The Island of Funk
A$2,005
of $2,000 targetyrs ago
Successful on 7th Jan 2012 at 12:00AM.
Who are we?
It is a dark time for game development in Australia. Over the last two months over 300 game development nerds have lost their jobs, with a number of international publishers calling it ‘game over’ for their Australian operations.
But in this darkness shines a ray of hope, a sizzling lightning bolt of awesomeness that radiates from a hairy extinct beast, or more specifically, from Electric Mammoth Studios – a new independent game development studio located in sunny Melbourne.
This passionate team of coders, 3D modellers, animators, artists and game designers have decided to create their own studio and their own opportunities by simply getting together and creating some amazing games.
But.
The problem with working on your own games and not getting paid by anyone else … is that you’re not getting paid by anyone else, and with the prices of essential items like software, electricity and celery sticks skyrocketing, the Electric Mammoth team is reaching out to all you wonderful people and asking for help.
The project that we need your help with is our first game, ‘The Island of Funk...’
What are we doing?
In a world of games dominated by violence, bloodshed and online rage, people are crying out for a game of beautiful simplicity, a game focussed on humour and fun, a game where you get to dance on a small desert island and fight off giant octopuses and foul-tempered sea lions. Who are we to deny what people are crying out for?
‘The Island of Funk’ gives the player control of two characters; a dancer and a DJ. The aim of the game is simple – to pull off as many cool, crazy dance moves as you can with your dancing character in order to rack up high scores that put you at the top of the global scoreboard. Here you will be acclaimed as a dance God and earn the respect and jealousy from your friends and family that you’ve always wanted. But, the local wildlife has other ideas…
Just when you’ve built up enough mojo to pull off an incredible Moonwalk, a cheesy Lawnmower or a bootylicious Rump Shaker; a grumpy turtle may come bursting out of the ocean to ruin your fun, or a cheeky monkey may attempt to hurl bananas at the defenceless dancer. When this happens you must frantically switch to control of your DJ character and leap into action to avoid any game-ending catastrophes!
It’s all about funk, fun, fast reflexes and effective tactics.
If you dance well you will be rewarded with precious shiny fish! You will then be able to use this valuable smelly currency to pimp out your funking experience with awesome new dance moves, epic new songs and a huge range of clothes and accessories for your characters. Want to look superfly in old school hip hop gear while doing the Robot? Do it! Want to pull on some chunky disco shoes and flared pants and do the Funky Chicken? Go for it. Just don't forget your oversized afro wig!
The entire groovetastic experience is rendered in glorious 3D using the Unity 3D game engine. All dance animations have been created using full motion capture technology and all sorts of other sophisticated nerdish wizardry has been used such as: water withrealtime reflections and refractions, dynamic lighting, occlusion culling and realtime shadows. In simple terms – the game looks sweet!
Overall, 'The Island of Funk’ pushes the boundaries of quality, polish and innovation for a free-to-play web browser game (our initial launch platform). It combines a stunning cartoon art style with slick animations, addictively fun gameplay and a huge serving of humour. The end result is sheer casual gaming bliss.
Or at least it will be.
The Island of Funk opening 'cinematic'
What we’d love from you:
We want you to join us in the development journey of this game. Despite being relatively simple, ‘The Island of Funk’ still requires an enormous amount of work. There are over sixty 3D models to create, fifty unique dance moves to animate, eight nasty nautical creatures to bring to life, and then of course there is all that magical code to be written. And these tasks are just the tip of the iceberg; don’t even get us started on online databases, music licensing or graphical user interface issues. Seriously. Just don’t.
The good news is that the Electric Mammoth team is comprised entirely of incredibly talented (and seriously good-looking) people who have a passionate desire to make this game truly amazing. With your help, the Mammoth will rise from extinction and create a studio so successful that it will inevitably join the likes of Halfbrick and Firemint in helping to establish the Australian gaming industry as a thriving hotspot of innovation and creativity. That means more nerds are going to be out there making cool games, instead of pumping iron at the gym or cage fighting (the other lesser known things that nerds like to do).
It cannot be overemphasised how much you will be helping to make this funky Island a reality if you make a funding pledge. Any contribution will basically cement you as a vital part of the Mammoth family and you will be treated as such through our rewards program. You will also gain full access and insight into the entire development process through the members section of our website. That’s right, walk straight past the queue, up to the digital bouncer and straight into the velvet-walled V.I.P area where you will be able to see the entire development process take place before your very eyes. We promise extremely regular updates of all facets of development, including game footage, videos, animations, images, written and filmed blog posts and ultimately the opportunity to test the game in beta phase and have your feedback shape further production.
The warm fuzzy feeling you will get from helping a bunch of creative mammoths achieve their dream is all well and good, but if you’re going to part with your hard-earned cashola, we at Electric Mammoth believe that you should get some really cool stuff in return and genuinely feel as though you are a part of our hairy family – because you will be.
So spread the word, check out our website for more info and please consider joining us on our funky journey.
Big Mammoth Hug
Tim (Producer – Electric Mammoth Studios)
http://www.electricmammoth.com/
http://www.electricmammoth.com/apps/blog
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Electric-Mammoth-Studios/265835103463668
BABY MAMMOTH PACK: <br> - Appear on our Pozible wall and link to your website or blog - Island of Funk animated thankyou e-card - Access to the ‘members only’ section of the EMS website where you will be able to watch the entire development process take place through exclusive videos, images, feature stories and updates - Access to the game beta (play it before it comes out) - A warm fuzzy feeling that you only get from being close friends with a Mammoth!
1 chosen / 199 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
JUNIOR MAMMOTH PACK: <br> Everything in the Baby Mammoth Pack PLUS <br> - A full colour A4 piece of concept art personally signed by the whole development team
3 chosen / 47 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
BIG MAMMOTH PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth Pack’ PLUS <br> - A full colour A4 piece of concept art personally signed by the whole development team - 200 Fish to spend in the game store (that’s enough to really start pimping out your character in cool gear!) - An Island of Funk OR Electric Mammoth Studios Mouse pad
1 chosen / 49 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
MAMMOTH ANGEL PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ Pack PLUS <br> - 'The Halo of Generosity.’ An EXCLUSIVE item for your game characters. Available ONLY to Pozible supporters - An Island of Funk Poster (A3) signed by the whole development team - 300 Fish to spend in the game store (that’s enough to really start pimping out your character in cool gear!) - An Island of Funk OR Electric Mammoth Studios Mouse pad
1 chosen / 39 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
MASSIVE MAMMOTH PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ Pack PLUS <br> - An Island of Funk T-Shirt with the groovy game logo on the front and text on the back which says, ‘I’m funking’ awesome!’ - ‘The Halo of Generosity.’ An EXCLUSIVE item for your game characters. Available ONLY to Pozible supporters - An Island of Funk OR Electric Mammoth Studios poster (A3) signed by the whole development team - A ‘special edition’ item of your choice from the in-game store (Super-Huge Afro Wig anybody)? - Your name or business listed as a proud supporter of Australian indie game development on the EMS website
8 chosen / 12 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
MAGNIFICENT MAMMOTH PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ Pack PLUS <br> - A hand-drawn piece of cartoon creature concept art created just for you! You name the animal and we will funk it up. Personally signed by our artists - An Island of Funk T-Shirt with the groovy game logo on the front and text on the back which says, ‘I’m funking’ awesome!’ - ‘The Halo of Generosity.’ An EXCLUSIVE item for your game characters. Available ONLY to Pozible supporters - Your name or business listed as a proud supporter of Australian indie game development on the EMS website AND your name listed with a big thankyou in the game credits - A ‘special edition’ item of your choice from the in-game store (Super-Huge Afro Wig anybody)?
2 chosen / 18 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
MASTER MAMMOTH PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ pack PLUS <br> - An invite to the game launch party including food and drinks!!! If you can’t make it we’ll send you 5 pieces of game concept art (A4) signed by the artists, to soften the blow - An Island of Funk T-Shirt with the groovy game logo on the front and text on the back which says, ‘I’m funking’ awesome!’ - ‘The Halo of Generosity.’ An EXCLUSIVE item for your game characters. Available ONLY to Pozible supporters - Your name or business listed as a proud supporter of Australian indie game development on the EMS website AND your name listed with a big thankyou in the game credits - A ‘special edition’ item of your choice from the in-game store (Super-Huge Afro Wig anybody)? - A hand-drawn piece of cartoon creature concept art created just for you! You name the animal and we will funk it up. Personally signed by our artists
5 chosen / 5 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
DIVINE MAMMOTH PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ pack PLUS <br> - A laminated A2-sized Electric Mammoth Studios OR Island of Funk poster signed by the entire development team with personal messages of gratitude (A2) - A completely exclusive and unique hard copy version of ‘The Island of Funk!’ This boxed, stand-alone, installable edition will include high resolution graphics and features not available in the general release, online version of the game - An invite to the game launch party including food and drinks!!! If you can’t make it we’ll send you 5 pieces of game concept art (A4) signed by the artists, to soften the blow - An Island of Funk T-Shirt with the groovy game logo on the front and text on the back which says, ‘I’m funking’ awesome!’ - ‘The Halo of Generosity.’ An EXCLUSIVE item for your game characters. Available ONLY to Pozible supporters - Your name or business listed as a proud supporter of Australian indie game development on the EMS website AND your name listed with a big thankyou in the game credits
3 chosen / 7 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
TUSKS OF GLORY PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ and ‘Divine Mammoth’ packs PLUS <br> - The entire, original Game Design Document in PDF format (27 pages of insight into the design process)! - A hand-drawn piece of cartoon creature concept art created just for you! You name the animal and we will funk it up. Personally signed by our artists
0 chosen / 5 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
LONG-TRUNKED LEGEND PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ and ‘Divine Mammoth’ packs PLUS <br> - Your name or business listed as an official sponsor of Electric Mammoth Studios and a proud supporter of Australian indie game development on the EMS website - The entire, original Game Design Document in PDF format (27 pages of insight into the design process)! - A hand-drawn piece of cartoon creature concept art created just for you! You name the animal and we will funk it up. Personally signed by our artists - Your name in the game credits as ‘associate producer’
0 chosen / 5 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
MEMBER OF THE HERD PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ and ‘Divine Mammoth’ packs PLUS <br> - Your name listed in the game credits as Executive Producer - The entire, original Game Design Document in PDF format (27 pages of insight into the design process)! - A hand-drawn piece of cartoon creature concept art created just for you! You name the animal and we will funk it up. Personally signed by our artists - Your name or business listed as an official sponsor of Electric Mammoth Studios and a proud supporter of Australian indie game development on the EMS website - An Electric Mammoth t-shirt
0 chosen / 2 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
ULTIMATE MAMMOTH PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Baby Mammoth’ and ‘Divine Mammoth’ packs PLUS <br> - A unique, original 3D model of YOUR head for use on your game character. Send us some reference images and our lead modeller will turn you into precise polygons! - Your name listed in the game credits as Executive Producer - The entire, original Game Design Document in PDF format (27 pages of insight into the design process)! - A hand-drawn piece of cartoon creature concept art created just for you! You name the animal and we will funk it up. Personally signed by our artists - Your name or business listed as an official sponsor of Electric Mammoth Studios and a proud supporter of Australian indie game development on the EMS website - An Electric Mammoth t-shirt
0 chosen / 2 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26
MAMMOTH DEVELOPER PACK: <br> Everything in the ‘Ultimate Mammoth’ Pack PLUS <br> - A speed prototype of YOUR game idea. The whole Mammoth team will spend a full Sunday session bringing your game idea a to life with art, models, animation, design documentation and development guidance.
0 chosen / 1 available
Est. delivery is Jun 26