Why Early Access?

“Being a 1-developer team and given the big scope of the DragonShift project, we're far from being done. We're in the process of adding more comrades to the team.

During this time, we feel allowing people to enjoy DragonShift is a net positive for everyone. We get real feedback while players get a free and fun experience, especially on the more casual parts of the game -- the online mode, where we already had a lot of fun and want to share that experience with you!

We understand the drawbacks that come with Early Access (most notably, bad reviews and campaign spoilers), and we'll plan the updates carefully. We'll organize lots of play tests before actually publishing an Early Access, and that will be our initial way of sharing the game publicly”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We believe at least 1 year. This is a big project, even if it visually doesn't seem like that. We're aiming at providing an 'almost unlimited' amount of content thanks to our advanced game editor.”

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

“The following list contains features that we'd like to see in the "Official release", but most of them will be implemented during Early Access:

• Chat system with channels (global, regional, party, match)
  
• Commendation system
  
• Better UX when connecting/disconnecting to a game server
  
• Party creation (find players before you find a map)
  
• Vault (collectibles & trading)
  
• Beyond Realm (virtual property)
  
• Full economy (coins, dragon scales)
  
• Finalized Achievements module
  
• Replays
  
• State-saving
  
• Realms (tournaments)
  
• Ranking/leveling system
  
• Public-ready DragonShift Editor, including a simple scripting language
  
• Login with more providers (Google, Apple, Discord, Facebook)
  
• Adventure builder inside DragonShift Editor
  
• Full-fledged campaign (adventure modes), with decision-based dialogs, voiceovers, cut scenes, permanent effects of your decisions.
  
• Complete revamp of the Battle view (transitioning from a flat screen to actually seeing entities in the real world, casting spells, activating items, dying etc.)
  
• 3D entities
  
• More environments to choose from
  
• Per-level AI, scripted through DragonShift Editor
  
• State-of-the-art UI/UX, with as little redundancy as possible
  
• Finished tutorial, with voiceovers for Yom -- your companion across the entire game
  
• (Less) bugs

* This is by no means a complete list”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“

• Playable (including matching with players on other platforms)
  
• Can login with Guest or User/Pass
  
• "Find match" looks for players that are also looking for the same maps. This will be addressed with a Party creation system where, if you want, you first find players, then decide on the map.
  
• The Adventure mode (Single-player Campaign) doesn't have a progression implemented, nor persistence, nor dialogue, nor the decision system. But you can play any level from it.
  
• UX can be improved, by a lot
  
• 2D characters, low-q animations of monsters
  
• Less than 5% of all online maps were heavily tested
  
• When a player disconnects, the game cannot continue until they reconnect. This will be addressed incrementally, starting with the most important part -- allowing eliminated players to disconnect without affecting the whole match

The above was true as of 08-Apr-2023 and might be outdated by now.”

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

“Nope. Free Forever. No pay-to-win.”

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

“Oh, I thought you'd never ask!

We're really open to anything community can contribute with: ideas, constructive feedback, assets, expertise, we might even recruit new members in the team (formally).

DragonShift Editor is a powerful level generator. It's nowhere near our current vision for it, but it's in a usable enough state that we (as of Apr-08-2023) have around 400 playable levels and 5 game modes!

We have many modules in the game where users can specifically come up with content for:

• Levels: via DragonShift Editor
  
• New Adventures: these are completely new SP Campaigns, done via Adventure builder in DragonShift Editor
  
• The Vault: collectible/tradable stuff. Done via their 3D tool of choice and/or Unity Editor
  
• Beyond Realm: virtual property, a big 'beast' feature in itself, similar to Decentraland, but simpler and no NFTs. Users would be able to add new- or change existing levels on the land that they claim, and much more!

Please head over https://discord.com/invite/H5aJSwHn65 for a more intimate look inside our dev process. It's currently the main channel of communication. If you're among the first ones to join, please be patient and don't be afraid to ask us questions! We don't currently have a marketing budget, so all the growth will be 'painfully' organic until we secure some funding.”