Hi, I'm Mason Stanford, Studio Lead at the Collective Dream Studios. I speak for our whole small indie studio when I say that I'm currently living a life-long dream. I actually make video games for a living! If you could go back and tell my nine-year-old self - who was constantly doodling Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog all over ever available scrap of paper - that I would be living this dream, I'm pretty sure his little heart couldn't take it! I have had the privelege of bringing others that shared the same life-long obsession onto my little team and we've been hard at a project that has been truly fulfilling. This dream even has a name: Dungeonforge. Together, we're in the process of making that life-long dream of actually making a game come true.Dungeonforge, as I'll explain in full detail a bit further on, is a game about telling your unique story. At it's heart, Dungeonforge is an Action-RPG in the spirit of classic Dungeons and Dragons where you, as dungeon master, drive and shape the gameworld and everyone has a chance to weave their own unique part of gaming lore. As an avid fan of D&D, I can't even begin to express the level of excitement we have to be working on a game that promises that! The gaming community has already expressed a collective excitement about what we're working on by voting Dungeonforge onto Steam Greenlight after less than two weeks on the platform! The outpouring of support has been astounding! We want to deliver on the promise we made by delivering a game that exceeds the expectations of our supporters!
That dream right now is being threatened with being extinguished altogether. Principle members of my team are Chilean nationals and dear friends who were here on student visas while attending BYU, another life-long dream. We have had very little in terms of funding for our project and once the money dried up, they were forced to return to their home country, being unable to afford to stay in school here. Once back at home, they have also had to take on regular work to pay for their living while we continue to develop our game in part-time and with tremendous distance between us. Due to that distance, we've faced delays and setbacks that we hadn't anticipated and development has gone reeling off-schedule. Back states-side, for me it has become impossible to continue development and support my children without taking on more than one job.
So, we're at an impass. Without funding of some kind the dream will be extinguished before it's fully realized. With a small amount of funding, we partially overcome the obstacle of distance with better telepresence software and equipment that will help us be closer as a studio; almost as if we were in the same room.
With a bit more funding, we may even be able to get these guys back to the states, back attending their dream school and back at the studio working all in the same room together again. We may even raise enough to allow us to work full-time, without taking other jobs, and keep our own lights on, rent paid and food on the table while we bring this dream to life.
To that end, we're approaching you via a small IndieGoGo campaign to aid us in that endeavor. To pledge, go to Indiegogo.com.
Thank you!
