VISION

We are pleased to invite you into the new and vividly fantastical game series: “The Guarding of Eden.” 

PROJECT EDEN “ENTER EDEN”

“The Guarding of Eden” is a MASSIVE Adventure story that can only be told through a MASSIVE game series.  That’s why we’re splitting it into two games.  “The Guarding of Eden: A Dragon’s Dream” and “The Guarding of Eden: Escape to Eden.”  Both games are designed to encourage players to learn about themselves through the choices they make.  Just as Frodo’s journey across Middle Earth in “The Lord of the Rings” changed him forever, “The Guarding of Eden” seeks to give players the chance to explore and interact with a story that touches on some of life’s biggest questions by providing fun and engaging ways of interacting with a Paradise in ruin.

We came to IndieGoGo so we can have YOU as companions along for this amazing journey.  Whoever you are and wherever you’re from, we invite you to become a Guardian of Eden!  Not only will your involvement make it possible for us to create and realize the dream to bring Eden to you, exactly as we envision it, it also allows us to form a worldwide community where we can collaborate in shaping Eden’s world and design.  We want your help!  So come along and join us in this mission to create something incredible together!

“Even the smallest person can change the course of history.”– Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

THE STORY: “A Paradise in Ruin”

Have you ever dreamed about saving the world? How about outright destroying it? In "The Guarding of Eden" you can choose between both!  Play as Slash Talon, the cocky dragon prince, who must venture outside the castle walls that bind him -and ultimately himself- in a world overflowing with beauty, danger, and adventure as he seeks his true purpose in life.  Explore a vast land of literary dreamscapes, encounter awesome animal rivals to obtain their unique abilities to aid you on your quest, and vanquish the Seven Deadly Sinister Villains who rule over this paradise in ruin- all the while deciding to either make the sacrifice to use your abilities to be a true Protector of Eden, or give in to the sheer fury of power and become Eden’s biggest Predator!  Gameplay will be fast and fun, simple to pick up but rewarding of finesse. Are you ready to enter Eden?

A Word from the creator, Peter Venoit Jr.

This story has long been compelling me to tell it through games as it slowly took shape and developed around the experiences in my own life.  I envisioned a paradise inhabited by only talking animals (Redwall anyone?) that was created to operate in perfect harmony, but over the course of history selfishness crept in and the land began to sink into turmoil and ruin.  

Fast forward a couple dozen centuries and I imagined what it would be like to want to explore this land, but have to fight against the darkness that had sunk its roots deep.  By which time, a systemic evil would have entwined itself with the innate good and unique diversity of these various animal societies with the goal of complete dominance, resulting in a confused nature.  

How would one approach this kind of subtle evil?  I would imagine it would take the most pristine of virtues: Courage, Faith, Persistence, Humility, Discipline and the like.  I would imagine it would require a hero, but what kind of a hero would emerge from such a broken paradise?  These are the types of questions that fascinate me and inspired me to explore them in a game that is the best parts of Megaman X and A Link to the Past, incorporated with the fast-paced accessibility that modern technology affords.  I truly hope you will enjoy this and I invite you to explore Eden with us in our first game: “The Guarding of Eden: A Dragon’s Dream.”

In this bite-sized adventure you are Slash Talon, a tiny-but extraordinarily-powerful dragon.  Slash begins his journey trapped in the iron fortress known as “The Dragon’s Keep,” run by his dad, where he is forced to fight an onslaught of fearsome foes.  Recently he has heard the call of the Author in his heart and though he only knows violence, he dreams each night about escaping to the wonderland of Eden just beyond the horizon.  Through his window he can only see a volcanic wasteland of iron and smog, his heart yearns to explore the grassy meadows and mysterious ruins that lay beyond!

ARE YOU READY TO BREAK FREE?

Burn, Slice, and Slide your way through this real-time action RPG, minus the aimless wandering and errand running.  Though restricted, your mission is simple: Use your reflexes to outmaneuver and defeat waves enemies, build up the courage, and use your wits to liberate yourself from the Dragon’s Keep once and for all! Before you can reach your freedom, you must battle your way through armies of killer robots, monsters, and mutants to realize Slash’s dream of escaping to the beauty beyond!

Like we said before, "The Guarding of Eden" is a MASSIVE Game/Story. The extent of sacrifice needed to fully tell this story will be talked about for years to come.  A US Army General, Creighton Abrams, once said: "When eating an elephant take one bite at a time," 

. . . Gulp!!

But seriously, armed with that nugget of wisdom, we plan to start out small.

• The release of  "The Guarding of Eden: A Dragon's Dream" is a bite-sized chunk of whole "The Guarding of Eden" story and is planned for release as a downloadable game for PC as an introduction to the world of Eden.  
  Tentative release date Fall 2016.
  

• We will then build "The Guarding of Eden: Escape to Eden" off of the success of “A Dragon's Dream.”  With a bigger team and bigger budget, we plan to release the next chapter of Eden within the next 2 years.

• In addition to contributions from YOU, our fellow Guardians, our strategy is to also generate funds by working around-the-clock to deliver top quality animation, interactive media, and graphic materials to help other clients reach their graphical needs.  

WE CAN DO IT!!

Ok . . . It’s no secret we are newbies to the gaming industry.  So instead of rushing into battle without a plan, we've enlisted the support and counsel of industry professionals to learn from their years of experience and life lessons so we can avoid the dangerous pitfalls of inexperience.

To name a few, there’s Joseph Spadaford our background artist who worked at Big Idea Production, the folks who made Veggie Tales a subsidiary of Dreamworks.
Dr. Kevin Crawford, an active Hollywood screenplay writer, and a whole lot of other support from many wise counselors!

With your help in achieving our initial goal of $11,500 we can take that first huge step in accomplishing this massive adventure, and be able to pay and supply our core Team with the resources necessary to build a “A Dragon’s Dream.”

The higher stretch goals will help us to more fully realize the Complete Version of the game, and to begin pre-production on “The Guarding of Eden: Escape to Eden.”

LIGHTHEART LABS, is a new, Faith-based, independent studio founded by animator, game designer, and programmer: Peter V.  The studio's first project, THE GUARDING OF EDEN, will be his first commercial release. This is both a passion project (born from comics he drew in middleschool) and learning experience that he hopes is just the beginning of the greatest game library of all time.

LightHeart Labs is the embodiement of a dream long in the making. A dream to create a place where possibilities are endless and every action is motivated by a love to learn! We think the best art enlightens the mind and uplifts the soul. Come join us as we explore the world around us with hearts on fire!   

Long before the beginning of the project, we’ve surrounded ourselves with talented artists, storytellers, and individuals with like-minded passions.  With this influence we hope to make a huge and positive impact in the entertainment community for fun games with a purpose. Our aim is to make gaming an inclusive experience that strengthens relationships and challenges the heart! 

Peter Venoit Jr. ~ Game Director
[ Concept / Animation / Programming ] 

My name is Peter Venoit Jr. and I have been creating stories and characters since I was just a pup. From even before I can remember, I was filling up notebooks with worlds and faces of the characters that live in my head. Oceans of doodles have spilled onto almost every page that has ever been placed in front of me. No margin or napkin is safe from my lead (or ink)-filled weapon of choice. 
I am an animator and illustrator by trade, but I would like to make the transition to making Games full-time.
I have always been fascinated with how games offer us the ability to explore and interact with the dreamscapes that other's have crafted. I know firsthand how much a good fictional story can really inspire reality. I love all games, but my favorite is the Super Smash Bros series. Games also challenge me to achieve a level of technical perfection, while always providing the fun to give me a good laugh. I am a driven team-player with a passion to create games that provide fun experiences that challenge the heart. 

• Hiring Talent:  We have amazing people who have agreed to put their all into this project and need to be compensated for their awesome talents and hard work.  Being able to hire additional programmers would seriously lighten the load for us and allow us to focus on our strengths: storytelling and animation to craft the final realization of the game.

• Company Operation costs:  In order to fully create and distribute our game to any platform we first need to cover our company’s start-up cost.  This will take a significant amount of funds and include extra hardware, software licensing fees, legals fee, and other costs to make sure we are fully compliant with State and Federal Authorities.

• Community Cultivation and Support:  We very much want the community to be involved in the development of Eden as it grows, but in order to achieve this we’ll need a forum and a technical support team to set up accounts, respond to questions, fix bugs, and etc.  All of this goes towards creating a friendly environment for you our fans to contact us and engage with this Dream.

• Tithing:  As a Faith-based venture, we believe it is very important to give back and help those less fortunate.  10% of our earnings will be given to our local churches and/or other Non-profit Christian organizations.  
  

We believe some of the best creations come from working with the fans.

We welcome you to become a part of the development team, where your input- along with everyone in the Eden community- can help shape the game.  We will do this through special events such as: polls; to help the team choose between characters and ideas they've already come up with, surveys; to help judge our overall priorities distribution options, along with interacting with fellow Guardians to help create characters and populate Eden.

Your Part in this Journey:

1. Find out more about our game and mission by hanging out with us over the internet:  Our Website, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram!  Follow us and let us know what you think!

2. Already following our progress?  Help us to spread the word and reach as many fans as we can!  We can't do it all alone, so please help us by sharing what we post.  If you are inspired to create something based on our game, we'll even share it!  It's all about collaboration and we want you to be a part of it.

3. Invite everyone you know to make some noise about our game, over the social media tool of your choice! (#GoEden), and use the IndieGoGo share tools to help promote the game!  

4. No contribution is too small and every dollar helps us achieve this dream.  Consider that if just 600 people gave $2.50  per week for the next 8 weeks, then "The Guarding of Eden: A Dragon's Dream" will be a reality,

5. Need some art or animation for a project of your own?  Give us the chance to earn your business! We love meeting new people and helping clients reach their goals.

We may be inexperienced, but we view ourselves as underdogs who have great relationships with a lot of professionals and experts that will help to direct this project to completion.

Delays and the unexpected may be out there, but we are dedicated to completing this game and exhausting every resource at our disposal to bring it to you.