Why Early Access?

“The core idea of TrenchesWIP is to have many people play an evolving project as early as possible to help us find the games "fun". That way our player base can help us influence and define the game as we build it.

And in order to build this game, we need PLAYERS. High player counts to test our features in large scale fights.

We want to provide people the opportunity to help shape the type of game they want to see built - a fun but unpolished and evolving prototype that will eventually become a fully fledged game.

This project is the very definition of Early Access. It's rough, and it's buggy, but over time and with the communities involvement - it could be something really special.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We plan to release TrenchesWIP roughly by the end of June 2020. We're making great progress at a great speed, adding new content every week, and we hope to have the game in a state that the core team can be proud of by that time.

But don't wait until then to play it! We want to make the most of our time in Early Access.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The vision for the final game is huge player battles, fought over several days (weeks?), with each team being backed by a strong economic foundation built entirely from scratch by each team.

We will be adding and testing many types of guns, tanks, constructions, and tools, as well as experimenting with air and sea-based combat.

Right now the game is in a rough and completely unpolished state (and will remain so for some time), but with your help as a player, we can tweak each of these ideas into fully fledged features.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“A prototype proof of concept. You can host and join games via Steam, you can blow people up (with guns, tanks, grenades, and artillery), you can construct fortifications and vehicles - and it's quite fun with 10+ people in a match.

... but it has a LONG way to go.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“TrenchesWIP will remain free to play during and after Early Access. Core to our vision of the game is large player count battles - and putting the game behind a paywall would hinder that vision.

We want to develop a monetization strategy that won't alienate our growing player base, while simultaneously rewarding our long term fans.

For now, we're going to be fueling development entirely with donations.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“"If only the devs made this one change, the game would be so much better" - Have you ever been in this position? Because we have ...

We want to involve our community from DAY ONE - with regular playtesting and iteration. Our development cycle is as follows:

1. Think up a feature.
2. Build the simplest version of it.
3. Playtest it with our community and gather feedback.
4. Tweak as necessary.
5. Remove if necessary

It doesn't get much more involved than that. We can't be more clear with this - we want to build an evolving game where we test our ideas with our players. As players and devs - we've all played a game where we WISHED the devs could get a direct line to our feedback. That's a core goal of TrenchesWIP - to allow players that line.

You can reach us and the community most easily from discord: https://discord.gg/ns7QZp6 - Come along and say hi, we want to hear what you have to say!”