For creators, rule number one on the Internet is never to read comments, and if you do, don’t reply. We’re going to ignore that rule.

Many websites have reported on the launch of The Astronauts, and we are tremendously grateful. But rather than simply listing all the links, instead we would love to share with you some of the comments that brought smiles to our faces, and reply to a few puzzling or hilarious ones as well.

Let’s start with happy things.

There were a few nice comments e.g. from LHD6 on Game Informer (“Awesome! I can’t wait to see their new game! For some reason, I expect the game to be thought-provoking kind of stuff… given the title of the developer.”), RankCrusher on Destructoid (“Crowdsourced or not, I’m loving that logo. […]”), and we will even take the well thought out one from killlo on Gamespot (“hmm”).

But it’s Skeggers on Eurogamer who made our day:

There were also comments about what it means to be a “People Can Fly vet” (on Joystiq). Or claiming that our logo resembles Obama’s or a Pokeball (on IGN, and no, it doesn’t. It doesn’t, you hear us?!). Or about us starting a band (on Shacknews). All good fun. And there were also a few that we will use as an excuse to clarify a few things.

A certain xxiv speculated on on Shacknews that it’s “kickstarter in 3..2..“. We admit: it’s tempting. Kickstarter is not just a fantastic funding platform, but also a highly effective marketing tool (whether we like it or not).

However, we would have a hard time explaining our first game to the public without having it half done already. It’s one thing to get people excited about a remake or a sequel of the game they loved in the past (nothing wrong with that!), and it’s another to get significant following for the project that’s kind of hard to compare to anything else out there. Not that we’re doing a crazy, experimental game no one ever thought of, but still, we feel it’s unique.

In the end, we have decided to self-fund the studio.

The Astronauts spare no expenses to assure great quality of brainstorming session

Also, some people apparently already know what is the game that we are making. The_Horrorist says: “Another Unreal engine license, another shooter, another been there done that“, Shatupon says: “I liked Bulletstorm, but I’d rather see something a bit different. Another shooter on the UR3 engine is so typical.” (both on IGN) and Kirielson on Polygon says: “Yea… another unreal engine game… /sarcasm“.

Guys, we are not making a shooter.

Let us repeat that: we are not making a shooter. And it’s actually silly to talk about “yet another Unreal Engine game” when some of the best, most unique games in the world are made with exactly that particular tech (Bioshock, Mass Effect, Dishonored, etc.).

Are we making a mobile game?

Nirolak says this on NeoGAF: “If they’re using Unreal Engine 3 (4 is available these days) and releasing something next year already, I’m going to guess it’s for mobile, or an extremely hardware forgiving lower budget PC title.“. While we can’t (scratch that, we can, we’re not just fully ready yet) reveal details about our game at the moment, it’s not a mobile game. And we can only agree with “low budget” in the literal sense (as it’s simply lower compared to what big studios are doing), but not with the final effect.

Finally, totakeke on C&VG says: “Got a feeling Cliffy B may end up here too. He seemed to be pretty interested in People Can Fly“. We can confirm it’s 100% not the case.

So there you go.

Stay tuned for more updates soon. We are not sure when we will reveal the first info about our new project, but we want to do it as soon as possible. And we want to be open about the development process, and share it with the world on this blog.

Exciting times.

