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[NeoRaider]

With nine days left in its campaign, The Good Life — a combination murder mystery, pet simulator and role-playing game — is sitting at 19 percent of its crowdfunding goal. But lead designer Hidetaka ”Swery" Suehiro is staying optimistic.

”Originally and even now I have been concerned, of course," Swery said about the project's struggle to sway backers when we met with him during Tokyo Game Show. ”I'm not going to give up, though. There's no way. I'm going all the way through to the end."

The Good Life is both Swery's first release with his new studio, White Owls, and his first stab at pitching a video game through a crowdfunding service. The designer of cult hits like D4 and Deadly Premonition receded from the public eye for several years, and launching this ambitious new project through a program like Fig may have struck fans as a gamble

To hear Swery talk about The Good Life — whose inspirations include Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, aesthetic departures from the psychological thrillers and horror titles that influenced his earlier work — makes his dedication to the project no surprise. He told us that the game's emphasis on cats (which the protagonist, a New York-based photographer who moves to an English village suddenly besieged by a murder spell, can transform into) comes from his own love for the animal. He told us with a straight face that the game idea came to him after spontaneously buying 12 cats of his own, which ... we still find hard to believe. But Swery is nothing if not sincere about his quirks.

His hope is to create a game that juggles light and dark, tough puzzles and passive sidequests. Whether that bears out through Fig or not doesn't faze him, at least when he spoke to us.

”Everybody loves cats, right?" he said after admitting that White Owls has yet to drum up a contingency plan, should the project not hit its goal. ”And I want to make people happy. So I'm not going to let go of that."

The Good Life's funding campaign ends on Oct. 12.

More: https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/3/16414890/the-good-life-cat-rpg-swery-interview-tgs-2017

Fig Page for TGL: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/the-good-life

 

[Theswweet]

The target is too high, and I think being on Fig hasn't helped it any.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

$1.5 mil is having a laugh

 

[Westraid]

I would have donated in a heartbeat but it doesn't accept PayPal. I wonder if enabling that would have made a difference?

 

[Nanami]

Bit late to the crowd funding bandwagon, lots of people got burned out of failed kickstarters. That and it having a 1.5m goal

 

[Triggerhappytel]

$1.5 million is, relatively speaking, a pretty high target for crowdfunding, and Swery has only ever done super-cult games which haven't been particularly successful. Not surprised this is struggling.

Also, FIG has only really been successful for big projects I believe, or those with previous crowdfunding success? It doesn't have nearly the awareness of Kickstarter.

 

[LewieP]

I wonder how long it is going to take for investors to start getting paid out of fig.

 

[Ooccoo]

The concept is original, but let us be honest, the game is ugly as sin and very niche. I do not see it having success even if Swery is behind it.

 

[Mivey]

I do not think this campaign will succeed,
back to the drawing board he should recede.

- So says Mr Stewart.

 

[Mdk7]

I am very sorry for him, and for Futatsugi too (Panzer Dragoon freak here).
The goal was probably way too high, fig is not as popular as Kickstarter and crowdfunding campaigns for video games are not as huge as they were a couple of year ago: I'm not saying it was doomed to fail, but still the road was certainly not too easy for The Good Life.

 

[rochellepaws]

Not a fan of crowdfunding as a model but I really like his idea and inspirations for this game, I'd most likely buy it.

 

[dude]

I want this campaign to succeed so much, even though I know it's 99.99% going to fail

 

[@MUWANdo]

I think the target goal is fine but the reward tiers are way too expensive.

 

[NewDust]

I would have donated in a heartbeat but it doesn't accept PayPal. I wonder if enabling that would have made a difference?

Ditto.

 

[Stygr]

1.5m USD, Swery is not a well known personality in the gaming community and obviously people are not gonna fund your game if your past games were so niche, huge disappointments and unknown to the mainstream market.

 

[Bendo]

Sucks that this almost certainly won't make it, I love the premise and the art style. Hope he finds some other way of getting funding.

 

[strafer]

I do not think this campaign will succeed,
back to the drawing board he should recede.

- So says Mr Stewart.

I need a new DP.

 

[eXistor]

I just don't back games anymore; I've been burned too many times. That said, the game looks really fun. I hope they get to make the game eventually though, but crowdfunding isn't where it's at for me.

 

[giant_frying_pan]

I don't think the funding target is unrealistic for the game pitch, but the footage shown, while charming in parts, is exceptionally rough.

 

[Marcel]

I like Swery but $1.5 mil for the type of game he's asking for ain't gonna happen. Folks might give him that for Deadly Premonition 2 maybe but not for a graphically ugly cat transformation simulator.

 

[JigglesBunny]

1. The goal was ridiculously high.

2. Swery doesn’t exactly make games with mass appeal, he’s a niche developer who makes games usually tailored to a niche audience.

3. Fig.
Fig.

4. Consumers are weary of backing games nowadays. With such high profile disappoints like Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee, people are sour on the idea of crowdfunded games. Unfairly perhaps, but the apprehension among consumers is there.

5. FIG.

 

[Stilton Disco]

The high goal, lack of a good trailer/promo, and confusion of the announcement before really being able to back it as well as fig generally not being as straightforward or popular as either Kickstarter or Indiegogo, pretty much hamstrung it before it ever had a chance I feel.

Shame too, sounds like it would have been brilliant, but oh well!

 

[aravuus]

Really hope he finds a way to make this reality at some point

 

[InterMusketeer]

I didn't even know the game still needed to be crowdfunded. Thought it was already in development and ready to go.

I'm looking forward to anything he may put out in the future, but I don't back games.

 

[Lady Siara]

Love Swery but here are the problems I had with the campaign (and most of which were already brought up):

Fig is a less than ideal choice since it gets less traffic
A huge goal of 1.5 million for a niche game from a niche developer
The initial footage was rough
Reward tiers ramped up in huge increments
Iffy support on other consoles

I adore the overall concept of the game, I just think this campaign had a lot of missteps. Hope they can continue it in some other way.

 

[Reineldinho]

I really love his games but I would like something more specific about xbox one support rather than a vague 'Nintendo Switch (Stretch Goal), Xbox One (Stretch Goal)' at the beginning and a 'If we get enough money from Campaign' in the FAQ.
You can't talk about stretch goals in one part and never mention them again.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Bought his previous games day one and if do the sane here but I can't as the XB1 is a stretch goal and its so far away from hitting it, its pointless for me to do it right now

 

[Vanille]

Honestly I'm surprised this even managed to reach 300k with everything it has going against it.

 

[Hektor]

I already accepted the fact that this campaign isn't gonna make it nearly a month ago. Shame.

The concept is original, but let us be honest, the game is ugly as sin and very niche. I do not see it having success even if Swery is behind it.

Nah

 

[Yohane]

Goal too high.
Wrong crowd founding platform.

 

[Salty Rice]

Not too many want to invest on fig.

Kickstarter is still gonna be a good option.

 

[c1d]

1. The goal was ridiculously high.

2. Swery doesn’t exactly make games with mass appeal, he’s a niche developer who makes games usually tailored to a niche audience.

3. Fig.
Fig.

4. Consumers are weary of backing games nowadays. With such high profile disappoints like Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee, people are sour on the idea of crowdfunded games. Unfairly perhaps, but the apprehension among consumers is there.

5. FIG.

Generally agree on all points, although I wouldn't consider Yooka-Laylee a high profile disappointment by any means

 

[tokkun]

I think you guys are putting too much blame on the funding platform.

The campaign is failing because the footage they've shown does not look very appealing and Swery does not have a big enough following to fund at this level on name alone. And even for his fans, it is tough to tell whether this game is something you would enjoy. If you don't have a compelling product, stuff like the funding platform or stretch goals are irrelevant.

 

[matrix-cat]

I feel like you have to get some good momentum fast in a Kickstarter, otherwise it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as people think it probably isn't going to make the target, so they don't pledge, so it definitely doesn't make the target. And a quirky, niche game from a quirky, niche developer just wasn't going to get enough asses in seats.

I do hope he manages to get it made some other way, though, because it looks like a cool game.

 

[Zafir]

Didn't even realise it existed despite enjoying SWERY's games. I imagine many others were in the same position.

You need to get attention for a crowdfund wanting that much money to be successful, especially so if you're using Fig instead of Kickstarter which not many people care about.

Shame either way, looks interesting, so it's sad it won't be funded.

 

[Cheat Code]

1) Don't use Fig, for fuck's sake.
2) Don't ask for $1.5mil.
3) Don't ask for $1.5mil on Fig.
4) Don't ask for $1.5mil when you're game won't even make that much in sales. Swery you're a fucking niche developer.

 

[CecilRousso]

1. The goal was ridiculously high.

2. Swery doesn't exactly make games with mass appeal, he's a niche developer who makes games usually tailored to a niche audience.

3. Fig.
Fig.

4. Consumers are weary of backing games nowadays. With such high profile disappoints like Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee, people are sour on the idea of crowdfunded games. Unfairly perhaps, but the apprehension among consumers is there.

5. FIG.

Fig hasn't effected the big players. Maybe it's slightly easier with kickstarter, but Fig is by no means an unknown player for gamers anymore, and if people want to pledge on that, they will do so.

1) Don't use Fig, for fuck's sake.
2) Don't ask for $1.5mil.
3) Don't ask for $1.5mil on Fig.
4) Don't ask for $1.5mil when you're game won't even make that much in sales. Swery you're a fucking niche developer.

See above. And why shouldn't he ask for that much, if that's what he/they need? Maybe it will fail, but succeeding with to little gained funds is not good for any part.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

It just doesn't sound very good at all in my opinion, so I can see why it's having issues being funded.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Still say another issue was the game itself. It was a hard sell even for people with niche tastes. Had this been some sort of Deadly Premonition spiritual succesor. I think he would've at least managed more in funds (Though I doubt he'd have still managed 1.5 million)

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

$1.5 mil is having a laugh

Holy fuck, this is not how you do crowd funding. Games don't make $1.5MM on crowdfunding unless you're a very popular dev.

 

[Zafir]

Fig hasn't effected the big players. Maybe it's slightly easier with kickstarter, but Fig is by no means an unknown player for gamers anymore, and if people want to pledge on that, they will do so.

Well the problem is since Fig has very few crowdfunds, people aren't likely going to just come across a crowdfund on Fig it on their own. The big players are fine, sure, because they'll get mentioned by news sites or other such stuff. Everyone else will just suffer on it because there just won't be enough attention, or random footfall on the site. At least with Kickstarter you might get some people just from the fact Kickstarter is big enough people might check the games category every now and then for new cool things and they might spread some interest too.

That said, I'm sure this would have failed on Kickstarter too considering the amount they want is rather high.

 

[Cheat Code]

Fig hasn't effected the big players. Maybe it's slightly easier with kickstarter, but Fig is by no means an unknown player for gamers anymore, and if people want to pledge on that, they will do so.



See above. And why shouldn't he ask for that much, if that's what he/they need? Maybe it will fail, but succeeding with to little gained funds is not good for any part.

He shouldn't ask for that much because it's 100% unequivocally impossible. If you succeed with a subsidized budget (see Shenmue 3, who needed way more than $2mil but had plans for rescaling) you are also more likely to find investment from publishers.

 

[guybrushfreeman]

Fig has already funded many high value projects. Fig isn’t the problem here

 

[Give War A Chance]

Never give up, Swery. You're the best!

 

[sixteen-bit]

Keep on chuggin', Swery

 

[dugdug]

Holy fuck, this is now how you do crowd funding. Games don't make $1.5MM on crowdfunding unless you're a very popular dev.

I get the impression Swery thinks he might be more popular than he is. Dude is the niche-ist of the niche.

 

[CecilRousso]

He shouldn't ask for that much because it's 100% unequivocally impossible. If you succeed with a subsidized budget (see Shenmue 3, who needed way more than $2mil but had plans for rescaling) you are also more likely to find investment from publishers.

If you have secured, or is confident to secure the additional funds? Sure, or perhaps at least. But in general, asking for less then what you need, sounds like a walking on a thin line, and if you fail to secure the additional funds, then it's something that will haunt you for the rest of your carreer. The internet will not forget it, no matter how well Sweary intended.

It has not been well received admission, those times developers have actually told the press that they asked for less then what they actually needed.

It's actually ok to ask for a sum, and don't get it. Then you know that not enough people are interested in crowdfunding a completely new game by Sweary.

I would say a more sensible advice is "create another type of project that requires less funds", rather then "ask for less money for this game".

 

[Cronen]

#drinKING

I love SWERY and his games. It saddens me that this is unlikely to get funded, as it is a game that I would like to play. I hope that if (when?) the campaign fails that he is still able to find a way to get the game made.

 

[shadow2810]

niche game + 2 version (cat/dog) + 1.5m funding
eh good luck I guess.

 

[wetflame]

1. The goal was ridiculously high.

2. Swery doesn't exactly make games with mass appeal, he's a niche developer who makes games usually tailored to a niche audience.

3. Fig.
Fig.

4. Consumers are weary of backing games nowadays. With such high profile disappoints like Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee, people are sour on the idea of crowdfunded games. Unfairly perhaps, but the apprehension among consumers is there.

5. FIG.

1) Don't use Fig, for fuck's sake.
2) Don't ask for $1.5mil.
3) Don't ask for $1.5mil on Fig.
4) Don't ask for $1.5mil when you're game won't even make that much in sales. Swery you're a fucking niche developer.

He shouldn't ask for that much because it's 100% unequivocally impossible. If you succeed with a subsidized budget (see Shenmue 3, who needed way more than $2mil but had plans for rescaling) you are also more likely to find investment from publishers.

For all the people using the target and the platform (Fig) as a reason this wasn't successful, bear in mind that Psychonauts 2 had a $3.3m goal on Fig and met it. Fig is not the problem.

The real reason this is failing is that Swery is too niche/unknown outside of GAF to get that kind of support (as the first post I quoted states in their second point).