Saturday, February 1, 2014

Don't Buy My Game… Help Me Fly.

Running a Kickstarter is a tough job. Especially when you have never done it before. There's a new problem lurking around every corner, and some people seem just giddy with excitement about the possibility of watching you fall on your face.

Well, I don't plan on letting that happen.

Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a 40 year old divorced mother of one amazing, autistic son. I have worked in child care for the last 22 years, and I am amazing at it. But I want something different. I want to share my own passion with the world. I want to see my own creations become something real. When I look into my son's face, and tell him I believe in him, I want him to see that I believe in myself too. How can I encourage my son to accomplish his dreams if I don't pursue my own?

So I decided to make my game. 

Flip Flash is a game my cousin and I came up with when we were just kids. Over the years I have changed, tweaked, and perfected it. I have shown it to the top industry professionals, and used their feedback to make it better, and I have played it with the spunkiest little kids, and used their feedback to make it more fun. This game is going to be amazing. It will be a unifying game that parents can play with their kids, and that kids can play with their differently abled friends. 

But there will still be people who don't like it.

That's okay. I know not everyone likes every game. And a few people already have an earlier version of my game called "Nay-Jay". Some people who I know and care about are not going to want this new and vastly improved game. But that's not what kickstarter is about. Sure it is great to get fun, and exciting new games before they hit the stores. It's exciting to receive the exclusive rewards that won't be available to the general public. Being in the know is a great feeling. But it's more than that.

This Kickstarter is really about helping me reach for the stars.

I'm a paycheck-to-paycheck person, who is trying to balance being a mom and paying the bills, and without Kickstarter I might never get the chance to take my nose off the grindstone long enough to notice the stars. When I was a kid we had a big trampoline. Several of my friends and I used to work together to bounce one of us super high in the air, so for just a second we could feel like we were flying. That, ultimately is what kickstarter is all about for someone like me.

So please, don't just buy my game… 

…help me fly.