Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops:
- Why Early Access?
“We’ve been working on Hardspace: Shipbreaker for many years already, but we know we’re just scratching the surface in terms of the potential and promise this new genre and style of game holds. We’re not even close to done in terms of features, gameplay ideas, storytelling, and much more – why not give the game the time it needs, in combination with community support?
On that note, we know there are an almost infinite number of options in terms of where we take this game, and which we do first. We want your help to determine that – what makes you most excited? What most needs fixed? Which major features should be next on the inclusion list? We’ll regularly be asking you these questions to drive development in the correct direction and making Hardspace: Shipbreaker the absolute best game it can be.”
- Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“We have a rough plan for a year of development beginning in Summer 2020. However, game development is a long, difficult, and massively fun process that can easily extend beyond plans once you involve the excellent ideas of a big community. We’ll decide down the line exactly how much game we consider to be the 1.0 version, but we’d rather stay in Early Access for as long as needed than come out early to hit an imaginary window we’ve set for ourselves.”
- How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
“Here’s a brief rundown of our basic plans to expand on the above:
- A full campaign to reach debt $0 and make your way to the stars. We estimate it to be around 40+h.
- Unlimited sandbox mode fun thanks to procedurally generated ships
- Various new ship categories increasing in scale
- More missions and task types
- Leaderboards and daily challenges to compare yourself against other players
- Modding support to design your own ships and challenges
- Loads of balancing, bug fixing, quality of life tweaks, and anything else we – and you – can come up with.”
- What is the current state of the Early Access version?
“The Early Access launch version of Hardspace: Shipbreaker will feature:
- Act 1 of the campaign, featuring 15+ hours of unique gameplay
- Hundreds of additional hours of content available through the freeform sandbox mode and additional Act 1 tasks
- Multiple upgradeable salvaging tools and suit parts
- Two categories of spaceship to break apart
- 999,999,999 credits in debt to pay back”
- Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“As we add content to the game we will re-evaluate our pricing scheme – the timing and scale of such will depend on the rate of large updates and how much value we believe they bring to players.”
- How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“In every way possible! Between ourselves at Blackbird Interactive and publishers Focus Home Interactive, we’re well equipped to take feedback on Discord , forums , social media , and everywhere else you might want to contact us. This isn’t anyone’s first rodeo in game development, and we’re confident we’ll be able to communicate with you easily and regularly throughout. We’ll also be hosting regular livestreams, conducting AMAs, and other community initiatives as we head towards launch.
More specifically, we’ll be looking into the possibility of starting a ‘beta’ branch for testing and community feedback as we get deeper into development. As the community grows, we’ll determine the best places to gather feedback and decent timescales on which to develop and implement it. In the early days we’re most looking forward to simply seeing how people play the game and what the sticking points are.
We hope players will enjoy the game as much as we enjoy making it!”
