为何要采用抢先体验这种模式？

“After creating a simple prototype during an internal game jam, we decided it deserved to be developed into a fully-fledged game. The Early Access period will allow us to involve the community in the process by releasing free updates, gathering their feedback, seeing what works and what doesn’t, in order to hone the experience and deliver a final game more in line with both our vision and the expectations of our community.”

这款游戏的抢先体验状态大约持续多久？

“We’re shooting for 2026.”

计划中的完整版本和抢先体验版本到底有多少不同？

“We’d like to start with releasing an early build with basic mechanics and make it available for free, then work towards a more complex release with more features and polish.

Among other things, we plan to add:
- a complete story mode with narrative told through items, interactions, environmental storytelling, journal entries
- dozens of new mechanics (such as power-ups), items, tables
- a free play mode where you’ll be able to use items (cue parts that affect gameplay) unlocked in the story mode
- local multiplayer
- graphical improvements (level design, new effects, animations, experimenting with specific colour palettes, look of the cues and pool balls, effects of the player’s actions on the look of the table/room etc.)
- VR support
- additional translations”

抢先体验版本的现状如何？

“At this point, it’s quite raw but we’re confident we have something good here - we’re having fun with the current version, steadily developing small iterations to test extensively and focus on the most interesting aspects. Features are being trimmed and added as they’re being tested immediately, and we have a vision of where we want to go (an unusual combination of Lovecraftian horror and pool, roguelike elements, and mystery,).

Please refer to the "About This" section for more details.”

在抢先体验期间和结束之后，游戏价格会有所不同吗？

“We want to offer Pool of Madness for free first, then make it paid after the Early Access period ends, once we have a polished product.”

在开发过程中，你们是如何计划让玩家社区参与进来的？

“We’d like to release updates, see what players like about different mechanics, what ideas they come up with, and make the most fun version of the game based on this cooperation.

We have extensive experience in community building/management. We plan to mainly utilise the Steam Community Hub and our discord for this purpose. Players will be able to suggest mechanics, give critical feedback regarding the existing solutions as well as the story and the multiplayer, influence the difficulty level etc.”