[dropcap size=big]W[/dropcap]arRab: Veteran is a complete indie game made by one young man by the name of Chadrick Evans. His Kickstarter funding goal is low, a mere $200. He wants to get WarRab on Steam, advertise it, and pay for his yearly domain fee. That’s it. He’s already hand drawn all of the characters and levels, composed the music, and coded the gameplay…himself. He doesn’t need us to validate his game idea, or to float him the costs of producing a game all alone. He’s got a working demo available for anyone who might doubt the level of work he has accomplished. The best thing about all of this? The demo is pretty good! The controls handle well, the music is all right, the artwork shows promise, the writing is fairly good, the opening scenes are engaging, and the gameplay is fun. Impressive for someone who is just eighteen years old!

Some of you might be wondering why I’m bothering to cover a story about one guy and his game—his game that barely even needed Kickstarter, because it was pretty much finished already. You might be thinking, you bitter scrooges, that Mr. Evans’ artwork isn’t all that good, and that amateur RPGs are passé. It’s true that WarRab: Veteran probably won’t be winning any Indie Game of the Year awards…but I want to focus everyone’s attention to one simple fact:

Chadrick Evans embodies everything good about crowdfunded gaming.

He shows initiative, honesty, good work ethic, and a stellar knack for game creation. He understands good video game design (even if he hasn’t mastered it yet), having practiced it diligently over the years. He knows what he wants and exactly what he wants it for. He demonstrates a perfect example of how Kickstarter can be used at any stage of a game’s development. In short, this guy is sure to go places. There are so many people out there claiming to be “aspiring game developers,” but ask them to cobble together so much as a platforming level, and the excuses start pouring in. “I have no money! No time! Not enough experience!” Or even worse, you get the guys who don’t know how to do anything, but act like they do. They come on to Kickstarter, asking all of us plebeians to fork over all of our cash for their half-formed game ideas. Not Chadrick Evans.

The chief thing we all ought to be taking away from this, is that this young man is giving us an opportunity for Kickstarter to really become a place where dreams come true. Cue the doves! Cue the sparks! Cue the cheesy power ballad!

No, really. Because if there is one thing that crowdfunding makes possible, it is for average people to achieve their goals by virtue of hard work and good planning. Chadrick Evans is trying to do that now. He only needs a little more to reach his $200 goal. With any luck, we’ll be seeing more from this young man in the future.