Why Early Access?

“I'm making this game Early Access to give me an opportunity to improve on the existing features, and to add new content to the game, both via community feedback. Learning from the mistakes of my previous title, I know that getting this community feedback early on will allow me to address issues with the game now and add more content that players will enjoy in the game's final state.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“1 year is my planned development time on this game.

I am a solo developer so I need to balance my time wisely, deciding between issues to address, features to add, polish for existing features, and, eventually, moving on to a new project. I do not plan to make this like many titles that stay in Early Access for years. While there's lots that could be added to this game, instead I plan to move on to new and exciting ideas rather than evolve this game forever. That is why it will only be 1 year.”

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

“Plans/Roadmap:

• VEHICLES: simple traffic system, drive-able for players, physics to ragdoll NPCs
  
• WANTED SYSTEM: stronger cops show up as you kill civilian zombies and security guards
  
• PURGE SYSTEM; enemies spawn in on a timer and attack you and your base.
  
• MINI-MAP (and compass)
  
• FARMING: basic setup. Build garden box, plant seed, wait until grown
  
• COOKING: also basic. Put food on stove, wait, gives back better stats food.
  
• INTERACTIVE LIGHTS; light switches for on/off, maybe shoot bulbs to break
  
• MORE STUFF: more items in world to pick up, to break for resources, more locations indoor/outdoor, more enemy types including a final boss fight, and more easter eggs. (the amount of all this depends on funding/time)
  
• LOTS OF POLISH: damage, health, economy, resource amounts, speed of day, speed of hunger, stealth mechanics, etc. Polishing all the numbers and stats to make it feel goooooood.
  
• PROCEDURAL WORLD; The logic for the random endless procedural world is already set up I just need to design the levels. Up until this point we will be on the tutorial demo level polishing the gameplay. Unsure right now if I will limit the world size or keep it as endless generating. [/list

”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Right now we are in demo state. I am working on polishing the game in its current state and doing a basic blockout version of the endless procedural world. Once I have more of these features fleshed out, the demo will be available for play testing.”

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

“Yes, but it depends on how much the game grows. Right now even if it was in it's most polished form I feel the game is in the lower tier of game prices, comparable to other small solo dev games. I plan to gradually raise the price as I ship new content and features. In the final planned state of this game, I think it belongs in the middle tier pricing of games, comparable to other mid range to big title indie games.”

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

“I have a demo available that will be a tutorial level for players to experience. I plan to use feedback from this demo level to polish the gameplay and decide on new features to add. The demo will have a feedback form option in the main menu and on death and exit screens.

Of course I also have all the social media accounts, take your pick which platform to follow me on and feel free to provide feedback there. Plans to livestream devlogs every other Saturday, you can provide your input as I am building it. There's a Discord channel to chat in too. Lots of ways I want to gain and use Community feedback, I just have to build one first haha.”