to more Star Command.

If that seems up in the air, it's probably because it still is. The larger takeaway from these kinds of community outreach pitches is this: Star Command probably isn't anywhere near finished. You don't ask about stuff like "Hey, how should we do our combat" unless a product is still a ways off. Kind of a bummer, actually, now that we think about it... but, hey, at least you can have a voice in this stuff.

We're not complaining, by the way. We want to see more and realize that Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas could be a big deal when it hits later this 2012. Not only is it fascinatingly gorgeous, but it's also mechanically and functionally inspired by Zelda. The world desperately needs more of these kinds of games, and if these cats can pull it off, a lot of people are going to be very happy.

Also, in entirely unrelated but sort of related news: If you're into Wind Waker, check out this fan-made imaginary Wii U sequel trailer that just hit YouTube and is blowing up all over Twitter. Bananas!

The first post on the game's new blog describes The Other Brothers as "a pixelated family fun adventure [game] of running, jumping, collecting, racing against the clock ..." with a suitably mysterious twist. A Kotaku post has some more concept-y type of art if you'd like to see a lot more than what's on display in this post. We're on a mission to get a lot more details, so definitely stay tuned.

[Via Kotaku]

Hey, remember that time we were like, "oh sure, Junk Jack is coming to the iPad, but it's not going to be for a long time"? Well, you should remember, because it was just last week. Anyway, the story goes that the game's developer PixBits has been so involved with just updating the game in general, that making it iPad-friendly was kind of on the back burner, at least until the iPhone version became more fleshed out.

However, it sounds like they might have overestimated how difficult the transition to the iPad would be, because we've heard from the developer that progress on a Universal update for Junk Jack is moving forward much more quickly than they had expected. They've sent over a load of work-in-progress screens of the game from the iPad, which you can check out below.

We've been told that the Universal support won't go live with the very next update, which sounds like it's pretty near completion, but PixBits is hopeful that it will be included in the update that follows. We'll be sure to keep tabs on this and let you know just as soon as you can get diggin' on the big screen with Junk Jack.

A new trailer for the game is embedded below, and you should check it out. Basically, you play as a mysterious dude with a lot of stamina who is being chased by a dream-like tentacle monster. As you run, you'll steadily "piece together the events that led to your current situation," and ultimately the mystery. Well, unless you die. You'll probably be boned on that front, then.

[Via Joystiq]

The rest of the update contains "minor level design tweaks," more language support, and even a crash bug fix. In all, we're pretty stoked with the additions in particular. This is a brilliant game with a fantastic premise and structure, but it direly needed another pass control-side. We're digging it a lot more now.

Kids vs Goblins is being published by Crescent Moon Games, and is expected to hit the iPad first later this February. In the game's message board thread, the publisher has noted that Apple has it in its hands right now, so it's just a matter of approval. We'll continue keeping our eye on this one, for sure.

Speaking to us about the eventual Universal update, PixBits tells us that it's still being planned, but has been postponed in order to make the iPhone version as good as it can be beforehand. "We are really busy developing the new update that will include many new features like walking mobs, bombs, etc," a studio rep says. "The iPad version is still planned, but we have delayed it. We want to make sure to have a stable and full featured game before doing that version."

It's a bummer, but you can't argue with that logic, right? We've asked to make double-sure that Junk Jack iPad will still make it out at some point in 2012.

The price is pretty agreeable: 5th Cell is looking for $.99 in return for some more fun in the oddly entertaining and incredibly inspired puzzle game. We've spent a few minutes with the new content, by the way, and we're pretty sure you'll dig the new missions. Check out screens of a few just below:

Galaxy on Fire 2

Supernova takes place immediately after events in the last expansion, Valkryie. Here's a blurb that explains what's going on in Supernova specifically:

"After the unravelling of the Valkyrie conspiracy, daily routine has returned to the Deep Science space station. Carla dreams of a quiet and idyllic life with her sweetheart Keith, but the restless space war hero is not ready to settle yet.

Hence the desperate plea for help of an old friend comes right in time: A gigantic supernova, which seems to be of unnatural origin, threatens to destroy the whole Mido sector and its inhabitants."

Political strain, and what happens when things get real, seems to be what this expansion's content hinges on. We're hopeful that we'll see Game of Thrones levels of paranoia and betrayal. We'd be alright if Fishlabs passed on any, uh, delicate brother-sister relationships, though.

At its core, Crazy Hedgy is an adventure-platformer that has you playing through a large amount of levels with the primary goal being to get to the end. There’s not much of a story to go on, other than the fact that the land of Green Hedges has changed (and not for the better) and you need to save it. Along the way you’ll find various types of diamonds that can be collected and act as the currency to upgrade your character in the in-game store (IAP need no apply here). In addition, players are charged with collecting gold coins, which unlock the ability to purchase upgrades and are used as an artificial barrier between worlds (each world has about ten levels). In your way is a variety of different enemies and traps that you can either avoid or take on (extra points awarded if you can toss the enemies into those traps).

Crazy Hedgy does a great job with pacing, variety, and gameplay introductions. The gold coins and diamond currency act as natural progression tools towards allowing players to learn new and advanced moves as they get further into the game. In addition, Crazy Hedgy succeeds at preserving core gameplay while building upon it with new moves, different enemies and bosses. This is also reflected in the difficulty curve, which slowly introduces more and more complicated enemies and environments to the point while never making you feel overwhelmed. There’s nothing that ever pops out that confuses you or seems out of the ordinary; it’s relatively easy to use techniques you’ve learned in the past to get towards newer strategies in taking on what you’re encountered.

One minor complaint is that the game doesn’t really stress how important gold coins are – if you don’t collect enough of them in a world, you will get to a point where you’ll have to replay levels looking for them until you get enough to unlock the next set of levels. Granted, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it also gives you an opportunity to earn more diamonds and purchase new upgrades. It’s important to note that there is no IAP in Crazy Hedgy; if you want to progress, you’re going to have to play the game to collect enough gold coins and diamonds (what a concept!).

Controls in Crazy Hedgy are divided into two categories: movement and actions. Movement is exclusively controlled by the accelerometer, and is handled very well. I particularly liked the tilt sensitivity and the plentiful opportunities to calibrate your device. A sensitivity meter would have been nice in the options, but I think as it stands it should suffice for most folks. Occasional controls also pop up on the screen during set quick time events. While they don’t detract from the overall experience, they do feel tacked on and unnecessary.

Actions, meanwhile, or controlled by tapping on the left or right sides of the screen. The right controls jumping (double tap for a longer jump) while the left controls punching and attacking. Initial attacks are restricted to simple tap punches, but as you unlock new moves you can also swipe various ways to control your attacks on the baddies. Considering that the game requires quite a bit of precise jumping and aiming as well as fast reflexes (especially in later levels that have faux timers), I’m pleased that  the controls allow me to accomplish everything I need to succeed in Crazy Hedgy with very little distraction from the controls.

It’s rare to see a platformer on iOS that actually understands all the elements required to make it successful and, most importantly, fun. Crazy Hedgy gets it, and not only offers enough variety, great presentation, and replayability to keep you satisfied, but also offers enough compelling gameplay to simply keep you playing. Nice visuals and music, as well as a good control scheme don’t hurt as well. Folks that don’t like tilt-based games may be turned off by Crazy Hedgy’s control scheme, but I implore you to put those feelings aside and check this game out.

Those types of puzzles make their appearances here, but so does a lot of solid gameplay. Kaptain Brawe opens up with an intro to the title character, a big goofy dude who somehow managed to get hired as a space officer despite the fact he's clearly not the brightest bulb in the room. Already, we have a recipe for some laughs -- that's what adventure game fans are used to. You'll start out solo, but eventually meet new characters like Row Boat (a robot of few words) and Luna (a bit of a mystery all around) who you can swap between at different points in the game, offering a bit of new perspective.

What starts out as a basic exploration of a ship on a deserted island segways into Brawe stumbling headfirst into a complex conspiracy that will send him across the galaxy searching for answers. It's a proper adventure game story, and it never failed to entertain. The humor of the game is pretty spot-on, although I felt it fell a little short from time to time (but in that cheesy way that all adventure games seem to touch on at one time or another.)

Speaking of genre tropes, one thing that Kaptain Brawe also has nailed when it comes to adventure game homage is the difficulty level of the puzzle solving. While there are options here (Casual and Hardcore), some of the solutions to puzzles are so downright ridiculous that it reminded me of playing Myst back in the day. A hint system proves helpful if you get really stuck (Lord knows we never had THOSE back in the day), but there are times when it won't reveal missing something very small and you will just kind of be sitting there without a clue on how to proceed. In other words, get ready touse your noggin in the most creative of ways.

The interface and controls are pretty basic -- an icon rests in each corner of the screen, and all movement is produced by the touch of a fingertip. It makes the game easy to get lost in, but the visuals also take a hand in that, and they do a grand job. The game has a sweeping cartoon feel, but the style is very distinct and memorable. 2D backgrounds and 3D characters work together nicely, and there's a lot of locations to explore, all of them rendered in loving detail. I personally loved the world of Kaptain Brawe, as it offered a tone and setting that you can mostly only find in Telltale Games titles these days.

While Kaptain Brawe may not be the perfect intro to the genre due to its difficulty levels, it does offer an excellent story and clever writing that ought to draw longtime fans of adventure games into its clutches quickly. There's no denying the retro appeal, but overall this is a solid title even by today's standards. If you like the taste offered by the initial free download, you can unlock the full game via IAP, which will set you back $4.99 on iPhone and $6.99 on iPad. If you ever passed time on a game like Leisure Suit Larry or Space Quest, you will adore Kaptain Brawe and all of his fumbling attempts at saving the galaxy.