This isn't about me - it's about Elite:Dangerous
My name is Vasileios Kalampakas and I'm an aspiring, self-published author of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
I'm asking you to help me gather the funds to pledge for a Kickstarter Project, Elite:Dangerous., and specifically "The Writer's Pack".
First off, if you find this project isn't happening, spurious or in any other way don't like what you see, please check out a similar project on Kickstarter, and another one by someone who has already published Elite fiction.
Elite:Dangerous is an upcoming space trading simulator by David Braben and Frontier Developments. It's the long awaited sequel to the Elite series of computer games that go back to 1984.
I want to help it become a reality, a widespread success, and make every player look up into the sky at night and dream of what mankind can be.
That is the reason - I want to write a novel featuring the universe in Elite:Dangerous - a massive, fantastic universe where so many things are still waiting to be discovered and experienced.
So why don't you already?
Because, Frontier Developments will effectively give away the rights to write a novel around the Elite:Dangerous universe, to someone who can pledge 4,500 GBP.
At the current exchange rates, that's around $7,147 US, but take into account indiegogo and Paypal withhold a percentage of that. That brings the total amount to almost $8,015 US.
That way, I can pay the amount pledged to Elite:Dangerous - this way they'll be able to finish working on the game, and I'll be able to write a worthwhile piece of fiction set in the game's universe.
This is a fixed amount campaign - it's all or nothing.
I need the money to pledge to the Elite:Dangerous Kickstarter as a writer. If the money's not there - I'll have to scrap working on a novel around the Elite:Dangerous universe.
It also means that if the Elite:Dangerous Kickstarter fails, the game will probably never be produced. We all lose.
If for some reason or other, the game fails to materialize and there is some falling out with Frontier Developments, I'll try to convince them to go ahead with it.
If that doesn't work, I'll still write and publish the novel, albeit with some major setting changes, that will not feature game references.
If all goes well, you get your rewards, Elite:Dangerous is published, and my novel reaches thousands of gamers and science fiction lovers. We all win.
Why not Kickstarter?
I'm not a US/UK citizen. A Kickstarter project would only be possible through some sort of proxy.
What makes your writing, or the game's universe so special?
About my writing
That's probably what you're thinking and understandably so. I'm not a successful author with bestsellers under my belt. I don't have a dedicated, fanatical audience to turn to and ask for their support.
I haven't won a Hugo or Nebula, and I'm no Frank Herbert either.
Agatha Christie got 500 rejections, J.K. Rowling got 12.
“I’m sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”
“It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it.” – this one was addressed to Hemingway.
Frank Herbert got rejected 20 times, John Grisham got rejected 25 times, even Stephen King got a dozen rejection letters for
Carrie.
“An endless nightmare. I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book.” on War Of The Worlds.
James Joyce, got 22 rejections for The Dubliners. He bought half of the first batch himself.
Publishers reject people all the time; until someone quits or until someone else publishes him.
Writing, is in most ways, about perseverence. About belief.
You can find my writing available online, on my website and in other places as well. Check out the PDFs in the media section.
Sometimes it's free, sometimes pitifully cheap. It's not that I value my work - it's that people couldn't be bothered.
I'll be posting short stories as updates, so you can get a feeling for what the novel, and the universe, will be like.
Which comes to why the game is going to be special.
About the universe
The original Elite game was published in 1984, and was groundbreaking as it sported the first vector 3D graphics in a home computer, as well as a large galaxy with hundreds of systems to explore.
It created the space trading sim genre, and the creators of EVE and the X series wanted their games to be the spiritual successors to Elite.
About a decade later, Elite:Frontier and Frontier:First Encounters were published, adding textured graphics and a procedurally generated model of practically the entire galaxy. They offered a sandbox-type experience that has yet to be emulated, and yet left us, the fans, yearning for more.
And then the successor, Elite IV, languished for years in development hell, always being two steps away from getting published.
Yet I believed, and I dreamed. We all dreamed, and watched the days and years go by, longing to re-live a waking dream - a new Elite game.
Then the Kickstarter project started and is giving us the chance to make the game actually happen with our funding and support.
I want to add more to it. I want to built a parallel universe where each one can have a taste of his own, with my story as a guide, as a what-if everyone can aspire to.
Make it a beautiful experience for the people playing, as well as those who want to immerse themselves in a novel, rather than a game. Hopefully, people will want to discover both.
Don't want the novel? How about the game?
If you feel like this isn't your cup of tea, please give these similar projects a chance at Kickstarter:
RECLAMATION: An Elite Novella
The Cost of Exploration
If novels aren't your thing in general, but you think the game shows promise, you're missing out. But not as much as you'll miss out if the game isn't made.
The best way to help is pledge to the Elite:Dangerous Kickstarter and help make this a reality, despite me.
If you find the idea worthwhile, but you don't see what you like, then at least share the news about this project through the tools at the bottom of the page.
Remember that if this project succeeds, Elite:Dangerous will be 4,500 GBP closer to its target.
Not only that, but it will be a real ground-breaking opportunity for me to reach a truly wide audience, since the novel will be published alongside the game in March 2014.
