Why Early Access?

“Our game is a tycoon simulation about making movies. Unlike in other tycoons, the player can create short animated movies during gameplay. It’s not just about the economy and numbers, but also about having the player create their own movies. We have plenty of base gameplay done already and an entire movie-making editor, but we are at a crossroads with two directions. One option is to lean heavily into the tycoon and simulation part of the game. The other is to focus more on the movie-making process, allowing the player to create and influence animated movies with characters precisely made for each role. This offers a different, creative gameplay experience, in contrast to the simulation aspect of our game.

We’ve made two demos in the past, but we can't release the full game content as a demo. We would like to release the full content of the game and engage with our players to see which part of the game resonates more with them. Will 95% of players prefer the simulation part of the game, with only 5% caring about the movie making? If so, we would need to create deeper simulation mechanics to improve our game. Or is it the other way around? Do 70% of players care about the characters and the movies? If that’s the case, then we need to focus more on customizations, narratives, and movie making, leaving the simulation aspect less complicated.

We would like to see what our players think, determine how many are leaning in each direction, and then continue development accordingly.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We will need a few months to gather and monitor which part of the game is preferred by the players and to implement what we learn.”

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

“For the tycoon simulation, we have a regular campaign game mode. For the creative part, we have a character creator and a movie editor. Depending on what we learn during early access, we would like to either improve the tycoon part of the game to have more in-depth simulation and challenges related to the economy or competing studios. On the other hand, if the movies themselves are more important to the players, we would shift the tycoon part of the game to focus more on the specific movies being made. Players would then be able to edit the movies, pick out costumes for the actors, and care more about the stars by working on their skills, fame, and well-being.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“For the tycoon simulation, we have a regular campaign game and a sandbox mode. For the creative part, we have a character creator and a movie editor. Depending on what we learn during early access, we would like to either improve the tycoon part of the game to have more in-depth simulation and challenges related to the economy or competing studios. On the other hand, if the movies themselves are more important to the players, we would shift the tycoon part of the game to focus more on the specific movies being made. This could include having players edit the movies, pick out costumes for the actors, and care more about the stars by working on their skills, fame, and well-being.

Of course, there are a bunch of smaller parts of the game that we would like to continually improve, such as the UI, animations, sounds, and effects. While we are at it, we can continue to add more general content to the game during early access, such as more costumes, sets, buildings, and props.”

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

“The price will not change during or after early access. We made sure that there is enough gameplay in various modes to justify the targeted price even in early access. We aim to improve the quality of some parts of the game and have the players influence which areas get improved the most. While more content will be added, it will not be significantly more.”

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

“We have our Steam community hub, but we also have a very active Discord community of about 400 people. There, we've received over 30 long threads of suggestions and feedback from our previous demos. Our primary platforms for community engagement are the Community hub, Discord, and Reddit. Additionally, one of our developers streamed some gameplay during the Next Fest, which was quite useful, and we plan to do that again.”