We had the idea for the story of “Lunatics!” as far back as 2003. But it wasn’t really clear what form it would take. Making it into an “online TV series” was always the way I visualized it, but I didn’t see how that would be possible. Prior to this, in 2000, I also discovered the world of free-software and Linux . I was very impressed with the quality and culture of free-software projects. Comparing the success of GNU/Linux software to the constant mired, limited, and poltiically-complex world of space development really made me want to understand how free-sofware got made and how the same principles could be extended into other fields of endeavor.
The path we took towards the concept for the pilot episode was pretty convoluted. It arose out of a number of constraints we were trying to deal with when we were planning to launch the “Lunatics!” series. Both “No Children in Space” and “Earth” are drawn roughly from Rosalyn’s original short story, “The Arrival”.
Kickstarter, with its “all or nothing” funding scheme, reduces risks for both creators and backers. For a project like “Lunatics!”, this makes it a lot safer bet. This protects early backers financially — if we don’t make it, you’ve lost nothing. And the money doesn’t come out until the end when we know the campaign has succeeded (or doesn’t because it hasn’t). We really need “inside” support from those of you already following “Lunatics!” if we’re going to encourage the “outside” support from new people we communicate with.
Where did we come up with $42,000? I’ve gotten incredulous reactions in both directions — “How could you possibly make an hour-long 3D-animated film for so little money?” and “Isn’t that an awful lot of money for a free-culture project to raise on Kickstarter?” Both are completely understandable.
After our first day on Kickstarter, we are at 2% of our goal of $42,000 that we need to finish “No Children in Space”. It’s a promising start, though we still have a long way to go. Please help us get the word out! ( http://kck.st/1bPRPwb )
Thanks to everyone who supported our Kickstarter on our Moon Day opening, and thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about it! You never really know what’s going to happen, and I do hate the sound of those darned crickets. So I’m really grateful that we had some noise on our opening day. That’s a little complicated to say: First, and most importantly, it is better than any of our previous Kickstarter campaign attempts, including our successful pre-production campaign! So that’s a really good sign.
In my last update, I wanted to let you know about our new Production Kickstart which is to fund finishing “No Children in Space”. However, the link was mangled somehow. Here’s the correct link:
In my last update, I wanted to let you know about our new Production Kickstart which is to fund finishing “No Children in Space”. However, the link was mangled somehow. Here’s the correct link:
Although we didn’t quite succeed with our attempt to fund the voice recording on “No Children in Space” and “Earth”, we were able to proceed slowly anyway, and completed a basic animatic for “No Children in Space”, with voices and soundtrack. We’ve also, since then, been joined by mech modeler Chris Kuhn and new character modeler Bela Szabo, who are already working on models to finish production of “No Children in Space”.
