Early Access: Not all changes are great for everyone

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about one of the major risks when it comes to playing an Early Access version of a computer game: the game can get changed in a way that does not match the players‘ interests.

Playing an Early Access version of a computer game can provide a gameplay experience that is completely different from the gameplay of a final release version. This is mostly due to the fact that those computer games are still in development and hence periodically receive new game mechanics and balance changes. Depending on the features that are added with a particular update, the whole gameplay experience of a game might change and provide players with new ways of interacting with the game and/or new challenges to overcome. As a result, players of Early Access games often experience a higher playtime than players of a final release version.

However, major development steps might also negatively affect the gameplay experience of long-term players who are playing the game since the beginning of its Early Access phase. This mostly is the case when new game mechanics which drastically change a particular aspect of the game are added.

Skills in The Long Dark

For instance, before the „survival“ skills were implemented in The Long Dark, players just increased an activity’s chances of success each time they performed this activity. This simplistic experience system gave players the feeling of self-improvement without affecting the gameplay too much. With the new skill system in place, players are gaining experience for various skills that unlock powerful abilities once a new skill level is reached. Such a skill system is a common game mechanic in many role-playing games (RPG) that focus a lot on the development and specialization of a player’s avatar. However, not all players enjoy the aspect of experience-based character advancements and highly preferred the simplistic approach. As a result of this, the implementation of the new system has negatively impacted the gameplay experience of some seasoned players.

In the end, that is a risk players must accept when they start to play an Early Access version of a computer game. Depending on the stage of the development, major game mechanics and general design ideas might have not been implemented yet thus providing a different experience than ultimately intended by the developers. However, although it is impossible to satisfy every player type, game developers need to listen to their community when they launch an Early Access version and sometimes even rethink certain design choices. Ultimately, it is the developer’s game and hence they have the final call in which direction the development goes.