"When things get so big, I don't trust them at all,
You want some control, you've got to keep it small.

- Peter Gabriel, "D.I.Y."

As seen in my last GOTY blog, I haven't been buying a lot of software this year. (My current tally is less than $100... that's just weird for me.) What I HAVE been doing, though, is helping Kickstart every cool-sounding game on the planet.

As you're probably all aware, Kickstarter (the site where people donate money to helps omeone realize a project) has become huge news in gaming lately. Tim Schafer's DoubleFine used the site to raise money for an old-school adventure game, hoping to somehow rack up $400,000... and ended with over $3 million instead. The guys behind the cult favorite Wasteland then went to Kickstart a sequel, angling for an ambitious $1 million... and now have $1.5 million+ with a month still to go. Even more obscure fare like Stoic's The Banner Saga, a hand-drawn strategy game with mighty Vikings, is getting double its asking price with weeks upon weeks left to keep the tally growing.

I've funded all of these games and more, and there's one constant theme running throughout their sites: "publishers told us nobody would want this sort of game." Notably, all the games I listed are "adult" in content - meaning thoughtful, not gory/naked - and are not in the 3 or 4 genres that publishers still consider worthy of their time. The coveted 13-21 male demographic is still a gold mine, but gaming as a hobby is decades old. There are grown-up gamers going underfed by the current marketplace, and it looks like we'll be getting what we want the old-fasioned way: D.I.Y., baby!

Okay, we're not technically Doing It (Y)ourselves, since we're paying other people to make these games, but it's still a nice way to circumvent the Megapublisher Machine. Now, don't get it twisted... like I said in my DoubleFine blog, I've donated enough to all of these projects ($15 apiece) to ensure my own copy of the game at launch. This isn't some charity thing; it's like a really long pre-order. But it feels good to help bring games to life that a bunch of suits didn't have the vision to realize themselves. Not every game designer demands a home run with each release... some are more than content to make an honest living, creating works thata lot of people truly enjoy. Works that are DRM-free and DLC-free. Wasteland 2 won't do Call Of Duty numbers no matter how much money we pour into it, but who cares? The staff has enough money now to make something great, live indoors, and show the world that the hobby isn't just for shrieking adolescent maniacs.

Now if you'll excuse me, a gentleman needs money for a game about an alien blob who needs to get groceries for his family.