Here are notes and data collected from back when the Kickstarter campaign ran.
https://i.imgur.com/QgZOFJY.pngI crunch a lot of data about Kickstarter. The average pledge per backer amount extremely stands out to me as way too low in this situation. I want to put extra emphasis on it being lower than it should be. That indicates a problem with the lower tiers getting backers to upgrade to higher tiers.
It has a $10 early-bird and $15 normal tier, meaning an expectation of $22 to $35 per backer for a healthy campaign based on past campaigns. Suplex Saga was closer to $19 to $20 per backer. A lower average pledge amount means requiring more backers to reach 100% funded. With a large minimum funding goal, a less efficient campaign is a big problem.
While the $10 early-bird tier was open, it was effectively a price jump from $10 to $35 because most reasonably will ignore the $15 normal tier. That is a relatively massive price jump. In the lowest-priced tiers, backers can be more sensitive to small price increases. In general, doubling the price (or more) with a jump to the next tier often creates problems.
The $15 tier was for a copy of the game and being put in the credits. the $35 tier added a digital wallpaper for a $20 price increase. It can be easy to argue that is not enough value for the $20 increase. This would hold more backers back from upgrading and require more backers to reach 100% funded.
The next tier after the $35 tier was $45 that added a copy of the soundtrack. I frequently see soundtrack tiers can often fall flat if priced above $30. Soundtrack tiers often do poorly in general with some campaigns (with particularly strong music) being exceptions. Many people will just listen to the soundtrack on YouTube if it ends up being good.
What is puzzling is the $100 tier for alternate in-game colours for party members is the type of reward tier usually in the lower end of the tiers. This is after physical rewards were introduced at the $70 tier.
I found no mention of alpha or beta access in the rewards. It is very clear early access to a game is something many backers will pledge extra for.
A $15 priced game on Kickstarter could realistically see $45 per backer in some optimistic scenarios. 483 backers at $45 per backer would have been $21,735 (36.23% of the goal). Even at a more standard $30 per backer it would have been $14,490 (24.15%). More effective reward tiers could have helped it cover much more distance with the same number of backers.
Most backers are expected to pick the cheapest available reward tier for a copy of the game. I often observe 40% to 80% picking that tier. Closer to 40% often indicates a simple lack of backers. Closer to 80% indicates a problem with the reward tiers. The sweetspot is 50% to 60% of backers picking the cheapest available tier for a copy of the game. Suplex Saga had 83.22% of backers picked the $10 tier. That is another sign the reward tiers were not working well.
The timing of both the launch and the end of the campaign faced severe challenges.
Suplex Saga launched when way less people would be around to see it, but actually did relatively well in its first 72 hours probably thanks to the pre-launch promotion efforts. It could have done much worse launching into a weekend. Friday is the 2nd worst day in the weekly cycle to launch. Saturday is the worst performing day in the cycle. Sunday is the 3rd worst. Launching into a weekend also often messes with getting press coverage.
The second half of the campaign ran through Gamescom 2017, then into PAX West and then into an early part of September nicknamed "the meatgrinder" for destroying campaigns. That August 22nd to September 8th is one of the most difficult periods to run a video game Kickstarter campaign out of the entire year. Getting press becomes way harder and competition for visibility within Kickstarter also gets extreme. Suplex Saga never stalled out even during this tough time. That was good.
It also ended early on a Sunday morning. Ending a weekend really harms the final surge. The large goal would have also likely contributed to morale falling apart in the middle of the campaign.
Reaching almost 500 backers was a good achievement. Many failed campaigns don't make it over 100 backers. Suplex Saga also reached 16.55%. That 16.55% was also not hollow. It looks like real solid progress, not a spamming of multiple large pledges. 15% of the funding goal in the first 48 hours is often how much traction a large campaign needs. Even with the same $60,000 goal, returning backers could provide it the traction a second attempt would need. A reboot at a good time of year would likely succeed with some iterating on the previous project page. The annual cycle to Kickstarter sees the platform recover (from its slowdown in November and December) after January 6th to 10th each year. By the start of February it can be almost back to normal.