Can you introduce yourselves, the people working on KAPIA?

We are a husband and wife team dedicated to game development. We’ve been together for 17 years, 15 as a married couple and business partners. Our job and lifestyle make us very mobile. For the last 10 years we’ve been traveling the world, staying in a different country for 2-4 years. It hasn’t always been easy, but we value the experience of diving into different cultures.

What motivated you to start working on KAPIA?

From the very start of our common journey, we decided to spend as much time together as possible, and we stuck to that promise. This game is our way to preserve this lifestyle and to start the career of our dreams. Five years ago, in Latvia, the idea for our point and click adventure KAPIA took its final form. Self-funded and produced by our family, KAPIA encompasses a wide range of places, people, and their ideas from different parts of the world.

What's the plot of KAPIA?

Following the collapse of the World Union a war has struck that has divided the planet into coalitions representing "The West" and "The East". To avoid a mysterious intelligence infection people are living under protective domes. Amidst the chaos, Stefan, a retired pilot and a strong-willed grandfather, takes on the responsibility of ending the conflict. Little does he know his most powerful ally will be his little granddaughter, Reny.

What kind of puzzles will players face in KAPIA?

Logic and diversity was the key to our work on this most significant aspect of the game. Just like in traditional point-and-click most puzzles are tied up with objects, but there are also conversational puzzles and a whole bunch of logical mini-games. A player will also have a chance to discover the story from different perspectives as they play as both Stefan and Reny.

Are there any timed sequences or sound based puzzles?

There are a few puzzles where you need to complete a task in a certain period of time, but they are not built around the reaction, they are built around logic. If you think that the game doesn’t give you enough time, most likely you‘ve got a wrong strategy..

Which game engine are you using?

We are using Unity.

Is there a manual save system?

There is an autosave.

What other games have influenced you in making KAPIA?

Our two people developer team is a big fan of games of the “golden age” in point-and-click, such as Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, The Longest Journey, The Dig, Still Life, and Syberia. These games shaped our taste for game development and for point-and-click as a whole.

Does KAPIA mean anything?

KAPIA means a lot of things in various languages. To the day, I haven’t heard a translation that wasn’t fitting to our game theme, which is as thrilling as it is strange. My favorite one is Serbian where KAPIA means “gates”.

What has been most difficult about developing KAPIA with a two person team?

As a team, we are very optimized, but just like with everything else that is new we faced a few challenges. If I must choose, the most difficult part was building a great pipeline for the development. When you have a small team like ours, it is crucial to have a constant flow of work from one developer to another. If one person underestimates the time frame or runs into problems, the whole process freezes bringing in additional stress and frustration. The next big challenge is balancing your budget and dealing with 6 day, 10 hour weeks.

Did you do the localization yourselves?

KAPIA was written in English and went through editorial. We know quite a few other languages, but I can’t say that we are proficient enough to produce a good localisation.

Are there multiple endings?

We wanted to move away from that. KAPIA is very much a story-driven adventure

How challenging has its been publicizing KAPIA as opposed to developing it?

I wouldn’t say that it’s been too challenging so far. Taking into consideration that the development itself took us 4 years and I started marketing just recently, I’d say we’ve had a great response. Of course, the Kickstarter will be the judge of my words.

Are you thinking about doing more games after KAPIA?

I hope we will have this opportunity. We have invested a lot to reach this career goal, now it is all up to the public.

Anything else you would like say to the people reading this interview?

I always start and end with a “Thank You”. We are a new “team on the block” and we value your support and your trust in us. There is a demo version of KAPIA available at https://2for2.itch.io/kapia. Thank you for being here and for your interest in our work. Hope we will meet again in this wonderful world of the World Wide Web.