The Good Life is a new video game co-developed by SWERY and Yukio Futatsugi, along with their teams at White Owls and G-rounding.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Celebrating the game's release!
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 03:50:24 AM
To all our beloved backers,
Today, on October 15th 2021, The Good Life has finally been released. It's been three years since we reached our Kickstarter goal back in May 2018... We're sorry to have kept you waiting for so long.
At noon on October 15th JST, we will begin sending out your game codes and digital rewards in order, to the e-mail addresses that you listed in your surveys. Please be sure to check your inboxes. By the time this update is published, you may have already received your codes.
For a game creator, there is no greater happiness in the world than to receive the chance to create a new game. Many projects never see the light of day, so there are not enough words to express the deep gratitude I feel towards everyone who gave me this chance. I made sure to pour all these emotions into The Good Life, so I hope you all enjoy it! Thank you so much!
In closing, we need to issue an information.
During the campaign, we promised for the game to have the subtitles in French, Italian, German, and Spanish. Time passed, and we focused on making the games, and along the way we made the decision to focus on the Japanese and the English versions of the game, and have both of them supported with voice-over. But we failed to communicate this change of plan along the way - and with the extra efforts we are putting with the launch, we only realized that this had never been communicated to you.
We have made a lot of effort to keep you updated through our journey, and we are very disappointed with this oversight on our part. We hope you will forgive us and this won't prevent you from enjoying your time with Naomi.
Issues regarding digital rewards for the Xbox version
We have an apology to make to all backers who picked the Xbox version of the game. Currently, there is a problem with the Xbox version of the game where digital rewards are not being registered properly. When you use the DLC keys that are sent along with the full game key, they're supposed to unlock all the digital rewards that you were promised within the game. However, currently they aren't doing that.
What we do know as of now:
When you use the DLC code, it activates.
The DLC package is downloaded from the server, and you can see the DLC being applied from the dashboard .
BUT, for some reason, you are not able to use the DLC in the game.
Annoyingly, the issue has only appeared in our latest update, previously tested versions had the DLCs working properly.
We are doing our best to figure out how to fix this problem together with Microsoft, but we currently cannot give you a specific date on when the DLC will be usable.
Once we fix the problem and release a patch, you will be able to use the DLC. We'll be sure to report back to you here whenever we make progress.
Again, we are deeply sorry to everyone who was waiting excitedly for the release date, and we hope you understand.
How to contact us about issues related to your game keys
If you have an issue related to your Kickstarter rewards, the absolute best way to contact us is by email at: [email protected]
Allow for a few hours for your keys to receive before emailing us, check your SPAM folder, make sure you are checking the email address on which you received your survey.
The Good Life will be a part of the Steam Next Fest! - Steam Next FestにThe Good Lifeが参加いたします！
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Oct 02, 2021 at 12:07:29 AM
The Good Life will be a part of the Steam Next Fest!
Steam Next Fest starts on October 1st, and The Good Life will be a part of it!
Know what this means? That's right, The Good Life's free demo will be available during Steam Next Fest, starting at 10 PM PST on 10/1! Be sure to check out The Good Life's store page, as well as the Steam Next Fest page.
The demo will allow you to play the first section of the game. This is your chance to visit Rainy Woods before everyone else, so be sure not to miss it!
The Good Life was a part of the Tokyo Game Show 2021 Xbox Live Stream!
The Good Life was included in the Tokyo Game Show 2021 Xbox Live Stream that happened at 6 PM on September 30th. This was mainly done as a way to announce its release date and inclusion in GamePass to Japanese players. For more details, check out the live stream link below.
The demo for the Xbox version was also released at 8 PM on Sept. 30th, so be sure not to miss it if you have an Xbox!
SWERY's first novel is being released. It takes place in a rural British town, making it a companion piece to The Good Life! The Japanese version will be released in stores on November 12th, 2021, so get excited!
This is SWERY's first novel. It's a mysterious fiction story that takes place in a rural town in the corner of England, and the main character is Poco (not a cat). We guarantee it contains that SWERY style drama we've all come to love, depicting bizarre, eerie, but also 'everyday' people you could find anywhere.
Dear Ambivalence - The Mustachioed One, the Witches, and the Suspended Body
■Author: Suehiro Hidetaka （SWERY）
■Release Period: Early November, 2021
■Publisher: Atelier THiRD
■Sales: Shoen Shinsha Inc.
We are also planning to release a digital version, so please wait for updates regarding when that will be released. The original was written in Japanese, but the English translation has already been finished and is scheduled to be released digitally, so please wait for more updates regarding that as well.
Summary
It was just another quiet, peaceful country town in the corner of England... All the policemen ever had to do is chase down runaway sheep -- until one day, murder struck. The victim was Elizabeth Cole, a 17 year old girl. Her body was found suspended upside down from an elm tree, the symbol of the town. Every last hair had been shaven off her body, and all of her internal organs had been removed. A witch hunt... A magic wand... A milk delivery truck... Neverending rumors... Sins that can't be washed away. After being transferred to the town from London, a detective named Emily teams up with a young local gentleman with a mustache named Poco in order to solve the case.
For more details and pre-orders, please check the links below.
The Good Life will be officially released on October 15th (Friday)!! This is the official release date for EVERY platform!!
We're so overjoyed that we can finally announce the release date to our backers and fans, especially after knowing how patiently you've all been waiting.
It's been four long years since we first announced this game at PAX 2017... It's only thanks to your kindness and understanding that we were able to readjust the development schedule several times and make it to this exciting day.
The game still isn't out yet, though, so we're not about to let ourselves rest. We're going to keep working our hardest until the game reaches every last one of you, so please keep your eyes peeled!
We'll be posting a few more updates and releasing more news leading up to October 15th, so we hope you're all excited!
Thank you for your help with filling out the surveys! / Surveyへのご協力ありがとうございました！
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 12:35:12 AM
Thank you for your help with filling out the surveys!
I would like to thank all the backers that provided their name to be added to the credits, and tell all to everyone who didn't reply in time that we are still very grateful for their support. As we showed before, we are making the credits into a video, and that means putting a hard cutoff line when collecting them so the video can fit the number of names.
It also means that we had to remove all the submissions that were messages rather than names. There were also a few symbols (such as emojis) that we had to remove. We also reached out to everyone that had their name longer than requested - when we didn't get a correction in time, we shortened the names to fit with 27 characters (2 more than the actual limit, in order to fit as many names as intended).
Today, we'll be talking about bug testing!
Testers aren't just playing around!
Bug testing is typically a job where people play a game that's still being worked on and try to find as many bugs as possible. It may look like they're having fun playing the game, but it's actually quite a demanding job. After all, since the game is still being worked on, this creates various limitations, and activating the bugs definitely hampers the game's playability. The testers must have a high level of skill, concentration, and writing ability so they can create high quality reports. When necessary, they do the exact same things over and over in the game in order to reproduce difficult bugs or bugs that don't happen 100% of the time. This job requires a strong mind!
Reporting Process
For The Good Life, we used Redmine to report the bugs. When reporting, the tester needs to list the version of the game, then accurately explain the circumstances surrounding the bug and list the steps necessary to reproduce it. If the information here isn't accurate, the person in charge of fixing the bug will get confused, which will cause the process to take more time as they try to figure out what's going on. The testers also need to attach screenshots, videos, save data and play logs. The logs in particular save internal data which can serve as an important key to figuring out what's causing the bug. Without this, the programmers will need to slowly narrow down the possibilities (and there are a LOT of them), which could take a very long time depending on the bug.
Dividing up the Work
Who's in charge of what bug differs depending on what type of bug it is: it could be a graphical data problem, a programming problem, or a parameter setting issue, so even though the bugs are caused by the programming itself, assigning the fix to someone else might be the most efficient solution. Also, due to the volume of bugs that come in, and how they pile up day after day, everyone involved doesn't have enough time to review every single bug. In order to fix the bugs in the most efficient way possible, we need to divide up the work and give each report to the person who can fix it the fastest.
SWERY's Priority Filtering
Among the daily bugs that get reported, some are serious issues that hinder progression or cause other unfortunate effects for the player. Therefore, we had SWERY check every bug and set it at a priority level for us. Depending on the schedule and the difficulty of the problems, some take more time to fix than others. Therefore, in order to make sure we don't run out of time and leave serious bugs in the game, we passed the bugs around to different people depending on their priority and adjusted our schedule as necessary.
Fixing Bugs
Using the bug reports as clues, we worked hard to find the source of each bug and fix it. The programming and data in a game can affect many different aspects of it, and adjusting one part can sometimes cause unintended issues somewhere else, so we had to be very careful.
Fix Confirmation and Closing Issues
Once a bug is fixed, we have to check and make sure it's really fixed in the game. It would be great if we had a tool that could instantly do this, but we don't. Confirming fixes for difficult-to-reproduce bugs that only happen one out of every 50 times, or bugs that only happen if you lightly tap a button at a certain point requires testers with strong concentration and skill that lets them do the same thing over and over again while keeping a sharp eye on what's happening in the game. Once the fix is confirmed, we close that bug report within Redmine. Sometimes it's really painful to look at Redmine when the bug reports just keep popping up, so it feels good to see them slowly disappear one by one.
I hope this peek into this aspect of game making was instructive to you - bug hunting is very much a part of the process of making a game.
Update on the surveys and Backerkit
The surveys are now closed and we have started to charge the cards to pay for the add-ons you selected as well as the shipping of the physical rewards.
A few backers may have issues with their payment, so please be on the look out for emails from Backerkit - they will email you if the payment failed. Please also note the payment will come under the name of of "White Owl", the studio name, you may be able to ask your bank to proceed with the payment.
Last but not least, if you are stuck, you can always email us at [email protected]
The Good Life Development News August 2021 / The Good Life 開発状況 2021年08月
almost 3 years ago
– Sun, Aug 08, 2021 at 01:44:38 AM
Important info regarding the surveys!
*This content is a republication of the July 30 update.
Attention! We have now sent the surveys to all the backers, which you will need to complete in order to receive your The Good Life content. The deadline for completing these surveys is August 15th, so please make sure you complete yours by that deadline. If you fail to complete the survey by then, in the worst case scenario, you may be unable to receive your Kickstarter campaign rewards...so please, please, please make sure you fill out your survey so you do not have to suffer that sad fate!
If you still haven't received your survey, or you changed your email address recently, there's a possibility that the survey may have gone to an old/unused e-mail address, so please give those a look.
If you are still unable to locate the survey e-mail, we can add your new e-mail address to the system if you send it to us at the following address:
You can add mugs, T-shirts, and hoodies to your order when you fill out the survey, so if you need something additional, be sure not to miss this chance!
These pieces of Kickstarter merch will NOT be sold anywhere else, PERIOD. So if you want them, please be sure you add them to your order!!
*Adding more pieces of merch to your order will require additional costs.
When we first ran this campaign, we only planned to have Japanese voices and English subtitles, but in the end we were able to record English voice tracks at a studio in the UK, in order to give everyone a chance to enjoy Rainy Woods even more! We have confidence that the English voices will be just as unique and fun as the Japanese voices. Check out the video to get a sneak peak!
