Community Interview: Give Us Your Affordable Space Adventures Questions for KnapNok Games and Nifflas  

Why did you choose to call your game "Affordable Space Adventures" if it's priced in the upper range of indie titles on the eShop? To me, $20 for an indie title constitutes premium pricing. The name created the impression that it would be priced far cheaper and made me extra disappointed when I learned the real price.

How are taxes calculated and attributed in space?

Do you see KnapNok and Nifflas working together again in the future? Or perhaps are there any other indie studios you'd like to work with as well?

How do they expect to sell this game for $20? And from reading various previews it's not going to be a very long game. I'm serious with that question, they're asking for trouble at that price because it's not very affordable for what it is. And this exclusivity talk is rubbish. It may be for now but we all know what will happen if it's successful. Shovel Knight anyone?

Fog stopped equating atmosphere back on the N64. Not really a question. Just throwing it out there as a visually impaired person who even after putting on their glasses can't see s*** in the trailers.

@accc Oh come on, The game isn't called Affordable Space Adventures because you, the game purchaser, will have a Space Adventure for an Affordable price. The whole point of the game is that your characters are sent on a Space Adventure in a lemon of a ship that can only run a few systems at once - classic Affordable dream vacation that is not quite what it seemed when advertised. The fact that you let the name of the game convince you that you would be able to buy it for super cheap when it is clearly a high quality game is your fault, no one else's. Also it's $20, get over it.

Here's my question: What is the replay value of the game like? Are there secrets to be discovered and new areas to explore, or is it more of a linear experience getting through the game's puzzles?

Games that truly utilise the gamepad to full effect are few and far between, even Nintendo arguably haven't managed to improve on since Nintendo Land. Was it fun developing a game with the gamepad in mind but do you think you have taken a risk by actually doing so? It seems many aren't taking the risk and I commend you for doing so.

_{No need to shout.-MorphMarron}

"ever considered Amiibo support? maybe via na update later?"

Will you release a demo? Becuase I always love trying before buying (just like a pair of new shoes).

I can only imagine the time and effort put into this game, from the concept down to the marketing. I commend the risk your taking with such an abstract idea from gameplay, to presentation. When this game is released whether the audience is open to originality or not, will you continue to make games as original as this game whether the sales bomb or meet expectations?

Will sales determine the future of your next games or will you end up taking a more conservative approach based on the market, whether it be in the idea, or scope of the game for the Wii U, or leave it all together?

For those complaining about the people complaining about the price - guess how much "A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks!" cost on PSN?

https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/games/a-space-shooter-for-2-bucks/cid=UP4096-NPUZ00190_00-SPACESHOOTER0001?emcid=ps-ga-871&utm_medium=Paid_Search_{ps}&utm_campaign=Games&utm_source=Google&utm_term=ps-ga-871&utm_content=Brand

Actual question for Niflas - any obscenities like the "F" bomb in the game? My kids were enjoying Knytt Underground before I banned them from playing it b/c the one character kept saying things that would get me banned on here if I typed them. And the game would have been absolutely fine w/o them, it's not GTA, the bad language served no purpose.

Is the Game Pad absolutely necessary to the gameplay and will make the game worthless without it , like Zombi U? Do you think the Game Pad is awesome?

@rjejr the quality is nowhere near as good from what I can see. Bring us an example of equal quality that is exclusive to the ps4 section of psn (not on vita/PS3 ) and then I'll take your comment seriously.

Nintendo has been advertising the game quite alot. How has it been to work with them in general?

@accc The game, yes, The price, no. Those are two different things.

Was it difficult to set a price for the game considering that 'affordable' is in the title?

Online multiplayer? Lenght? Replayability?

@accc

I think perhaps it leaves the impression that it'll be cheap given no understanding of what the game is about, but anyone who bothers to look into this game will know the title is alluding to the actual content of the game and not the price. Seriously how many times can you ever recall the name of a game and the pricing having anything to do with one another, pretty much always the game is named because of the story/gameplay.

@Xilef I must be missing some definition of "affordable" which isn't a reference to price. If the game calls itself affordable, logic dictates that any rational person would expect that game to be affordable.

@accc The Space Adventure is Affordable. And so is the game. Have a nice day.

@Kevlar44 Well there is that game called "A Space Shooter For Two Bucks" that somebody posted above, which does indeed cost 2 dollars. I don't know of any other game whose title appears to refer to the game's price, let alone in a misleading way. It would be like if a game referred to its genre in the title but then was in a completely different genre, like if that "Space Shooter For Two Bucks" game was actually a city building sim or something. Any way you look at it, it's misleading and sets up certain expectations which the game fails to adhere to.

Are their secrets and collectibles that extend the gameplay time?

How tough is the game to beat and also 100%, from a difficulty perspective?

Are there...ah, affordable upgrades?

What sets your game apart from others in a similar genre?

Please let's keep the comments civil.

@accc if you wont give up on this then wether or not someting is affordable is amatter of opinion where as two bucks is always two bucks. now your still wrong.

Why did you decide to split the gameplay functions between players instead of having multiple ships?

@A01 I'm curious about what other activities cost you a £1 an hour. And fun games you can Always replay.

@accc - I'm selling a book titled "Affordable Vacation Guide". It is a high quality book full of good information about making vacations more affordable. Do i need to charge less for the book because affordable is in the title?

I would like to know about controller options for the multi player modes and if this is successful will they consider future versions based on the universe but maybe different genres for example Steamworld Dig vs Steamworld Heist

I can't believe people are complaining about the $20 price tag. That's half the price of a budget game and one third of a full retail game.

i have three questions. how long will it take to complete, is there anything to encourage replaying the game, and is there anything that the light and scanner guy does other than those things?

Absolutely love the trailers, and I got my children looking forward to it as well. Do you think that with 3 players going at it, is one of them a little easier or not as necessary as the others? Not all of my children are incredible players, but I'd still like them to feel like they contribute (6 year old)

@Gerbwmu That's not a very good analogy. When you buy a vacation guide you know you're going to be spending (a lot of) additional money on the actual vacation, so while it's technically possible that "affordable" can refer to the guide itself, anybody can tell from the context that it more likely refers to the vacation and not the guide. On the other hand, when you buy a video game, the game itself is the only thing you're spending money on and therefore is the obvious choice as the object which "affordable" refers to. People who are hearing about this game for the first time won't know that the gameplay involves making your space adventure as affordable as possible, so they'll have no reason to suspect "affordable" refers to anything other than the price of the game.

Eh, No problem for Captain Toad. The Starshroom could get through this no problem............actually though, I wouldn't come within 2 feet of wherever...those places is.

Seriously, though any inspiration for this world?
If possible my apologies but how come it took so long for a release date. Last time there was light of it was June?

Does it support off-tv play for single-player mode?

@BieberBlows You would be surprised at what people complain about.

Oh please just tell me I won't have to wait very long for an an EU release? Thanks. X

I would also like nifflas to become one of my friends.

At that price I can't justify a purchase in the even higher Australian prices without a demo - is there any chance of a demo being released, even to the Wii U demo units in Australian stores?

@BieberBlows Is the content 1/3 of a AAA game? I have played many budget games and AAA games for 100's of hours, as well as $5 Kairosoft phone games. Considering it will be more than $20 in Australia, I want to know I will get a lot of enjoyment from it, especially though replayability.

I read you were considering bringing this to 3DS. Any updates on that?

I just want to say to them: I loved Knytt Underground! I will be buying this game day 1, because I know this game will have a lot of genuine love and effort for WiiU owners poured into it.

My question: Is Nifflas doing the soundtrack? If so, I'm on it day 1. How many tracks are in there, how many hours of music?

Knytt Underground had an amazing 3 hour soundtrack. One of the best on Wii U, or should I say in game history? Up there with my other favourite soundtracks EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Tetrisphere, World of Goo, and the DKCs. Also, 8.99€ for that 20+ hour game was such a bargain, so I'm more than happy to spend a bit more on his new Wii U game.

That argument about the game's price is funny though. Cheapskates. Probably mobile phone players. No respect for quality exclusives that use Wii U proper.

In 20 years, should we expect for a real life affordable space adventure?

Will you please add collectibles and other useful tricks (time limits, survivor mode, new game+) to add replay value?

@A01
If the game is anywhere near the size and difficulty of Knytt Underground, you'll get 17 hours and then some. But let's hear the unswer from the devs themselves.

How many people were involved with development on a weekly basis?

Can you explain the premise of this game in a few sentences? I haven't kept up with it.

@accc seriously... This is the question you think is appropriate for asking? There are a million other things to ask, but you gotta troll?! Stop. Please. Be civil. This is why devs don't like to talk to their consumers, look at the type of question you're asking... Don't reply with some lame-ass "trying to prove you're right" comment, not interested, and neither is anyone else.

@faint - My comment wasn't a price comparison between a $2 game and a $20 game, my comment was meant that a game w/ $2 in the tile cost $2, and a download only game w/ "affordable" in the tile cost $20, which is the very high end for a download only game. People complaining about the price were complaining b/c the game was called "afforadable" but the price very much wasn't, so I believe they have a point. People complaining about other people complaining is a pet peeve of mine however as it smacks of hypocrisy.

Sorry if my original post didn't make that clear.

@accc

That game is clearly the exception and not the rule, as i stated "almost always" the game is named after content not price, and in that case it's not just a vague notion of price (affordable is open to subjective interpretation) but rather named definitively in regards to the price (i.e. there is no room for interpretation). As for your concern that new potential customers will be put off by the name i think it's ridiculous, if they don't know anything about the game it's almost certain they saw it on eshop first, where the price is posted, and there is a trailer which after watching one ought to be able to understand the motive behind the name as opposed to relying on an assumption.

I seriously can't believe you don't understand how unreasonable it is to develop your own preconceived notions based on some vague interpretation of a subjective standard, especially when as i've stated it's rather atypical for the name and the price to have any correlation. If you come from a position of ignorance, as we all are in regards to the price/content of the game, then it's not wise to expect your hypothesis to be proven true as opposed to looking into why it might be wrong. A considerate viewpoint is not one of assumption, in fact it's diametrically opposed to the very concept of consideration. Don't accept and expect your own ignorance to be born out just because you can rationalize the logic behind it, be considerate enough to accept that you initial observations might not be so prudent. The attitude i'm suggesting is the philosophical standard to which almost all human progress can be credited to as it's essentially the same as the scientific process, there's a reason we don't assume in science too as it doesn't correlate to reality.

@accc
The title: Affordable Space Adventures = Cheaper than actually going to space and having adventures. Duh. $20 isn't too high for me, IF it ends up being a worthy game. It looks cool so far.

Is it true that in its early stages the game had been called "Affordable Spice Adventures" and was all about one certain British girl group?

@alLabouTandroiD -high five-

@accc Glad to reac you are speaking for the 'majority' of players. Have you actually asked the 'majority' of players? No, didn't think so. However, your sentence implies that you 'know' what the majority of players are going to think. Personally, I don't just go by one review/preview. I look around, find out as much as possible. Also, you are the first, and only person I have come across, that actually thought the title indicated towards the cost of the game.

Seriously, is it too much to ask that you look at other sites. The sheer fact you said what you did, indicates you had no idea what the game was about. If you had, maybe you would not have asked your question. Or, maybe you wou,d!!!!

@Kevlar44 It's unbelievable how narrow your perspective is. We're talking about the title of a video game, not some deep, meaningful subject with far-reaching philosophical implications. When I heard the name "Affordable Space Adventures", I expected that the game would be cheaper. Is that really too difficult for you to understand? Instead of realizing that this is a logical conclusion, you think I should have instead studied the entire history of videogame titles to form a hypothesis regarding the likelihood of the title being a reference to the game's price? Do you realize how ridiculous this makes you sound? Maybe you have more free time on your hands than me, but I don't find it wise to spend my time analyzing every trivial matter that comes up in such excruciating detail. You may have had a point regarding the importance of critical thinking and detailed analysis if this was a subject which demanded more of my attention, but again we're talking about THE TITLE OF A VIDEOGAME which I spent two seconds pondering before moving on. Your condescending tone suggests that you have little respect for the opinions of others and fail to understand that not everybody views things through the same lens that you do.

As far as how common my perspective is concerned, after the price was announced I noted several comments on other sites remarking the irony of the game's title, so clearly I'm not the only one who reached that conclusion. Regardless of how the title is justified by the game's content, learning that won't wash away the initial disappointment people like me experienced when they first discovered that the game isn't actually all that affordable. I think Knapnok Games and Nifflas would be wise to avoid giving their games potentially misleading titles in the future.

If you don't think 20 dollars is affordable, then maybe you should be focusing on improving your life, and not on video games.

"Affordable" is a relative term. Most well-made indie games on the eShop are $15 or less. $20 is a premium price for an indie title.

@accc

Philosophy is everything, philosophy is wisdom. One would think a considerate and wise viewpoint would be a good thing not a bad or "narrow minded" perspective. You need to come to grips with reality, i was just thoroughly explaining common sense to you. This whole matter comes down to common sense, which is just shared wisdom. Wisdom is philosophy, common sense is philosophy, this is common sense. Get it? There is no discernible detachment, and to do so is in fact "narrow" minded. You just want to compromise the truth to fit in with your own narrative. Suggesting it's ironic is reasonable, suggesting that you should feel some kind of deep disappointment is not rational.