With a modest US$100,000 target, an appealing concept and some gorgeous art, Austin-based developer Stoic's Nordic fantasy RPG The Banner Saga was always looking like it would find enough backers willing to kickstart the game's development, but as the pledge campaign came to a close over the weekend, the finally tally clocked in at $723,886 with over 20,000 contributors.

Above the original PC and Mac promise for the game, the additional funding now means that the developers must make good on their promise to also bring the game to Linux, iPad, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Additionally, they will now have a genuine orchestral score and thanks to the $700K milestone, will be adding a new cities feature to the game's multiplayer mode

...the player-owned cities are part of the multiplayer game and don't affect the single-player story, which is about staying on the move to escape doom. As the multiplayer is largely about building a huge roster of characters, forming teams and fighting other parties in battle, building your own headquarters is a perfect fit, and something we've always been excited about. Both of these scenarios take place at the same time in the game and will make perfect sense within the context of the story when you see it!

Everything else you could possibly want to know about their process and progress can be found on the Kickstarter project page.