Why Early Access?

“The heart of this game is the desk: a ten-second judgment, over and over. Is something buried in this document? Is it worth a point of energy to find out? Which seal do you press? Whether those ten seconds are compelling is not something we can decide from the inside. Players have to tell us.

The systems are already complete: six ranks, twenty-eight years, five endings, the private ledger and the censors, hiding and laundering dirty silver, the district and its unrest, the clerks you must rely on. What we need now is not more systems — it is calibration. Is the audit gamble tense enough? Is the fog over your shortfall vague enough to keep you uneasy? Is the honest road too narrow? Only real runs can answer that.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We expect six to twelve months. The work is content and balance, not missing systems. If player feedback shows the core needs substantial rework, we will extend Early Access rather than rush a 1.0.”

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

“- More documents. From 21 to 60 or more. This is the biggest gap today: a full career processes over a hundred documents, and repetition dulls the instinct for what is buried.
- The darker clerks. The informant should make the censors reach for the entries he handled; the loyal one should be able to take a fall for you. Both currently have dialogue but no mechanics behind them.
- Spending the estate. Converting your household back into connections and patronage when you are cornered — at a cost, and always on the record.
- Balance. Recalibrated from real Early Access runs, especially how narrow the honest road should be.
- More ending text and polish.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Fully playable, not a demo. A run begins as a county clerk and can reach viceroy or the Grand Council — or end in any given year.

In the build: the desk loop (audit, stamp, defer, delegate); the private ledger and censor audits that name a specific year; two roads to promotion; five endings and nine achievements; hiding and laundering dirty silver, and losing all of it when the house is searched; the district's livelihood, resentment, unrest, and the commissioner it brings; recruiting, investigating and dismissing clerks, and what dismissal costs you; character art with four stages of decline; Simplified Chinese (in both classical and vernacular registers) and English.

Not yet in: Steam achievements (tracked in-game, not yet wired to Steam), plus everything listed under the full version above.”

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

“The price is lower during Early Access. It will rise modestly at 1.0 as content grows. Anyone who buys during Early Access gets the full version at no additional cost.”

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

“What we most want to hear is what happened in a specific run — which year you came apart, which document did it, which audit you hesitated over, which clerk ruined you. That is far more useful to us than "too hard" or "too easy".

Through the Steam discussions and community hub. When we change numbers, the patch notes will say what changed and why.”