Navid Khonsari, former cinematic director of popular games like “Alan Wake,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “Homefront” and “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” has launched a Kickstarter campaign that is nearly a week away from its ending date. Khonsari hopes to receive the full amount of $395,000 by Dec. 16 from voluntary online investors. The project, an action-adventure video game entitled “1979 Revolution,” is an episodic series that centers around the Iranian revolution.
“The culmination of all my experiences leads to this game,” said Khonsari, who spent four years working at Rock Star Games, collaborating on various “Grand Theft Auto” titles. His gaming work history also includes tenure at Remedy Entertainment, Deep Silver and THQ.
Khonsari, who was 10 years-old at the time that the first episode “1979 Revolution: Black Friday” takes place, hopes that users will learn to adapt and make the best decisions in his game. “It has a ‘Grand Theft Auto’ feel to it, but instead of shooting a gun, you’re helping students escape.”
The game is very personal to Khonsari, who was been working with a close team of developers and concept artists on the title for the past four years. Though his company, inkStories is based in a Brooklyn loft space, Konsari’s dedicated team is located in various parts of North America.
He hopes to launch the first episode, “Black Friday” following the Kickstarter campaign. The episode will be based on the actual Iranian Black Friday incident, when members of the military fired deadly shots at protestors. “We want to put you in that protest. We want you to experience what that would be like, when you go from a moment of passion and being surrounded by your countrymen to a moment of chaos.”
If you would like to donate to Khonsari’s Kickstarter campaign, you can do so here.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1817380887/1979-revolution-black-friday
