So Potions: A Curious Tale hit Kickstarter on April 8th with a $62,000 goal and I must admit I didn’t have high hopes. Yet five days later this fairly basic looking 2D adventure-crafting title is well on its way with over $18,000 raised and a ‘Projects we Love’ badge from Kickstarter – so what’s the secret to its success?
Well the first thing that stands out there are only 291 backers of Potions which doesn’t seem to tally up with the amount raised, and closer inspection reveals that 21 backers account for $10,000 of the pledges received with 1 backer responsible for a massive $5,000 contribution. A bit unusual perhaps, but there are some interesting rewards for those high-level pledges which no doubt appeals to those with a lot of money going spare.
Of course they wouldn’t pledge at all if the Kickstarter for Potions didn’t look promising and developer Stumbling Cat have done their homework here. The campaign page is extremely comprehensive, clear, detailed, free of errors and attractive to look at. In this respect it surely helped that Stumbling Cat had backed six projects themselves, with varying levels of success, so have seen for themselves what it takes for a Kickstarter to triumph.
Unfortunately I don’t feel Potions itself reflects the polished campaign behind it. While the graphics have a level of charm about them the animation is pretty basic (looking remarkably like a simple flash game) while the claims about ‘intense combat’ and ‘creative puzzles’ seem a bit unfounded at this time. These are concerns I also had when I first saw it showcased on the Square Enix Collective where it received a less-than-stellar approval rating of 63% and only 10 comments – which doesn’t inspire confidence for its long-term prospects on Kickstarter.
Track the progress of the Potions: A Curious Tale Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
