Waarom vroegtijdige toegang?

'Sintopia is an unusual game. The hybrid genre of a management / builder / god-game is not something that has been done many times before. We want to share our vision with the players' experience and feedback, measure if everything clicks just right, and iterate with players up until final release. By giving the community a first version of the game as soon as possible, we make sure the game becomes as good as it can be.'

Hoelang blijft dit spel ongeveer in vroegtijdige toegang?

'We intend the Early Access to last around 8 months. Our goal is to finish developing the planned content, but also to take into account players’ feedback.'

Hoe gaat de volledige versie verschillen van de versie met vroegtijdige toegang?

'In Early Access, Sintopia allows players to play one game mode with randomized objectives, setup and challenges. The main addition of the full version is the planned narrative campaign, articulated around scripted narrative missions, as well as a purely sandbox mode for players who like to customize their experience. New game systems are planned to be part of the final release such as altered behaviors of deviant Humus, and much more that will be revealed in the roadmap.

Of course, the variety of gameplay elements and options is meant to increase on all fronts: new Hell buildings, Humus lifepaths, Spell procedures, game maps, game situations, and so on. We aim to progressively roll out many of these changes during Early Access so players can have their hands on them before final release.'

Wat is de huidige staat van de versie met vroegtijdige toegang?

'Players can experience the “Challenge” mode, which randomizes setup (map layout, gameplay elements, etc.) and objectives, providing a replayable experience. Progression within this mode (Hellish Role Models) allows players to unlock and customize their experience via game altering passives, while facing specific challenges which force them to strategize. Even though we’re super hyped by the other game modes to come (Campaign & Sandbox), we believe Challenge fits Early Access the most, providing players with unique gameplay situations and emergent storytelling.

Sintopia is a “systemic” game, meaning that a lot of underlying systems interact with each other. Some of them are still to be developed, but we wanted to have as many of them as possible playable in Early Access: sins sources, demons, procedural development for Humus, buildings destruction, fire propagation, etc. The gameplay experience of the game loop is fully representative of the final game, even though some (really) cool stuff is yet to come.

As it stands,we’re around two thirds complete, In Early Access, you have access to 16 Hell buildings (out of 28 planned), 4 Spells, 3 Role Models, several playable maps, all of Humus lifepaths, etc. We intend to update the Early Access regularly with new content, to keep things interesting for returning players. As a general rule of thumb, the content available in Early Access is about the most “straightforward / early-mid game” of what’s planned. Stuff to come later, such as new spells & buildings, may get a bit… wild.'

Zal het spel anders geprijsd worden tijdens en na vroegtijdige toegang?

'We plan to increase the price at release to reflect how much the game grows, giving players who come along with us throughout Early Access the best value'

Hoe zijn jullie van plan de community te betrekken bij het ontwikkelproces?

'We see players as people who hold the answers we need to make Sintopia incredible, and we intend to get those answers by all means necessary! We’ll be present on as many communication channels as possible (Discord, Steam forums, etc.), and we will read all the feedback we receive.

We are keen to hear player feedback and make it work with the planned content, and implement changes when possible. Even if the reality of production prevents us from integrating all cool ideas during Early Access, we’ll provide a clear roadmap of what we intend to do at final release and beyond. If our community likes Sintopia and wants to take part in its future, we will be very happy to see this happen. Let’s make an incredible game together!'