Johnny has been in early access for about six months now. During this time we've received some great feedback from you guys. We've reworked, tweaked and altered many things based on the things we've heard the Early Access players comment. This has helped us take some large steps forward, and closer to the final, finished version of the game.
Thanks to the Early Access model, we've been able to identify and fix many potential problems early on, as well as discover what players have particularly enjoyed in Johnny, so we can emphasize those elements in the future. The community feedback also makes it very clear which bugs are the highest priority to you, so we know to tackle those first (*cough* shooting at trees *cough*).
One of the first recurring comments during the first Early Access level was the brief length of the game relative to the price tag. Many felt that it should be longer for what we were asking, and we agreed. We've since lowered the price and focused on releasing more playable content, putting a priority on level development over gameplay development and most other things. Now that the fourth level, the Station, is out, we are content with the amount of time you can expect from Johnny at this stage of development. This means we can focus more of our efforts into improving the gameplay again - new spells coming soon!
We do want to keep our players happy, so we've been aiming to release an update every month or two. So far we've been able to stick to our schedules, even though something unexpected seems to be lurking around every time a release is getting closer. But we've learned we should rather cut some features from the release and postpone them to the polishing stage of development, than keep delaying the new content for players.
While having a tight update schedule definitely adds more pressure to the development team, and we can't always give all the levels the love we want to before release, it has allowed us to iterate things like the core combat mechanics over and over, slowly creating the gameplay experience we want it to be. That experience should be a real challenge, a learning curve that keeps you on the edge of your seat until you beat that one boss, and a rewarding feel of success when you do. We want you to finish the game, but we want you to work for it. How do you think we've succeeded so far?
-Eelis Aaltonen, Game Lead
