For high school senior Erin Ukiah Sullivan (who goes by the online handle of Wakagana), having his visual novel game, Driftwood, funded so successfully on Kickstarter must be an amazing moment for him. Wakagana's senior project managed to not only raise $8,223 (more than twice the original goal) but met three of its stretch goals, which allowed for two new characters to be implemented into the story as well as animation for each main character at the start of their story route.

The story of Driftwood takes place in Boston where you play as Marcus Feick, a young high school student who, after experiencing a catastrophic event, is transferred to a school on the island of Martha’s Vineyard by his overprotective parents. You meet several characters who can positively or negatively impact Marcus, depending on the player's choices. Driftwood will be available for free once it's completed. There's also a demo of the game that you can download here.

After reading the Kickstarter page, I was astounded by all the young talent that came together to work on such an ambitious project--I was especially impressed with Wakagana who, at the age of 18, has accomplished way more than most of his peers. Hopefully they'll continue to polish their skills and find even more success in the future.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/758714218/driftwood-the-visual-novel/widget/video.html