Why Early Access?

“AI Apocalypse is already playable across all three acts, but a deckbuilder lives or dies on the interactions players discover. I'm a small indie developer, and Early Access lets me put the game in front of many more deckbuilder players, learn which cards and archetypes are genuinely fun or frustrating, and keep improving balance, readability, and content with transparent updates. The goal is not to ask players to finish the basic game for me; it is to use real runs and honest feedback to make a good game sharper, stranger, and more replayable before 1.0.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Approximately 6 to 9 months. Our internal target is a 1.0 release roughly two seasons after Early Access launch, with one to two major content updates in between. That timeline is aggressive but realistic — the game is already feature-complete for three classes and three acts. The window exists so we can balance properly, ship 1–2 additional weapon classes (and their associated build paths), and polish based on community feedback. We'll publish a public roadmap within the first two weeks of EA launch and commit to transparent progress updates on the dev blog.”

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

“We are planning a 1.0 release that could expand on Early Access in four directions:

New weapon classes
More content in every category
Mod support
Additional languages
”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current Early Access build is playable from a fresh install through a complete three-act victory.

It includes:

- 3 weapon classes: Vibro Blade, Arc Staff, and Rail Rifle
- 9 build paths across armor, bleed, heavy hits, shields, burn, multi-hit spells, piercing, poison, and debuff payoff
- 140+ cards with two upgrade tiers
- 50+ gear pieces across 6 slots
- 3 procedurally generated acts with unique enemy rosters and bosses
- 25 branching narrative events
- Meta-progression for cards, gear, events, and build paths
- Normal, Nightmare, and Hell difficulty tiers
- Mid-run save and load
- Original art and scene-specific music and sound effects
- Keyboard and mouse support

During Early Access, I am actively working on balance, bug fixes, interface clarity, additional content, polish, and controller support. Controller support is planned for 1.0.”

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

“Yes — we plan to increase the price modestly at Launch reflecting the additional classes, content, languages, and polish added during the EA period. Anyone who purchases during Early Access keeps the game at the EA price permanently. There are no planned DLC paywalls, microtransactions, or subscription tiers — new content added during and after EA is free to all owners.”

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

“The community is the point of Early Access for us. Concretely:

Discord is the primary channel — daily interaction with the team, patch preview builds, direct feedback loops, bug triage. Invite is in-game and on the store page.
Public roadmap — published on the official site within the first two weeks. Community votes on what's prioritized within each quarter.
Weekly patch cadence — small balance patches weekly, larger content drops bi-monthly. Patch notes cross-posted to Steam and the dev blog at our site.
In-game feedback hooks — a direct-to-dev feedback form accessible from the main menu for rapid signal on specific features or pain points.
Visible playtest sprints — we'll run scheduled community playtests for unreleased classes and major mechanics changes before they ship to the main branch.
Transparency on what we'll and won't change — not every suggestion will ship, but every high-signal suggestion gets a public response explaining the decision.
Our commitment is simple: if you're spending money and time in Early Access, you should see your feedback reflected in the game within a reasonable window. Every weekly patch should have at least one change traceable to community input.

”