Why Early Access?

“As a mechanically deep game, Hexiv development has benefited greatly from community feedback over the years during development. Player feedback is core to my design workflow and doing Early Access lets me increase the amount of feedback and thus more rapidly improve the game. Hexiv is by nature a game with many unique combinations of mechanics that is difficult for a small group of testers to fully explore. Having a larger set of community feedback will allow me to make better design choices to properly polish the game.

I have been working as a solo developer on Hexiv for 5 years, with the last two years mostly full time. Even if Hexiv underperforms my expectations, Early Access will help sustain me and enable me to keep my time focused on development.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“I'm aiming for Early Access to last about 2 years. The first half will be focused on a variety of smaller content updates as well as making a 2nd civilization deck. The second half I want to focus on preparing a large content update for the 1.0 release!”

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

“I'm hoping for the full version to make 2 additional playable civilizations, each with a different set of cards and different mechanics. Each would follow the same core gameplay of traversing the planet south to reach the equator, but card mechanics and the way resources function would vary.

Other content updates, likely released in the first half of Early Access, might include new features such as weather events, more island biome diversity, and unique island island landmarks. I have lots of ideas and will use community feedback to help shape my decisions on which ones to prioritize.

I'd also like to add build options for Mac + Linux, support for non-English languages, and other features which improve accessibility to allow more users to enjoy Hexiv.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Hexiv is already an exciting game with a ton of replayability! I have a growing community of testers that have been actively playing the alpha for the last two years. They have voluntarily played for dozens of hours, with the most enthusiastic player already clocking 100+ hours of playtime! There is currently around 100 different upgradeable cards and artifacts, many with unique behavior and mechanics. You can also unlock a 13 crew members each with their own passive feature and quest you can complete for their unique crew artifact. Combined with 6 different Landers, the run diversity is quite large, with numerous viable build paths and strategies.

That being said there is have lots of ideas for new content to work on during EA. Expect the occasional bug (report them please!) and enjoy seeing how Hexiv will change and grow with your feedback!”

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

“Yes. I plan to have two small price increases. The first about half way through early access for a large mid-EA content patch, then the second price bump for full 1.0 release.”

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

“Community testers have been a core part of the development of Hexiv since the beginning and player feedback will continue to be a core part of how I prioritize work during Early Access. You can get access early to new content and decks that are in progress and help me iterate on design by playing the beta branch. I will also be releasing regular dev blog updates.

The best place to chat about development is on the community discord server! We have dedicated channels for posting feedback & bugs, bragging about you run, or just posting about cool space/science/sci-fi stuff! I am active there and check it daily, although I can't promise to respond to every message if it gets super busy! You can also reach me on X, and I will do my best to keep up with the Steam community forums if you prefer posting feedback there.”