Why Early Access?

“Compared with the last Early Access, this time we have upgraded many features, including UI, unit balance, Commander Skills, etc. We still hope that community and players involve into game development to help us go further. We have had a specific plan for the release, and we are developing a game version for mobile devices. We won’t mark it as Full Version this time until players can battle against each on multiple platforms (e.g. PC, iOS, Android, etc.). Please notice that all your Open Beta progress this time will be saved.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Since we aim to make Art of War: Red Tides a multiplayer strategy game that allows different teams to battle against each other on multiple platforms, and all the players around the world can play the game on the same server, we won’t change the state until then.”

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

“Our dev team will continue to upgrade the game based on the plan. The biggest difference between the Early Access and the Full Version is that the latter covers more platforms, including PC, iOS, Android, etc. Also, the game balance of the Full Version can be compared to that of the eSports game.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current Early Access has been tested twice by a limited number of players. Compared with the last Open Beta, the stability and balance of the game have been improved a lot, and we have also optimized unit mechanism, A.I. and other aspects. We are sure that this time, player experience will be much better. On the other hand, however, we still need advice and opinions from community and players to make the game better.”

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

“No. Art of War: Red Tides will adopt ‘free download + in-game purchase’ pattern. Even if the state is changed from Early Access to the Full Version, this pattern will not change, nor will the price of items in the store.
Besides, the in-game store will sell neither exclusive items that could influence the match, nor in-game currencies.”

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

“The optimization of a game always needs players’ participation and feedback. This is especially true for a multiplayer strategy game. We involved communities and players in two ways:

• In the past half a year, our dev team improved the data-analyzing system which will automatically analyze player behavior to guarantee their basic game experience.
  
• We will communicate with players actively. We will post on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to ask for players’ opinions and advice. We also plan to post helpful feedback in community and forums to ask for help.

We believe that these plans can make our game better.”