Hello again, and welcome to another Guile & Glory: Firstborn development blog!  It's a new year, and an exciting time for Guile & Glory, because it's finally time to start talking about our plans for early access and launch! There's a lot of information to come, but for this post, I'll aim to cover all the key information in a question and answer format.

When will Guile & Glory: Firstborn enter early access?

Guile & Glory: Firstborn will enter paid early access on itch.io on the 16th of February, 2019. This will be a small early access release, which we will build on in the coming weeks, with an eye to getting the game on Steam in the following month or two. 

Will the free pre-alpha receive any more updates before early access?

Yes! We will be releasing one update to the pre-alpha before early access goes live on itch.io. The exact size of the update remains to be seen, but our goal will be to offer a teaser of what to expect in the first weeks of early access. 

Why early access?

Going into development on Guile & Glory: Firstborn, we were actually pretty hesitant about the idea of early access. That changed when we first took the game to PAX Aus in 2016. The feedback we got in those three days was incredible, and helped us make the game so much better. That's the been the case every year since, and now early access offers us a great way to keep those channels of communication open as we work with our players to build the best version of Guile & Glory: Firstborn that we can. 

What can we expect from early access?

Basically, more of what we've already released in the free demos, but prettier, more polished, and rapidly evolving. That, and some long-awaited story content. We've been teasing hints about what's going on in Guile & Glory for years, and now you'll finally have the chance to start discovering the legend for yourself! 

How much will the early access of Guile & Glory: Firstborn cost?

We haven't finalised the figures yet, but I will post more info when we do. Essentially, our plan is to charge for the amount of content we have. We'll be pricing the game pretty low when we first launch on itch.io. The users who buy in this early are taking a risk on us, and we want to reward them for their support by offering the best price we can. 

 By the time we release on Steam, we're aiming to have a good deal more content, and as such, the price will be a little higher (although still lower than the launch price). When the Steam version releases, we'll also be releasing the same content on itch.io, and raising the price to match the Steam version.

 The good news for early adopters is that once you buy into early access on a platform, you get all updates on that platform, up to and including the launch version, at no additional cost. So, for example, if you buy into the February early access on itch.io, you will be able to download the full release version from itch.io when it's ready, without paying another dime.

I think that pretty much covers everything for now. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the 16th of February! Everyone on the Guile & Glory team is super excited to be moving towards the next phase of development, and we hope you'll join us for the wild ride ahead!

 Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions, feeback, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to hit us up on Twitter @elston_studios!