No matter how epic your destiny, sound blood sugar management is a must.
Adam Grantham’s always wanted to make a game that helped people better understand diabetes, and his stake in this is personal: he’s had type 1 for over 19 years. Hence The Magi and the Sleeping Star, a fantasy game with a twist. You play as a descendant of the Magi of old, tasked with defeating an ancient, reborn king. However you suffer from type 1 diabetes, and that means you need to master your blood sugar as well as your arcane powers. Grantham hopes that, by playing the game, kids with diabetes will feel more empowered to deal with the disease.
The prototype has already been built – the alpha footage is what you’re looking at now – and Grantham’s hoping a successful Kickstarter will let him take his project to public release. He’s looking for $200,000, and there’s 29 days to go.
“I knew from the beginning that if the game wasn’t fun, it wasn’t going to be teaching anyone anything,” says Grantham. “So we designed a core game that was strong enough to stand alone as an exciting, evocative adventure,” and then tied in a real-time blood sugar simulation, making managing the disease part of the process.
You’ll need to, and fast, since – although you live in a magical Steampunk-esque land with technology at your disposal, including a robot pal – King Merodach is just a little bigger than you might be expecting. In fact, he’s a cyborg dinosaur with powers stolen from a fallen star. Plus he has a robot army on his side. Just so you know.
Think this one’s for you? Hie thee to Kickstarter and find out more.
Published: Oct 30, 2013 05:14 pm