Why Early Access?

“While Visions of War is fully playable with a suite of core features, the game is still in beta and thus, there is an increased chance of tweaks to core gameplay as well as encountering bugs. Given this, we are launching this game in early access at a reduced price. This will make the game playable now by those who wish to enjoy the game that already exists and which we feel is already both novel and fun.

Early access will also be a time where we are particularly active within the community, especially on the Beluga Games Discord. We look forward to interacting with community members to hear everyone's thoughts and experiences on gameplay, features, and bugs so that we can try to craft the best full release version possible.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Approximately 6 months to a year. As a solo dev, I cannot react as quickly as a multi-person team. With the game already in the hands of players, I do not feel that rushing the full release is necessary. 6 months will give us time to try several iterations of features that may not land as well as we expected before settling on something stable for full release. Additionally, while bugs should become less and less common during early access, updates can always introduce new ones and 6 months ideally gives me time to make sure no new major bugs are rearing their head after any other early access updates. The upper bound of 12 months should, despite working on the game solo, give me plenty of time to fall back on if the 6 month estimate is overly optimistic or if we end up introducing more features then currently planned (which would naturally add to the required development time).”

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

“The largest intended changes are improvements to game stability and to basic player experience. Rather than pushing loads of unnecessary and unstable features that few players may actually want or use, we first want to ensure that the UI is as convenient/transparent as possible, that existing multiplayer infrastructure/systems are working well for players, and that the game is as bug free as possible.

In addition, we also plan to consider larger potential additions and adjustments such as adding ranked matchmaking, improvements to the computer opponents (without letting them cheat), and small but important tweaks to core gameplay to keep a fun and healthy meta. We look forward to engaging with the community during early access to hear which of these and other ideas are most potentially appealing to them.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is in early beta. The core gameplay mechanics are relatively stable. All claims and features listed on the store page are ones that are already in the game and working to some sensible degree (claims and store page details will only be updated as features are added, not before). To summarize, the available modes includes:
- Tutorial
- vs AI
- Hotseat
- Live online multiplayer
- Asynchronous multiplayer
- Match history & Replays

Prior to early access, the multiplayer infrastructure has not undergone large scale testing. Thus, both stability and useability of online multiplayer systems are one of the top things we are keeping an eye on, especially early in the beta.

In general, there are still idiosyncrasies in text or design choices that have yet to be resolved. Notable bugs that appeared with any regularity were generally stomped out fairly quickly in closed alpha testing, but there are likely still a number of less common gameplay bugs of which I am unaware. Compared to post full release, players may also experience more new bugs, as updates during early access will likely be much more frequent and to more fundamental systems.

While we have a tutorial covering most mechanics, some gameplay mechanics that are less critical are not well explained in the tutorial and so teaching tools and new player experience as still being worked on. If you encounter issues with understanding any aspect of the game during beta, we recommend joining us over at the Beluga Games Discord. We would be happy to help and will take such questions as valuable feedback as to how we can improve the new player experience going forward.”

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

“We expect to raise the price when the game leaves early access. We may raise the price of the game during early access, if we end up adding or overhauling notable features.”

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

“We plan to regularly engage with the community during early access, primarily via the Beluga Games Discord. We are looking forward to working with the community, especially on player experience related aspects of the game such as learning tools for new players, UI usability, and settings controls for various hardware. While we have a clear vision for the game's core identity and do not want to overcorrect on anything as part of knee jerk reactions to community feedback, we are still open to small but impactful changes to core gameplay at this stage and look forward to discussing such things with the community.”