Why Early Access?

“Ultimate Blacksmith Tycoon is a tycoon game developed solo by Quench Forge.

The game features many systems whose behavior changes significantly based on player choices: dynamic rarity crafting, 80+ tech tree nodes, and customer AI driven by 4 customer classes x time-of-day windows.

With systems this complex, there will always be a gap between what the developer imagines and what players actually experience. We want to decide together with the community: "Which balance feels fun?", "Which features should be prioritized?", "Where are there opportunities for different ways to play?" That is why we chose Early Access.

Rather than relying on a single developer's judgment, the direction of upcoming features and adjustments will be shaped by player feedback.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We estimate Early Access will last approximately 3 months as a baseline.

This duration is not fixed - it will flexibly adjust based on the volume and nature of community feedback, the priorities for additional features, and the need for balance tuning. If the community wants us to "spend more time refining in this direction" or "wait for a specific feature before going to 1.0", we will prioritize those voices.

Progress updates and roadmap changes will be shared transparently through monthly devlogs on Steam News.”

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

“What gets added or changed for the full version will be determined through dialogue with the community during Early Access. We have the following areas prepared as "candidates", but the final scope, priorities, and specifications will shift based on player feedback.

[Areas we will decide together with the community]

* System Direction
- Whether to implement Two-Team / Three-Team Simultaneous Dispatch, and the feel of operation if added
- Auto-Crafting UI: number of presets, behavior, level of automation acceptable to players
- Which of the 10 TechTree branches to prioritize for full implementation
- New Game Plus carryover scope (what players want to preserve)

* Numerical Balance (driven by player data)
- Compound-interest debt rate, weight of recurring costs, Artifact drop rate, Stampede threshold
- Customer AI behavior patterns (which customer-class behaviors feel "fun")
- Combat / dispatch difficulty curves and adventurer scaling
- Sensitivity of the economic simulation (strength of public-order / economic feedback)

* Content Direction
- Themes and quantities of additional monsters, skills, and recipes
- Direction of gimmicks for new dungeons
- Diversification of NPC and customer behaviors

* Localization
- Tone adjustments for Japanese and English text (passages players find "unclear" or "stiff")
- Priority for additional languages (Simplified Chinese, Korean)

The 1.0 release will happen at the point when the community feels "this can be called complete".”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“What you can play in the current build:

- Blacksmith crafting, Dynamic Rarity, Smart Naming
- Adventurer hiring, equipping, dispatching (single party)
- 10 dungeons, 140+ monster types (including Elites and Bosses)
- 185 unique adventurer skills
- Customer AI-driven sales (4 customer classes x time-of-day x day-of-week x public order x economic feedback)
- Management foundation (28-day calendar, compound-interest debt, recurring costs, financial ledger)
- Stampede system with damage resolution
- TechTree core logic (80+ nodes, Pull-based architecture)
- Complete Save/Load with 5 auto-save slots
- 5-slot window layout presets
- Japanese / English language support

The core game loop is functional at the start of Early Access, but the "final form of fun" for each system is something we plan to refine together with the community. Balance, features, and content may all shift significantly based on player feedback.”

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

“We plan to slightly raise the price at the 1.0 release to reflect the added content and changes shaped by the community. Players who purchase during Early Access will be able to continue playing the full release at no additional cost.”

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

“Players can participate in development through the following channels:

- Bug reports, feature requests, and specification proposals via Steam Discussions
- Official Discord (invitation link will be shared via Steam News)
- Monthly devlogs on Steam News sharing development direction and roadmap updates
- Polls and surveys posted on Steam News before major specification changes
- Numerical balance (compound interest, recurring costs, Artifact drop rate, Stampede threshold) will be continuously tuned based on player data and feedback
- The priority of additional features will be determined by community demand

Rather than a one-way "this is the right answer" from the developer, we will shape the direction of the game together with players.”