Why Early Access?

“We have been developing our game for about 5 years now and have a growing community that really enjoys playing the existing core gameplay loop. While the core gameplay is already fully developed, and we have already added many advanced features, some things still need implementation. The feedback from our community has often surprised us and made us re-evaluate our priorities, and as a result, we are eager to open the conversation up to a broader audience. There are many directions the game could take from here and we hope to see what players will enjoy and what additional features they would want us to prioritise.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“This is difficult to say. We have made major changes to our roadmap and the core of the game as a result of feedback from the community, which has added a lot to our development. At the moment, we are expecting further development to roughly take until 2025 or 2026, but this timeline could change again depending on how the game is received by additional players and what features we ultimately include.”

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

“During our time in early access, we have already:
- switched the game from being focused on PvP to being focused on co-op/PvE,
- introduced a new default game-mode focused on defeating the pirates,
- created a new settlement mechanic to found new villages,
- created new ammo-supply and healing mechanics,
- added a scouting system with two different types of maps,
- upgraded most art assets,
- upgraded the environment with a major new island,
- changed most of the combat system to include melee and ranged units,
- added an additional 8 units,
- and added more than 15 new buildings

Some of the bigger points we still have on our roadmap are:
- a campaign across multiple maps
- a system to research new technologies and items (e.g. more accurate guns)
- improving city building to become a more involved and rich experience (e.g. new production chains, villager upgrade system, beautification buildings, etc)
- visual improvements (UI, models, animations, etc)
- Added quests and random trade-routes

Depending on community feedback, we may prioritise some over others, and may decide to drop some of these points in favour of some that are yet to crystalise. I am a mostly solo developer with occasional help from some long term co-developers, creating this game part-time after work. As a result, development is slow, and it may not be possible to add all of the above points, or it may take longer to add them than expected due to external changes.

Regardless, the final product will be a game that provides a rewarding experience for the player and will be centered around the idea of smart re-investment of your money and balancing your city building, exploration, and military expansion.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“At the moment, we have a solid core gameplay loop based on placing buildings, re-investing coin to improve production, and multiple military units. We have a robust logistics system, and have worked hard on making the balance of first person view and RTS style gameplay as seamless as possible. The game can be played with one other player and is a generally calm citybuilding experience with occasionally tense moments. There are often bugs introduced with new features, but we have not had gamebreaking bugs for some versions and are ironing out issues with every release. Many aspects of gameplay are random, such as loot and ore vein spawns, the seed market, or player position, so some of our players have already put dozens of hours into the game at this point.”

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

“We want to charge players for what is already in the game, so we intend to raise the price with major updates as seems appropriate.”

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

“We have a discord server that we primarily use for active discussion on the game's development, and are also engaging with feedback on a range of other social media such as reddit or youtube. Especially on discord, we have a dedicated channel for player feedback, and we regularly ask our players for their opinion on upcoming features or more recent inclusions. We have also repeatedly joined our players in multiplayer games to understand their experiences in real time. Based on the community's feedback, we will adjust our priorities and potentially add or remove features from the roadmap.”