Why Early Access?

“SkillHouse: Founder’s Journey combines hands-on service contracts, a business economy, story-driven quests, and a town that responds to the player’s progress. Early Access will allow us to develop these systems together with the community. Player feedback will be especially valuable for balancing the economy, improving contract clarity, controls, performance, and the overall feeling of gradually building a company.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We currently expect the game to remain in Early Access for approximately 12-18 months. This is an estimate and may change depending on testing results, the scope of player feedback, and the development of individual systems. The quality and stability of the game will take priority over a fixed deadline.”

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

“For the full version, we plan to add a broader range of service contracts, employees, further stages of business development, deeper economy and reputation systems, more story events, and expanded use of the town. Our long-term vision also includes cooperative and other multiplayer modes, potentially including PvP competition between companies, drivable vehicles, additional towns, and new story chapters.
We also want to expand the story with a darker path for the company. This may involve hacking, system intrusion, industrial espionage, sabotage, and other illegal activities, with the player’s decisions carrying consequences for their relationships, reputation, and the future of the business.
These features represent our long-term development direction rather than a guaranteed feature list or a promise of a specific release date. Their exact form and scope may change during Early Access depending on technical feasibility, testing results, and community feedback.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is currently in active development. We are working on the story-driven prologue, the starting garage, the first repair contracts, foundational economy and reputation systems, character needs, town exploration, and gradual business upgrades. We will enter Early Access only when its initial content is playable and sufficiently stable. The exact contents and known limitations of the player-facing version will be published before launch.”

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

“We plan to increase the price when the full version is released to reflect the expanded content and overall scope of the game. Any price changes will be announced in advance through the game’s Steam page.”

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

“Our primary channels for communicating with the community will be the Steam Community Hub discussions and regular announcements on the game’s Steam page. We will monitor feedback continuously and conduct a structured review after each significant update.
Reports involving crashes, corrupted save data, and serious performance problems will receive the highest priority. Recurring player feedback may influence the balance of the economy, contract prices and rewards, the pacing of daily needs, the clarity of repair and diagnostic gameplay, controls, the user interface, story objectives, and the order in which planned features are developed.
For larger changes, we plan to use focused discussion threads, community polls, and, when appropriate, public testing branches. Significant updates will include change notes explaining which improvements were influenced by player feedback. We cannot guarantee that every suggestion will be implemented, but community feedback will directly influence our priorities, balancing, and usability improvements throughout Early Access.”