Why Early Access?

“Dodgeball Dojo is currently distributed on iOS and Android as a free-to-play game and soft launched in seven regions with several thousand downloads and rated 4.6-stars across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. Our mobile-first approach focused on establishing a meaningful user base so that we could evaluate not only our unit metrics, but also assess our player onboarding and economy balancing. In the same breath, we've taken advantage of this soft launch period by responding to 100% of our player reviews, customer care tickets, and social media comments/DM's in each of those regions. Synthesizing player feedback will help our development team further refine a first-of-its-kind casual core title where players can enjoy a familiar Big 2 loop and a core meta where we're testing players' abilities to collect anime characters, stadium decor, and manga episodes. Likewise, giving Early Access to players on Steam is our opportunity to listen (and respond) to player feedback in the final few months before we fully release Dodgeball Dojo!”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We plan on launching Dodgeball Dojo globally in celebration of the Lunar New Year: January 29th, 2025. Our game reflects an appreciation of an East meets West culture, so launching on a holiday celebrated around the world is symbolic for both the game and our team. [Plus, launching between the year of the dragon and the year of the snake is just cool!] Early Access on Steam would thus be about three months long which should give our teams opportunities to ingest player feedback, and enough lead time to deliver on constructive criticism. We're also super excited about Steam's upcoming Autumn Sale (November 27th to December 4th) and Winter Sale (December 19th to January 2nd) during which times we hope to be testing limited time offers in the game!”

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

“The full version is planned to have substantially more unlockable items such as Stadiums, Athletes, Spirit Pets, Stadium Decor, Private Parties, Guilds, and Manga Episodes. Effectively, this means that the full version is intended to empower players with 3D environments, more characters, decor item system, community building, and narrative content (none of which is currently in our Early Access version).”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Presently, Dodgeball Dojo is being treated as a live operations title on iOS and Android (and we'd respect Steam players with the same utmost responsibility). This means Early Access already has a fun game loop, core meta mechanics, as well as polished onboarding. For Steam users who want to see how robust our Early Access version is, please check out the "About This Game" section to learn more!”

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

“No, Dodgeball Dojo will not be priced differently during or after Early Access. It is free-to-download, and we do not intend to alter our in-app purchase microtransactions. If invited by Steam, we would love to participate in their upcoming Autumn and Winter Sales at which time we would give all users access to limited time offers in the game.”

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

“As we have done with our mobile version of Dodgeball Dojo, we will engage with our players in direct conversations in every channel we have a presence including Steam. We will reply to reviews in the store, respond to comments/DM's when they reach out to us over social media, directly respond over Discord, and communicate in our customer experience channels. Our team tries to hold itself to fast response times (usually within one day) so that players know we're doing our best to carry a conversation with them.”