April 12, 2012
For Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), 76, the 2012 Republican primaries are probably his last tango with presidential politics. But the aging libertarian will still achieve his life-long dream of crushing the nation’s Federal Reserve banking system… If a Houston-based video game developer is successful, that is.
Daniel Williams, 27, recently published a fundraising appeal for a forthcoming video game based on the candidate’s exploits. With the help of crowd-funding website Kickstarter, he hit the goal of $5,000 within a matter of days, based upon the commitments of just 40 backers as of this story’s publication.
Speaking to Raw Story on Wednesday, Williams said his main inspiration for the game was the 1992 8-bit classic “Krusty’s Fun House,” where Krusty the Clown from “The Simpsons” has to set traps for mice and capture them.
For the Ron Paul game, instead of mice it’s delegates. And he collects gold coins — lots and lots of gold coins — naturally. And who could forget the most epic political video game cover art of all time, featuring candidate Paul and his wife Carol in a “Star Wars”-like pose in front of a giant screeching eagle, the Statue of Liberty and exploding red fireworks? (Click here for larger version.)
The game also includes some elements from Sega’s 1991 hit “Sonic the Hedgehog,” along with the boss battles from Konami’s vampire-hunting title “Castlevania.” Williams said the encounters will play into each branch of the Federal Reserve bank, and that there would “definitely” be an “epic” encounter between Paul and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
“I love video games, and I’m a programmer by trade,” Williams said. “Programming video games is kind of a hobby of mine. I’m the lead programmer on a site called RonPaulSwag.com, where we sell t-shirts and promote liberty to younger crowds. A video game was kind of the next step for me.”
Another feature: borrowed from Nintendo’s breakout classic “Super Mario Bros.,” Williams is using the deformed head of President George W. Bush as a stand-in for Mario’s Goombas.
“That was kind of a rapid prototyping thing,” he explained. “The premise isn’t really anti-Bush. I just wanted to get ‘neo-con’ heads, recognizable ‘neo-cons.’ You’re going to see things like zombies and sleepwalkers, too. Enemies that people who are fans of Ron Paul will understand.”
He added that “sheeple” — a hybrid of sheep and people, frequently used as an insult by Paul’s most ardent supporters and detractors — will not be included in the game. “I don’t want to perpetuate that term,” Williams said.
“Ron Paul: the Road to REVOLution” will be available to play for free on the Internet, and the developer said he’s also hoping to release it on Xbox Live Arcade, too. The game should be out in July — which, he admits, is a little bit late in the campaign season, what with the Republican National Convention planned for the end of August and all.
“I really wish I’d thought of the idea a year ago,” Williams concluded.
This video was published to Kickstarter.com by video game developer Daniel Williams.
(H/T: BuzzFeed)
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