Small Time Criminals
A$12,718
of $4,400 targetyrs ago
Successful on 17th Mar 2016 at 3:39AM.
Pop Up Playground has secured the lease on a two storey former bank in Preston (with special thanks to Darebin City Council and The Active Spaces In Darebin program), and have assembled a team of incredibly creative people, from playwrights to game designers, theatre technicians and actors to present a classic bank heist, in which you and a team of friends get to take down a crooked investment bank by finding all its secrets or stealing all its assets.
Ever wondered if you’d make a good cat burglar? Think you could have been picking locks or hacking computer terminals if your life had gone another way? Ever wanted to get some of your own back from the 1%?
We’ve got the tools and the talent to build a world where you can do just that.
We need you to help us buy the materials to build that world.
We need to install laser security systems for you to avoid. We need to build locks you can pick. We need to hire a security guard you can dodge. And we need to make all the stuff you can steal.
Our team is committed to making this happen, but the less they need to work for free, the more time they can give to building the bank.
The more you give, the more detailed we can make the world.
The more detailed we make the world, the deeper you'll be able to go.
Anastasia Ryan is an independent arts manager and administrator. She works as a producer, administrator, production manager, stage manager, bar manager and sometimes techie. She has worked with independent companies including Sisters Grimm, Attic Erratic, Mama Alto and Quiet Little Fox and produced work for festivals in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. She has held administrative roles at Melbourne Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and is a recent graduate of the Master of Arts and Cultural Management (2015) at Melbourne University. Some career highlights include The Cutting Boys (Producer, La Mama 2014), Tandanya Firefly (Program Producer & Venue Manager, pop up venue Adelaide Fringe Festival 2014), The Container Festival (co-curator, Monash University 2013), Sophisticated Lady: A Nightcap with Billie Judy and Ella (Stage and Production Manager, Melbourne Fringe Festival 2015), The Sovereign Wife (ASM, Sisters Grimm & MTC NEON Festival 2013). In 2016 she will produce CONVICTION written by Zoey Dawson and directed by Declan Greene, for Darebin Arts Speakeasy program.
Ana will be co-producing the crowdfunding campaign and it's various events.
Anastassia Poppenberg is a stage designer, maker and drafts person. She completed a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama) at Queensland University of Technology in 2011 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) at Victorian College of the Arts in 2015.
Her creative practice is guided by the notion that art should occur within a wide spectrum of conversation and she thrives within devised and collaborative processes.
Credits include set building and scenic painting on feature films ‘The Dressmaker’ (2015), ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ (2017) and New You Hair and Beauty (2014), Costume designer/maker “Colonies in Conflict” (Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design: Tribes 2015), designer ‘Smithereens’ (FRISK Festival, 2015), props 'Cloudstreet' (VCA Contemporary Play Season 2015), set assistant ‘Bush Magic’ (NGV Fashion Week, 2015) production assistant intern ‘Motel of Memory’ (OzFrank Theatre, 2013), designer ‘A Practical Users Guide to the Afterlife’ (Vena Cava in collaboration with Zen Zen Zo, 2011).
Anastassia will be designing the set and props
Bronwyn has worked with companies including Polyglot, SoulArt, Finucane & Smith, Chamber Made Opera, Ballarat Arts Academy and La Mama has been seen in venues ranging from a derelict Kensington flat, a woodshed in Glencoe, Belvoir Street Theatre, a warehouse in Buenos Aries, a park in Swan Hill, the Segerstrom Centre in California and many more conventional and unconventional spaces.
Community theatre also features strongly in her body of work, incorporating regional, indigenous, youth, mental health and physical disability groups such as Rawcus, RAG Theatre, Marruk Marruk and Spark Theatre.
Bronwyn has won green room awards for Best Lighting Design for Letters from Animals (SRWT/Here Theatre 2007 – Independent Theatre) and alias Grace (Malthouse 2005 – Theatre Companies) and two Melbourne fringe festival design awards for Anachronisticity (with Richard Vabre) and Uninvited Guests (design collaboration with Clare Watson and Marg Horwell). She was also nominated for Green Room Awards for her lighting designs for Aviary (La Mama) and Serial Blogger (X:Machine).
Other design highlights include The Good Person of Szechuan, The Flood, Topsy, The Hatpin, My Life in the Nude, Two Mortals, Catalpa, A Kind of Fabulous Hatred and Lloyd Beckmann: Beekeeper.
Bronwyn will be designing the lighting for the game.
Sayraphim is an award winning artist who has worked on films, tv and in theatre, in museums and galleries, in schools and at festivals, creating magical worlds and experiences for people of all ages. Her public artworks work can be found in the streets of cities around the world. Sayraphim and her work can be found in a number of books and publications including Garth Johnson’s 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, Vickie Howell’s Craft Corps, Heads On and We Shoot: The Making of Where The Wild Things Are from McSweeny’s Publishing and Betsy Greer’s Craftivism: the art of craft and activism. Her work is held in MOMA (New York, USA), The Canterbury Museum (Christchurch, NZ), the archives of the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, AUS), in the Monash Heart Art collection (Melbourne, AUS), as well as in private collections and on the streets in cities around the world. She has a grad dip in Teaching (Primary) from Latrobe and a Masters in Art in Public Space from RMIT.
Sayraphim is the Experience Director (Fabric) and will be setting the overall vision, insuring the story and the world is consistent across the experience.
Robert is a freelance playwright, director and academic. He was Artistic Director and a founding member of the independent theatre company Theatre in Decay and also of the experimental puppet and visual theatre company Terrible Comfort. He most recently had his play The Joy of Text produced at Melbourne Theatre Company. Robert recently published Hello World! Promoting the Arts on the Net, a Platform Paper for Currency House. He was the editor of Australian Puppeteer, the national puppetry magazine for UNIMA Australia; and is currently a reviewer for theatrealive.com; a panelist for the Greenroom awards Alternative and Hybrid Panel; a regular panelist for Arts Victoria; and host of the Meant to Be Spoken events for the Melbourne Writers Festival. He graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a post graduate diploma in directing in 2000, holds a Masters Degree in Creative Industry (Scriptwriting) from Queensland University of Technology and is currently completing a PhD in Australian Theatre History at La Trobe University.
Robert is the Experience Director (Fiction) and will be setting the overall vision and insuring the story and the world is consistent across the experience.
Ben McKenzie is an actor, comedian, writer and game designer based in Melbourne. Ben became Pop Up Playground’s head game designer (or Game Mechanic) in 2011, and has since been lead or co-designer of most of their live game experiences. Outside of Pop Up Playground, he is known for his long-running Dungeons & Dragons inspired comedy show, Dungeon Crawl (‘a dice-rollicking good time’ - Heckler), the Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour (‘a fun frolic through the facts’ - The Herald-Sun), and nerdy solo work like Ben McKenzie is Uncool (‘gentle and whimsical … lapped up by the audience’ - The Age). He he is also a writer, producer and co-star of Night Terrace, the award-winning science fiction audio comedy series starring Neighbours’ Jackie Woodburne. His writing work includes pieces for The Lifted Brow’s digital edition, the anthologies Whose Doctor? and Geek Mook, and the sci-fi storytelling game Our Last Best Hope. Ben also works as a voice-over artist and presenter, has been production manager of the Freeplay Independent Games Festival since 2012, and runs story and game design workshops for kids at 100 Story Building in Footscray. His favourite dinosaur is Stegosaurus.
Ben will be co-designing the game.
Kevin is a game designer, director and theatrical performer. While only recently taking on an official role with Pop Up Playground, Kevin has been working with the company for more than three years. He has been a game runner and actor in numerous Pop Up Playground productions, including The Curse, This is a Door, Spy Catcher and #trueromansall. Kevin designs under the name Kilkenny Games, and as well as assisting in Pop Up Playground designs has contributed his own games for the Fresh Air festival and other events, including Blind Trust and Selfie Wars. He is part of the design team for Pop Up Playground's Small Time Criminals.
Kevin is a graduate of Monash University’s Bachelor of Performing Arts program. His theatre directing credits include The Lieutenant of Inishmore with Four Letter Word Theatre and Columbine at Monash Uni Student Theatre. As a performer he has appeared in Romeo and Juliet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Well and The Well (Redux).
Kevin can be found on Instagram or Twitter as @kilkennygames, and in his role as Digital Media Comptroller, regularly posts to the Pop Up Playground Instagram and Facebook as well. A self-confessed superhero nut, Kevin’s favourite superhero is The Flash.
Kevin will be co-desiging the game.
Ever wondered if you’d make a good cat burglar? Think you could have been picking locks or hacking computer terminals if your life had gone another way? Ever wanted to get some of your own back from the 1%?
We’ve got the tools and the talent to build a world where you can do just that.
We need you to help us buy the materials to build that world.
We need to install laser security systems for you to avoid. We need to build locks you can pick. We need to hire a security guard you can dodge. And we need to make all the stuff you can steal.
Our team is committed to making this happen, but the less they need to work for free, the more time they can give to building the bank.
The more you give, the more detailed we can make the world.
The more detailed we make the world, the deeper you'll be able to go.
Who are the team behind Heist The Bank?
It's always nice to know exactly who you're giving your money too, right? So let us introduce the team behind Small Time Criminals...
Anthony McGinty (Technical Consultant)
Anastasia Ryan (Administrator)
Anastasia Ryan is an independent arts manager and administrator. She works as a producer, administrator, production manager, stage manager, bar manager and sometimes techie. She has worked with independent companies including Sisters Grimm, Attic Erratic, Mama Alto and Quiet Little Fox and produced work for festivals in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. She has held administrative roles at Melbourne Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and is a recent graduate of the Master of Arts and Cultural Management (2015) at Melbourne University. Some career highlights include The Cutting Boys (Producer, La Mama 2014), Tandanya Firefly (Program Producer & Venue Manager, pop up venue Adelaide Fringe Festival 2014), The Container Festival (co-curator, Monash University 2013), Sophisticated Lady: A Nightcap with Billie Judy and Ella (Stage and Production Manager, Melbourne Fringe Festival 2015), The Sovereign Wife (ASM, Sisters Grimm & MTC NEON Festival 2013). In 2016 she will produce CONVICTION written by Zoey Dawson and directed by Declan Greene, for Darebin Arts Speakeasy program.
Ana will be co-producing the crowdfunding campaign and it's various events.
Anastassia Poppenberg (set designer)
Anastassia Poppenberg is a stage designer, maker and drafts person. She completed a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama) at Queensland University of Technology in 2011 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) at Victorian College of the Arts in 2015.
Her creative practice is guided by the notion that art should occur within a wide spectrum of conversation and she thrives within devised and collaborative processes.
Credits include set building and scenic painting on feature films ‘The Dressmaker’ (2015), ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ (2017) and New You Hair and Beauty (2014), Costume designer/maker “Colonies in Conflict” (Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design: Tribes 2015), designer ‘Smithereens’ (FRISK Festival, 2015), props 'Cloudstreet' (VCA Contemporary Play Season 2015), set assistant ‘Bush Magic’ (NGV Fashion Week, 2015) production assistant intern ‘Motel of Memory’ (OzFrank Theatre, 2013), designer ‘A Practical Users Guide to the Afterlife’ (Vena Cava in collaboration with Zen Zen Zo, 2011).
Anastassia will be designing the set and props
Bronwyn Pringle (Lighting Designer)
Bronwyn has worked with companies including Polyglot, SoulArt, Finucane & Smith, Chamber Made Opera, Ballarat Arts Academy and La Mama has been seen in venues ranging from a derelict Kensington flat, a woodshed in Glencoe, Belvoir Street Theatre, a warehouse in Buenos Aries, a park in Swan Hill, the Segerstrom Centre in California and many more conventional and unconventional spaces.
Community theatre also features strongly in her body of work, incorporating regional, indigenous, youth, mental health and physical disability groups such as Rawcus, RAG Theatre, Marruk Marruk and Spark Theatre.
Bronwyn has won green room awards for Best Lighting Design for Letters from Animals (SRWT/Here Theatre 2007 – Independent Theatre) and alias Grace (Malthouse 2005 – Theatre Companies) and two Melbourne fringe festival design awards for Anachronisticity (with Richard Vabre) and Uninvited Guests (design collaboration with Clare Watson and Marg Horwell). She was also nominated for Green Room Awards for her lighting designs for Aviary (La Mama) and Serial Blogger (X:Machine).
Other design highlights include The Good Person of Szechuan, The Flood, Topsy, The Hatpin, My Life in the Nude, Two Mortals, Catalpa, A Kind of Fabulous Hatred and Lloyd Beckmann: Beekeeper.
Bronwyn will be designing the lighting for the game.
Sayraphim Lothian (Constructive Communities Director)
Sayraphim is an award winning artist who has worked on films, tv and in theatre, in museums and galleries, in schools and at festivals, creating magical worlds and experiences for people of all ages. Her public artworks work can be found in the streets of cities around the world. Sayraphim and her work can be found in a number of books and publications including Garth Johnson’s 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, Vickie Howell’s Craft Corps, Heads On and We Shoot: The Making of Where The Wild Things Are from McSweeny’s Publishing and Betsy Greer’s Craftivism: the art of craft and activism. Her work is held in MOMA (New York, USA), The Canterbury Museum (Christchurch, NZ), the archives of the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, AUS), in the Monash Heart Art collection (Melbourne, AUS), as well as in private collections and on the streets in cities around the world. She has a grad dip in Teaching (Primary) from Latrobe and a Masters in Art in Public Space from RMIT.
Sayraphim is the Experience Director (Fabric) and will be setting the overall vision, insuring the story and the world is consistent across the experience.
Robert Reid (Artistic Director)
Robert is a freelance playwright, director and academic. He was Artistic Director and a founding member of the independent theatre company Theatre in Decay and also of the experimental puppet and visual theatre company Terrible Comfort. He most recently had his play The Joy of Text produced at Melbourne Theatre Company. Robert recently published Hello World! Promoting the Arts on the Net, a Platform Paper for Currency House. He was the editor of Australian Puppeteer, the national puppetry magazine for UNIMA Australia; and is currently a reviewer for theatrealive.com; a panelist for the Greenroom awards Alternative and Hybrid Panel; a regular panelist for Arts Victoria; and host of the Meant to Be Spoken events for the Melbourne Writers Festival. He graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a post graduate diploma in directing in 2000, holds a Masters Degree in Creative Industry (Scriptwriting) from Queensland University of Technology and is currently completing a PhD in Australian Theatre History at La Trobe University.
Robert is the Experience Director (Fiction) and will be setting the overall vision and insuring the story and the world is consistent across the experience.
Media
Our games have been reviewed and described in a bunch of places, check some of them out here:
2016
Small Time Criminals in My About Town: http://www.myronmy.me/2016/02/small-time-criminals-pop-up-playground.html
Citydash in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/14/review-citydash-brings-live-games-to-the-mainstream
2015
Your Turn in The Plus Ones: https://theplusones.com/melbourne/event/your-turn-...
Modern Parlour Games in Concrete Playground: http://concreteplayground.com/melbourne/event/mode...
Citydash in My About Town: http://www.myronmy.me/2015/09/citydash-presented-b...
2014
Orphans Christmas at Fed Square on ABC online http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-23/orphans-chri...
2013
An interview with Wired: http://www.wired.com/2013/02/pop-up-playground/
Fresh Air festival in Weekend Notes: http://www.weekendnotes.com/pop-up-playground-fede...
2012
This Is A Door festival review in Australian Stage: http://www.australianstage.com.au/201207295648/rev...
This Is A Door festival review in The Age/ The Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/theatre/thi...
This Is A Door festival in The Age/ The Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/the-pl...
2016
Small Time Criminals in My About Town: http://www.myronmy.me/2016/02/small-time-criminals-pop-up-playground.html
Citydash in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/14/review-citydash-brings-live-games-to-the-mainstream
2015
Your Turn in The Plus Ones: https://theplusones.com/melbourne/event/your-turn-...
Modern Parlour Games in Concrete Playground: http://concreteplayground.com/melbourne/event/mode...
Citydash in My About Town: http://www.myronmy.me/2015/09/citydash-presented-b...
2014
Orphans Christmas at Fed Square on ABC online http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-23/orphans-chri...
2013
An interview with Wired: http://www.wired.com/2013/02/pop-up-playground/
Fresh Air festival in Weekend Notes: http://www.weekendnotes.com/pop-up-playground-fede...
2012
This Is A Door festival review in Australian Stage: http://www.australianstage.com.au/201207295648/rev...
This Is A Door festival review in The Age/ The Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/theatre/thi...
This Is A Door festival in The Age/ The Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/the-pl...
Want to see some of our other games?
The Curse (2012) was originally presented at The Village in North Fitzroy and then presented again at Luna Park. In the game the players are cursed by a manic fortune telling machine and have 60 minutes to find the various fortune tellers scattered around the play area to help lift the curse. But they needed to be alert as there were a number of clowns stalking around who could make the curse worse if they caught you. This video was filmed by Lawrence Leung.
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For ‘True Romans All’ (2014), commissioned by Bell Shakespeare's Mind's Eye program, we turned Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar into a street game. Players were ordinary Roman citizens on the Ides of March - some were inducted into the conspiracy, some signed on with Caesar. Depending on the actions and decisions of the players, the game concluded with one of seven endings, though these were subject to player influence as well. During one game, the players conspired over Twitter for a peaceful overthrow of the state, but one citizen attempted to take it into her own hands and stab Caesar herself! This video shows both the player experience and the team behind the scenes as the game unfolds out on the street.
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1000 Cities (2015) was a digitally supported adventure that lead players around the city commissioned by the Melbourne City Council. Players fought monsters, found treasure and were shown Melbourne in a whole new light.
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In December 2015 we were commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to make a game for their final Secret Symphony of the year at the State Library of Victoria.
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We are partnered with Fire Hazard in the UK to present their game Citydash regularly in Melbourne.
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Throughout last year we presented our monthly live game show Your Turn at the Bella Union at Trades Hall where the audience teamed up to play against our celebrity guest teams.
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From 2012-2014 we ran The Fresh Air Festival at Federation Square playing outdoor games with passersby.
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For ‘True Romans All’ (2014), commissioned by Bell Shakespeare's Mind's Eye program, we turned Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar into a street game. Players were ordinary Roman citizens on the Ides of March - some were inducted into the conspiracy, some signed on with Caesar. Depending on the actions and decisions of the players, the game concluded with one of seven endings, though these were subject to player influence as well. During one game, the players conspired over Twitter for a peaceful overthrow of the state, but one citizen attempted to take it into her own hands and stab Caesar herself! This video shows both the player experience and the team behind the scenes as the game unfolds out on the street.
-
1000 Cities (2015) was a digitally supported adventure that lead players around the city commissioned by the Melbourne City Council. Players fought monsters, found treasure and were shown Melbourne in a whole new light.
-
In December 2015 we were commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to make a game for their final Secret Symphony of the year at the State Library of Victoria.
-
We are partnered with Fire Hazard in the UK to present their game Citydash regularly in Melbourne.
-
Throughout last year we presented our monthly live game show Your Turn at the Bella Union at Trades Hall where the audience teamed up to play against our celebrity guest teams.
-
From 2012-2014 we ran The Fresh Air Festival at Federation Square playing outdoor games with passersby.
Want to see more?
You can find us and our work in a bunch of places around the internet including:
Youtube - youtube.com/popupplaygroundau
Facebook - facebook.com/popupplayground
Twitter - twitter.com/popupplayers
Instagram - instagram.com/popupplayground
Website: popupplayground.com.au
Youtube - youtube.com/popupplaygroundau
Facebook - facebook.com/popupplayground
Twitter - twitter.com/popupplayers
Instagram - instagram.com/popupplayground
Website: popupplayground.com.au
What do players think of Pop Up Playground?
Ben McKenzie (Game Mechanic)
Ben McKenzie is an actor, comedian, writer and game designer based in Melbourne. Ben became Pop Up Playground’s head game designer (or Game Mechanic) in 2011, and has since been lead or co-designer of most of their live game experiences. Outside of Pop Up Playground, he is known for his long-running Dungeons & Dragons inspired comedy show, Dungeon Crawl (‘a dice-rollicking good time’ - Heckler), the Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour (‘a fun frolic through the facts’ - The Herald-Sun), and nerdy solo work like Ben McKenzie is Uncool (‘gentle and whimsical … lapped up by the audience’ - The Age). He he is also a writer, producer and co-star of Night Terrace, the award-winning science fiction audio comedy series starring Neighbours’ Jackie Woodburne. His writing work includes pieces for The Lifted Brow’s digital edition, the anthologies Whose Doctor? and Geek Mook, and the sci-fi storytelling game Our Last Best Hope. Ben also works as a voice-over artist and presenter, has been production manager of the Freeplay Independent Games Festival since 2012, and runs story and game design workshops for kids at 100 Story Building in Footscray. His favourite dinosaur is Stegosaurus.
Ben will be co-designing the game.
Kevin Turner (Digital Media Comptroller)
Kevin is a game designer, director and theatrical performer. While only recently taking on an official role with Pop Up Playground, Kevin has been working with the company for more than three years. He has been a game runner and actor in numerous Pop Up Playground productions, including The Curse, This is a Door, Spy Catcher and #trueromansall. Kevin designs under the name Kilkenny Games, and as well as assisting in Pop Up Playground designs has contributed his own games for the Fresh Air festival and other events, including Blind Trust and Selfie Wars. He is part of the design team for Pop Up Playground's Small Time Criminals.
Kevin is a graduate of Monash University’s Bachelor of Performing Arts program. His theatre directing credits include The Lieutenant of Inishmore with Four Letter Word Theatre and Columbine at Monash Uni Student Theatre. As a performer he has appeared in Romeo and Juliet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Well and The Well (Redux).
Kevin can be found on Instagram or Twitter as @kilkennygames, and in his role as Digital Media Comptroller, regularly posts to the Pop Up Playground Instagram and Facebook as well. A self-confessed superhero nut, Kevin’s favourite superhero is The Flash.
Kevin will be co-desiging the game.
and our Interns from SAE Qantm College
Pop Up Playground has been part of the internship program at SAE Qantm College since 2015, offering game design students valuable hands-on experience in live games design and creation. A number of the students from this program have and will be working on Small Time Criminals, including Sian Bennet who designed the logo and Ricky Tilburn and Chavez Opetaia who are helping to design the game.
How will the Early (Jail) Bird bookings work?
If you’ve chosen a reward that includes an early bird booking for a team, it can be booked in any time once we open in April, subject to availability. We’ll give our Pozible supporters first choice of dates, before bookings are available to the general public, and we’ll do our best to accommodate your needs. If you’ve booked an individual ticket, we’ll be in touch with you to arrange you into a team with other individual Pozible supporters at a date and time that works for you.
Wanna see the ad for the game?
How The Funds Will Be Used
We have the money to take over the lease, to rent the building (that's it above. How awesome is that?) and get everything connected. But we need your help to build the game itself!
Out of the $4,400 goal, Pozible and credit card fees will cost us around $440, and the cost of producing rewards around another $500. With the remaining $3,460, we'll use:
* $900 to acquire and install specialised lighting throughout the two storeys
* $1400 to make props, set dressing and stuff to steal
* $320 to create costumes for our security guards
* $700 on technology - computers that can be hacked, controls for special effects, and a bunch of stuff that would totally be a spoiler if we told you about it now
* $140 for a door to the game - the building and all the rooms have doors, but we need to install an additional one to separate the reception area from the play space.
STRETCH GOALS!
We're pretty confident we can hit our target, and if we do (WOO!) we’ll be able to make a great experience. But if you want to support us even more (WOOOOOO!!!!), we'll be able to improve on every aspect of the game – and we've come up with a bunch of extra elements we can add in to make it even better! That’s what these stretch goals are for – if we make it to these higher amounts, we'll not only improve the basic parts of the game, but add even more gadgets, valuables, hazards and even extra game modes, so you can play multiple different games in the one bank!
**REACHED!!** $4,900 Stretch Goal: LASERS!
If we reach this goal, we'll get us a laser trip-wire obstacle course which players will have to negotiate to break into parts of the bank.
**REACHED!!** $5,400 Stretch Goal: STEAL THE IDOL
At this level we'll add pressure-sensitive technology, allowing us to make puzzles like the Golden Idol scene from the first Indiana Jones film! (Note: this probably won't be an actual golden idol. But you never know...)
**REACHED!!** $6,400 Stretch Goal: HACK THE SYSTEM
Reaching this goal will allow us to step up our technological game. Personalised headsets for players, more computers to hack, more digital stuff to steal!
** REACHED!!** $7,400 Stretch Goal: PRIVATE EYE
This goal will let us hire playwright Bridget Mackey to weave a tale of mystery throughout the experience for you to uncover. This means that we can launch with two games: one where you are thieves breaking into the bank to steal all the things, and one where you play Private Investigators who break in to search through files, books and computers to uncover the shady and salacious stories of the bank itself.
** REACHED!!** $8,400 Stretch Goal: WORKIN' FOR THE MOB
At this level we'll hire playwright and game designer Nic Velissaris to write another separate mystery for you to solve as investigators, meaning there will be three different games to play! This story ties the staff to all kinds of illicit activities outside the bank. Perhaps there'll be organised crime, money laundering, connections to international drug rings...who knows what kind of juicy stuff he'll come up with?
** REACHED!!** $9,400 Stretch Goal: MURDER MOST FOUL
This stretch goal will let us hire playwright and author Emilie Collyer to write a third mystery, bringing the number of different scenarios to four! But now it's not just money that's at stake - people's lives are on the line. Perhaps someone's already dead. Knowing Emilie, this crime will be soaked in blood...
** REACHED!!** $11, 400 Stretch Goal: THE DEAD OF NIGHT
At this level, we can add to our infrastructure budget to dramatically alter the ambience of the bank. While it was always going to look like a real space and feel like the home of corrupt scumbags you were happy to rob, this extra money will allow us to purchase flats, light boxes and other theatre tricking to realise the dream of ETERNAL NIGHT: even during daylight hours, your heist will be able to take place well after working hours! The space has a lot of windows, so this is no small undertaking
$13,400 Stretch Goal: SMALL TIME CRIMINALS: THE SERIES
The bank will be filled with characters who you’ll meet through the debris of their working life: post-it notes, emails, official documents and more. But if we reach this goal, we’ll bring them to life! We’ll hire actors and make a web series of four 5-minute
episodes chronicling life in the bank: the drama, the cruelty, the dashed hopes of escape and crushed dreams of avarice.
Who knows, there might even be some joy amongst the corruption! You won’t need to watch the series to play the game - but if you do, who knows what kinds of clues you might find...
The Challenges
Once we have the funds to make Small Time Criminals, there are many challenges – we are creating a type of experience not seen in Australia before! Many similar projects have been successfully funded and presented their supporters with delays and disappointment. But we started work on the design of this project as soon as we knew we could likely secure the lease on the bank, so we have a head start!
Designing, creating and dressing the bank is a huge undertaking, and an inexperienced team might take months just working out how to do it. But our team is full of experienced costume and set designers, prop makers and builders, who have each worked on dozens of theatre and game projects, all working under the expert eye of Sayraphim Lothian.
The game design is also complex, with many layers of physical and intellectual puzzles and tasks to perform, but again our team have already created and delivered dozens of original games. We’ve effectively been training for this for the past four years! As well as the direct experience of our game design team, we’ll also be drawing on advice from many of our colleagues and friends, including expertise in escape rooms, stage magic and illusions, and technology.
All of this would still be hard for a small team to complete in the time frame we have set ourselves, but we will also be working with students from SAE Qantm College. We’ve been part of their intern program for the past year, and their help will lend us the additional hands (and minds!) we need to make Small Time Criminals great and release on time, while also offering them unique experience in game design and construction.
STICK 'EM UP
A limited edition Small Time Criminals sticker plus access to a Backers-only weekly video update from the end of the campaign to the opening of the game. You'll also get exclusive early access to booking for the Small Time Criminals before the experience opens.
13 chosen / 87 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
SHOPLIFTER
Get your name on the wall of the bank as one of the founders of the space! + Stick 'Em Up
20 chosen / 30 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
WANTED CRIMINAL
Become a notorious bank robber in the world of the Small Time Criminals! We'll immortalise you in a wanted poster that will be hung (or pasted) up inside the bank to inspire other teams of thieves. + Cat Burglar + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up
13 chosen / 7 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
SMUGGLING RING
EARLY (JAIL)BIRD GROUP TICKET Get an early bird booking for the Small Time Criminals experience for up to six players! This gives you an exclusive session of the game for you and up to five friends, at a special price just for supporters of the campaign. + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up (for each member of the team)
15 chosen / 5 available
Est. delivery is May 16
INTERNATIONAL CARTEL
EARLY (JAIL)BIRD GROUP TICKET Get an early bird booking for the Small Time Criminals experience for up to six players! This gives you an exclusive session of the game for you and up to five friends, at a special price just for supporters of the campaign. + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up (for each member of the team)
0 chosen / 20 available
Est. delivery is May 16
THE DEAL
An early bird group booking to the Small Time Criminals experience, plus "the Deal". Someone knows about the bank job! They've asked to meet with you - discretely - beforehand. What do they want? Are they helping you? At least they're buying the drinks... An exclusive extra live experience, 30-45 minutes before the bank. + Skeleton Key + Shop Lifter + Stick 'Em Up (for each member of the team).
0 chosen / 3 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
HEIST MOVIE
Get an early bird booking for the Small Time Criminals experience for up to six players - but as well as playing the game, we'll film you planning your heist, breaking into the bank, and getting away with the loot and create your very own heist movie from your experience. + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up (for each member of the team)
0 chosen / 2 available
Est. delivery is May 16
ART SYNDICATE
CORPORATE PACKAGE FOR UP TO 10 PLAYERS A special level for corporate sponsorship! We'll run a special two-hour corporate training version of the experience for up to 10 employees, including a catered debrief. Please contact us before picking this reward to make sure we can make this work for you. + Shoplifter (for the company) + Stick 'Em Up (for each employee)
0 chosen / 4 available
Est. delivery is May 16
SAFE CRACKER
SUPER EARLY (JAIL)BIRD TICKET! A single super early bird ticket to the Small Time Criminals experience! This is a single ticket only; we'll be in touch to work out who will be playing with you. See the higher tier rewards for early bird group bookings! + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up
10 chosen / 0 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
CAT BURGLAR
EARLY (JAIL)BIRD TICKET A single early bird ticket to the Small Time Criminals experience! This is a single ticket only; we'll be in touch to work out who will be playing with you. See the higher tier rewards for early bird group bookings! + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up
20 chosen / 0 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
STREET GANG
SUPER EARLY (JAIL)BIRD GROUP TICKET Get a super early bird booking for the Small Time Criminals experience for up to six players! This gives you an exclusive session of the game for you and up to five friends, at a special price just for supporters of the campaign. + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up (for each member of the team)
10 chosen / 0 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
CRIMINAL GANG
EARLY (JAIL)BIRD GROUP TICKET Get an early bird booking for the Small Time Criminals experience for up to six players! This gives you an exclusive session of the game for you and up to five friends, at a special price just for supporters of the campaign. + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up (for each member of the team)
20 chosen / 0 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
BIG SHOT
Become a big part of the world of the Small Time Criminals! We'll work with you to create a character based on you that becomes part of the experience. Will you be a corrupt bank board member? A wily police detective close to the truth? A crime boss to whom the gang owes money? It's up to you - and our team of writers and designers. + Thief + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up
5 chosen / 0 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16
SKELETON KEY
An early bird group booking to the Small Time Criminals experience, plus the "Skeleton Key". You've received a key in the mail - no name, no return address, just a note reading "for the Small Time Criminals". Who sent it? What does it open? An extra layer of mystery for you to unlock, exclusive to supporters at this tier. + Shoplifter + Stick 'Em Up (for each member of the team)
5 chosen / 0 available
Est. delivery is Apr 16