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OREGON TRAIL DOCUMENTARY

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Everyone remembers reading the fatal words, "you have died of dysentery," on a computer screen in an Elementary School computer lab! But does anyone know how the game was created!

Hi, I'm Jim Stewart Allen! I stream educational computer games on twitch, as well as substitute teach, as well as do stand up comedy, as well as act! (Have you seen me in the new batch of Oregon Lottery commercials, they are amazing!) But most importantly, I have been playing Oregon Trail since 3rd grade (21 years!) Most recently I finished streaming at least one simulation of Oregon Trail on my twitch channel for 1 year, 8 months, and 22 days in a row!

My twitch account! 

Along with my friend since High School Sam Han, we want to create a documentary that tells the story of the creation and rise of the #1 best selling educational computer game of all time, The Oregon Trail!

A few months ago I sent out a hopeful message to one of the original creators of the 1971 teletype game, Don Rawitsch, and you know what?? He is interested in what we can do with this story and wants to participate in it! We want him, as well as some other key players (Bill Heinneman, Paul Dillenberger, Philip Bouchard and Wayne Studer) to tell the story of how the game went from a simple teletype game for a classroom of students, to a nationwide hit that made its way into numerous homes and computer labs across the country!

But to do this we need your help! This is a grassroots operation right now and we don't have any private backers or companies helping us out! We have the talent, we have the passion, but we need the funding to cover what those won't! The money we make from these donations will go towards things such as travel, so that we can fly to the important landmarks that made the Oregon Trail beautiful as well as the people are who can tell the story of how the game was made! It will cover the compensation for the creators telling these stories! It will cover the basic salaries for Sam and I's day to day work so that we can pay our bills! It will cover food and lodging so we can spend the time and energy engaging with these stories and getting the footage we need! It will cover post production work such as editing and graphic design work! And it will cover anything else we may not be able to see as we delve into the intricacies of this work!

Thank you so much for your support! We promise you that the finished product will look, sound and feel amazing to watch! We are taking this very seriously and plan on doing big things with this project! So thank you for your trust that we can knock this out of the park! Sam is amazing at what he does, if you need an reassurance of the quality of work coming from this, check out his demo reel:

http://www.rudystudios.com/

<3 Sam and JSA
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Donations 

  • john stuart machir
    • $20 
    • 3 yrs
  • Jill Sundlof
    • $40 
    • 3 yrs
  • Drew Murphy
    • $10 
    • 3 yrs
  • Matthew Sayler
    • $10 
    • 3 yrs
  • Prosperous Guard
    • $5 
    • 3 yrs
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Organizer

Jim Stewart Allen
Organizer
Tacoma, WA

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