Why Early Access?

“Our core gameplay loop—the cycle of combat, upgrades, and survival in our endless mode—is already polished, engaging, and fun. We're confident players will enjoy the core mechanical experience right now. However, we believe Deadline:Aphelion has the potential to be much more than a great arcade-style experience.

Early Access is the perfect platform for us to achieve two critical goals:

Community-Driven Development: We don't want to develop in a vacuum. By opening the game up now, we can integrate player feedback directly into our polish and balancing process. The community will help us identify the most and least enjoyable upgrades, fine-tune difficulty spikes, and highlight bugs we may have missed, ensuring the final game is as polished as possible.

Building the Narrative Foundation: The endless mode serves as the perfect gameplay foundation. Now, we want to build a compelling story mode atop it. Early Access allows us to develop this narrative arc in chapters, potentially incorporating community lore theories and feedback to create a story that feels co-created and truly resonates with our players.

In short, we see Early Access not as a demo, but as a collaborative partnership with our players to build the best possible version of Deadline:Aphelion.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Based on our development roadmap, our current estimate is that Deadline:Aphelion will be in Early Access for approximately 18 to 24 months.

This timeframe allows us to thoughtfully implement our planned features—primarily the story mode and significant new content—without rushing. As this is a passion project, our primary commitment is to quality and fulfilling the game's potential. We will prioritize creating a complete and satisfying experience over hitting a specific deadline.

We promise to maintain transparent communication with our community throughout this process. If our timeline needs to be adjusted based on development progress or valuable community feedback, we will provide clear and regular updates."”

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

“The full version of Deadline:Aphelion is planned to be a significant expansion of the Early Access foundation, evolving from a focused endless survival game into a more feature-rich, complete package.

Planned additions include:

A fully-fledged Story Mode: This will introduce a narrative campaign where players will uncover the corporate secrets, encounter unique enemies, and face off against powerful rival mechs in dedicated boss battles. This mode will provide context and purpose to the endless war of attrition.

Expanded Progression Systems: We plan to greatly increase the diversity of player choice by adding more upgrade options for mechs and weapons, alongside deeper customization features for visual and loadout personalization.

Enhanced Content & Variety: The full release will aim to include additional enemy types, environmental hazards, significantly increasing the game's scope and variety.

Final Polish: Every aspect, from UI and sound design to balance and performance, will be refined to a commercial release standard based on community feedback during Early Access.

We want to be clear that our plans may evolve based on technical feasibility and community feedback. Our development roadmap is a living document, and we will keep our players informed every step of the way.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current Early Access version offers a complete and highly replayable core game experience centered on our endless survival mode.

Players can expect:

A Robust Gameplay Loop: Choose your starting loadout, defeat waves of enemies, and strategically select upgrades after every round to strengthen your mech.

Progressive Challenge: The difficulty system is fully implemented, with a significant increase in challenge every 5 waves, creating a compelling and intense war of attrition.

Significant Playtime: The current build is focused on high-score runs and mastery, offering many hours of engaging gameplay as players experiment with different strategies and loadouts to see how far they can push their survival.

Technical Stability: The game is stable and performs well. While some placeholder art or sound may remain, the core mechanics are fully functional and bug-tested.

This mode provides the perfect foundation for us to build upon, and we are confident it delivers a fun and satisfying experience on its own.”

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

“Price will not change when we leave early access”

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

“Community involvement is the cornerstone of our Early Access plan. We have built multiple channels for open dialogue and will actively encourage participation:

Dedicated Discord Server: This is our primary hub for development. Here, players can:

Report bugs and technical issues directly to us for rapid fixes.

Participate in focused feedback channels to discuss balance, new upgrade ideas, and customization options.

Vote in community polls that will help us prioritize which new features or mechs to develop next.

Regular Development Blogs: We will post regular updates on our Steam community page, detailing what we're working on, what we've learned from feedback, and what's coming next. This ensures everyone, not just Discord users, stays in the loop.

Transparent Roadmap: We will maintain a public development roadmap, clearly marking what's completed, what's in progress, and what's planned based on community input.

We believe our players are our best collaborators. Their feedback won't just be heard; it will be a fundamental driver of our development decisions, ensuring we build a game that our community is truly excited to play.”