Here are the eight most recent projects I’ve backed on Kickstarter:
Radiotopia: A Storytelling Revolution
Radiotopia is a podcast network by Roman Mars, the guy responsible for one of my favorite shows, 99% Invisible. I’ve met him in person and he is a lovely, generous guy who has made it his life’s work to support new podcasters and new ideas, undoubtedly at the cost of his own time and financial success.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/molassesflood/the-flame-in-the-flood/widget/video.html
Looks and sounds like Beasts of the Southern Wild: The Game, which is right my up alley.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theblackglove/the-black-glove/widget/video.html
Like The Flame in the Flood, these developers were also on the team that made Bioshock Infinite. The Black Glove pinpoints my desire to explore weird worlds with a minimum of shooting things.
Karen – an app that psychologically profiles you as you play
From Blast Theory, the makers of real-world/digital experiences. I’ve always liked to think about what self-help guides will become in the future, and this is an interesting exploration.
Ice-Bound: A Novel of Reconfiguration
Book/game/app/interactive fiction crossover, therefore automatically of interest. I’m not hot on the augmented reality stuff but I guess we’ll see how this unfolds.
Elegy for a Dead World: A Game About Writing Fiction
Pretty weird and I’m not convinced that people are keen on writing fiction, or indeed writing much at all, in a game. However, the prompting mechanism is neat and I look forward to trying it out.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1720861557/daughters-of-mercury/widget/video.html
The artist, Janet Bruesselbach, painted a portrait of me via Skype. It took over two hours and was a fascinating experience. I was happy to support her next project (this one).
It’s difficult for any ARG to attract decent levels of funding, and unfortunately Extrasolar S2 was not successful on Kickstarter. However, Extrasolar was and still is a tremendously clever game and I expect it’s really just a question of figuring out the right business model before it sees greater success.
