Apartment burned down

Several weeks ago, the apartment building that my girlfriend, Emma, and I lived in suffered a serious fire (here's a news story). I called the fire department when we smelled smoke, we were able to get the cat out, and then the fire burned for nearly eight hours. Other than the cat in his kitty-carrier, we had only what was in our pockets.

We were able to get back into the building several days later to salvage things (only after signing a liability waiver), but there was not much left. We were on the top floor, which you see pretty well in the picture above. The building is completely uninhabitable now. The fire started in the unit below us, where, tragically, our downstairs neighbor was killed in the blaze.

Emma and I have just found a new place to live, and our family and friends have been incredibly generous with the help they've given us. There's one thing, however, that has been rather difficult to replace.

I'm an independent video game developer (here's my site where you can play the free games I've made), and my gamedev desktop computer was completely ruined, as well as my monitor, keyboard, mouse, and everything else I used to make games.

I realize that there are people in greater need on this site, so if you find this a petty request, by all means, don't help out. But, if you like what I do and or if you're interested in supporting independent game development (particularly games that tell interesting stories and make an effort to be inclusive and non-sexist), consider chipping in. I'd love to continue to do what I love.

I'll use the money to help buy a new desktop for game development, a new monitor, and a new keyboard/mouse.

Everyone who donates will be included in the credits of every video game I work on using this computer (unless they'd rather not be included).

I really appreciate it.

- Ian Burnette