The campaign still has a few days to go, but surpassed its initial goal earlier this week.
Abu-Eideh says the reaction has been overwhelming.
But this does mean he and a small team of artists, calligraphers, and coders can begin production.
“We needed talented people who believed in this project,” Abu-Eideh says.
“Thats like the basic requirement for something like this, because it’s not a normal project.
You need people that believe in your cause”.
“Its very hard, daily life.
You don’t know where the checkpoints are and if theyre going to block the roads today or not.
Cutting trees and burning trees.
Destroying the main roads.
So its kind of the daily hustle that we live in.”
So its kind of not safe at all just to move around.
There are always attacks or things like that in the main cities.
Kidnapping someone or assassinating someone.
So, its like…terrible.
Its terrible, actually."
Omm, the oral folktale that Dreams On A Pillow is based on, is widely known in Palestine.
“I knew it from a young age.
People usually use it to show how the Nakba was a terrible event.
It shows actually the suffering of the Palestinian.
Both the physical suffering and the emotional suffering from what happened to them in 1948.”
“Merging them was essential.
The pillow itself is the secure object.
When she holds the pillow, shes somehow safe in her mind.
But still, the environment around her is very dangerous.
Shell start seeing the nightmares around her.”
The Palestinian did not only lose their homes and their land, but they also lost everything.
They lost their memories, their history and their future."
Abu-Eideh first got into game design through studying computer engineering, which turned into a job.
There was the new platforms it’s possible for you to actually use to make games.
I started playing with these things, and discovered that I love making games.
From there, I was inspired to read and to study more.
About not only game development but also game design".
Apples App Store would later play a much different role in Abu-Eidehs journey as a designer.
Public backlash followed, and the App Store reversed their decision.
But this isnt the only obstacle Abu-Eideh and other Palestinian developers face.
Its the same problem.
They do not recognise this region at all.
But luckily, we have a crowdfunding platform focused more on the Middle East.
Liyla And The Shadows Of War was a “great success”, Abu-Eideh says.
He spokeat GDC in 2017.
He wanted to turn the exposure the game brought into a career.
“I dropped that project many times.
Life here is difficult.
You focus on the basic things more than any other thing.
you oughta survive on a daily basis.
you better provide for your family and you have no security at all.
At that time, I wanted to do something that at least I can sustain my life somehow.
And maybe, if I can, I will come back to this game.”
He makes it sound unbearably delicious.
Because I feel now Im more responsible, and that I have a responsibility to do this.
Its more of a duty.
Something that I have to do."
People will feel it.
I had this idea that games have a power before I released Liyla.
But after I released the game, I saw that as a fact.
Its not a theory anymore for me.
So when you put your emotion in your game, in your thing, people will feel it.
I dont know how, but we feel it.
I can remember many nights when I am coding for Liyla, I was coding for Liyla.
I was like, coding with my tears.
So I think that somehow turned into something that people felt while they are playing later."
Many, many talented students here want to make games, but its not possible.
Its not that easy.
Yesterday, I was giving a session for students from Palestine, and some of them in Gaza.
They were asking me, how can we make games with lots happening around us.
There is a barrier for everything.
There is a barrier for life.
How can we do this?'"
Making games is not an easy job.
And to do this, you need an ecosystem that helps you.
You need publishers, you need investors.
you gotta build your talent.
You need connections."
“And all of that is blocked in Palestine.
Dreams On A Pillows LaunchGood campaign runs until January 13th.
