The entire gaming world and its robo-dog is currently going from door-to-door and begging for cash, so a shaft of philanthrophic light amidst the Kickstarted darkness is a welcome one. We posted about Mario/McMillen & Refenes mash-up Super Meat Boy Galaxy last week, but it was unclear whether Aubrey Hesselgren would ever share more of his half-gag, half-tribute project with the world. Turns out, he will. BUT ON ONE CONDITION. That condition is cash. Of course it’s cash! This cash will not, however, go to the developer – it will go to The Samaritans. If SMBG is successfully ‘ransomed’ for £10,000, its prototype will be freed and released to the public.

Blood money, I call it! Blood money! And also a very smart idea.



As a reminder, here’s the video of that prototype:



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You don’t want to play that? Seriously? What are you, a monster? Or worse: a boring person?

By his own admission, Hesselgren is unlikely to have the time/opportunity to turn this into a fully-fledged game sold for real Earth monies, and on top of that there are the ethical issues of borrowing/profiting from other folks’ games. So, he’s come up with an ingenious and cheerful solution – raise money for charity, give the prototype to those goodly folk who donate. In the event it doesn’t make the £10k ransom, he’ll find a way to secretly share the build with those who did donate.

Donations go to The Samaritans via JustGiving, and you can and should throw some money into the charity hat here. NOW.