Why Early Access?

“Disbarred simulates the pressure cooker of public defense, and Early Access lets us watch how real players move through the caseload, pacing, and ethics systems. We’re using that insight to tune difficulty, surface what’s confusing, and make sure the experience is approachable without losing its bite. Community feedback during this period helps us decide what polish is most valuable before we lock in a 1.0 build.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“6 - 14 months”

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

“Early Access is our chance to rebuild the foundation. Right now the core loop, trial flow, plea negotiations, and client interactions all need significant repair, and we expect to spend most of this phase stabilizing those systems, tightening UX, and clearing the major bugs players uncover. Once that backbone feels reliable, we’ll apply what we learn to rebalance pacing, improve onboarding, and layer in polish. The exact mix of fixes and additions will follow community feedback, and we’ll only lock the 1.0 scope after we see what needs the most attention.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Think of the current build as roughly 20% complete and only semi-playable. You can boot into the campaign and see the vision, but the game loop is rough, plea negotiations and trial sequences break easily, and the client system is still heavily bugged. Expect missing art, placeholder UX, and lots of sharp edges. If you jump in now, it’s to help us chase down those problems—not because the experience is feature-complete.”

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?

“We’ll be actively reading the Steam Community discussions, reviews, and support tickets to understand what’s working and what isn’t. When we reach major decision points we’ll share dev-log posts that summarize what we heard and what adjustments we’re prioritizing. We also plan to run short opt-in surveys from time to time so players who want a deeper voice can help steer balancing, UX improvements, and content priorities.”