Miksi Early Access?

This is my passion project, and I've been a solo developer on it for about 4 years now. So far, I’m most proud of the deep discussions on gameplay, story and bugs I’ve had with the players of my demo. I would like to keep the ball rolling, and I consider Early Access the best way to put the game in development in front of people.

I was a little bit wary of launching a story-based game into Early Access. Shouldn’t a story be finished to enjoy it? But recent successes of big narrative-focused role-playing games convinced me that Early Access will help me make the game the best it can be. However, if you are looking for a complete experience and don’t want to participate in the community feedback, I advise you to wait until full release — the game will be waiting for you, don’t worry.

Miten kauan peli tulee arviolta olemaan Early Access -vaiheessa?

I’m planning to finish the main story in about 12 months. However, I will put quality before speed, and will take the time needed to make everything as good as it can be.

Millä tavoin lopullinen versio tulee eroamaan Early Access -versiosta?

Every detail of the game is open to feedback, from main character design to the little grunts sorcerers make on getting hit with a fireball. I will listen to the players and improve the game accordingly, along with writing new stories and adventures to go on. Overall, the game is feature-ready, and has about a third of content planned for full version.

Mikä on Early Access -version tila tällä hetkellä?

Almost all of the planned mechanics are ready, including factory-building, fighting duels, talking to characters and completing quests, coping with stress, changing your character and decorating your house. There are usability and accessibility features, including dark mode, optional fixed camera, dyslexia friendly font and variable text size for conversations, and key rebinding.

Content-wise, this Early Access version includes Act 1 out of three, which contains 3 big adventures, 4 side-quests and several smaller errands to complete. In total, that’s about 4–6 hours of gameplay, which represents about a third of the planned content. In the best RPG traditions, the quests are variable and the outcomes numerous, so the second playthrough might be quite different from the first.

There are certainly some bugs, typos and quest logic mistakes. The game features a robust saving system, making permanent saves in important moments, and auto-saving your progress as you go, but please — do save often.

Muuttuuko pelin hinta Early Access -vaiheen jälkeen?

No, the price will stay the same.

Miten yhteisö otetaan mukaan kehitysprosessiin?

I talk to the players through my Discord, and I hope it will be a part of every-day development of the game. There are several roles there, depending on how involved you want to be: from “active feedbacker” and “patch notes enjoyer” to a passive “mac version awaiter”. You can also contact me privately through email, and I appreciate everyone doing so.

Inside the game, there is a special tool called Feedback Machine, which collects game info to inform me of bugs, typos, balancing issues, or just your thoughts in the specific moment of the game. It also has a few links to contact me, including Discord and email.

While I can’t make any promises, I will do my best to fix players' broken saves and fix bugs often. I hope to use Steam announcements to write patch notes with every update. I’m also planning to review feedback carefully, and adjust my plans based on it.