Blog

Duke of Defense Kickstarter

So I've been silent for a while. Just a lot of work and various changes in schedules. But I figured I should at least post some milestones along the way.

Yep so Chris Anselmo (Topher) and I are making this game. It's not terribly early but it's still not quite in a beta state due to a lot of missing sounds and music. However we have supplied a pretty nifty demo on the Kickstarter for people to try out.

We're already slotted for an October release on Steam and Switch and have a publishing deal for the game.

We also have a Discord!

This is still very early as well but we've put a Discord server together for the game in case people have suggestions or just want to talk. Feel free to hop in and give us your opinion!

Starting work on Octavia at last!

It has taken months and months of effort but we've officially moved past Don't Sink and are on to our next game, Octavia!

Unfortunately I won't be posting here very often and more than anything this site will act as a portfolio for my previous work. However this doesn't mean I won't ever be posting anywhere!

Why I Love/Hate Early Access

Early access has been a hot topic of conversation in the gaming industry for a while now but it is generally in reference to the consumer side of things. You very rarely hear about the developers who introduce their game through an early access stage. Well here's my rant about early access.

Slower development

While players may catch some bugs and report gameplay issues to you, you'll often find yourself spending more time responding to players and fixing issues that are only important in the moment. For example I very recently did a sale with chrono.gg. I was mid-way through the development of a fairly huge feature when I was notified that we were ready to go for this sale which would start in just about 12 hours.

This led to me having to make a side branch (a temporary version of the game) and grabbing an old build of the game just so we could get a bug-free build up for the sale. This ended up taking me upwards of 4 hours. Of course the sale was profitable and my time wasn't wasted but had we skipped early access, this would never have happened.

Over-expectant players

While most developers fully understand the point of early access the majority of gamers do not. If you wish to make your game available in early access you have to make sure that the only shortfalls of your game are content related. If a player feels they aren't playing a premium title they will most certainly refund the game and/or swear it off altogether.

Better or worse full release

Full release can mean big money or falling flat. Popularity, timing, and the product's price matter a lot. Having a bumpy early access can really hinder your transition into full release. Many games get horrible reviews (60% or lower) due to early access issues rather than bad gameplay. Even some popular early access games get overlooked when they transition into full release due to the fact that they already sold out their entire audience. Often full release is associated with a higher price and so this can be really bad for developers as well.

Why should you listen to me?

You don't have to take my advice but I've put out three titles into early access. Each one doing far better than the one before it. Though I'm still not a big shot by any means.