Why Early Access?

“Almost no games have ever been made out of draw-along songs, so there is very little precedent for us to follow.
On top of that, ekaki-uta are a Japanese tradition — for most players outside Japan, this will be their very first encounter with the form — so we need to learn directly from how people actually play.
We have our own instincts about how far a song can go before the reveal stops earning its "oh, THAT's what it was!", and about which mode is the most fun — and in Early Access we want to hold those instincts up against real play, and grow the game into something even more fun from there.

This game's appeal comes down to how four people's drawings, all made from the same song, end up different from each other.
How good each song really is, and whether a mode really works, only becomes clear once a full room of four actually plays it.
That's what we'll be watching, and what we'll build the game around.

During Early Access, there are three things we want to decide together with the people playing:

- What mode to add next.
The game includes three modes today, but for the one after that we only have a handful of candidates — nothing is decided yet.
Which one we build will depend on how players respond and what they ask for.

- Which mode new players should start with.
Among the three modes already included, we haven't settled on which one makes the best first session for a new player.
This too is something we want to decide by watching how the game actually gets played.

- Which songs to keep, and which to remake.
If a song keeps producing drawings that come out wrong no matter how faithfully players follow it, we'll remake it; and if a song leads to surprising drawings that get a great reaction, we'll carry that approach into future songs.
We can only make this call once we've seen the actual drawings and ratings pile up.

Our goal for the full release — 100 or more songs — isn't just about hitting a number, either.
We want to reach it through this same back-and-forth, keeping only the songs that earn their place.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“About one year. We'll keep releasing updates throughout, continuously adding new draw-along songs.

That said, this is only an estimate: we plan to move to the full release once the song count reaches our target and we've finished a full cycle of new modes.
Depending on how the work progresses, this timeline may shift earlier or later.”

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

“Our goal is to reach 100 or more draw-along songs.
Alongside that, we plan to add more modes and song styles.

What we add will be decided based on the feedback we receive during Early Access and how the game actually gets played.
Songs we later find a better way to build, and songs that turn out to be too hard, will be remade or replaced before the full release.

Your Draw-Along Collection and anything saved to your Album during Early Access will carry over to the full release as they are.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game currently includes more than 50 draw-along songs, in two styles: a mellow Nursery style and a fast-paced Synth style.
Besides the Classic draw-along mode, there's Whatsit, a quiz-style mode where you guess what your own drawing was supposed to be, and Guess-Off, where one player reads everyone's drawings to guess the subject — three game modes in all.
You can set up a room to play together, and open online matchmaking is built in as well.
All of the core features are in place.
Every song you play is collected in the Draw-Along Collection, Coach Sketch's model drawings and all, so you can practice it solo — and the Album keeps a replay of every game you've drawn in.

That said, the number of songs included is still half of what we're aiming for in the full release.
We're planning to add more song styles and game modes, deciding as we watch how players respond.”

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

“We plan to raise the price slightly when we switch to the full release.
It's cheaper to get the game during Early Access.

If you buy the game during Early Access, you'll be able to play the full release at no extra cost.”

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

“Player feedback decides what we build next.

[Where we hear from you]
- The in-game feedback form: after every song you play, a screen lets you rate that song and note what bothered you about it (you can also just close it without writing anything).
Your note reaches us with the song's name and that round's settings attached, so we know exactly which song and which mode a comment is about.
This is already up and running — we use it for decisions during test play as well.

- The Steam Community Hub and discussions: we read feedback and requests here too.

- X (formerly Twitter) @2P_START: update announcements, and we'll ask for your thoughts on upcoming songs here as well.

[What your feedback changes]
- Songs with low ratings get their drawings improved or their lyrics reworked.
- Songs that many players call "too hard" get moved to higher difficulty settings, or the song itself gets improved.
- We pick the subject of our next song from your requests first.
- The next style or mode we add is whichever gets the most requests.
- And if there's a feature you wish the game had, we'd genuinely like to hear it and look into it.

[How often]
- Bug fixes and small song adjustments ship whenever they're ready, without waiting for the monthly update.
- Larger updates are planned about once a month.
New songs will keep arriving as part of them.
- Every update comes with patch notes describing what we changed based on player feedback, and how.”