Kickstarter is a great place to discover creative, innovative projects that need support. Small businesses and independent workers that wouldn’t get funding otherwise can make their dreams (and the dreams of others) come to life through internet donations. I’ve hunted down some awesome-looking Kickstarter projects that could use support. Let’s look at some video games, comics, movies, plays and even conventions and talk about why they deserve to be made.
Please remember before donating to any of these projects to check out the risks section of each Kickstarter page and make sure you’re fully comfortable with them. No investment is completely risk-free.
To be honest, the donation goals of some of these Kickstarters are a bit over-ambitious, so remember, even if the Kickstarter ultimately falls short of its goal (which means everyone will get to keep their money), it’s unlikely these creators will give up. You can still support the project in other ways by following the creators on their personal websites and so on. The most important thing is to appreciate this cool range of ideas and promote them in your own circles! Maybe you’ll even be inspired!
Aberford: A video game of Zombies and 50’s Housewives
Aberford is a game that aims to bring us an experience we’ve all dreamed of having since we were little: beating the crap out of zombies with a frying pan while wearing a poodle skirt. Okay, maybe that was just my childhood dream.
Ever since the idea of a video game pitting 1950’s housewives against a zombie apocalypse was first voiced on Tumblr, the community has responded enthusiastically. So an indie game company called Sketchy Panda Games stepped up to try to make the game a reality. See the impressive video, beautiful concept art, story details and so many other goodies at the kickstarter here!
Aberford has a lot going for it. The preliminary video shows that the developers have already started game production, complete with developed characters, setting and backstory. The game also isn’t just a beat-‘em-up, it’s a story-driven game that promises to explore the social issues of the 1950’s, including Cold War paranoia, sexism, racism and forced conformity.
Aberford by Sketchy Panda Games
Each character has their own unique story and fighting style and in-game decisions have a major impact on the story. The creators promise a focus on character interaction and development. But they also promise that there will be plenty of combat that allows gamers to test their skills. Also, the combat is as scrappy as the production itself. There’s no stockpile of weapons in Aberford, so the women will have to take whatever makeshift weapon they can to survive and use their surroundings.
The game also promises to be pretty diverse. The game isn’t just taking on social oppression and featuring powerful women, it’s also made an effort to feature women of different body types, a rarity of in video games. The game has a black lead and a white-passing Lebanese lead, but the supporting cast also really diversifies it. You can play as a transgender woman, a Japanese-American woman and a Mexican woman new to America.
Aberford by Sketchy Panda Games
There’s a lot of certainty this company will turn out an actual quality product. The people involved with the project have all worked on successful games and have several contingency plans to minimize the risks of the project, as well as a large community pushing them forward.
The Kickstarter has only raised a small portion of the 600,000 dollars it’s asking for, so it can use the help. Even if this Kickstarter fails, the creators promise that they won’t give up and will simply readjust the project (though it would be a less complex games and characters would be cut). So it’s a good idea to keep in touch with them at their Tumblr and website!
Drawing the Line: A Comics Anthology by Indian Women
Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back is a comics anthology focused on amplifying the voices of Indian women. The anthology is being produced by Ad Astra Comics, a company that aims to use comics to aid social change. Visit the Kickstarter here.
In the words of Nicole Marie Burton, the author of the Kickstarter, the anthology is “is a collection of 14 accounts of lived experience by women in India. Stories cover topics about gender, sexuality, harassment, coming of age, family, sisterhood, race, shadeism, class, and political struggle in a country that many in the West know little about, and understand even less. “
"Someday" by Samantha Gunjal from Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back!
The anthology is also intended to be an educational tool that aids organizations in the West that want to advocate for women’s issues. The anthology features a range of beautiful art styles and stories that deal with realistic and important problems, but some of the artwork shows that fantastical elements will sometimes be used to express these concepts.
This is a Kickstarter that’s almost over and it’s very near its 6,000 dollar goal!
Samurai My
Samurai My is an animated adventure film concept produced by My-Hahn Lac and Colin Chan. It’s the story of a six-year old girl named My growing up in feudal Japan and aiming to become a great samurai. She has to go on an adventure to save her family and faces supernatural thugs on the way. You can find the Kickstarter here!
Samurai My has a lot to offer as a project. The art looks gorgeous and colorful, the characters looks adorable and it overall just looks like a great, heartwarming tale. The creators want enough cash to pitch this feature film to a big studio. Even disregarding how quality it looks, there’s a lot of reasons America could use a film like this.
Art from Samurai My by Colin Chan
There are a lot of samurai films out there, but none of them focus on an adorable, chubby, fierce six-year-old girl and that is a travesty. Moreover, considering that America is full of cringe-worthy psuedo-samurai movies focusing on white people somehow being better than Japanese people at their own culture, we need more samurai movies with actual Japanese protagonists over here. There are an overabundance of white princesses for little girls to love in American animation, but not a lot of Japanese heroines with no royal connections. My would be a refreshing change.
So check out this unique and beautiful looking product! You can also check out more of Colin Chan’s art at his website.
The Snow Child
The Snow Child is a play put on by the United Kingdom company Butterfly Psyche Theatre in partnership with IncludeArts. It adapts the classic Russian fairy tale, The Snow Maiden, to a multisensory stage production. The Kickstarter is available here.
What makes The Snow Child special is that it’s aiming to be an inclusive production fully accessible to people with all types of situations and disabilities. The production also has a cast that includes many disabled actors. The goal of The Snow Child is to show that wants to kickstart the process of making mainstream theatre more accessible to everyone. The story being told is also intended to be positive story that avoids the common tropes and clichés that haunt productions involving disabled people.
The Snow Child production photo
The Kickstarter money will be used to support 18 performances, which will include autism-friendly performances, performances with sign-language interpreters and child-friendly performances. The money will also fund inclusivity training for those involved with the productions as well as several resources, such as downloads, transcripts and “touch tours” for impaired people.
This is an exciting project that could change the face of theatre and provide a lot of disabled people with the entertainment they are usually denied. It also has a pretty solid and reliable looking team behind it. The project has already received a grant from the Arts Council of England and the people working for it have some productions under their belt. But they need some more help to create the full experience!
Pride Con
Pride Con is what it sounds like- a LGBTQA focused multi-fandom convention that’s going to be held on July 29-30 next year at the Hilton Anaheim in Anaheim, California. The convention is backed by H8 M3 N0T Enterprises. It intends to celebrate the advances that the community has made in fandom and media. They also want to celebrate diverse stories and characters. The Kickstarter is here.
The conention plans to include many different events, like a dance hall, gaming hall, karaoke, a fashion show, a pride café , workshops and more! The con has already been endorsed by several Youtube celebrities and many cosplayers have also shown their support.
It’s true that crowd-funded conventions by other parties have been disastrous in the past, but this is a different group of people. If this convention goes right it could be a positive empowering and overall fun experience that gives LGBTQA fandom some needed invisibility and brings people together in a heartwarming way.
So take a look at Pride Con’s Tumblr, Facebook and website.
Jayla's Jaunts
Jayla's Jaunts by Senyah Haynes
Jayla’s Jaunts is a planned children’s book series by Senyah Haynes that follows a young girl named Jayla on a magical, educational adventure. Jayla is given a magical globe by her aunt and is sent to explore and learn the history of the 50 states, starting with Alabama. The Kickstarter is available here.
Haynes plans for this book to be an asset to educators in addition to a fun romp for children. She wants to include lesson plans and audio books along with the regular book and she also needs money to market the work, print it and pay her illustrator.
The project also has a Facebook page. There’s few causes as worthy as helping children learn and connect with their culture and Jayla’s Jaunts aims to do just that.
Mooncrest
Mooncrest by KnightMayor
Mooncrest is an example of a Kickstarter project that failed- but there are plans for it to return to Kickstarter soon. The gorgeous looking high-fantasy game promises to be a quality product, as the team behind is a bunch of game creators who formerly worked at Bioware on titles like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. The website is here.
Mooncrest is an RPG starring a paladin and an outcast she forms a bond of sisterhood with. The game aims to combine a complex story and immersive world with combat and in-game puzzles. Some combat demos are already out. Keep an eye on the website to see when the game team decides to try for funding again!