Why Early Access?

“Make It A Million launches into Early Access with its core puzzle loop complete, but several major systems are still in active development. I want to ship them with real player feedback shaping the design rather than guessing in isolation.

The biggest reason is the meta-progression economy. I'm building a system where leftover points from each run convert into a persistent currency that upgrades cards, multipliers, and unlocks new content. Economy tuning of this kind cannot be done meaningfully with internal testing — I need real play data across thousands of runs to find the right pacing, costs, and reward curves.

I'm also building an in-run shop where players spend earned points on support items mid-game. The list of items, their prices, and how often they should appear are all decisions I want to make alongside our community, not before it.

Early Access lets us release the version I believe in today, then evolve the game with players who care about it.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“I am targeting 6 to 12 months in Early Access, depending on how the meta-progression and shop systems land with the community. I won't rush the full release if a system needs more iteration.”

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

“The full version will add several systems that are not in the Early Access build:

In-run Shop — Spend points earned during a run on support items (extra HP, reroll tokens, multiplier boosters, board-clear effects, etc.). The shop UI placeholder ("[ More Content ] Coming Soon") will be replaced with the live system.

Meta-progression Currency — Remaining points at the end of a run convert into a persistent currency that carries between sessions.

Permanent Upgrades — Spend the meta currency on upgrades for the score multiplier, starting hand, card abilities, and unlock cosmetic options.

Additional Cards & Mechanics — New card types and special effects that change how runs play out, expanding beyond the current Rock/Paper/Scissors core.

More Game Modes — Variants of the core loop with different rules and scoring goals.

Expanded Achievements & Cosmetics — Driven by community suggestions during EA.
The Early Access build contains a complete, polished single-playthrough loop. The full version turns that loop into a long-term progression game.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version contains the full core gameplay loop: a 5×5 grid card-placement game with stacking mechanics, scoring, multipliers, achievements, save/load, accessibility settings, and full UI/audio polish. A complete run from start to game-over is fully playable and balanced.

What is not yet in this build: the in-run shop, the meta-progression currency, permanent upgrades, additional card types, and additional game modes. These are visible in the UI as a "Coming Soon" placeholder so players know what to expect.”

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

“Yes. On full release, the price will rise to reflect the additional content and systems. All updates during Early Access will be free to existing owners — players who buy in EA receive every future content update at no extra cost.”

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

“I will gather feedback through the Steam Community Hub, focused threads on specific systems (economy tuning, new card ideas, balance), and direct surveys at major update milestones. Suggestions for shop items, upgrade paths, and new mechanics will be reviewed and prioritized publicly so players can see what's planned and what's been incorporated.”