Why Early Access?

“We believe that by creating an active and open partnership with our community on day one, we can gather actionable feedback about which new features are generating the most fun.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Our goal is to release the 1.0 version of Mailstrom as soon as three distinct delivery destinations have been completed at a high level of polish. At our current pace, we believe Mailstrom will be 1.0 ready after a year of Early Access. Once the game is thriving and its core features are stable, performant, and fun, we intend to undertake the development of additional destinations as DLC content (we're big fans of Walkabout Mini Golf, and we love the way they add new courses to their game). We reserve the right to continue improving/adding additional content to the core game over time.”

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

“In Early Access, we expect features to evolve and change at a fast pace as community feedback and our own testing reveal new opportunities for fun. We have a strong belief in the core loop's sustainability, modularity, and extensibility, but we're also on a journey with our fans and fully expect new goals to manifest as we explore the potential of this new universe we're creating. We've set the goal of "three complete delivery destinations" as a core requirement for declaring the game 1.0-ready, but we also expect to meet reasonable benchmarks of stability, performance, and gameplay coherency before we choose to call the game "done."”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version of Mailstrom supports a full game loop for up to four players in co-op mode. This means that your team will be able to undertake any number of missions to our first two delivery destinations, will be able to accumulate money over the course of these missions, and will be able to spend that money on items at the Postal Supplies store to improve your capabilities in future missions. As your team progresses, missions will become more challenging in several ways (including an increase in adversaries, a greater density of environmental impediments, deployment to more challenging drop zones, and changes in the quantity of both incoming and outgoing mail). Everything listed above is present in the first Early Access release. Please see Mailstrom's store page for updates on additional features as they arrive in Early Access.”

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

“Yes. We strongly believe that the game's price should reflect its current value. As the game accumulates richness and variety, we believe its price should increase accordingly. Players who purchase the Early Access version of the game at a reduced price will of course receive all future updates to the core game free of charge.”

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

“We strongly believe that active dialogue with the community can turbocharge the pursuit of novel forms of fun. With that relationship in mind, we are actively monitoring comments on both Steam and YouTube. We expect to post frequent and transparent YouTube updates to keep our community abreast of our current focus, as well as open questions about the way forward.”