Help the Atomic Fern start a streaming channel!

The Atomic Fern is a bar located in Durham, North Carolina. We are a welcoming space where folks can come to relax and not be bothered by loud TVs and music that people need to shout over to be heard. We also have and play a lot of board games. We have connected with and support the local gaming community. We love games. As of March 16th, 2020 all bars in the state have been closed. Since that time we have continued to play games virtually and maintain the open community that has grown over the years we have been around. With no end to the closure in sight and no apparent local or federal relief for small businesses on the horizon, we need to be creative in order to stay in business. The obvious answer to us is to start a game channel on Twitch/Youtube. This will allow us to expand our audience. Expanding our audience will allow for new revenue from subscriptions and tips. It will also allow us to get sponsors and advertising revenue. The reason for this fundraiser is to raise funds for the equipment needed to capture, edit, and post the games that we already play. We have the content, we just need the means to get it out there. We currently have three gamers on board to make videos and do livestreams. Our ambitious plan is to upload 3 to 4 edited videos a week while also doing one livestream. We also hope that by doing this it will raise notoriety for the bar so that once we are allowed to reopen (safely) we can have a swift recovery on that front as well. To be clear, we are not doing this as a stop gap or a replacement for the physical space. The plan going forward will be to have the streaming channel AND the physical space and that they will compliment each other. Any funds raised above our goal will go towards the physical space keeping the lights on, rent paid, water running, etc. So what do we need and what will you get?

We need a high end gaming computer with a fast processor, a top end graphics card, lots of memory, lots of hard drive space, and a good sound card.. This will also serve as the editing and rendering computer, so it needs to be top end.

We need audio equipment so we don't sound like chumps when we talk (microphones, mixing boards, cables, etc).

We need a large network storage device to save all the videos we make and edit.

We need to stream deck (like this) to make our videos look professional and clean.

We need equipment to stream from our console (like this) and cameras to record our goofy faces as we play.

All in all we think we can get all this equipment for $3650.  Any extra funds will go directly to back rent and bills.

As an early supporter of our efforts you will gain  forever access to our new discord channel that will afterwards only be open to subscribers. 

If you give us $100 or more, we will build and deliver a building of your choice in The Sims. We can build a replica of your house or any other building you want.

For $200 or more you will be our "forever friend". This means that you will have deeper access to the discord, but also we will contact you to play games with us on the channel. When we need another for Among Us, Fortnite, Black ops, board games, or whatever we are playing. 

For $500 or more we will let you have your own space on the channel. Once a month you can either stream on the channel or send us recorded gameplay and we'll edit it and post it up for you. If you need equipment we can try to help. If you're local we can arrange for you to use ours. We will help with editing or any other thing you need. We want to help you and want to thank you in the best way we can. 

All levels get the benefits of the levels below. Thank you for helping us. All of this goes a long way to ensuring that The Atomic Fern is around for a long time to come.