Why Early Access?

“Cubeshire is a persistent world with thousands of players sharing one map of the United Kingdom alongside thousands of computer-run towns and cities, and a world like that only shows its real problems when real people live in it.

The economy, the pace of building, the strength of the NPC settlements and the balance between the unit types all need players pushing against them for months, not a spreadsheet.

Early Access lets me run the live world, watch what people actually do, and change the rules with them rather than guess in private.

Every change goes to the live server as soon as it is ready, so players see the effect of their feedback in days.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“About one year. We will leave Early Access when the end game is in and the world has run through a full cycle of players rising, falling and starting again without the rules needing to be changed underneath them.”

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

“The core of the game is already in: claim ground, build your settlement up through the ages, work fields, woods, quarries and mines, raise an army, march on your neighbours and the NPC towns, and read what happened in the letters and the battle replay.

The full version adds the end game, where guilds contend for the great cities and captured towns answer to players, and a deeper world for the NPC settlements themselves so they trade, grow and make war as players do.

It also brings player made building models through the built in model editor, more units and buildings, seasons and events across the map, and the polish that comes from a year of watching people play.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is playable from the first claim to a fifteen level castle on a single live server.

You can build every settlement building, work every kind of resource node, train every unit, research, hire heroes, scout, march, fight, besiege and hold ground, form guilds, send reinforcements and trade at the market.

Over four thousand computer-run towns and cities build, expand, defend themselves and hold grudges against players who attack them.

Battles are fought on the server and every letter carries a replay you can watch.

What is unfinished is the end game, the depth of the NPC economy, some of the art, and balance, which we expect to keep tuning throughout.

Expect the occasional restart when we ship a fix, and expect numbers to change.”

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

“Yes.

The price will rise modestly at full release.

Anyone who buys during Early Access keeps the game at no further cost, and there will be no paid content that affects the rules of the world at any point.”

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

“Cubeshire is made by one person, and that is the point of Early Access for me.

There is a Feedback button inside the game that comes straight to me, and I read all of it.

I run the live world myself and post what I changed and why as I change it, usually within days of the feedback that prompted it.

Balance changes are tried on the live server and rolled back if they do not work, and a player who reports a problem will often see the fix land while they are still playing.

Larger features are described before they are built so the community can shape them, and the model editor is in the game now so players can begin making buildings that may be submitted for inclusion in the full version, with credit to their makers.”