We’ll Be Enjoying The Good Life Soon Enough

The Good Life was having a not-so-good life on Kickstarter for the majority of its funding period. Creator and director Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro and his new post-Access Games outfit at White Owls Inc. first tried to fund the project on Fig last September with a lofty stretch goal of $1.5 million to no avail, as it made less than half that amount. But they didn’t give up, and instead tried again with a Kickstarter campaign with an adjusted initial goal close to the amount they received before. But it seemed like many who pledged for the campaign on its Fig run didn’t return for its Kickstarter, after it didn’t receive even one-third of the new $620,000 goal at its start.

Even though the campaign was active for 40 days, longer than the average of 30, most successful examples receive a significant amount of their funding in their earliest days — with some being completely funded in that time. The Good Life’s struggles were ominous early on, but the team at White Owls preserved until the end. There were, after all, examples of titles that received enough publicity late in the campaign to receive the funding they needed by the end. They were aware of République and Indivisible, and there was potential for this to join their ranks. Thankfully, that’s exactly what happened.

It helped that fans and especially others with influence who know Swery65 were aware of his resume, and helped promote the campaign in its final week. It received more coverage on video game websites, but was also boosted by social media accounts and given a shout-out in Kickstarter updates for projects that were overwhelming crowdfunding successes. A prototype demo was also distributed in its final days, which gave a good impression of the project despite its presentation and performance being a little rough. It also received a curiously timed Stroy Story Trailer featuring an overview of the game, which honestly would have been better if it was released a bit earlier in the campaign.

It also helped that the team running the campaign kept backers and those on the fence updated every step of the way. There were over 30 updates made throughout the course of the campaign. I’m sure some backers became tired of them, but it’s better for a team to remain engaged than go missing for days at a time.

The combination of the above elements helped funding soar in its final days. It reached the $620,000 goal days before time expired, to prevent a nail-biting last few hours. This was enough time for the team to add a quick stretch goal for a Switch version at $800,000, since it didn’t hurt for them to strive higher with all the attention it was receiving. It’s a pity it didn’t reach that, as it finished with around $742,000. This doesn’t definitively mean the Switch version won’t happen, but White Owls can’t guarantee it will come. There will be a better chance of the port being made if they can find a publishing partner willing to assist them.

On the surface, The Good Life’s crowdfunding campaign had everything necessary to succeed. It was coming from a known developer that proved they were working on a game and didn’t intend to scam them. They also provided several screenshots and gameplay footage, along with a prototype demo and trailer near the end. But that it struggled for so long shows how tough it is to raise money for most crowdfunding projects these days, which happened due to multiple factors. Several backers have been burned by titles that turned out disappointing (Mighty No. 9 is the go-to example here) or are stuck in development hell (see Project Phoenix and Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians), and would rather wait until the game is finished to purchase it — though that’s not always feasible.

Part of this is also due to The Good Life not being in the most popular genre for crowdfunding, which tend to include Metroidvania titles, more traditional platformers, roguelikes, and isometric RPGs, along with adventure games with low initial goals to a lesser extent. Crowdfunding an adventure game this stylish was a risk, especially with the aforementioned skepticism. But let’s just be glad this one overcame those obstacles with its last-minute burst.

Now, it’s up to Swery and White Owls to deliver a good product. The Good Life won’t have to be the most polished title around, since it will be fine if it’s as memorable of an experience as Deadly Premonition or D4. White Owls doesn’t plan to deliver the game until November 2019, meaning they might have set a realistic release goal. This will depend on how many resources they’ll have available to allocate between this game and The Missing, the mysterious title they’re working on for Arc System Works due for release this year. Hopefully this title’s production goes mostly according to plan, because crowdfunding project developments don’t need more drama around them.

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