Why Early Access?

“I believe in foundational game development, finding the fun with the basics and then adding production value -- great graphics, sound, music, and more -- to that foundation to grow a project into something exceptional. Cheer and Track just doesn't have enough content, polish, or production value yet to be considered complete, but it's already fun, especially with a friend!”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Cheer and Track is currently developed by a single person, me, Dave, hi. With me as the single developer, I think Early Access would last about four more years. If the game finds enough success for me to bring in contractors for final art, sound, and music assets, this would free me up to focus exclusively on project leadership, level design, and core gameplay and game functionality. I think that would shorten the Early Access period to about two-and-a-half years.”

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

“

• Improved graphics everywhere -- better character models and animations; environment art, objects, and animations; more particles and other special effects; better UI. The current environments are just the essential collision models!
• Improved sound throughout -- more and better sound effects, and more and longer music.
• More content! Levels, levels, levels! Alongside bug fixing and core gameplay polish, that's the main focus for the first year of Early Access. More levels for the "cursed" planet, then two more planets (basically environment and puzzle sets) beyond that.

”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Cheer and Track is a single-player or "couch" (AKA local, no internet or LAN play) co-op action-puzzle platformer; one or two players must navigate two characters through a series of obstacles and other challenges, where they run, jump, and climb to constantly advance across a cursed planet and finally escape it. This core gameplay, as also described in the "About This Game" summary, needs polish but is in! You can play the entire game by yourself or with a friend, from start to finish!

Local co-op uses either split-screen or dual monitors. Split-screen can be tweaked to split horizontally or vertically, and there's also "tabletop" mode that basically rotates the views to be upright when viewed from either end of a screen, for two players with something like a tablet PC between them. Dual-monitor mode and tabletop mode are still a bit primitive and have some glitches, particularly when it comes to on-screen text display, but apart from simple notifications, there's not much text after the tutorials are complete. Besides those tutorials and the notes in the "Help" section, Cheer and Track is not a text-heavy game.

Cheer and Track is being developed as a game controller-driven experience, but Steam Input integration and support for a wide variety of game controllers is currently in early development, and controllers may not always work like they should. Multiple connected controllers sometimes yield unwanted results, such as only one controller working and/or only one controller (unintentionally) moving both Cheryl and Becca in co-op! For now, some players may have better results disabling Steam Input just for Cheer and Track. In the game, go to "Options & Help" from the main menu, "Known Issues," then "Controller Issues" to see how to do this, as well as read other tips for using multiple controllers right now.

Mouse and keyboard are also supported, as is keyboard-only play. Two players can also share the keyboard. But not the mouse!

The current game is admittedly short; at launch there are 6 tutorial levels and 28 regular levels of varying difficulty to play through, with most levels taking 1 - 3 minutes each to complete. initial plays take a little longer, but there's about an hour of gameplay once players find the quickest, best approach to each level, and the game is meant to be replayed to discover the best solutions. Playing with a friend makes many levels easier, too! The best times and least deaths for each character on each level can be reviewed from the "Extras" menu.

And of course, there are glitches, bugs, and a handful of dreaded "progression breaks," where players can't continue. These can and will be fixed, but the game's auto-save at the start of every level helps reduce the progress lost if a player has to restart. And, to the best of my knowledge, no hard crashes or freezes so far!”

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

“Yes. I expect to increase the base price during the Early Access period as new planets (again, basically environment and puzzle sets) are first added. When planet two is added, the price will increase to 2x the initial price; planet three will bring it to 3x the initial price, and that's expected to remain the base price on leaving Early Access.

Also, ideally around the time of planet two's arrival, I'd like to explore offering internet co-op play and "pro" graphics, sound, and music as DLC, as these features add costs beyond myself as the single developer, like network fees, contract artists, etc. The cost of the DLC hasn't been determined yet, and would depend on the external costs for each feature and/or bit of content. But local co-op play and the best graphics and sound I can muster will always be part of the base price!”

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

“I'll regularly review the game's Steam community page for bugs and other issues, complaints, feature requests, etc. And feel free to send them to support@cheerandtrack.com and feedback@cheerandtrack.com .”