On a much lighter note! This is the last Kickstarter Update! (Whaaaaa?) Yeah, because the last of the digital rewards are done:
Toeing the Line: What Happened With Bigfoot can be read and downloaded here.
Artbook people got their artbook in a kickstarter update!
So, that's it! If you signed up for physical stuff, I'll be getting that out soon! Thanks for the journey, I'm bad at goodbyes. Maybe I'll make another update when we've got more projects coming.
Series Post Mortem Live on Geekbeatradio! With guests Michael Andersen, Tom Pike and a cameo from Dana Shaw!
We talk about the entire series of Escape From Eden Park, PJ’s involvement with the New Form Digital Webseries Cold and its transmedia series @thethirddegreezine, Tom’s series @personalspaceshow and The Wall Will Fall. PJ also asks Dana why she never responded to his messages.
The 24-hour finale of Escape from Eden Park starts tomorrow morning! For newcomers and old friends alike, we present this little reference guide to inform and refresh your memories.
Premise:
In this interactive webseries, players have 24 hours to save a small town and possibly the world from a ghostly fate.
Where to participate:
The tumblr hosts the story: @escapefromedenpark
The forums are where people dissect things.
The chat is where players communicate in real time.
Players can interact with characters directly through the characters’ twitters - please see below.
Catch up with the entire series here.
Tools that could be useful.
Audacity, a free audio-editing tool.
Picmonkey, a flash-based photo-editing site.
Rumkin, an archive of ciphers and code keys.
Main Characters
Riley, the hero, played by newcomer Bailey Hartlage, is an honor student who’s quick on her feet and totally logical. Riley is good at compartmentalizing issues, and working out how to get from point A to B. Sometimes her stubbornness can make her hard to talk to, though. She is analytical, practical, and brave. Riley’s twitter.
Ben, Riley's brother played by PJ Scott-Blankenship, is empathy-driven and fights for the greater good at extraordinary lengths. Ben's got a lot of friends on his side from his past cases, but tends to shut people out when overwhelmed and takes all the pressure on himself. He is empathetic, virtuous, and guarded. Ben and Haman’s twitter
Scarlet, Riley’s former next-door-neighbor played by Rory Nicks, is the voice of reason and has experience with witchcraft. Scarlet wants to resolve conflicts immediately but is indecisive, so sometimes she cuts corners in the process and the end result is less than glamorous. She is responsible, honest, and restless. Scarlet’s twitter.
Haman, called Manny by his friends, the love of Ben’s life - played by Zachary Tumblin, is willing to be ruthless in order to protect his loved ones. His area of expertise is cryptozoology, the study of paranormal creatures. Haman's love can be hidden by his incredible amount of sass, but after years of being imprisoned by the villainous Collinwood, his moral code is questionably chipped. He is committed, passionate, and contrary. Haman and Ben’s twitter.
Lexie, Ben’s best friend, played by Jazmine Reed, is the guardian angel of the group, watching over everyone from a distance and providing help when she can. Lexie's very wise, but after 200 years she's got a few biases that can cloud her judgment. She is romantic, intuitive, and headstrong. Lexie’s twitter.
And Ollie, played by Ellen Claire Adams, is Riley’s best friend - though away at college, Ollie’s technical expertise and freewheeling ways offer a breath of fresh air to the rules of magic. Though, this also means that Ollie is easily distracted and is prone to bouts of flightiness. They are calm, inventive, and irreverent. Ollie’s twitter
Characters of Note
Collinwood, the Squelcher
The Kingpin of the malevolent spirits of the town. He evaded mortality for a long time, but met his death at the bottom of a well thanks to the witch, Cate. There he was reborn as something more than a ghost but not quite a man. He built a net around the town, capturing all vagrant spirits and creatures into a cloud of doom called The Sluagh - and once that cloud bursts, all paranormal life will cease.
Boneyfiddle
An absurd, violin-playing, sentry who watches over the town's most sacred relic, The Sidh Haven Tome, a book that can keep the paranormal life of the town existing. Boneyfiddle was apparently the Squelcher's brother, though, aside from being an annoyance, there’s not much of a resemblance.
Cate Schaefer
The youngest of a talented pair of soothsaying sisters, and Scarlet’s departed aunt. When she was alive, she and her older sister Margaret took their act on the road before they were tricked into their doom at the hands of Collinwood, a fate that Catherine fought until her dying breath when she sacrificed her own life killing Collinwood at the bottom of a well. Since then, her ghost has stayed in the shadows, waiting to exact her revenge on Collinwood’s ghost.
Shadow
Ben’s dog who’s half tea-kettler. Not much to say aside from the fact that he’s super cute.
The Goddess
An ancient deity who fell to earth a long time ago. According to local myths, she split into three personas. Una, with dominion over the earth, Marina, with dominion over the sea, and Stella with dominion over the sky. Each incarnation has her own set of powers and hangups, and apparently Stella is Lexie’s mother. Stella’s honored every year at the Starlight Festival...and Collinwood has a vendetta against her in particular.
L’anna
Princess of Eden Park's Paranormal Creatures. L'anna is caring, and curious, and a bit too impetuous for her own good. Her infatuation with the human world has gotten her into trouble more than once,
Harrison
A rogue spirit bound to an ancient urn. Harrison's powers were tremendous and terrifying to behold, and though he was Collinwood's most malevolent creature, he worked beside him as a lieutenant as opposed to a slave. Harrison craved desolation and destruction, and killed many people in his mission to bring about the end of the world. He met his own end at the hands of Manny when he insulted Ben’s memory. Harrison’s gone for good, but recently Riley learned that he wasn’t the only one of his kind.
Marlena, Ollie’s mom
Ollie's mom was a former army brat who investigated the paranormal activity in the town and the government's involvement with it. She grew up to run an electronics shop, a solar-powered farm, and a family with seven kids. She also gave Grandpa Patrick and Ben their investigative toolkits. She passed away a few years ago, and her soul is trapped in the cloud.
Patrick, Riley and Ben’s Grandpa
When he was alive, Grandpa was secretly a member of the Fraternal Fortean Coalition, an organization that investigated paranormal activity. In an effort to recreate the relationship he had with his deceased brother, Jack, Patrick trained Ben to take his place. However, Ben didn't seem to agree with his harsher methods. When Grandpa Patrick passed, Ben took up the mantle and distanced himself from the family. Grandpa died at the hands of Collinwood and his soul is trapped in the cloud.
Grandma Colette
Riley and Ben’s Grandma, and Patrick’s ex-wife. Grandma took Riley in when she dropped out of school. Grandma’s knows a lot about the town and its history -- so she can be pretty helpful when she’s not causing mischief. Grandma’s unaware of the paranormal events occurring in Riley’s life, and Ben, who faked his death over a year ago, is determined to keep it that way.
Charles St. Charles
The former manager of the now-defunct radio station WPPR, with a mysterious and unexplained link to Collinwood. St. Charles died of a heartattack a while ago, but reformed as a technology-hijacking poltergeist. Riley was desperate to save him, but he crossed the town line and was lost to oblivion. His entire family was either dead or estranged, and his soul is now trapped in the cloud.
Happy Holidays! With Cloudburst coming (NEXT WEEK) I don’t have time to make a nice card, so here’s another present! You get to hear one of the tracks the lovely and talented and handsome Jeff Ball (Steven Universe, Mass Effect 3) composed for Cloudburst! You’ll hear it and the rest in the series on the 28th!
Read the novella co-written by backer Shelby Cunningham here: http://escapefromedenpark.tumblr.com/post/154704142693/um-guys-i-just-got-this-from-an-anonymous-email
The Good News:Yesterday Morning we finished principal photography for Cloudburst. There is a LOT of production left to do, but as we move to post, it'll be easier to string everything together. Bad News:Last night, as I was driving home from the airport, I was in a car accident that totally destroyed my car. I'm going to be fine, but this is one of those unexpected things that puts a kink in plans. We're working through it, but thanks for your patience.
I’M THE HEADWRITER OF THE TRANSMEDIA CAMPAIGN FOR NEW FORM DIGITAL AND VERZION’s #COLDSeries!
Whew. Sorry. I’ve been holding that in since February. Emily’s FANTASTIC series has started airing, and I’m so excited to announce formally that I’m working on the official companion blog of the series: The Third Degree.
The Third Degree is written from the perspective of Noah, a character who works in the small town where COLD takes place. He stumbles across Isla’s abandoned journal, and continues her one-man investigation following a chain of murders that started 20 years ago.
The blog runs parallel to the series and posts every week day. I hope you guys check it out! I’ve worked so hard with New Form Digital to bring it to life. SHOUT OUT TO Jamie for being my on-set producer!
Thanks to projects like @escapefromedenpark and @anwhistleaquatics I was able to do this! It’s been a dream of mine to work with New Form, AND Emily. I’m totally ecstatic.
Hello everyone! Let's get into the nitty-gritty before the fun stuff.
All backer surveys have been sent out. If you haven't filled yours out yet, PLEASE do so. Some aspects of the game can't continue into production until we get certain ones filled out.
BACKERS: please check your updates, as there are a few things in there for you.
O-kay, so fun stuff! Today is the first birthday of Escape From Eden Park!
Well, I mean, kind of. The original Escape From Eden Park was a Maddison Atkins/OpAphid fan fiction from 10 years ago. Today is the first day of this incarnation of Escape From Eden Park!
Even comparing the goofy card I made above with this clip makes me a little misty. A small project about a girl dealing with death became a big project about a girl finding a family. I never expected to actually have the support of the people who inspired the original series all those years ago. Let alone to have them be actively involved.
Thanks to everyone for all your help and support. We're doing our best to make this a fun one-of-a-kind experience.
In this interactive webseries, players have 24 hours to save a small town and possibly the world from a ghostly fate.
Cloudburst will be a community-driven experience, unfolding in real time and featuring new forms of storytelling across different media, with unique ways for the audience to influence the outcome such as Paranormal Activity-style found-footage, liveblogging escape-the-room style vignettes, audio logs, and various social media platform integration. Viewers can watch passively, or become an integral part of the story as they befriend our characters and help Riley confront the ghosts of her past and the literal ghosts of Eden Park.
Cloudburst and its predecessor Escape From Eden Park are inspired by past webseries and alternate reality games such as lonelygirl15, Maddison Atkins, Kate Modern, Harper’s Globe, and The Optimist.
Our cast has featured creators and influencers of digital storytelling and media from all over the world, such as composer Jordan Bush, who is also our featured composer (LG15:Outbreak), Linda Barsi (Buzzfeed, OpenEllby), Rob Carballo (geekbeatradio), Michael J. Andersen (Owner and Senior Editor of ARGnet), Mari Devincenzi (lonelygirl15, OpAphid), Faye Austin (Maddison Atkins, Dallas Children’s Theatre), Keili Hamilton-Maureira (WFMU), Amanda McLoughlin (shessomickey, Spirits: A Drunken Dive into Myths and Legends), Emily Diana Ruth (The Water’s Fine, COLD), MegaRan, SAMMUS, Nick Tierce (Grief Splattered Campus) and Tom R. Pike (Echo Chamber, Personal Space). Many will return for Cloudburst
We are FOUR DOLLARS away from $800. That's so incredible.
As I mention in this update, we aren't considering any major additions, we're kind of watching it play out. It's been suggested that the next stretch goal, if we implement one, should be centered around getting more people as opposed to money, and I agree.
As you can see, even a dollar is a wonderful gift. Even word of mouth is a wonderful gift. Thank you so much for your help, everyone!
Special thanks to our angel tier backers, and in particular Jeromy for being so lovely.
