Why Early Access?

“Ambient Dark is functionally complete, already has the large spaceport lounge environment, and a varied selection of music to listen to. With Early Access, players can already enjoy all this and provide feedback to guide development as the game's world is worked on and expanded.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Ambient Dark Early Access will last until the variety of spaces (environments and rooms) is enough that players can pick one to suit their current mood or personal tastes. At the same time, enough variety to giving a feeling of a larger living world outside the window. Since the first large spaceport lounge environment took approximately two months to make, and given that this cadence of work / content creation is expected to continue into the Early Access period, it is predicted that Early Access will last approximately one year.”

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

“The full version of Ambient Dark is planned to have additional spaces for the player to enjoy. These could come in the form of new environments (new planets or space stations) and/or additional rooms and areas within existing environments.

Some of these additional spaces may also include new spaceships to spot or alternative spaceship behaviour to observe.

For example, an additional room is currently being planned for the existing Spaceport environment that will allow players to observe spaceships as earlier seen from the spaceport lounge windows, resting in their docking bays in another area of the spaceport.

For example, an additional "Desert Planet" spaceport environment is being planned, which will feature spaceships landing and taking off on an arid planet, as observed by the player from a small control room.

While neither of these spaces are guaranteed to be in the final game, they are good examples of the kind of content that will be added.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Ambient Dark is functionally complete, already has the large spaceport lounge environment, featuring multiple rooms with differing views, and a varied selection of music to listen to. Additionally, players can already watch the spaceships glide past the windows and engage in spaceship spotting. The game has been tested by an external independent QA partner, as well as by by those who have already played the demo, and the bugs and feedback from both acted upon.”

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

“The base price will increase (only) when the game leaves Early Access, to reflect that the game is complete.”

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

“The community can give feedback on any new rooms and environments as they are added to the game in order to help with finding and fixing bugs, refining the environments, and guiding what future environments and rooms to make. The community can also suggest musicians whose work they feel fits with the game, which then helps guide decisions about which if any music is licensed or commissioned for the game in the future.”