It’s time we revisit the wonder world of crowd funding. I decided to do a new KSW post since I hadn’t done one in a while but the truth I haven’t come across a giant amount of projects that caught my attention this time around. To be more accurate a lot of projects I would have loved to talk about ended during my…let’s say “break”, or are just about to end.
Anyway before all that let’s look at the projects from last time.
My Gimpy Life Season 2: Funding Successful!
Final Earnings: $59,289 ($50,000 Goal)
The lovely and talented Teal Sherer’s very funny web series will return for a second season. I was a little worried about this one but it made its goal and all is fine. If you haven’t seen My Gimpy Life yet click here to check it out. It’s one of my favorite internet shows.
MMPR: Funding Successful!
Final Earnings: $ 41,907 ($18,500 Goal)
Because the children of the 90s are now adults the Power Rangers fan film is underway. No surprise here, of course, as it made its goal before the last post went live. Now they say it will take roughly twenty grand to produce one episode and since MMPR doubled its budget I assume that means they’ll be able to make two episodes from this KS project, which is a good start. If those episodes go over well I suspect we’ll be seeing a second MMPR Kickstarter sometime in the relatively near future.
Time Crash: Funding Successful!
Final Earnings: $6,680 ($5,000 Goal)
Time Crash asked for $5,000, got it, and got a bit of gravy as well. Possibly even better for them they’ve gotten a lot of buzz since they first started their project. All and all I’d say that this is a project that benefited the user not just with the money they asked for but also a generous amount of publicity, or the “Total Package” if I can coin a phrase. And hey, they are (or perhaps one person from the band is) now at least aware that my band exists, so on top of everything else I feel pretty good too.
The Return: Funding Semi-Successful
Final Earnings: $3,600 ($10,000 Goal)
The APT Theater’s attempt to raise ten grand didn’t work out but thanks to Indiegogo’s flexible funding they apparently were still be successful despite being almost $7,000 under (how much of that money they actually got to keep I do not know). Though they didn’t make their goal the play apparently got a successful run, having a bunch of sell out shows. You can’t argue with that.
New projects after the jump.
Geek Bar Chicago
Goal: $9,750 |
| A little on the nose? Geeks will do that |
Deadline: 8:00pm EDT, 8/22/13
Let’s be real here: these guys got funded in a day. As of this writing they have over
So anyway some enterprising fellows have noticed the rise of Geek Culture and have decided to make a bar in Chicago that caters to the nerd crowd. Basically it’ll be a geek friendly hang out joint for folk where they can play nerd games, watch nerdy shows and movies on the in–house TV, drink alcohol (some of which is nerd themed) and most importantly socialize with fellow nerds. It’s a really a cool idea and it’s been on my radar for a while now. I was happy to hear they’re campaign is going so well.
But yeah, from what I’ve read about it this is (potentially) totally my ideal place. I mean, any public place I can run a Pathfinder or a Mutants & Masterminds game while also eating cool bar food and drinking beer without getting the business from assholes is something that will interest me. That said I’m a little afraid that it’s getting so much support that it may be too cool for me to ever actually get inside. I guess we’ll see. Anyway if you live in the Chicago area and are a nerd (I assume if you’re here you’re at least one of those things) then you may want check this project out. It may have reached its goal but in theory the more money it makes the better the place will be when it opens its doors.
Visit Geek Bar Chicago’s Kickstarter Page.
Final Fantasy VII: The Web Series
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| If nothing else it's better than every FF game that came after it |
Deadline: 2:21pm EDT, 8/21/13
On the other side of the spectrum here’s a project that desperately needs help, seeing as they not been getting the cash they really need to reach 100% as of this writing. The title pretty much says it all: it’s a fan made web series based on the video game Final Fantasy VII, something many, many people considered to be one of the greatest games of all time. There’s a lot of fan made projects out there but I suppose what separates this one is the scope. This is a truly international effort with professional creators from all over the world contributing their time and talents. Originally planned as a movie the project has since been deemed “too large” to fit in a feature length film and will now instead be a multi season web series. For now they are concentrating on the first season, but presumably if things go well they’ll keep going.
The campaign already has an uphill battle as they’re asking for $400,000, which is a gigantic number for a fan movie like this (the original two minute trailer apparently cost around $30,000). Right now it doesn’t look like they have the buzz to make that in the next few weeks. But that can change, as Kickstarters often do. If you like Final Fantasy VII you should check out the page and give things a look. If the scope of the project is realized this could be the coolest fan made projects ever done.
Visit FFVII The Web Series’ Kickstarter Page.
Chroma Squad
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| My favorite part of the game will be making ridiculous titles for shows |
Goal: $55,000
Deadline: 12:49pm EDT, 8/21/13
Lately I haven’t been feeling very positive about advertising video game crowd funding projects due to a laundry list of problems that seem to constantly pop up both during the campaigns themselves and/or after their “success”. I don’t want to get too into that right now but short version is that I’m not certain that the optimistic idea of “bypassing the publishers by using Kickstarter” is always a good thing.
But hey, Chroma Squad is a video game that combines Super Sentai and manager games: two of my favorite things! How could I not talk about it?! In Chroma Squad you take the role of a manger of a TV studio that produces a Super Sentai show (Super Sentai, of course, is the genre of Japanese television that the Power Ranger franchise takes much of its footage, costumes and props from). You hire actors, buy special effects, pick color schemes, and presumably a lot more details. Apparently you also play the sentai portion of the game utilizing tactical turn-based combat, which sounds cool even if I’m unsure how it will all mesh together. But I have to say it all looks awesome and I’m 100% certain I want to own it ASAP.
So yeah, I’m a sucker for Super Sentai and Power Ranger stuff. Sue me. But the idea of a Snetai TV show simulator tickles me.
Visit Chroma Squad’s Kickstarter Page.
If you know any cool Kickstarter pages, or if you have a project that needs support, feel free to post a link in the comment section (though take in mind as moderator of the comment section I have the right to not allow any KS posts that I am especially against for any reason).
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