Game lost me in the first 3 minutes

I think the game looks and sounds great, but the postmodern hur hur we know it's a game and here's the creator thing pissed me off. If there's one easy way to break immersion the moment you walk into a game - that's it. Otherwise looked quite splendid.
Unfortunately Sword and Sworcery did the same thing, turning what should've been a beautiful experience into something cheap.
Thoughts?

I didn't particularly mind the intro being made that way, especially since it isn't used again in the main part of the game. I guess Nifflas wanted to set the tone of the story as not too serious from the start to avoid sounding too pretentious.

This is not a flaw, but something you personally disliked. I think it's a shame that it was enough to stop you from playing.

It worked well in Sword & Sworcery and didn't distract from the immersiveness at all. I feel that it's right for Knytt Underground too, especially since so many of the stories in the game connects to my own life. I can of course not design a game so that everybody will like it, but then, I don't feel that I have to either. At least I wrote the story the way I wanted it to be.

I wish you'd explain why this made you angry, because not playing this incredibly splendid atmosphere of a game just because of some fourth wall breaking at the beginning is an incredibly sad reason to devoid yourself of the experience.

With the comment as bare as it is, it just comes off as a flat-out insult to the creator and it's fans.   

Everytime I release something, there are plenty of people who don't like some of my choices. If I had made different choices, different people would complain about those instead. I think I've got quite used to the idea, so the post is no big deal for me.

I didn't particularly mind the intro being made that way, especially since it isn't used again in the main part of the game. I guess Nifflas wanted to set the tone of the story as not too serious from the start to avoid sounding too pretentious.

I think that's valid - I'm glad it's not repeated a lot in the game. I guess sword and sworcery's complete annihilation of mood just made me go 'oh god not this again' and drop it.

It worked well in Sword & Sworcery and didn't distract from the immersiveness at all. I feel that it's right for Knytt Underground too, especially since so many of the stories in the game connects to my own life. I can of course not design a game so that everybody will like it, but then, I don't feel that I have to either. At least I wrote the story the way I wanted it to be.

I think that's right and I think you should design the game the way you want. I utterly disagree with you about sword and sworcery - I think it was the worst waste of brilliant atmosphere and music that I've come across, in my lifetime - but everybody's brain (and game) is different.
To be clear, I've liked all of your previous games (bar Saira- wasn't my cup of tea). I think part of what I liked about some of them is they left the space in between the text tell the story. There was a short, glib smash of text right at the start, just to give a vague worldview, but the sheer bulk of weight was behind what filled that space.
Anyway, my 2c.

With the comment as bare as it is, it just comes off as a flat-out insult to the creator and it's fans.  

Utter rubbish. The author I can understand, but the fans - I opened it up for discussion. If you're pissed with that, you'll get pissed with anything. Cultural bluntness is relative I feel.

Utter rubbish. The author I can understand, but the fans - I opened it up for discussion. If you're pissed with that, you'll get pissed with anything. Cultural bluntness is relative I feel.

I wouldn't say I'm pissed, if the emoticon I used was any indication, but I still stand by what I said.  I just hope you eventually give the game another try regardless of how it begins.

I didn't necessarily like the author-insert either, but I have a little more sense than to make a huge production over it on the author's own forums. And it certainly didn't make me quit the game. This is a good game, you're going to miss out on it because you can't get past something minor like this, and that's egg on you, not the game or author.

We're not upset with you, we just feel a lot of disdain for you. Go ahead and try to tear down everything anyone else says about it with a wall-of-text, but that's just going to make you, not anyone or anything else, look bad.

I think that's right and I think you should design the game the way you want. I utterly disagree with you about sword and sworcery - I think it was the worst waste of brilliant atmosphere and music that I've come across, in my lifetime - but everybody's brain (and game) is different.

I thought it was great, I'm glad Superbrothers made the game they wanted it to be. When the KU criticism came together with a negative example that happens to be my favorite game in terms of how it integrates fourth wall breaking with the world and story itself... well, it didn't make me see things differently I'm glad taste varies though, it'd be boring if everybody liked the same things.

I think the game looks and sounds great, but the postmodern hur hur we know it's a game and here's the creator thing pissed me off. If there's one easy way to break immersion the moment you walk into a game - that's it. Otherwise looked quite splendid.
Unfortunately Sword and Sworcery did the same thing, turning what should've been a beautiful experience into something cheap.
Thoughts?

I like it; it's cute and humble. I also liked Nifflas' remark on the subject which was something about how we think their world is fictional, they would think the same of ours, and Nifflas is the only person who exists in both worlds.

I'm sorry that this one single solitary 5-second interaction with the developer was enough to ruin your entire experience for a 30+ hour game, but as others have pointed out, I think that reflects more on you than on the game. I'm not speaking as a fanboy, I'm speaking as a regular person... It's just not that big of a deal.

Do Stan Lee's cameos in the Marvel movies ruin the entire thing for you? How about the fact that John Carmack was the final boss in Doom 2? Or when funny comic artists draw themselves into the forwards of books to converse with their own characters?

I wish you'd explain why this made you angry, because not playing this incredibly splendid atmosphere of a game just because of some fourth wall breaking at the beginning is an incredibly sad reason to devoid yourself of the experience.

With the comment as bare as it is, it just comes off as a flat-out insult to the creator and it's fans.  

Gyahaha Fubaka, this is almost exactly the same kind of thing you- wait that's kind of a spoiler.

Anyway, in theory, I don't particularly like the idea of an author putting herself/himself into a game, especially expressing the concept of being some kind of god who made this world which is despite that an imperfect world yadayada, but how acceptable that is tends to depend on the arrogance or lack thereof of the creator combined with the quality of the actual game. And really, how one judges a game should really depend solely on the game itself, as, like someone has once expressed, "Love the art, not the artist."

Gyahaha Fubaka, this is almost exactly the same kind of thing you- wait that's kind of a spoiler.

Anyway, in theory, I don't particularly like the idea of an author putting herself/himself into a game, especially expressing the concept of being some kind of god who made this world which is despite that an imperfect world yadayada, but how acceptable that is tends to depend on the arrogance or lack thereof of the creator combined with the quality of the actual game. And really, how one judges a game should really depend solely on the game itself, as, like someone has once expressed, "Love the art, not the artist."

I will assume you've seen the bigger secret in my level then, since you are bringing this up.  However, whether or not someone inserts themselves into the game, it still can be considered part of the game itself, under most circumstances. 


Now, I know my story isn't perfect, and frankly, neither is Knytt Underground.  However, what drove me to comment in the first place was the simple fact that metamorphosis decided not only to stop playing altogether because of this single element, but to post about it here too in an entirely unsympathetic manner, and I don't buy his/her rebuttal either.  It just came off to me as rude, and highly nonconstructive.

I don't think he was trying to be (or being, for that matter) rude at all.

I completely disagree with him of course (it worked in superbrothers, and it works here too) but there was nothing insulting about the post.

 

there was nothing insulting about the post.

• "Game lost me in the first 3 minutes"
• "the postmodern hur hur we know it's a game and here's the creator thing pissed me off"
• "turning what should've been a beautiful experience into something cheap"

I don't think

Yes. Indeed.