Why Early Access?

“We've been working on this project for several months, so we are excited to show off what we've created so far and to get feedback from the community. As we forge ahead with the rest of the game, we'll be engaging with the forums to see how we're doing at each release step. We think the best path to a truly fun game is by enhancing our vision for the remaining stages with input and feedback from the community of players.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We intend to bring the game out of Early Access within roughly 12 months.

It's taken us almost 6 months to get to 3 completed stages with custom music, artwork, gameplay logic, and story, so we figure we've got many months to go yet.

We certainly won't be rushing to call it done until we think it's good and solid to play. We estimate that we're at about the 25% mark for the main story/arcade mode, and we've got several more features we plan to add.

How long we spend in Early Access will depend on many aspects, such as feedback, testing, how the story evolves, and whether we pursue new features based on community feedback.”

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

“We've completed about 25% of the story/arcade mode (stages 1-3). We intend to create around 10-12 stages in total, depending on player feedback and how the story unfolds during development.

For each stage we aim to introduce new enemy types with unique art, weapons, and effects. Next, we plan to add new story elements, bosses, and unique soundtrack music from Interface Type Seven.

Throughout the game development, we plan to add new player weapon upgrades as the player progresses to later stages.

To promote replayability, we plan to explore a new “Skirmish” game mode, where the player could engage the growing pool of enemies in a one-off session with some customizable settings. It's still in the ideation phase, so we're not quite sure if/how/when that will turn out.

Next, we plan to integrate features like High Score leaderboards, Achievements, and Cloud Saves.

Lastly, we intend to address bug fixes, game play tweaks, and quality of life improvements as they are discovered by the community and testers.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“We've completed 3 playable stages with an array of enemies, unique bosses, story elements, and custom soundtrack music and sound effects. We think the stages are pretty solid and fun to play.

On the default difficulty "Squadron Leader", it takes around 15-20 minutes to complete the existing stages. With 5 difficulty levels to choose from, there's plenty of replayability to shoot for the best high score.

After completing each of the stages, they unlock for individual replay in the Stage Select menu. There is full Xbox controller and keyboard support, navigable menus, and various display, input, and game play settings to tweak.”

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

“We expect the price to increase when the game leaves Early Access, but this is not set in stone. Any price increase will depend on the amount of content and features we add.”

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

“We're very interested in player feedback as we continue to develop the game. We've already collected quite a bit of feedback from surveys and playtest sessions during our private alpha, and will continue to solicit more feedback from the user base we grow here on Steam. We'll be watching the Steam forums, Discord, Email, and will post links to web surveys for players to engage us with their feedback.”