After starting pre-production in early 2021, we launched our first crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter later that year. The response was incredible: hundreds of FPS fans banded together to help make this documentary a reality, and many industry legends (whom we’ve now interviewed!) supported the project by sharing on social media.

Since then, we’ve made significant progress, taking more than one hundred hours of footage across more than 45 interviews across the globe, including interviewing in the USA, UK, China, New Zealand, and Australia!

Speaking to some of the industry’s most legendary game designers years after their games became hits gave us the privilege of being able to record their reflections on their achievements and setbacks, enabling us to capture some incredible stories.

Here are just a few of our personal highlights we captured while filming:

• id Software co-founder John Carmack related his regret for the company’s “when it’s done” style of making games, pointing to projects such as Doom 3 and RAGE as being surpassed by competitors due to being in development for so long.
• Fellow id co-founder John Romero told us about the moment when Doom‘s level design and aesthetic crystallized in a way that guaranteed it would become an evolutionary leap beyond Wolfenstein 3D.
• GoldenEye 007 artists Karl Hilton and Brett Jones reminisced about Nintendo cautioning studios against making first-person shooters for the Nintendo 64, claiming the hardware wouldn’t be up to the task. Obviously, Rare believed otherwise!

• A moment of levity came when Halo designer Jaime Griesemer told us about receiving an email from Bungie co-founder Jason Jones claiming the firepower of Halo‘s pistol in multiplayer had been increased by approximately 25%, only for Jaime to discover it was much (much, much) more powerful, as anyone who’s been sniped from all the way across Blood Gulch can attest!
• It was a particular pleasure to meet Ken Silverman, author of Duke Nukem 3D’s Build engine, who appears on camera for the first time in our film. Ken, along with Deus Ex producer Warren Spector and several others, gave us CDs full of never-before-seen prototypes and footage of their games, which we can’t wait to show you! 
• Equally exciting was getting to meet Greg Thompson and Dave Lebling, two of the co-authors of Maze War, the industry’s true first FPS decades before Hovertank, Catacomb 3-D, and Wolfenstein 3D, and hearing their stories.

With our interviews complete, we’re looking forward to the unique challenge of choosing which stories and anecdotes make the final documentary – and we’ve got hundreds of great ones to choose from.

As we enter post-production, we are opening up the campaign to a fresh wave of FPS fans on Indiegogo. Regardless of whether you’ve checked us out before, but held off on backing, or you’re just discovering our project for the first time, you’ve come at just the right time. 

By backing now, you will not only get the excitement of joining a project and helping create something incredible, but your funds will have a genuine impact on the final documentary by enabling us to invest more in post-production. We’ll finish this documentary regardless of the outcome of this campaign, but with your help we can create something even better.

We invite you to join us as we celebrate the legacy of the creators and games that have thrilled and delighted us for decades. Read on to find out more about the project and see our full cast, then back the project to get your exclusive merchandise and be among the first to view the documentary (scheduled release: Q4, 2022).

This entertaining and nostalgic documentary will take a game-by-game deep dive into the history and evolution of a genre that has grown from the simple wireframe graphics of Maze War to become a staple of popular culture that is enjoyed by millions of gamers worldwide.

First Person Shooter will explore the creation and legacy of the most popular and significant FPS titles from the last 48 years, including favorites such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, GoldenEye, Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Halo… and many more.

The completed film will feature insights, stories, and anecdotes from the producers, designers, programmers, artists, and composers who worked on the most significant and popular FPS titles in history. Not only will they tell their own stories, but they will also discuss the games that inspired and influenced them.

As we relive these iconic gaming moments through the stories of their creators, we will explore:

• The groundbreaking technological milestones – such as raycasting, online multiplayer deathmatch, and discrete 3D graphics cards – that drove huge advances in design and graphics.
• The evolution of gameplay design and mechanics, including innovations such as free aiming, regenerating health, interactive cutscenes, dual-wielding, kill streaks, and more.
• The incredible worldbuilding and level design that led to the creation of immersive worlds such as Rapture, Dunwall, City 17, and many more.
• The classic FPS revival and the return of the 90s-style shooter in games such as Dusk, Ion Fury, and Prodeus, and the revisiting of early genre stars such as Doom and Wolfenstein.
• The emergence of LAN parties and their growth from college dorms and internet cafes to the earliest days of QuakeCon, laying the foundations for the growing eSports scene.
• The huge contribution of modding and total conversions to the genre, from Final Doom, Aliens TC and Action Quake 2 to Team Fortress, Counter-Strike and Garry’s Mod.
• The world of speedrunning and its growth from the earliest of Doom speedruns to its highly competitive scene today.

Sharing these stories will be our our incredible cast, featuring many of the developers and designers who made your favorite FPS games, including John Romero (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II, Quake), Marcus Lehto (Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Reach), Warren Spector (System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex), Cliff Bleszinski (Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Gears of War), Robin Walker (Team Fortress, Half-Life 1, Half-Life 2, HL: Alyx), Karl Hilton (Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Timesplitters, Crysis 2), Dave Oshry (Dusk, Amid Evil), and many more.

Joining these creatives are some of the best-known players of these titles, including Amy “Valkyrie” / “Athena” Brady (Frag Dolls and PMS Co-Founder), Dennis “Thresh” Fong (Gaming’s First Pro Player), and Randy “N0M4D” Fitzgerald (World’s First Quadriplegic Pro Gamer, Accessibility Advocate).

These fantastic contributors have put their faith in our vision by being interviewed for our project – we hope you will do the same.  Keep reading to see our full cast of 45+ legends below!

With First Person Shooter, we’ll combine our documentary-making experience and passion for the FPS genre with a world-leading cast. Our previous films include the critically acclaimed In Search of Darkness & In Search of Darkness: Part II (‘80s Horror), and In Search of Tomorrow (‘80s Sci-Fi), which is the highest grossing crowdfunded documentary of all time.

As a team, we’ve successfully crowdfunded, developed, filmed, and fulfilled multiple films for thousands of backers, and we can’t wait to bring this one to life. We are confident that with the help of FPS fans, we can achieve a fantastic result that rewards backers and delivers an excellent documentary.

Made by fans, for fans – this will be the ultimate love letter to the genre. But, it’s only been made possibly by the support of the FPS community. Back now to join the journey and help us celebrate these fantastic games and the people who made them. 

As an independent production company, we are in a unique position to engage with fans and enable them to join us on this journey. Every backer who purchases the documentary (digitally or physically) is invited to join us on our Discord server.

On our private Discord, you will get the opportunity to engage with the production team and fellow fans, as well as tell us what games you want to see covered and even provide feedback on early sequences and chapters of the documentary. We’ve also been holding special production Q&As throughout production and will continue this through post-production.

In addition to the documentary itself (Digital, Factory-Pressed DVD, or Factory-Pressed Blu-Ray) we have a wide range of physical rewards to thank our backers for their support. Please check the below section ‘Pledge Tiers’ to see which rewards are available at which level.

We are a remote team based across the U.S., Europe, and Australia who have come together around a shared love of creating great content and a deep appreciation for the FPS games we grew up with:

• Chris Stratton, Director: Chris is a passionate and experienced filmmaker. His experience includes producing films for big brands (such as Superdry, Dyson & Nike) and music videos for BMG. He has worked on two critically-acclaimed documentaries as cinematographer and editor and is currently in post-production on another two. This documentary is to be his exciting directorial debut.
• David L. Craddock, Director: David is the bestselling author of over 20 nonfiction books about how games are made and the people who make them. His most well-known works include Rocket Jump: Quake and the Golden Age of First-Person Shooters at Shacknews, and the Stay Awhile and Listen trilogy recounting the making of the Diablo, WarCraft, and StarCraft franchises.
• Robin Block, Executive Producer: Robin is the founder of CREATORVC and FANDAMENTAL. His credits as Executive Producer/Creator include In Search of the Last Action Heroes, In Search of Darkness 1 & 2, and In Search of Tomorrow. He really loves Halo.
• Richard Moss, Producer & Writer: Besides writing an 8,000-word history of the FPS genre for Ars Technica, Richard has contributed hundreds of articles across a variety of gaming publications, including Gamasutra, Polygon, EGM, and many others. He’s also the author of The Secret History of Mac Gaming and the upcoming book Shareware Heroes: Independent Games at the Dawn of the Internet, and he creates the games history podcast The Life & Times of Video Games.
• James Evans, Producer: Commercial Advisor
• Dominic Wallis, Associate Producer: Social Media
• Samuel Way, Associate Producer: Creative Consultant
• Clayton Benge, Creative Director: Art for Marketing & Product Design

Regardless of the level of funding we receive through this Indiegogo, we are committed to finishing our documentary. So why should you get involved now?

• Help Make The Documentary a Success – Your support will increase the funds we have available for post-production and help us make a documentary that does justice to the games we love and the people that made them.
• Join The Journey – Follow the process of creating the documentary through post-production. We’ll be sharing early previews of completed sections with our backers as we build the documentary.
• Get It First – Our early backers will be the first to receive their documentary and rewards, ahead of other customers who purchase later.

Ready to join? Choose your pledge level now!

Never used Indiegogo before? No problem! Backing our project is easy. Just follow these three simple steps:

• Step 1: Choose your reward level from those shown above and then select that reward in the sidebar to the right. Click the button that says “Get This Perk”.
• Step 2: Fill out your payment information.
• Step 3: Click “Submit Payment” and get ready to join an incredible journey!

Once the campaign is complete, you will receive an emailed invitation to provide us with extra information about your order through our pledge management software, CrowdOx (see below).

Our physical rewards are manufactured and shipped from the United States by a company that we have worked with on several previous projects and who have achieved excellent results. Backers will receive a tracking number and our items are sent in very study packaging (posters rolled, not folded) to ensure everything arrives with you safely.

Because shipping costs vary substantially depending on whether you are in the US or elsewhere, we have decided not to include shipping costs in the pledge tiers. Instead, shipping costs are as follows:

USA, all physical tiers – FREE (excludes minor outlying islands)
Global, all physical tiers – £10 (about $14)

Because we want as many people to enjoy this documentary as possible, and because shipping costs are currently very high, we’ve quoted global shipping fees lower than the actual rates we pay (and absorbed some of these costs) and reduced the US shipping fee to zero.

We are using a pledge management tool called CrowdOx. After the campaign ends and Kickstarter has processed your payment, you will receive an email inviting you to update us with further details about your order.

Using CrowdOx, you will be able to manage many aspects of your pledge, including:

• Choose the name you would like in the credits
• Choose from Blu-ray and DVD (physical tiers only)
• Choose T-shirt design (if you ordered a tier which includes a t-shirt)
• Upgrade to a different tier from the one you backed with on Kickstarter
• Add additional single items to your order
• Change your shipping address in the event you move house before production begins

These options will remain available to you until just before we start manufacturing, so you can upgrade in a few months if you later change your mind.

We began working on First Person Shooter in early 2021 before launching our successful Kickstarter campaign in July of that year. We have just finished production and have filmed our cast of 45+ experts and are going to enter post-production shortly. We are currently on track for our expected release date of December 2022.

We’ve partnered with our friends at New Retro Wave again to curate our official soundtrack. NewRetroWave is one of the leading voices in the emerging Retrowave scene, providing exposure to Retrowave artists who perfectly match the retro gaming aesthetic we’re celebrating. 

We have accurately portrayed our project as it stands at this point in time, however, creative projects are subject to change and ours is no exception. By making a pledge you acknowledge that elements of the project, including but not limited to the artwork, cast, and content, is subject to change, and that the final project may differ from what is presented while the Kickstarter campaign is active. For example, occasionally a person who has said they will feature on the documentary may later be unable to do so due to illness or other reason. This is uncommon, but not unheard of.

Please note the free shipping to the US excludes minor outlying islands – sorry!

All backers are welcome to join our community, but to do so they must conform to the community rules which govern appropriate behavior. Repeated failure to act appropriately in the community will result in a ban.

If you have backed at The Quake Guy (Gameplay) tier, please note that we may need to request specific clips that support the documentary (sorry, but that ace 360-noscope probably won’t be needed!). We will work with you to align your interests and games with the clips we need so you can include something you are passionate about. Clips will be used both in the documentary and the credits, and you will need to be able to provide high-quality gameplay footage at 1080p or 4k at a minimum of 30fps. Clips shown will be 10 seconds maximum and will be cut at the editor’s discretion to ensure it suits the documentary. In the unlikely event you are unable to provide a suitable clip we will move you down a tier and refund you the difference.

The use of popular video game characters in our pledge tiers names is intended as a fun tribute to some of our favorite franchises and has no bearing on the physical products backers receive. No copyright infringement is intended.

As with any documentary, there are risks and challenges that may arise over the course of the production of this film. Our past experience funding, producing, and distributing documentaries, plus work we’ve already put in, means we are very confident of meeting our backer’s expectations – however, unforeseen delays are possible. We are working with a manufacturer who has delivered high-quality results for our last couple of projects, which also reduces the risk of problems.

As always, we will keep backers fully updated regarding the situation and they will know well in advance if there is likely to be a delay.