Greetings all,

Today is the Ides of March, and while it didn’t work out for Julius Caesar, we’ve got some good news.

We watch the crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter pretty regularly, and often we see a game here and there that we think warrants some additional attention. Unfortunately, we didn’t really have a good means of reporting on them. Sometimes we are able to see a prototype version, sometimes it’s a print-and-play version. Sometimes we just have the rules, and sometimes we don’t have any insight beyond what’s already on the campaign / what others are saying. Nevertheless, we wanted a way to generate buzz for games we especially like. The normal review process wouldn’t cut it, as our focus is different, and we desired something shorter that could be parsed easier.

So, I am happy to announce our new preview award for indie games in development: The Seal of the Republic. Games on this list have earned our vote of confidence as a solid game idea and one we feel you should take a look at. Many will be ongoing campaigns. However, even if they have officially ended, you should still see if it’s a game you may want to make a note about looking into when they come into production.

Of course, it’s not just limited to crowdfunding sites; that just happens to be the way we have access to most of them. If there are independent game designers looking to release their games through more traditional or alternative models, they certainly apply as well and we’d be happy to take a look.

So hop on over to the page and check the first batch out!