Why Early Access?

“I develop ClusterForce on my own - and a competitive multiplayer flying sports game is exactly the kind of game one person cannot finish alone. Everything that can be tested alone, I have tested: against bots and over a local network. What that does not produce is the experience of many real matches - and without it, flight feel, balance and netcode cannot really be judged. That takes full lobbies, unfamiliar tactics, players crazy enough to try anything, and moves I would never have seen coming.

I want to decide together with players which features matter and which ones are actually fun. Try things, drop them again, rebuild them - without breaking promises or letting anyone down along the way.

And there is this: ClusterForce is a spiritual successor to Clusterball (2000). Much of what made the original special lives on in the memories of the people who played it - and those are the people I want to reach, to bring along, and whose ideas I want to see in the game.

What is not a reason, though, is money: ClusterForce is being built in my spare time alongside a day job, and that job pays for the development, servers and tools included. The road ahead does not hinge on sales figures - Early Access is not meant to pay for the game, it is meant to make it better.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“At the current pace I expect around two years. There is still a lot to do to reach the standard of quality I have in mind, and I have many, many more ideas - which I would rather not spell out yet, so as not to make empty promises. But it definitely will not get boring!

The pace follows the time that comes together beside the day job, and that time is firmly planned for. The scope above is cut to fit it - not to fit some hoped-for number of sales. If it takes longer, I would rather stay in Early Access than leave it on time with a version that meets neither my standards nor those of the players.”

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

“I want ClusterForce to grow in three directions.

More ways to play: the team variant "Catch em all: Teams" is meant to give the glider classes - Speeder, Tank, Attacker, Support - real weight, and challenges that can only be solved as a team. Further modes and ideas are things we try out, Ballfight among them, where the balls are your lives - which ones stay depends on how much fun they turn out to be.

More competition: ranked play with seasons and leaderboards, ranks in general and matchmaking built around them.

More and better venues: further stages, refined gliders and liveries, improved models and textures, and continued work on the ball weapons as experience from many real matches and feedback from the community come in.

Leaving Early Access is not the end: the game is meant to keep being maintained and the servers to keep running. I love this project and I am not simply going to stop.

None of this promises a specific feature on a specific day. One decision, though, was made long ago and holds during Early Access and after: cosmetics stay cosmetic, no DLCs, no pay-to-win.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The core of the game is playable and complete in itself: up to eight players per match on dedicated servers and over a local network.

In the current build:
• Catch em all as the game mode, either with identical values for everyone or with classes
• Seven venues: Ocean Arena, Foundry, Whiteout, Cromlech, Sphinx, Illusion Grid and Sky Arena above the clouds
• Ten different ball weapons, from the Smoke Puffs to the Tractor Beam
• Eight different gliders in four classes
• Offline training ground

Not in yet: team play, the Ballfight mode and ranked seasons. And the interface, the announcer lines and the translations can have flaws, just like everything else here.”

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

“The plan is for the price to rise somewhat once Early Access ends. Anyone who buys during Early Access therefore pays the lowest price (leaving aside any Steam sales or discounts in the distant future) and keeps the game along with every update.

Behind that, as mentioned, is a deliberate decision: there are to be no DLCs, no season pass and no advertising, and skins are not for sale - liveries are pure looks and available to everyone. What comes in goes into development as far as it can.

A game with dedicated servers does incur running costs, and the purchase price is set so that it helps carry them. It is not, however, a precondition for finishing the game: development is funded independently of it and continues even if the game sells worse than expected.”

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

“For me, as the solo developer of a multiplayer title, reports from players are not a bonus - they are a basic necessity, and the test team I do not have. So I want to document as much in public as I can, and what players report lands on the same task list as my own items.

I am counting on small updates during the week and larger monthly ones with a full changelog. The fastest line is the Discord - that is where I collect feedback of every kind, show what I am working on, and announce changes or experiments before anything reaches the live servers.

What I cannot promise, of course, is that every request gets built down to the last detail.”