Miksi Early Access?

I intend to use Early Access to expose the game to players while still in an early state of development. This gives me the opportunity to work with the community to help shape the game, using the foundation I have built these past few years as a starting point, into the best experience possible for players. And given the game's focus on PvP, it is crucial to include players in the development process as early as possible!

Miten kauan peli tulee arviolta olemaan Early Access -vaiheessa?

Early Access is an important time to refine the experience using player feedback. As a solo developer, this process will take as long as necessary to provide the best experience possible for players. I expect this to take at least a year.

Millä tavoin lopullinen versio tulee eroamaan Early Access -versiosta?

The goal is to use Early Access to refine the core game mechanics and work with the community to flesh out the exact identity of the game. From there, all additional features that may be developed and included in the full version of the game will work to extend and add more variety ontop of those core mechanics. This could include more maps, additional Elder bosses, more weapons, player customization options such as cosmetics, and more steam features (like leaderboards).

Mikä on Early Access -version tila tällä hetkellä?

Early Access plans to ship with the core game loop balanced around the Elder Wars game mode. This should include:

• A single map for all included game modes (Elder Wars mode, and Solo Survival mode)
  
• 2 unique weapons which include light and heavy melee combos, special ranged abilities, and grab attacks.
  
• One Elder God boss design.
  
• The capability for player-hosted lobbies with various game mode settings exposed (time limits, respawn limits, game mode selection, AI Bot teammates enabled, etc) and a lobby-search for public lobbies to join.

In addition to the PvP game mode(s), there is also a PvE Solo Survival mode that I plan on developing more into a fully featured mode with public leaderboards. I may even add unlocks tied to this mode, such as cosmetics and player titles!

Muuttuuko pelin hinta Early Access -vaiheen jälkeen?

In order to entice enough players to support a healthy player-base, the plan is to release as free-to-play in Early Access and then potentially add a price tag when fully released. I may also keep it free-to-play with optional paid DLC to help support future development.

Miten yhteisö otetaan mukaan kehitysprosessiin?

As a solo developer, I have the advantage of being able to work closely with the community and iterate quickly based on player feedback. I plan to do this primarily through Steam discussion boards, the Discord server, and during development livestreams on Twitch/YouTube.