Ekuator Games, Story Behind the Success Achieving Target in Kickstarter

Last Month, we already have good news from Equator Games, which has achieved financing target they plan in Kickstarter for game they develop, Celestian Tales: Old North. Although it is not the first Indonesian game which succeeds crowdfunding campaign, the pace of developer from Bandung deserves to be appreciated.  They succeed in achieving that target only in less than two weeks since the campaign launch.

The interesting thing is that Ekuator Games has brought Celestian Tales: Old North the second time to have campaign in Kickstarter. In the first trial last mid month, that RPG doesn’t succeed in achieving the determined target. Well, in this article Duniaku has interviewed the producer of this game, Cipto Adiguno. For Duniaku, Cipto tells they have a lot of experiences in crowdfunding path, and how they learn from the failure of first trial to achieve success in second trial. Below is the interview.

Duniaku (D): Congratulation for your success! This is the second effort from Equator Games to gain support in Kickstarter. Can you tell us you’re a little bit about the experience?

Cipto (C): This Kickstarter just works for less than two weeks and has achieved its target. At glance, it looks very short but in reality, this is not something that just goes like that. The journey to this point has been started since last year, both from sustainable update from Kickstarter and keeping the communication with the supporter. If I tell you the whole story that will be very long story :D

D: The failure in first trial surely gives a precious lesson. What lesson do you get and then later is implemented in the second trial?

C: The main lesson we need to obtain is to listen the people who support you. The backers from previous Kickstarter are the people who believe in Celestian Tales project, and available to contribute concretely. Listening and appreciating their opinions have brought Celestian Tales to more than what we imagine earlier.

D: According to Equator Games itself, what causes the first trial doesn’t bring any result?

C: Shortly, we are not ready. We haven’t had a good community to accept suggestions. The game itself is not yet in decent condition to be played. As a team, we haven’t been as solid as today. The second Kickstarter has been prepared a lot more.

D: What strategy used by Equator in this second trial in order to successfully gain support with a lot of time available?

C: There are some strategies we use:

• Building community. This is very important to get boost in early Kickstarter. We gain more than 40% from our target in the first day. This boost will encourage project in popular line.  So it gives more exposure and attracts more people.
• Delaying the launch. Many people ask us launch faster but we purposely avoid December because at that time people have additional expenditure for Christmas and New Year.
• The proper date. When Celestian Tales is launched, there is not much big game news out, PS4 and Xbox One have passed, Thief doesn’t hype, and Titanfall has not been talked about yet. This enables us to emerge as news.

D: About the game itself, where does the inspiration of Celsetian Tales: Old North come from? What kind of game that gives most influence?

C: There are lot of games that inspire Celestian Tales. The story telling is similar to Odin Sphere. The dark and serious setting tend to resemble western RPG. Turn based combat used is similar with Final Fantasy VI. Character animation may remind us with Suikoden 2 or Ragnarok Online. Celestian Tales does not resemble any games at all, but at the same time it is similar with many games. This is one of our concepts in “redefining” classic RPG.

D: What is the main feature offered by this game?

C: The main feature of Celestian Tales is in the “non-standard” story. How many times are the games with story of “chosen youngster to save the world” available? We want to deliver more human story, which is closer with ourselves, that is in a world where the biggest enemy of humans is themselves.

D: What is the difficulty to overcome during the campaign in Kickstarter?

C: From making short and meaningful video, repairing prototype in order to be smoothly played, arranging account in New Zealand, until ensuring that all the English writings are inserted correctly. There is no really big problem but the small problems mentioned before that take more time in preparation.

D: What is really needed by Indonesian developers if they want to campaign in Kick starter?

C: Anyone who wants to run Kickstarter needs team member in one of these countires: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, or New Zealand. If this requirement is fulfilled, Kickstarter can be run although the centre is in other country.

D: Until today, how many percent is the progress of this game development? When is the game targeted to be released?

C: Currently, basic framework from Celestian Tales has been finished, and the game itself can be played. The early stage is the hardest stage and we have passed it. Celestian Tales: Old North part One is scheduled to be finished on November 2014. (You can try its prototype from this link).

D: With this success, what is the closest step to be done by Equator Games?

C: We have concentrated our energy to build Celestian Tales. We promise a game and hundreds of people believe our dream. We will try to fulfill that promise.

D: Lastly, maybe there are messages for Indonesian developers who want to bring their projects to Kickstarter?

C: Kickstarter can help us in making our dreams come true but this is not the “shortcut”. The support and belief do not come instantly but we have to earn them. Therefore it needs preparation before launching to Kickstarter.

D: Thanks for the time. Hopefully the development of Celestian Tales: Old North goes like expected!

C: Thanks to you, too!