What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access? “We’re a team that likes to build our games with our community. We have been working on Shardbound for about 2 years, 6 months of which has been with an active community giving us constant feedback on weekly updates. We value quick iteration and player validation at every turn, and Early Access brings us a bigger population of players to help us on that journey.



Our game is incomplete in a lot of ways. While the core gameplay has been iterated on substantially and has a level of polish we’re quite happy with, our player progression systems and the store are at a basic version 1, and many of our units and spells use placeholder art. We hope to flesh out these areas of our game in Early Access while continuing to develop the game with our community.” Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access? “We would like to launch out of Early Access before the end of the 2017. Since it is our goal to have all of our units and spells with full art before launching, securing additional investments may allow us to move more quickly.” How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version? “For us to be happy about leaving early access, we would like to sufficiently iterate on and enhance the Shardfall system, player progression, and Twitch integration features. We also intend to identify a base set of competitive features such as Ranked Play and a true spectator mode. Our community will be integral in helping us understand the scope of this work.



Lastly, a decent portion of our units and spells use placeholder art. To be happy about leaving Early Access, we’d like to ensure all of their Models, Animations, and VFX are in the game.” What is the current state of the Early Access version? “The core 1-on-1 PvP game is fully playable, including our first 6 Heroes and all 275 units and spells that we believe comprise our core content set.



Players can complete quests on Shardfalls to earn currency and cards, either with their default Outpost or a Noble House created with their friends. Players who would like to accumulate cards more quickly can directly purchase boxes in the Store.” Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access? “Our game launches onto Early Access free-to-play with the ability to purchase boxes which contain units and spells if a player would like to complete their collection more quickly. Part of our reason for being in Early Access is to refine our Store design and potentially add new optional experiences for players to access with earned currency or real money. The prices of such items are certainly subject to change during Early Access, and we pledge to always do right by the players who support us.” How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process? “We plan to be as engaged with our Early Access community as we have been with our Pre-Alpha community to date: chatting and working together on Discord, keeping each other up to date on the Shardbound Reddit, reviewing gameplay videos, and helping fansite builders in any way we can.



You can also rest assured that we’re the kind of people who will read and obsess over every review our players post, and have the experience to know how to work with critical feedback.”