Why Early Access?

“The core of the game is ready: you can drop in, mine for Space Coal, and fight to stay alive until the extraction arrives. But the challenge of building a multiplayer experience is in the balance and long-term fun of the game. We have so many ideas on how to continue from where we currently stand, but we would much rather have players like yourself help us understand what you think is important.

We've decided to launch in Early Access because we want to see how real players handle the heat. Data from your sessions will tell us if a contract is too tough, if a weapon is too weak, or if the rewards aren't worth the risk. We want to build the final part of Rockhounds with the players who are actually down in the dirt with us.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We expect to be in Early Access for 6 to 12 months.”

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

“The biggest difference between the Early Access version and the 1.0 version we're working towards will be the addition of new content in the form of mission types, side-objectives, environments with biomes, new types of creatures and enemies, additional weapons, items, abilities and buildables to use during your missions.

We also plan to add meta progression, resulting in more long-term goals for you to pursue. These will be built around the Megacorps, who will provide players with challenges to complete in return for exclusive rewards.

We plan to create and regularly update a development roadmap to ensure our goals and activities remain transparent to our community. Last but definitely not least we, expect to optimize performance, localize to different languages and add nice-to-have features such as achievements.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Everything listed in the "About This Game" section of the store page is present when Rockhounds launches in Early Access. We don't have the budget to get a professional QA team to review Rockhounds, so the game might be rough around the edges.”

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

“Yes, we expect to raise our price before we release 1.0.”

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

“We track everything. Beyond looking at session data to balance contracts, we spend our time in our Discord and the Steam forums reading your feedback.

We plan to share regular updates on what we’re changing based on your reports. Whether it’s a bug you found during extraction or a weapon idea that fits the Rockhounds vibe, we want to hear it. The best way to get involved is to join our Discord and tell us what’s working and what’s just getting in the way of the grind.”