Why am I here?
To help me. If you care. If you don't - keep reading. And I might make you care. If you are in rush, if you are looking for some quick fun or entertainment, or you are simply bored - you went to the wrong address. But that's fine. Just as I value my own time - I also value yours. Regardless if you are a stranger or not.
But here and now - you can change someone else life for better. You have what it takes, you can do it, you have the technology! :) Now time to make a decision.
Press/Hit/Click/Touch the heart below and let's get busy.
(if there is no heart below... oh well. Then just keep reading)
To help me. If you care. If you don't - keep reading. And I might make you care. If you are in rush, if you are looking for some quick fun or entertainment, or you are simply bored - you went to the wrong address. But that's fine. Just as I value my own time - I also value yours. Regardless if you are a stranger or not.
But here and now - you can change someone else life for better. You have what it takes, you can do it, you have the technology! :) Now time to make a decision.
Press/Hit/Click/Touch the heart below and let's get busy.
(if there is no heart below... oh well. Then just keep reading)
Who are you?
My name is Radek, better known as Drone Locker. I am an indie game developer from Poland and I need your help. Let me tell my story...
Working hard, in a job that I hate, with a boss that yells at me, was sadly always my kind of thing... Until something snapped inside of me.
I wanted more. I wanted to create, I wanted to move people, I wanted to share a part of me, to do what I really love. And that thing is game development.
Like many of you, I've been a gamer throughout my entire life. I love the possibilities that games bring, and for me they are an endless source of inspiration and the best way to form a bond with the audience.
Oh? So you make games?
Games, music, voiceover, movies... you name it - I make it. My story with game dev is kind of long but far from boring. I was a part of TheModders community and I also worked in Black Ice Tales studio/Bone Fracture, I was the founder of Sad Cat Studio, and a member of few other small companies. Those companies and studios are gone now, how it often happens in the GameDev business. During those years I've learned a lot of things about graphic design, audio design, movie compilation and programming. I became proficient in HTML5, JavaScript, PhotoShop and various movie and audio editors. I've learned how to wave sounds into music. I discovered what I can do with my voice.
All the graphics you keep seeing are screenshots from my games.
But that's not all I've learned. Game dev though me the most important thing ever. I've learned that life is too short, to do the things you don't want to or to take a job that you hate. Life is too short and too precious to put things for later, and it is too fragile to put aside your happiness.
And I know that ,because I felt it, when I heard a diagnose - cancer. My life has been turned upside-down. I said to myself:
"Is that all? Is that the end? Heck, I didn't even try to fulfill my dreams..."
And you know what? Those thoughts actually helped me to change my life.
The fight with cancer wasn't easy and it lasted for many years, resulting in serious depression and health loss. It was a long and a difficult battle and I thought that this is the end. Nevertheless with advanced chemical treatment I managed to fight back cancer. I still have scars, both physical and mental ones, but I am alive... For now.
What is your legacy?
From those scars and negative emotions I have created my best game so far. It came straight from my soul, you may know the title. Its called "Antumbra".
They say that the best form of art comes from your heart, from your feelings. And they are right. My deadly illness, my longing for something more, the suffering, it all affected me. I created something big, something dark but beautiful at the same time.
Antumbra was welcomed by the community. Fans of survival and adventure games enjoyed it, I had tons of positive feedback and people told me it was something different, a great spiritual journey. The game landed on frontpage everywhere it was published. It even outranked "Five Nights at Freddy's" couple of times.
And those people made me believe in myself. Quite frankly - the first time in my life. Suddenly I had faith in my abilities, and I felt the power of doing something more. I felt alive, physically and mentally. I finally managed to find and accept my way.
I even found a special person and we are together now. We have a great son, and I have felt another boost of power - the power of being a father.
Now I want my family to know that I am here for them and I want it to stay that way till' the rest of my life. I want to chase my passion. I want to be happy.
I want to protect them. At all cost.
I finished few more games. All differing in style and value, every one of them representing a different thing I wanted to share. Some are serious, some are parodies, some are related to my hobbies. I am just one guy, but I have the strength, the support and the skills to do tons of stuff. I "just" need that special something that I had never been given...
A chance.
So what's holding you?
An unfortunate chain of events... Bear with me. I faced many different obstacles on my way, some of them really hardcore, but nevermind... I did what everyone would do. I fought them back. For the sake of those I love. It was never a choice. Its my duty. As a father, as a husband, as a son of my mother. As a human being.
Because I am a survivor.
Still, life had few more tricks up its sleeve. It hit me once more. My work station PC had been acting weird, more and more often. It was/is like sitting on a time bomb. So I moved all my projects and concepts to my brand new hard disk. And guess what happened?
It broke after not even a whole year... How cliche. My game projects, my source codes, my graphics, sounds and concepts, pictures of my child. Ten years of my life, work, passion and memories. Gone. I made a mistake and didn't create a copy. I know, I learned the hard way, but that was harder than I expected as it had major consequences.
To put it bluntly. I don't know what to do now...
I wanted to repair the disk, but every specialist I visited told me that in its current state the disk requires advanced data recovery. A professional one, in a specialist lab.
The cost of such procedure is really high for my possibilities. To put it bluntly, 4000 polish zloty. To give you a hint how much is that: in Poland, half of such amount is considered a decent monthly salary. You can buy a damn car for that much. This is a lot of money. I don't have that kind of money.
I live in a very poor town. We also have a high unemployment rate, so actually finding any job is a miracle, not mentioning a job where they won't exploit you or a one that will cover anything beside basic bills. I know that because I tried already. I AM trying. I am not sitting ducks. But for a 31 years old, with a little kid, and my selection of skills... Let's just say it's a huge struggle.
I could of course take a credit, but I already have few of them to pay back and I can't take another one...
So what now?
I wanted to move further with game dev, now I'm standing in place wondering what to do. I desperately need to recover these files to continue working on my games, in order to give a feeling of security to my family and in order to live a normal life by doing what I love.
Not only am I doing this for my close ones I am also doing this for you guys and girls - THE GAMERS. I want to thank my small community which appreciates my ideas no matter how crazy they are. You give me the power to create. You give me the strength to create wonders, you give me happiness.
I also want to dedicate this to all the new people who befriend me and want me to keep on going.
I need your help in facing this obstacle. I withstood many of them already and I won't let this one stop me either. I want to keep going. I refuse to just live. I want to weave a dream... Into reality. But this step I might not be able to do alone. I hate asking for this but... I need funds.
Hah! So you are after my money!
Believe it or not, but smiles, rainbows and facebook "Likes" are not a valid currency. As much as I am grateful for any form of support - this emergency cannot be solved with that only. Majority of these funds goes for data recovery, and I will also invest part of it to upgrade and fix my old PC a little, as it is my main tool of work, and hopefully will be in the few coming years. This will help me get up and keep on developing games. This will let me be happy continuing my work. My broken hard drive and unstable hardware is the only obstacle.
Okay, fine. How much?
Hard to say, but its a lot. But every penny counts. And I am actively doing everything in my power to decrease this amount by taking part-time jobs and scouting for investors. But as I've mentioned above - I am sitting on a time bomb. And I don't know when it'll explode. Time is my enemy. All I can do is to put up a fight. The most vicious I am capable of. And pray, that it'll be enough.
If you support my fight, please... consider donating via "Help me" button below.
^^^Click This Picture Above To Donate^^^
You can also hire me if you wish. I am not affraid of getting my hands dirty.
Whatever it takes to get this crisis out of my way.
To contact me just use THIS CONTACT FORM
Whatever it takes to get this crisis out of my way.
To contact me just use THIS CONTACT FORM
If you cannot afford to help me directly, please - spread the word. Make people know. Play my games, buy my music, watch my movies. Get engaged.
You can find me over here:
You can find me over here: