I'm afraid Kickstarter is starting to become an addiction for me. When I see something cool that's $20 or less, I rarely pause to think about it. Boom, pledged! Before I start looking for a support group, I wanted to shine the spotlight on a couple of projects.
The first one is from a series I'm sure many of you are familiar with...
There are some things from your childhood that much such an impact on you that you never grow out of them. I have a very strong memory of sitting on the cement steps outside my apartment building and showing my friend this amazing book I got at the library. It was The Cave of Time, the very first CYOA book. I've loved reading ever since I can remember but having a book where you could not only change the story but go back and re-read it to make different choices was mind blowing!
I checked out a lot of those books over the years. Eventually I "graduated" to gamebook series like Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf which had basic game mechanics that involved rolling dice or choosing a random number to test your character's skills and make it feel more like a game. The Lone Wolf series is a particular favorite of mine as you played an evolving character throughout a continuing story.
This Kickstarter is aimed at a much younger audience and is mostly animated. I know some of you out there have kids and probably have fond memories of CYOA books. I think this is a great first step to get kids hooked on the idea of interactive fiction. And when they get older, the can move on to the books, or the iBook versions if they can't put the iPad down.
Check out Choose Toons!
The second project, called Mystery Box, I only found out about today thanks to a banner ad on the Axe Cop site. Also, if you're not watching Axe Cop Saturday nights, do it!
If you've frequented this blog long enough, you know I love posting vintage mail order ads from the comic books of yesteryear. The book Mystery Box supposes those ads actually deliver on the promises they made. But it turns out not everything is fun and games.
This project has some really neat bonus stuff available. Not only can you get the book itself but you can also get a copy of the fictional comic the kid in the book finds the mail order ads in. Whoa, meta! There's also some spiffy t-shirts with ad inspired artwork. The book, and comic, are available in print and digital format. If you've got an extra $95 burning a hole in your pocket, you can even get yourself drawn into one of the comic ads!
They've already hit their goal, if they make another $500 everyone that gets their reward shipped to them will get a free hovercraft schematic poster. And if they do another $500 on top of that, free Alien Eye t-shirts!
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