Why Early Access?

“Early Access gives Rocketboarder players a chance to give feedback before the game hits full release. This is really valuable to me because it lets me release the game with less pressure on myself about shortcomings or oversights in the game, because I know people should be first playing it with more limited expectations. Early Access could help me find which bugs are causing people the most problems, what possible areas to focus development time on, and possibly come up with new ideas that wouldn't otherwise come to me.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Rocketboarder will remain in Early Access for at least a month, but it could be much longer depending on how things go in my life and what the reception to the game is. I'm open to either changing a limited number of things and releasing it, or working on it some more bit by bit over time. And hypothetically, if it's a huge breakout hit I likely wouldn't mind spending a lot of time developing it further.”

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

“As of editing this, here's a couple ideas I would like to do before full release:

-Experiment with adding health and shield pickups, if they work well then they would be added to the final game
-add a type of ammo for the player that shoots 3 projectiles at once

I also plan to see how the game is received and what feedback I get to make judgements about what other changes I might make. My preference is focusing on things that make the game "better" rather than longer.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The description in the "About" section reflects the game as it currently is. The game currently has an intro scene, a tutorial "Intro Mission," and 4 "Missions," which are similar variations on a procedurally generated level. It also has other features such as a spectator camera system, an optional player body avatar, and the ability to use Vive trackers for body tracking. If the option of doing Early Access didn't exist, I wouldn't mind releasing it in something close to it's current state.”

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

“Although I don't want to rule out pricing the game differently at a later date, at this point I expect the price to remain the same after full release. Right now I hope that the price is low enough that a decent percentage of people will feel like the game had a fair price for the content of the game. It's always possible that my pricing strategy could change, but I feel the current price seems like a good spot to balance trying to make at least some money and giving people a good value.”

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

“Players can post on the Steam discussion board for this game to start a discussion about any changes they would like to see in the game. I don't consider myself the ultimate authority on game design, and I'm curious to hear what ideas other people might have about the game. I'm especially interested to hear if there's any big "sticking points" people have when they play the game that make them get stuck or make the game not work for them. Hearing that kind of feedback can help me decide if I should change certain things about the game. Of course, my development efforts will ultimately be constrained by the amount of time I devote to it. I may elect to only implement select things based on the feedback I receive, but in many cases several key changes can make a big difference in the experience of a game, so it's good for me to be able to hear what people's thoughts about the game are.”