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Sentimental Graffiti Game's Event Crowdfunding Campaign Ends Successfully

GungHo Online Entertainment's Campfire crowdfunding campaign to fund a 20th anniversary event for NEC Interchannel's Sentimental Graffiti dating simulation game ended successfully on November 11 after raising 34,701,700 yen (about US$308,000). The campaign launched on October 11 with an initial goal of 10 million yen (about US$89,000).

The project's staff began streaming a thank-you video from 10 of the game's 12 main female voice actresses known as "SG Girls." The voice actresses are the focus of the campaign, and they will appear at the funded event.

The project is primarily funding a special talk show and concert event in Tokyo on January 19, though part of the funds will go to the creation of backer rewards. The campaign had reward tiers that offered merchandise only, for people who wished to purchase goods but are unable to go to the event. The merchandise includes a T-shirt, towel, pen light, 20th anniversary CD, illustrated clear file, and calendar, among other items.

The campaign surpassed all its stretch goals after reaching several on its first day. The 20th anniversary CD will include a new song by music producer Tomoyuki Hamada and original game scenario writer Raita Ōkura, and backers at most tiers will receive a DVD of the event. Other stretch goals included additional pages for the backer rewards pamphlet, upgrades to the DVD release, and finally, at 25 million yen, a new audio drama written by Ōkura.

Sentimental Graffiti debuted in Japan on the Sega Saturn in 1998, and it was later ported to Windows and PlayStation. It inspired the 12-episode Sentimental Journey television series from Sunrise and director Kazuyoshi Katayama (Appleseed, The Big O, Those Who Hunt Elves) in 1998. MediaWorks released the series on DVD in 2004.

Source: Sentimental Graffiti's Campfire campaign via Siliconera