Why Early Access?

“Errant Ant already works for everyday reading, and we want to grow it together with the people who use it. Readers learn different languages from different books, so your feedback on which languages, dictionaries, and features matter most will shape what we build next.”

Approximately how long will this software be in Early Access?

“We expect Errant Ant to stay in Early Access for around half a year, depending on what we learn from readers along the way.”

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

“We plan to split Chinese and Japanese text into whole words (today these languages are counted one character at a time), add more dictionaries and learning languages, bring Errant Ant to macOS, add syncing of your library and learning between computers, and support touch and controllers on devices such as the Steam Deck. We also plan to keep refining the reader, the Word panel and the Map based on your feedback.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Errant Ant is complete for daily reading on Windows and Linux. You can import EPUB, text-based PDF and TXT books or download free books from Project Gutenberg, and read them in a paged reader with your own font and layout. Every page you turn and every word you look up is counted, and words are colored by how well you know them. The Word panel shows your own notes, entries from 24 free offline dictionaries covering 12 learning languages, and every sentence you met the word in, and you can give words their own color or mark them Mastered. Vocabulary and Phrases list everything you have met, and the Map lets you lay out words, notes and drawings on boards. The interface is available in 12 languages. Current limitations: Chinese and Japanese are counted one character at a time, and touch and controllers are not supported yet.”

Will this software be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We plan to raise the price when Errant Ant leaves Early Access, as new features and languages arrive.”

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

“We read every discussion thread and review, and we plan to use the Steam Community discussions to collect feature requests, bug reports and votes on which languages and dictionaries to add next. Each update will come with notes on what changed and why. We also plan to offer an optional beta branch so readers who want to try new features early can help us test them before they reach everyone.”