Helping to create Friday Night Funkin鈥� has changed Cameron Taylor鈥檚 life.
Just over two years ago, Taylor started the video game project, enlisting the help of his friends on the Newgrounds website. It was meant to be a fun homage to the rhythm games of Taylor鈥檚 childhood and a chance to practice his programming skills.
But after raising $2.2-million on Kickstarter, the project has propelled Taylor full-time into the role of video game developer and CEO of his own company.
鈥淚鈥檓 just a small-town boy from 100 Mile House but now I guess I鈥檓 the CEO of small video game company as I manage this whacky situation I鈥檝e gotten myself into,鈥� Taylor, 22, said. 鈥淓ver since I was a silly little teenager at PSO (Peter Skene Ogden Secondary) I just wanted to make video games with a bunch of different people and now it鈥檚 like 鈥榞o, here it is.鈥�
Taylor and the game鈥檚 co-creator and artist David Brown had initially hoped to raise $60,000 so they could turn Friday Night Funkin鈥� into a full game. Their goal, however, was met within a few hours and everything started moving at 鈥渓ightspeed,鈥� with a million raised within a few days. The campaign ended at US$2,247,641 with 58,561 backers from around the world.
Over the last seven months, the pair have been learning how to manage that money by creating the Funkin鈥� Crew, a C-corporation based out of Philadelphia. Taylor said he became CEO in a coin toss with Brown becoming the company鈥檚 president. Two other friends form their core team, while others are involved on a contract basis or collaborate on music.
He said they sometimes feel like 鈥渒ids playing dress-up鈥� and attending online shareholder meetings with his friends has been a surreal experience.
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鈥淲e鈥檙e just kind of these young little creative type people. Our normal lives up to this point have not prepared us for the logistics of managing all these people and this money,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淚t can be a little punishing at times but that鈥檚 the game development life.鈥�
Friday Night Funkin鈥� is a music-based rhythm game in the style of Rockband where players hit keys to sing along to the music. The plot follows the player-controlled boyfriend engaging in singing battles with his girlfriend鈥檚 evil dad, mom and their various henchmen across multiple levels.
The group has spent the last few months writing a variety of new songs for the complete game. The popularity of their initial demo has led to some 鈥渃razy collaborations,鈥� Taylor said. He is keeping the artists鈥� identities鈥� under wraps until the game is ready to be released.
The best part, Taylor said, is he鈥檚 been able to work with a musician whose style has heavily influenced the game鈥檚 music. Taylor wouldn鈥檛 name the musician, who was well-known in the late 鈥�90s, and said working with him has been 鈥渏ust as beautiful as you鈥檇 imagine.鈥�
鈥淚t reassures us that, damn this is going to be a good video game we鈥檙e going to make. It might take a while to get there but at the end of the day it will be something that is highly polished and has a refined taste,鈥� Taylor said.
Taylor said the experience has taught him a lot about programming tricks, helping the entire team, grow from amateurs to professionals. He feels blessed the project has been able to push them all forward.
Some of the new features Taylor is working on as a result of the Kickstarter, include adding multiple new levels, a custom character creator, a mobile build, online multiplayer and modes that would remix songs and make the game harder.
鈥淭he plan is now much grander than originally intended just over a year ago,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淭he pieces are starting to fall into place and it makes game development a little less scary.鈥�
Taylor hopes his story will inspire others in small towns that they can achieve their dreams, no matter how big.
鈥淧eople can just do anything they put their minds to. Coming from small-town 100 Mile House you really can make a game a project like this from the internet. You don鈥檛 have to be from the big city, you don鈥檛 have to go to some college, anyone can make stuff happen the way they want to.鈥�
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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