Why Early Access?

“This game is intended for early access release because I as a developer, am still honing my skills and am in need of support through a community to pinpoint key areas where I may be lacking, or otherwise am just straight up not good at so I can improve my skills, fix and improve my games to be more enjoyable and smooth to play, as well as learn to cooperate with a community and receive and respond to unbiased feedback, both negative and positive. Additionally, Strange Nightmares is currently in a beta phase, where it is not near completion but still holds potential hours of gameplay and many of the game's core mechanics are built in, as well as some additional unlockable content. My hope for players to really form a foundation here and help me shape the game into something that while true to my original ideas is something that can be widely interpreted, played, and spectated upon in many different ways and most importantly, loved and easily enjoyed by the community it hopefully develops.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Hopefully the game will only be in early access for 1-3 months at the most, but if It's found that there are too many things to fix and revamp, I'm prepared to keep it in early access for up to 6 months before releasing a full release as well as a beta for the next game in the series.”

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

“The full version will hopefully, be much more polished and completely revamped with custom images, graphics, sounds, and hopefully even animations to differ from the static jumpscares are all possible plans. Additionally, the size of the game will hopefully be more than doubled, with a planned minimum playtime from start to completion reaching nearly 2 hours, as well as many more unlockable contents and a much more in depth and polished story. Additionally, several new and unique characters and playstyles will be implemented into the later 5 nights that largely differ from the first 5, as well as a second "boss" added to the game.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current state is Beta Version 1.1, which features many core mechanics of the game as well as unlockable content, a "boss" level, a minimum 50 minutes of main gameplay, hours of full gameplay with the unlockable content or many attempts at overcoming the current characters and challenges, a good start to the story that largely is up to debate from the players, and unfortunately in this build, hardly anything in the game is custom content, as I am very limited with teaching myself how to do and create everything for the game, and am very much currently limited to what free assets for developing I could find.”

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

“Price will not change when early access ends, but there will be a sale upon full and early access release.”

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

“I'm planning on staying true to myself, but the community I hope will be almost like a second hand in the development process, I will take everything said by all players into account, be it positive or negative, to fix all critical shortcomings in the game, remake or replace existing mechanics to be more enjoyable for players, and I want any and every player to feel free to comment on and critic the game to help guide me into making not just Strange Nightmares, but the entire Strange series as a whole into something unique, enjoyable, and very in depth for all of us. The goal is for the series to be something we can all immerse ourselves in, and that's something I'll only achieve by working with the community and really letting them guide me in the right directions. The community essentially will be the backbone for the story and the gameplay itself even in some aspects, as well as the main line of criticism and support for me as a developer.”