Why Early Access?

“We want to get Life Blocks into people’s hands sooner rather than later. By releasing in Early Access, we have more than just our small team contributing to and testing the game; we have a whole community. With everyone playing and sharing their thoughts, and being able to watch how people play, we can understand what players want from CHKN and make a better game.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We want to make sure we incorporate player feedback as much as possible and leave Early Access only when the game is ready. We're currently in the middle of some big investigations in regards to performance and optimization systems to determine when we can release CHKN 1.0.”

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

“To start, there will be improvements and additions to the current game. The world will get larger and more vibrant and varied, the creatures more intelligent and more useful with additional abilities, the survival gameplay deeper and more rewarding, the content and items more numerous, the UI cleaner and easier to use, and many other updates. But there will also be new features and gameplay added as well, like modding and scripting, additional creative tools, advanced creature training, alchemy, friendly NPCs, boss battles, sharing creatures with the community, and tons more. Plus all the great ideas, suggestions, and feedback we get from the community.

It’s tough to list everything here, so our roadmap is always available for a more comprehensive and updated look at what we have planned.

We should also mention that we don’t plan to stop at version 1.0. We have a lot of ideas for version 2.0 and beyond.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“We consider the current Early Access version of CHKN to be in an early beta state. The game currently includes the core versions of Creative, Adventure, and Arena modes for playing and testing, so you can build creatures using 150+ Life Blocks and dozens of different abilities (more to come); give them basic commands; explore the tropical island biome (the first of 5); gather resources and craft them into basic items, tools, and structures; and pit creatures against each other in battle. Our empathic intelligence AI is already at version 1.0 so creatures can actually learn, obey commands, express emotion, and develop relationships with the player, fellow creatures, and objects in the world.

All throughout Early Access, we’ll be updating regularly based on our roadmap and player feedback. We’ll have lots of new features and content, but we’ll also continue to improve on the current features, work on optimization and performance, and, of course, squash bugs.”

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

“Early Access pricing is currently discounted for those interested in joining us during development and to thank them for being with us from the beginning. Once the game is ready for release, with a full set of features and content, the discount will be removed. (Anyone who purchases CHKN at Early Access price will be automatically upgraded to the full version when it’s released.)”

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

“We think of the community as our co-designers. We’re making CHKN together and love to hear from players about any aspect of the game.

Our Discord is open for feedback, constructive criticism, sharing ideas, bug reports, troubleshooting, or even if you just want to chat with fellow CHKN players. We check in regularly.

The development roadmap is always available for you to view, so you can let us know what you think of what's coming and what you'd like to see added.

We’re also available on Twitter, Facebook, or at heychkn@katapultstudio.com to chat. Show us a crazy creature or share any YouTube videos you’ve made (we collect them!).”