In the last decade or so - as long as Early Access exists - people seem to have varying expectations from Early Access, so I may just take to opportunity and descrobe what I define as Early Access and also what that means for Exipelago.
Early Access - in its crude definition - means, that a game is not finished. Simple as that. It's still in the process of development. During it's lifetime an Early Access Release will give you the opportunity to play the game while it's in an unfinished state. An Alpha State. Yes, Alpha. A Beta Release would mean the Game is at least Feature Complete. Exipelago is not an Beta Release. It's an Alpha Release and Early Access is an option for those who are interested to see the several stages the game will go through while it grows. If you expect a finished game as Early Access, I am sorry, but I tried my best to make this fact very clear everywhere.
A benefit of participating in Early Access is, that you can see features while they get established. You can play them and you can give feedback about how you like them. You can't do that in a Beta Release as it's already done. It's an opportunity for players to be part of what will eventually become the end product. I care about your opinion in this regard and that's why Early Access of Exipelago is an option in the first place. An Option which does not involve any extra costs for the player.
In case you seek for other ways to support the games development, look here.
Early Access - in its crude definition - means, that a game is not finished. Simple as that. It's still in the process of development. During it's lifetime an Early Access Release will give you the opportunity to play the game while it's in an unfinished state. An Alpha State. Yes, Alpha. A Beta Release would mean the Game is at least Feature Complete. Exipelago is not an Beta Release. It's an Alpha Release and Early Access is an option for those who are interested to see the several stages the game will go through while it grows. If you expect a finished game as Early Access, I am sorry, but I tried my best to make this fact very clear everywhere.
A benefit of participating in Early Access is, that you can see features while they get established. You can play them and you can give feedback about how you like them. You can't do that in a Beta Release as it's already done. It's an opportunity for players to be part of what will eventually become the end product. I care about your opinion in this regard and that's why Early Access of Exipelago is an option in the first place. An Option which does not involve any extra costs for the player.
Reasons why you should NOT buy into Early Access:
- You want a finished game
- You want a game that only needs a bit of polish
- You want a Beta Version
Reasons why you SHOULD buy into Early Access
- You like the concept and wanna enjoy every change
- You want to participate into feature development
- You want to support development
- You want to buy it know before any circumstances will make it more expensive
- You enjoy building villages
In case you seek for other ways to support the games development, look here.