Why Early Access?

“Multiplayer games are about connecting you with other players, and to do that properly we need to be connected to you as well. How else will we know what you enjoy, and what you don't?

Primarily, we would like our final release to require a fair bit more environmental randomization. we need to test what we have to make sure it works before we add a lot more of it.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Terrorbytes already feels like a polished product, so a year or less is the current plan, especially if players are happy with the formula. However, if players are really connecting with the early access process and we're finding ourselves adding a lot of content, our timeline can certainly expand!”

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

“Primarily, we hope to add more content. Terrorbytes largely involves exploring mazes, encountering hazards and obstacles, and using items and upgrades to avoid these hazards. The more of that content there is, the more it creates in players a sense of not knowing what's around the next corner, or how to react to it. That feeling is core to this game.

However, we imagine that community feedback will aid with general polish as well, and perhaps even lead to unforeseen structural changes!

Lastly, we hope to implement a story that generally revolves around players picking up and watching "holotapes." Those holotapes explain a bit about the virus, its motivations, what happened in the arcade, and what the young protagonists plan to do about it, exactly, in order to escape. We hope to add personality to the kids by providing lots of opportunities for them to voice little opinions and respond to one another in these story moments. The back end for this system is built; it's currently a matter of creating content for it. Finally, we would like an end game as well, that sees the kids escape the arcade machine, if, of course, players can do something special to make it happen.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Terrorbytes in its current state is well polished and can be enjoyed as a more-or-less complete experience (minus the story). That means players can start a game, connect with their friends, make progress, buy and use items, die and be revived, and everything that is needed for the core gameplay loop to function. One major exception is our story; only one holotape exists currently, which provides an introduction to the game and sets player goals.

In its current form, Terrorbytes has no positive ending - players can play for a long while, as their collection quota increases until they eventually fail. Also, while we believe there is enough content for many hours of novel and exciting play, we would very much like to create more content over time. We currently have:

• 8 distinct environmental tilesets
  
• 2 major region-locked anomalous monsters (in addition to Ms Croak-Man, of course)
  
• 4 anomalous hostile entities that spawn somewhat randomly
  
• 5 Equippable items
  
• 4 Map Room upgrades.

We would like to increase the amount of each of these features, but for a start, there should be a lot for players to do.”

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

“Since our current plan is that we would like to add more content, polish, and story for a final release, we intend on increasing the price as well. Although we don't imagine the price will increase tremendously.”

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

“We hope to be as transparent as possible, sharing our plans on the Steam forum, and responding to suggestions and critiques. No good game is designed by committee, but no good game is built without feedback.”