Why Early Access?

“I Write Games Not Tragedies is Studio Wife's first game. It came out of the dev's (Vicky Wong and Julia Mascetti)'s final project for our MA in Game Design. We already love what we have produced and are so happy to connect with people who have played our game and hear their feedback.

We are proud of what we have done so far but we are still baby devs and we think we can do more. We want to give our community the chance to share their thoughts and help make I Write Games Not Tragedies even better, and we think Early Access is a great way to do that.

Early Access players, you can have your say in how you want the 1.0 version of the game to take shape! Please share your feedback on the discussion boards, or reach out to Studio Wife via social media.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We are planning for I Write Games Not Tragedies to be in Early Access for approximately 1-2 months.

We plan to release our Early Access version in February 2025, shortly after we show our game at Taipei Game Show in late January 2025. We hope to release 1.0 in March 2025.”

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

“We have many exciting plans for 1.0 (and beyond!) including:

• Implementing more voice acting.
  
• A more flexible save system and scene selection.
  
• Improved tutorials, music and narrative levels based on the feedback we receive.
  
• Most excitingly, additional music and narrative levels!!

We hope to exhibit the game in a Japanese game show in 2024 and so are also planning to include a Japanese translation if this comes to pass!”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version is already a working game with a defined art style, innovative music level mechanics and a complete narrative. More specifically, the game includes:

• Two "monologue" levels with voice acting.
  
• Four narrative levels with player agency and dialogue choices.
  
• Three music levels where the player can hit the lyrics to the beat, sing along and scream into the microphone to get a high score!
  
• The option to play in story mode (where you play the whole game, including story levels) and music mode (where you pick your favourite music level).

We want to use Early Access to build on this strong foundation to create an expanded game for the 1.0 version that is even better!”

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

“Yes. We plan to raise the price by 25-33% when we leave early access.”

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

“We would like to give the community the opportunity to feed back and let us know what they liked and didn't like about the Early Access version, and what they think can be improved upon for 1.0. We are particularly interested in knowing how clear you find the tutorials, given that there are some unusual mechanics in the game. We would also like to know whether you feel that the game needs the additional music and story level we have planned out or whether it feels complete as is.

All this being said, please feel free to share any thoughts at all you have on the game with us (though be kind, we're still new to this!).

Please make use of the discussion boards or reach out to Studio Wife via social media!

Thanks so much,
Vicky and Julia”