Former Escapist EIC Brings Gaming Documentary Series to Kickstarter

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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Former Escapist EIC Brings Gaming Documentary Series to Kickstarter

[kickstarter=russpitts/bring-the-human-stories-of-video-games-to-life]
Former Escapist Editor-in-Chief Russ Pitts hopes to raise $192,105 to produce a documentary series aimed at looking at the lives of the people who make video games.

People make <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/video%20games?os=video+games>video games. As simple a truth as that is, it's something that can also be easy to forget. The game industry, after all, is nothing if not rife with big name publishers and famous development teams that can sometimes seem like people all on their own. At the end of the day though, there's no getting around the fact that the games we play, whether they're big or small, are made by people with homes, lives and stories.

Hoping to give gamers more of an insight into this reality, former Escapist Editor-in-Chief Russ Pitts recently launched a <a href=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/russpitts/bring-the-human-stories-of-video-games-to-life/description>a Kickstarter campaign aimed at producing a new web series that he's dubbed Stage of Development. Intending to produce six initial episodes, the campaign aims to raise $192,105. This amount, according to the campaign's breakdown, will be the minimum required to cover travel and shooting costs, backer rewards and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/kickstarter>Kickstarter's cut of the funding. "I'm asking for a lot of money," he said on the campaign's page. "I'm asking for a lot of trust. I hope you agree that telling these amazing stories is worth a little of both."

The big question, of course, is whether or not Pitts' campaign will be able to reach its arguably lofty goal. With 20 days left and only $15,345 raised, it still has a ways to go. Whether or not it succeeds however, it's likely that gamers will at least get a taste of what the project could be. To help demonstrate their passion for Stage of Development, Pitts and company have already begun production on the first two episodes, focused on Spry Fox and the family of John Romero, paying for their expenses out-of-pocket. Suffice it to say that we'll be interested to see how those turn out and hope that Pitts is able to get the money he needs to finish the job.

Source: <a href=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/russpitts/bring-the-human-stories-of-video-games-to-life/description>Kickstarter


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sneakypenguin

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Always like Russ when he wrote for the escapist. Wish him well on his project.
 

Kae

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I love hearing the stories of how entertainment media is made and I always liked Russ a lot, plus soundtrack with Ian Dorsch and Miracle of Sound, I guess this is something I'll support, though I don't have any money right now I might be able to donate later this month.
 

omega 616

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You mean like indie game: the movie?

I think it's pretty well documented how crappy game devs lives are, forced to work insane hours, especially during "the crunch". We know they are subject to a lot of stress and pay can depend on meta-critic scores.

My question is how is this film going to any different? By finding some sob story turned good after a lot of hard work?
 

Zontar

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The amount requested is a very odd one. I mean, I get that they've calculated it's the minimum they need, but even then usually Kickstarters round them up a bit to at least the nearest thousand. I mean I'd make it 195,000 if I was making it, but that's just me.

Apart from that I hope him well in this, but after other documentaries like Indie Game: The Movie on the subject did a botched job of it and the Kickstarter for the propaganda piece '#Gamer' and the currently in production propaganda piece 'GTFO', I'll be holding my breath on if this can manage to be the first documentary ever made on the subject which is both good and can actually be called a documentary without the use of an asterix.
 

Zontar

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omega 616 said:
You mean like indie game: the movie?

I think it's pretty well documented how crappy game devs lives are, forced to work insane hours, especially during "the crunch". We know they are subject to a lot of stress and pay can depend on meta-critic scores.

My question is how is this film going to any different? By finding some sob story turned good after a lot of hard work?
Well the first thing they can do is actually fine people who are honest and do some fact checking, something Indie Game: The Movie didn't do. They could also make the movie interesting instead of having long periods of boredom induced by bad editing coupled with a director who doesn't know what footage should be cut.
 

omega 616

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Zontar said:
omega 616 said:
You mean like indie game: the movie?

I think it's pretty well documented how crappy game devs lives are, forced to work insane hours, especially during "the crunch". We know they are subject to a lot of stress and pay can depend on meta-critic scores.

My question is how is this film going to any different? By finding some sob story turned good after a lot of hard work?
Well the first thing they can do is actually fine people who are honest and do some fact checking, something Indie Game: The Movie didn't do. They could also make the movie interesting instead of having long periods of boredom induced by bad editing coupled with a director who doesn't know what footage should be cut.
Seemed fine to me, then again I'm no director or editor but I was entertained and informed so it was fine by me.

Still can't see how this will be interesting to watch, it's not like we are going to find out anything unusual or new, just confirmation of what we already know.
 

Redryhno

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omega 616 said:
Zontar said:
omega 616 said:
You mean like indie game: the movie?

I think it's pretty well documented how crappy game devs lives are, forced to work insane hours, especially during "the crunch". We know they are subject to a lot of stress and pay can depend on meta-critic scores.

My question is how is this film going to any different? By finding some sob story turned good after a lot of hard work?
Well the first thing they can do is actually fine people who are honest and do some fact checking, something Indie Game: The Movie didn't do. They could also make the movie interesting instead of having long periods of boredom induced by bad editing coupled with a director who doesn't know what footage should be cut.
Seemed fine to me, then again I'm no director or editor but I was entertained and informed so it was fine by me.

Still can't see how this will be interesting to watch, it's not like we are going to find out anything unusual or new, just confirmation of what we already know.
The problem is that that two hour documentary didn't give you any insight into any of the devs or games that you couldn't find on wikipedia...

Also, isn't this like the third time Romero's been involved in one of these things? How deep is this guy that three documentaries can't cover him? I've got all the respect in the world for him, even after Daikatana, but it seems a bit excessive to have three projects in as many years feature the guy...

Not to mention isn't this the second time Spry Fox has been covered in as many years as well? I mean, isn't there other indies on the West Coast that haven't already had their image splashed across a background with the word "INDIE" super-imposed over their faces?
 

Blazing Hero

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I would be more interested in this if it covered behind the scenes in non indie game companies. I would like an inside look in companies like Atlus for example.
 

Redryhno

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Blazing Hero said:
I would be more interested in this if it covered behind the scenes in non indie game companies. I would like an inside look in companies like Atlus for example.
True there, or Paradox, or one of Bethesda's contractual studios, Nihon Falcon, Taleworlds, etc. Though I suppose many of those are technically indie companies as well...

I'd just like there to be more than a handful or a small team, the idea's been played out and nothing all that interesting you can't guess on your own is revealed...
 

Strazdas

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I always liked Russ Pitts when he was on the site. Hopefully his project will be a success. That being said, i will not be supporting it because the previuos "documentaries" on videogames dissapointed me, whether it be the famous Inde Game or the Last of Us documentary.

P.S. hopefully he can also find people a bit more diverse than the previuos documentary [http://i.imgur.com/uw1BYvh.jpg].