Why Early Access?

“I dropped out of "game design" school. It was a complete waste of time. Creating A Duel Hand Disaster: Trackher has not been. With no prior programming or game design experience I've made it this far. I'm now towards the tail end of development and if events like PAX, RTX, MineCon, TwitchCon, and SIX have taught me anything it's that you guys love to break things. Now that most of the mechanics are finalized, Early Access will allow me to learn how players utilize them, what loopholes they find, and how to best counter them so the game can continue to have hellish challenge that's fair and extremely rewarding.

In addition Early Access allows me to gather as much feedback as possible on how the game runs on a variety of different setups and OS's, specifically SteamOS. I'd love to have the game available on macOS, and SteamOS, but being one person with limited resources you all, if willing, can help by testing it on setups I would otherwise need to hire external help to do so.

You have a choice. You aren't paying for a demo, you're paying for the years of work I've put into this project, continue to do so, and will continue to do so day in and day out. It's your money. Do you what you want with it.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“As little as possible. I'm only one dude handling every possible aspect of this game. I have a day job which has been in the way since I started this project 4 years ago. I have also taught myself everything. Luckily over the years I've made friends with some extremely smart people whose time is valuable, but always lend a helping ear. I've already put 90% of the work in. At this point I have little incentive to take another 4 years ;) The Nintendo Switch version is currently priority in terms of release. There are a couple of reasons why. Feel free to ask me what they are ;) Either way you are getting the best game I can possibly make. I dropped out of school for this, and it’s been nothing but hella rad. I hope you enjoy it.”

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

“The Ask An Enemy Studios mantra is and always will be, gameplay first, ask questions later. I'm now in the "ask questions later" phase. While the gameplay may still get some tweaks here and there, most of the work that will be tackled during EA is under the hood type stuff like leaderboard structure and implementation, achievements, UI usefulness and efficiency, audio and visual polish. I would also like to have full Steam Controller and SteamOS support so testing that during EA is also of massive importance. I currently do not own a SteamOS compatible device.

If, and only if time permits, I'd love to explore the possibility of a boss mode. It's something I've toyed with for quite awhile in my head, but for all intents and purposes what you see now shouldn't differ much from the final product design wise.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Fully playable from end to end, with plenty of underlying under the hood adjustments that need to be made. You will most definitely find bugs. Let's crush them. Currently leaderboards are working, but may still need some work. Friends, Global, and current position. In-game leaderboards only show the current tier and the next person on your shit list :D

There is no "tutorial," but there are tooltips. Take your time, pay attention, and never hesitate to ask questions. I'm a firm believer that this game would not benefit from stopping the game, slowing down the process, beating you over the head with things you "should" do. That doesn't mean there won't be documentation, but I've seen it time and time again at events; once you know what you need to do you know what you need to do. Early Access will be a great way to test how this process works, or fails :) On death you will get ProTips that you can toggle through. You can watch the videos above, or ask questions over on the Discord. You other option is to ask for a refund. I won't be mad :)”

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

“I may or may not raise the price of the game on release based on some cool stuff I would like to do with it till then. You also may or may not buy the game. It's your choice really.”

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

“I've shown the game at countless events to date and love discussing things about the design so I will open a Discord channel so anybody playing the game can easily get in touch with me to report a bug.

I'll also schedule, for the time being, random livestreams so that I can stay up to date on anything players would like to report and update players on the progress. I want to make sure the game is ready for a proper release on Steam and consoles.”