Why Early Access?

“DarkDice already contains 11 complete, hand-authored Cthulhu Mythos investigation cases that can each be played start-to-finish, and the full experience has been through extensive internal playtesting. We're launching in Early Access because we want real players — not just internal testers — to weigh in on difficulty balance, pacing, and the skill-check/resource systems across a variety of playstyles before we lock in a 1.0 release. As a solo/small developer, community feedback during this period will directly shape tuning adjustments, quality-of-life improvements, and potential additional content going forward.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Likely from 6 months to 36+ months, depending on the players feedback”

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

“The core game — 11 complete Cthulhu Mythos investigation cases, the occupation and skill-check systems, and Steam achievements/Cloud save support — is already playable start-to-finish in Early Access. Going into the full release, we plan to focus on refining what's already here based on player feedback: balance and difficulty tuning across cases, UI/UX polish, and further localisation quality passes between English and Chinese.

We'd also like to expand the roster of investigation cases beyond the current 11, since the story system was built to make adding new self-contained Mythos cases straightforward. Whether and how many additional cases make it into the full release will depend on the scope we can support and the direction player feedback points us.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“DarkDice is fully playable in its current state: 11 complete, hand-authored Cthulhu Mythos investigation cases, each with its own self-contained story, skill checks, resource/item systems, and multiple possible outcomes. The game includes a full occupation system, an Investigation Team hub for managing gear between cases, a New Investigator tutorial for onboarding, Steam achievements, and Cloud save support. All content is fully localized in English and Chinese (Traditional, with Simplified provided via automatic conversion).

Every case has been played through internally via both randomized and deliberately challenging playtests to catch content and balance issues before release, so there are no known broken or unfinishable paths. What we're looking to improve during Early Access is balance tuning, pacing, and polish based on a wider range of real player feedback than internal testing alone can provide.”

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

“We will gradually raise the price as new content or features are released.”

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

“We've set up a Discord community for DarkDice where players can share feedback, report bugs, discuss balance and case difficulty, and follow development updates directly. We also monitor a dedicated email address for bug reports and feedback from players who prefer not to use Discord. We'll be using feedback from both channels to prioritise balance tuning, quality-of-life improvements, and future case content during the Early Access period.

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