We've launched an exciting new project of our own! Introducing the Kickstarter app for iPhone!

Funded! This project successfully raised its funding goal on June 8, 2011.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on April 12

      Hey John. Right now we have three branches of development going on the game. One is an API for how we script events in the game using Lua (this is probably the most exciting thing happening now), the next is a prototype of a card-matching minigame that could be used as a sort of dueling mechanic between psychics. This is functional and pretty cool, but I didn't want to show it off until we had 100% decided to include it in the game. The third branch is a bunch of complex character attributes that will effect every playable and non-playable character in the game.
      I might go ahead and turn this into an update... I'll admit I try to hold off on updates unless I have some eye candy or something to show off...

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      Creator John Green on April 12

      How are things going?

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on September 11, 2012

      Hey gang, I'm planning an update first week of October. It's been a harrowing month of ups and downs, but I'm feeling pretty good! No release date, but we are getting closer to a playable demo with a couple of levels for beta testers.

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      Creator Threemoons on August 19, 2012

      We can haz update?

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      Creator Max Harris on July 18, 2012

      Well, we're now a year, a month and ten days from the completion of 121% funding.
      Any hint on when the game will actually be delivered?

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      Creator Matt Hargett on June 14, 2012

      I know you guys have Octopus Project doing you music (my husband and I love them, have seen them several times in San Francisco!), but it would be cool if you could help a backer by backing/promoting my Kickstarter to fund my EP release and tour:
      http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1951829028/the-making-of-the-making-of-ep-release-and-tour

      Hopefully this just comes off as desperate (which it is) and not douche-y :)

      Thanks in advance for any help!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 7, 2012

      USPS just delivered a shredded piece of packaging from a playbutton and a note asking if I want to initiate an investigation as to where the package contents went. Nice going, guys. Good thing there's plenty of extra buttons.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 2, 2012

      Christian! Your button is on the way. Sorry it took so long. There's just a few buttons left to go out now and then we will be done! I think two T-shirt orders are hung because I ran out of a size, but I may figure out a size-swap solution with those two.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on March 21, 2012

      Paul, John, and Matt in beta testers- you guys didn't get your shirts yet because I ran out of your size early on and then spaced out. It will be remedied.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on March 21, 2012

      UGH! I missed two shirts! I'll send them right away!!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on March 21, 2012

      Hey John, yeah all shirts should have gone out. Lemme check and make sure I didn't mess any up.

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      Creator John Miller on March 20, 2012

      Hey Wiley, did shirts get out for beta level backers.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on March 10, 2012

      I think I've mailed about half of the buttons at this point. I probably won't be able to go to the post office again until after the South by Southwest festival ends in a week, so I may try to package all of them before then.

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      Creator Christian Skorik on March 10, 2012

      Any updates? Still waiting on the buttons, but I'm enjoying the soundtrack!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on December 18, 2011

      I haven't posted the downloads yet- still waiting on final track names. Shouldn't be much longer!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on December 17, 2011

      Also, im going to pick up some extra goodies for the partners from the octopus project. :)

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on December 17, 2011

      Any tier that involved a poster with signatures on it, or the soundtrack, was delayed, but that all ends now, posters are signed, soundtrack is finished. I'll put the download link up today when I get the final track names, posters are packed, and I'm going to start loading music on playbuttons tomorrow morning!

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      Creator John Green on December 17, 2011

      Have any rewards for Thunderbeam Partners gone out? Thanks!

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      Creator Christian Skorik on December 17, 2011

      YES! Soundtrack's done, I can't wait to get my pin!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on November 30, 2011

      Hi Miguel, don't worry- you won't have to wait much longer. The band is still working on the soundtrack but they will be finished soon. I'm going to try to squeeze as much extra goodies and art into the downloadable package as I can. Everybody will get a notification when it's ready. Thanks again for your help.

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      Creator Miguel Garcia-Gosalvez on November 30, 2011

      Any update? I hace not received neither the soundtrack or the comic. Thanks!!!!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on October 15, 2011

      Thanks to you, it's going great! We'll post more news as the game develops, both here and at karakasagames.com

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      Creator Ola Eriksson on October 15, 2011

      Hey, what happened with this project I backed?

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on August 20, 2011

      We had to re-up some of the shirt sizes, causing a slight delay getting out the last few orders. Thank you for being patient!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on August 20, 2011

      Awesome! More posters going out today! Plus the signed posters should be coming back from new York soon for our high tier backers!

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      Creator Seth Johnson on August 20, 2011

      Just got my poster, and may I say Soooo... much... color....
      Great work! Nakatomi does a great print job as well :)

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on August 3, 2011

      Hey, if any of you are in Austin and haven't got your shirt/poster yet- If you can make it to Juegos Rancheros at the highball this Sunday, I can deliver your prize in person! Please message me if this works for you. http://juegosrancheros.com/

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on August 3, 2011

      Hey Linda! I haven't got to the combo shirt/poster prizes yet because I wanted to try to figure out how to put them in the same package. I might give up on that idea though. I should be through to those in the coming weeks.

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      Creator Linda Noble on August 2, 2011

      Checking on the shirts. How about one for me?!
      Linda Noble

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on July 25, 2011

      Nope, you're in the next batch to go out!

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      Creator Carlos Bergfeld on July 25, 2011

      Oh no problem. Just wasn't sure if mine got lost. Good luck working on the game!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on July 25, 2011

      Hey Carlos, I've mailed out about 70 of 120 so far. Thanks for your patience!

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      Creator Carlos Bergfeld on July 25, 2011

      Did people get their shirts yet? 'Cause I didn't.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 16, 2011

      Shirts alone go out first. I'm packing them up now. Posters can go next, I just need to get a van to go pick up the crates of poster tubes (100 of them, oof). One sticky spot is that Rachel the artist didn't come to Austin like we hoped, so I can't get her signature on posters yet. Our soundtrack button order is getting placed on Monday, but not all the tracks are ready. That also delays the digital downloads.
      So- if you got a shirt alone we'll get it to you in time, otherwise just give us the next address and we'll ship it as soon as its ready.

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      Creator Aryeh Kahn on June 16, 2011

      Do you have any idea when you plan to ship the prizes? I plan on moving at the end of June and would love to have it by then

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 10, 2011

      I just sent out an email to the people who got the shirt-only tier, I'll send out additional (corrected) surveys to the people who got other prize tiers with shirts.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 10, 2011

      I messed up and forgot to add a medium option to the survey. Let's see how best to handle this...

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      Creator Steven Johnson on June 10, 2011

      No medium option for the T-Shirts?!? I would have picked a different option had I known the t-shirts wouldn't come in a size that fits. :(

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      Creator Carlos Bergfeld on June 10, 2011

      I'm filling out the form to receive the awesome shirt and noticed that medium is not available, just everything else. Is there some sizing info on these? Large is usually pretty big on me.

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      Creator Mike Dunn on June 10, 2011

      A little late for the Kickstarter (not that you needed it), but I've posted a news piece about Thunderbeam here : http://gamingtrend.com/2011/06/10/austin-creatives-team-up-for-sci-fi-adventure-game-for-ipad/
      We'd be happy to give you guys more coverage as you get closer to launch, and we love to work with indie devs on reasonable promotion and advertising. Feel free to contact me through the site- MIKE DUNN

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      Creator Michael Johnson on June 10, 2011

      Thanks for the shirt I just really needed a shirt.

      Maybe I should have pledged $1000 and asked for an iPad?

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 6, 2011

      We'll show off the next sprite and some animation, but we're definitely keeping gameplay and level design under wraps.

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      Creator Adam Lichi on June 6, 2011

      don't show too much. i wana be surprised.

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 5, 2011

      We are definitely going for Another World with our sprite style. The brief cutscenes we are working on are a little more cartoonish. It's evolving as we perfect our process, we should have new animation to show off soon.

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      Creator Michael Stum on June 5, 2011

      That sequence at the end where the character is walking through the space ship? Immediately reminded me of The Dig, Universe or Another World, especially with the 16-Bit Music that made early-90's DOS Games so unique. If this is only 10% like this, then it will already be awesome!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on June 1, 2011

      Oh wow... Some of my fondest memories are of playing robosport on a direct modem to modem connection on my black and white mac, and using my cb radio to chat with my opponent down the block while the game occupied the phone line. I will definitely check out your game! (the randomized cadets that you can veteran-up in our game are inspired by your troops in X-Com too).

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      Creator BravadoWaffle on June 1, 2011

      Wowee! What an awesome looking game, and awesome campaign! So glad it worked out for you guys! Backed and spreading the word. I think I'll mention your project on an update in my own Kickstarter campaign for the multiplayer tactical strategy game RoboArena: http://kck.st/mOEqOB

      We're nowhere near what you have raised, but a few more people sent your way will hopefully help! Us Kickstarters gotta stick together! Wish you all the best!

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      Creator Wiley Wiggins on May 29, 2011

      Thanks Rob!
      Yeah, all the help from game community folks was huge. Good feelings all around.
      We've been spending the weekend scaling up a little. We're investigating versioning & experimenting with upgrading to XCode 4. I've got our new animator working on a test cutscene (we're just doing quick, reaction shot style cutscenes), and I'm getting all the new roto footage stabilized. James is finishing up pathfinding, and Scott got video running in-game as a layer with just a small performance hit (we'll keep working on that). Ian is working on background art for a demo level, and Scott and I are both investigating adopting or building tools for level design and scripting.

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      Creator Rob Auten on May 29, 2011

      Just want to say congrats and how nice it is to see people I don't think you know from the games industry (hi Kim Pallister!) lending support as well. May the Thunderbeam shine/sound brightly/loudly!

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508
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Funding period
May 9, 2011 - Jun 8, 2011 (30 days)

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See full bio

  • Pledge $8 or more

    89 backers

    A copy of Thunderbeam for iPad when it's released, & our hearty thanks for helping indie gaming on iOS.

  • Pledge $10 or more

    75 backers

    A digital copy of the soundtrack by The Octopus Project along with a 10 page digital Thunderbeam mini-comic by artist Pete Toms.

  • Pledge $15 or more

    105 backers

    A silkscreened Thunderbeam T-shirt in your choice of size. Designed by Mike Saputo and printed by Bearded Lady in Austin TX.

  • Pledge $18 or more

    10 backers All gone!

    Register as a beta tester for the game when we enter that stage of development- be a part of the game's direction and help us make it as awesome as it can be. Plus we'll throw in a Thunderbeam T-shirt in your choice of size.

  • Pledge $25 or more

    111 backers Limited (189 of 300 left)

    The Thunderbeam original soundtrack by The Octopus Project, on a limited edition playbutton wearable micro-mp3 player, and a copy of the game for iPad when it is released.

  • Pledge $30 or more

    54 backers Limited (6 of 60 left)

    A numbered, limited edition Thunderbeam screenprinted 18"x24" poster, by Rachel Morris and Mike Saputo, printed by Nakatomi Inc. in Austin. Also- A free copy of the game for the iPad when it is finished.

  • Pledge $50 or more

    33 backers Limited (17 of 50 left)

    By demand- a Thunderbeam shirt in your choice of size, a Thunderbeam poster AND your choice of a digital download of the soundtrack, or a copy of the game.

  • Pledge $400 or more

    9 backers Limited (1 of 10 left)

    THUNDERBEAM HERO Your name will appear in the game (maybe as a character, spaceship or a monument), plus a copy of the soundtrack by The Octopus Project on a limited edition playbutton wearable micro-mp3 player AND a copy of the game when it is released on iPad. PLUS a limited edition Thunderbeam poster, numbered and signed by artist Rachel Morris and the members of The Octopus Project

  • Pledge $1,000 or more

    3 backers

    THUNDERBEAM PARTNER Let's talk. Would you like some cream in your coffee? Can we fetch your slippers? No, you can't change the content of our game. Yes, you can have just about anything else you want. All the prizes: Poster signed by The Octopus Project, Rachel Morris, Wiley Wiggins, Shirt in your size, soundtrack on a playbutton, and all digital downloads. We'll lean on The Octopus Project for a random assortment of their merch as well. Appreciative tweets all about how radical you are, and we will be your best friends forever. Please be gentle.