You may have seen this story on the Thoughts of Train2Game blog last week about the introduction of crowd source funding for indie games.

Now just days later,  Expedition: TheNewWorld has become the first game to be fully funded by 8-Bit Funding. While the game has reached beyond its $700 funding goal, the project remains open for 56 more days in order to acquire the most funding possible.

It’s encouraging news for Train2Game students who may consider using the website in future.

“ I would like to thank all the supporters and to the guys at 8-Bit Funding!” says creator of Expedition: The New World Santiago Zapata.

“With your help I will continue developing Expedition and make it even more fun and interesting. Expect a new version with “port cities” and “strategic resources” in the map before the end of the deadline. Also, if you haven’t contributed yet, please feel free to do it and claim our contribution prizes.”

In addition to Expedition: The New World, another project has far exceeded initial predictions. Having only been created 10 days ago, project CardinalQuest has acquired the most funds at $2,936 in total contributions thus far, just $64 shy of the “Grace Period.”.

“Our experience with Cardinal Quest on 8-Bit Funding has exceeded all expectations,” says Ido Yehieli, lead designer for Cardinal Quest,

“In only a week we have received almost three thousand dollars! I think that proves that there has been a gap in the market for an indie-games related crowd funding service and that 8BF came in to fill it not a moment too soon. I also think it is important for us to have our own site that focuses on indie gaming, since more general-use sites tend to push games to the side compared to other types of work and their community does not particularly care about indie-games.”

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the early success of 8-Bit Funding? Will it be a long term success?  Do you think you’ll turn to it in order to help you develop games?

As usual, you can leave your thoughts here on the Train2Game blog or on the Train2Game forum. Alternatively, you can let us know what you think via Twitter.

Train2Game, in association with DR Studios and the University of Bedfordshire, will be holding a Game Jam at the end of March. For more information, see this Train2Game blog post or the Train2Game Game Jam Facebook page. Alternatively, keep an eye on the Train2Game Game Jam Twitter account.