Why Early Access?

“Because we want to hear feedback on our gameplay!

There are a lot of moving pieces in the game. Early access gameplay gives us piece winrate data, tells us what choices players are making, and all other sorts of useful data to drive the polishing of the game.

As for bugs, the game is code and feature complete, but as a networked multiplayer game, there are edge case bugs that you may encounter.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“3 months”

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

“Balance
We expect there to be many balancing issues resolved between Early Access and the final game. For example, it's difficult to tell if one faction is significantly stronger than another until we get enough win-rate data to see what players are exploiting. The same concept exists with pieces - until we see enough Bloodletter vs. Dragoon fights, it is very hard to truly balance those characters attack strengths, health, etc.

Bugs
Bellumentum is a multiplayer networked game and while we strive to find and fix as many networking issues as we possible can, until the game is in Early Access we likely will not have enough of a sample size to discover and fix all networking-related bugs.

Ranked Play
We intend to have a ranking system for players and a ranked mode of the game in the full version.

Cost
During Early Access, the game will be free because of the above issues. After Early Access, we intend to charge for the game.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is fully feature complete and we are focused on balancing and bugs. More specifically:

Faction Complete
All three factions - Ice, Demon, and Cave - are fully complete and playable. Each feels quite different and we encourage you to try them all!

Board & Arena Complete
The main board is done, and when pieces clash they must enter an arena and fight a MOBA-style battle to truly win the square. This is all complete.

Piece Complete
All pieces in all factions are finished, both graphically and functionally, so you can field full teams from the Ice, Cave and Demon factions and begin to understand the strengths and weaknesses of various pieces both at the board and arena level of the game.

Complex Upgrades Complete
All pieces have an upgrade tree which significantly affects how the perform both on the board and in the arena. These upgrades are complete and their complex interactions explored.

Quickplay, AI, and Play with Friends All Ready
While Bellumentum is designed as a multiplayer game, you can play against the AI to sharpen your skills. A somewhat basic AI is capable of playing against you and doing pretty well at both the board and arena level.

Quickplay is ready to go - we will search for another player anywhere in your region to play against.

Play with friends is ready to go - you can choose to start the game with a steam friend for a customized battle.”

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

“Yes, Early Access is free, and we intend to charge for the game after it leaves Early Access.”

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

“The game is instrumented such that we can see win rates, bugs, and problems. Furthermore, we encourage you to email any particular suggestions or problems to support@tweakingcatstudios.com”