In 2013, I pledged $20 to help fund Among the Sleep, an indie horror game by Krillbite Studio on Kickstarter. The campaign went on to raise $248,358, passing its funding goal and helping bring a strange, memorable idea to life.
Among the Sleep is a first-person horror adventure where you experience the world as a two-year-old child. Instead of playing as a soldier, detective, or monster hunter, you move through the dark from the vulnerable viewpoint of a toddler. After waking in the night to unsettling sounds, the child begins searching for comfort and for his mother, with a teddy bear companion helping light the way.
That perspective is what made the game stand out to me. The horror does not come from combat or complicated systems. It comes from atmosphere, uncertainty, distorted rooms, oversized furniture, and the feeling of being small in a world that suddenly feels unsafe. It was the kind of indie game idea that Kickstarter was especially good at supporting: unusual, risky, personal, and unlikely to come from a large studio.
My pledge was at the “SLEEPYHEAD” reward tier. For $20, backers received a digital copy of the game, a high-resolution Sleepyhead wallpaper, and access to the exclusive backer forums. The estimated delivery date was December 2013, and the project’s funding deadline was Saturday, May 18, 2013.
The game was released in 2014, and one fun piece of trivia is that I was credited on MobyGames as one of the backers. It is a small credit, but still a neat reminder that I helped support the game before it was finished.
Looking back, this was one of those crowdfunding moments where the reward was more than just receiving a copy of a game. It was about helping a creative team test an unusual idea, watching that idea turn into a finished project, and seeing my name connected to a small piece of indie game history.
Videos
Links
- Kickstarter: Among the Sleep
- Moby Games: Among the Sleep Listed in “Our Lovely Backers”
- Moby Games: Lewis Moten (ID: 644310) Credited for Among the Sleep as “Our Lovely Backers” in 2014
