SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Dec 15, 2011) - Alex Beltramo, an independent game developer and co-founder of pioneering online website for casual games pogo.com, has found a creative way to promote his upcoming fantasy role-playing game, Dungeoneers, while also supporting Congressman Ron Paul's bid to win the Republican nomination.
For each player that completes the game's first quest -- slaying a White Dragon -- Beltramo contributes $5 in support of Ron Paul. He has set aside $25,000 for the cause. The program began a week ago, with the only promotion being on a few forums, such as the DailyPaul. Since then, more than 1,000 players have slain a dragon for Ron Paul, raising more than $5,000 so far.
Dungeoneers is an HTML5 game played in a web browser with no download. It is single-player and turn-based, allowing people to play at their own pace, taking time to think out the best strategies. Currently, it is free to play because the game is still in development.
"We're attracting players who would not normally try out a game like this," says Beltramo. "They come to raise the $5 for Ron Paul, but stay because they enjoy playing Dungeoneers. Likewise, my hope is that gamers who are not normally interested in politics will be encouraged to learn for themselves about Ron Paul."
According to Beltramo, it usually takes a new player less than 30 minutes to kill their first dragon. They then receive an email with a link to approve the $5. Players who do not support Ron Paul can simply ignore the email.
Clicking the link adds the player to a list of "Dragon Slayers for Dr. Paul," and Beltramo contributes $5 for each person on the list. Because of campaign finance rules, the contributions don't go to the official Ron Paul 2012 campaign. Instead, Beltramo puts the funds toward the grassroots Ron Paul Super Brochure campaign, where brochures are mailed to likely voters. Contributions can be verified on an independent website.
Dungeoneers will be commercially available next year on the web and mobile devices. Pricing has yet to be determined.
Player discussions of the program can be found by searching "Slay a Dragon for Ron Paul."
A third-party video review of Dungeoneers is available at: http://youtu.be/e1u1IbbLCTE.
To play Dungeoneers or to learn more about the "Slay a Dragon for Ron Paul" campaign, go to: www.dungeoneers.com/ronpaul
Screen shots are available at: www.dungeoneers.com/gallery. A video describing how to play Dungeoneers can be found at: http://youtu.be/fptaQ7AhSOs.
The Super Brochure campaign's website is http://www.ronpaulbrochure.com/
About Alex Beltramo
Alex Beltramo is an independent game developer based in San Francisco. He was a co-founder of pogo.com, the first commercially successful website for casual games, acquired in 2001 by Electronic Arts. Beltramo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. Email: support@dungeoneers.com. Phone: (415) 238-8949.
Note to Editors:
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Nanette Collins
(415) 824-1899