Why Early Access?

“Wizard Boy is a somewhat complex project behind the scenes, being worked on by a team of people. Our goal is to create a game that is both funny and genuinely enjoyable and engrossing, with overlapping emergent gameplay systems, detailed levels, interesting problems to overcome, pleasingly nostalgic art design, and lots of replayability.

Building such a game is difficult in several ways. Mainly, designing and developing a game driven by emergent physics and object/AI behaviors is difficult without lots of feedback from players and testers. We need lots of feedback to ensure the game keeps the right balance of open-ended sandbox gameplay and interesting world progression, and to identify what bugs and general quirks work against the fun rather than adding to the fun.

That sort of testing can be done privately, but our experience working on other games both in and out of early access taught us that the best way to build a game like this is with lots of regular community involvement and feedback. With that in mind, we decided that Wizard Boy would work best as an early access game.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“This is difficult to estimate since it depends on how far we're able to go with some of the ideas we have planned. Probably around a year or two, but but if there are still problems that need fixed or features/content we and the community want added it could take longer. We don't want to release Wizard Boy into 1.0 until it's ready.”

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

“We already have a lot of things that we still want to add to the game, both in terms of the options and tools available to the player and the game world and NPCs/events in it. We'll be growing the early access version into the full version with regular content updates so that everyone that's purchased in EA will get plenty of fun before it's fully released. Although Wizard Boy isn't going to be episodic, we'll be following the early access model where content is added in regular large chunks, similar to other games I (David) have worked on.

In terms of what to expect from these content updates, we plan on fleshing out the available play space, the things you can do in that play space, and the goals you are trying to accomplish. We plan on adding more areas to the castle, more named NPCs with unique dialogue and behavior, and more things to find hidden away in secret closets or hidden corners. We plan on adding additional spells and items for the player to use and continually improving the emergent systems that drive the gameplay so that every action has a reaction.

We will also be adding further story and goals beyond what's seen in the early access release, and additional optional challenges that will require the player to use creativity and knowledge of the game's systems to accomplish things in different ways using different tools. We also plan on continually improving the available multiplayer with additional modes and features, and continually working to improve the stability and usability of the existing features.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The initial early access release is about double the length of the demo (which is probably around 1-2 hours of content depending on the player). It's been tested and polished to the best of our ability as a small team and will continue to see patches as new bugs/issues are discovered. Co-op is also present and functional.

Refer to the "About This" section of the store page for more information about what features are currently implemented in the game.”

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

“The price will almost certainly increase when we reach 1.0, but how much will depend entirely on how large the game grows during early access. We aren't sure yet if the price will increase during early access. If it does, we will communicate the price change well in advance.”

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

“We will be keeping a close eye on the forums, Discord, socials, email, etc to gather feedback and suggestions about the game, as well as seeking specific feedback from players as needed.”