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Swery's "TGL" Crowdfunding Campaign is Not Doing Well, Swery: "I Will Not Give Up"

kennyamr

Member
I know Fig is not the only reason but being 100% sincere, this is the first time I hear about something called "Fig." It kinda sounds like flying pigs but I guess it's a website. Interesting. Looks a bit weird though, maybe it's just me.
 

RRockman

Banned
Lol, I saw don't give up and my eyes changed TGL to TTGL.

Don't give up Swery! Believe in the you that believes in yourself!
 

Stygr

Banned
I know Fig is not the only reason but being 100% sincere, this is the first time I hear about something called "Fig." It kinda sounds like flying pigs but I guess it's a website. Interesting. Looks a bit weird though, maybe it's just me.


Obsidian used fig for Pillars of Eternity 2 and IniXile too for Wasteland 3.
 

Zafir

Member
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).

It's a combination of both issues though as I said before.

Big names will still get attention on Fig, of course, because they can get that outside attention from people as people already know Double Fine, Obsidian or whoever else.

Anyone else will struggle on Fig because Fig won't get the pageviews that kickstarter does. They have so few crowdfunds that people generally go onto the site with a purpose, ie to back a project they already know about. Unlike Kickstarter where you might still get people who randomly browse kickstarter for interesting ideas.

I agree that it would have failed on Kickstarter too, but I think it would have done slightly better. I think Fig is a poor choice for anyone who isn't well known. On the other hand, it's probably a better choice if you are, since I've heard it gives more control(and the option of investors I guess) than Kickstarter does (hence why a lot of the more popular companies moved to Fig from KS).
 
Don't fool yourself this wouldn't have made 1.5 mil in Kickstarter either, Swery alone with no known IP is not getting 1.5 mil in today's crowdfunding market.
 
I wanna support Swery, but the genre just isn't my thing. Can't justify dropping the money on a game I'll probably only half enjoy.
 
This game sounds awesome and I hope it still gets made, but I'm never crowd funding another video game. It's risky enough to buy something in early access.
 

tuxfool

Banned
Don't fool yourself this wouldn't have made 1.5 mil in Kickstarter either, Swery alone with no known IP is not getting 1.5 mil in today's crowdfunding market.
1.5m isn't a lot of money, all his other projects would have cost way more than that.

I'll reiterate what I said in a past thread if people complain that publishers are not funding a Swery game, I'll point them this way. If the public can't fund this measly amount, then don't expect publishers to do that either.
 

wetflame

Pizza Dog
It's a combination of both issues though as I said before.

Big names will still get attention on Fig, of course, because they can get that outside attention from people as people already know Double Fine, Obsidian or whoever else.

Anyone else will struggle on Fig because Fig won't get the pageviews that kickstarter does. They have so few crowdfunds that people generally go onto the site with a purpose, ie to back a project they already know about. Unlike Kickstarter where you might still get people who randomly browse kickstarter for interesting ideas.

I agree that it would have failed on Kickstarter too, but I think it would have done slightly better. I think Fig is a poor choice for anyone who isn't well known. On the other hand, it's probably a better choice if you are, since I've heard it gives more control(and the option of investors I guess) than Kickstarter does (hence why a lot of the more popular companies moved to Fig from KS).

This is the crux of the argument though. The problem wasn't Fig, it was the project, and launching on Kickstarter isn't going to suddenly give them 5 times as much backing in order to meet their goal.
 

Moelman

Neo Member
I backed it, and I'm surprised at the small number of backers its gotten. Swery still has a lot of fans, his panel at PAX had a big turnout. But the campaign itself hasn't been run the greatest.
 
1.5m isn't a lot of money, all his other projects would have cost way more than that.

I'll reiterate what I said in a past thread if people complain that publishers are not funding a Swery game, I'll point them this way. If the public can't fund this measly amount, then don't expect publishers to do that either.
I didn't say it was a lot of money, I just said he wouldn't reach the goal on any platform. I don't expect publishers to do anything
 
Ninja Theory made Hellblade for 300K. Certainly Swery, who has a good deal lower production values, can do the same. He probably got carried away with everything he wanted to include in the game. He needs to reduce his ambitions, shave it down to the essentials. Get that budget down.

I thought the 300k for Hellblade was the amount of copies they needed to sell to break even, not how much it cost them to make it.
 

Trace

Banned
Ninja Theory made Hellblade for 300K. Swery should be able to do the same. I know this is an RPG and Hellblade was a linear adventure game, but Swery's production values are nowhere near Hellblade's, and maybe he needs to scale back the scope of his project.

Swery is not the most pragmatic guy. He probably got carried away with everything he wanted to include. He needs to reduce his ambitions, shave it down to the essentials. Get that budget down.

There is no way in hell (pun intended) that Hellblade cost 300k to make. Ninja Theory took 4 years developing Hellblade, and the only way it would cost 300k would be if they had one staff member and no licensing fees or contracting prices of any kind. Aka impossible.

Costs for that were probably 10-20 million as my guesstimation.
 

Gbraga

Member
It really sucks that the game won't be made, but I'm even more sad for Swery, he really believed in this project. :(
 

Famassu

Member
I'm not sure if I was ever even aware of him doing a Kickstarter (EDIT: crowdfunding thing, not Kickstarter per se). Maybe I was but it hasn't stuck to my mind at all. Which is weird because a new Swery game is always intriguing.
 

EvB

Member
It’s almost as if every one of his games has sold poorly and not enough people care to put their hand in their pocket.
 

border

Member
Hellblade cost millions of dollars to produce. As far as I know, nobody can really say how much of a success it was (beyond the 100,000K copies confirmed on Steam).

https://www.engadget.com/2015/09/16/ninja-theory-hellblade-indie-game/

Hellblade's budget is low by AAA-development standards, but very high compared to the average indie game. Whereas a typical AAA game "is going to be $50 million upwards," explained Matthews, Hellblade comes in "way below $10 million." And that budget's funded almost entirely by the studio itself. "We've put in our money; we've got loans and some support from the Wellcome Trust. ... By and large, it's our own money. That allows us to maintain creative ownership."
 

NoPiece

Member
Bullshit.

They said they need to sell 300k to break even.

Based on 300k units to recoup, and estimating $20 net per sale on the game, budget was probably $5-$6 million, which fits with their comment it was well under $10m.
 

Earth

Banned
So is there any particular reason that there'll be two different full versions of this game based on (what seems to amount to so far) a cosmetic difference? The games mechanics seem to be built around being a cat regardless, but why not just add the option in one build?
 

NoPiece

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

Started happening a couple months ago, with Kingdoms and Castles:

http://www.pcgamer.com/the-first-ga...ding-has-already-doubled-money-for-investors/

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.

Guarantee the rate that game projects are funded is much better on Fig than Kickstarter because they are able to be selective in what they take in, and focus promoting on a fewer number of projects. As a fan of SWERY, and someone who has backed other projects on Fig I should be a prime candidate to fund, but passed because the game just didn't look that good or interesting.

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