After the Games Gathering Conference and latest updates, we have decided to change our price policy. This will not affect our playtests before early access! They will still be free-to-play until EA is released. After early access launch at the end of this year, the game will cost $4.99.
Here's why:
- First of all, we're getting bigger than we expected. The project that was planned as an indie experiment is growing to be something unique in a big scale.
- Hiring volunteers is very risky. A few months ago, one of the “volunteer” coders simply stole the assets and blocked us :/. We don't know what he can do with it, because all assets are protected by Steam, but the situation is a little bit sad anyway, so we must be more careful and hire experienced and trustworthy people for money.
- Publishers and investors are only interested in premium/paid games. Free games are risky and it's hard to explain how we can “get money” with a free game through monetization, and we don't want to bring any form of “pay to win”.
- Lastly, anti cheat and cheaters. In a free game, that can easily go out of control, so a price wall can cover that and prevent “multi-accounts” and the likes.
In-game monetization is definitely harder to develop than simply having a Steam price. We know that some of you will be worried about it, but the price will be and will stay small. We'll cost like two cups of coffee. Before launch, we will publish a full gameplay trailer, with all mechanics, roles and features, to let YOU decide if we are worth buying.
Our Steam page will transform completely, because NOW we are REALLY ready to show something. Thank you all! Don't miss our playtest with new voice chat. Playtesting will be happening regularly until our early access launch.
Also, we will attend Steam's Ukrainian Game Festival! Find us in the horror section :3