The Idea of early Access.

Early access for games has been a fairly new concept in gaming. This usually means a game being developed and you are supporting it with funds while testing out what they have so far. This is great for smaller companies or individuals to get their game up and running. Steam has a category for early access games. They do have rules for early access games such as first has to be playable. Early access is more of a playable feature of an unfinished product getting them closer to the finished product. Some early access games can be free than end up being paid for on initial release or vice versa. Fortnite is a prime example of an early access game. The game has gone through many changes from the start. I downloaded the battle royale game when it first released and played every since. Another game was player unknown battlegrounds. That game has changed a lot every since it started but at the same time not a lot. It's weird. Supporting early access games is cool but it has the chance to not get developed such as a game I played called amazing eternals great game made by digital extremes.

Business side

Yin-Poole, Wesley. “Valve Tightens Steam Early Access Rules for Developers.” Eurogamer.net, www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-21-valve-tightens-steam-early-access-rules-for-developers.

This article explains guidelines similar to steam that explains what is early access. The first is make sure you can still develop the game with little to no sales. The second is make sure you let your audience know whats going on with updates as much as possible. Make sure you have a playable game which is the most important part because plays will get mad ☺. Lastly the article states that if the game is done don't launch it in the early access part. I know some games who abuse early access and get more money and say that they are improving it but a couple months later the game is almost the game and developing seemed to be no difference. This goes for paid demos. This falls in the same category.

Kaiser, Rowan. “Early Access Exposes the Lie That the Best Games Should, or Even Can, Be Finished.” Polygon, Polygon, 24 Jan. 2014, www.polygon.com/2014/1/24/5338478/early-access-exposes-the-lie-that-the-best-games-should-or-even-can.

This article as is should be goes into depth on the difference between unfinished games. There is two definitions a game you can't necessarily beat like minecraft and the other games actually not complete. A lot of early access games end up almost being finished and sees play if it gets a lot of publicity and others get shot down. This also explains what is considered finished because it can be hard to tell and you always want to add more. As a great teacher once said "a writing is never finished" This could be said for all games. This is why mods are created.

Discovery

1. Steam - social gaming website to buy or sell gaming products

2. Mods- to modify a game

Observation & Reflection

I think early access is a great way for companies to get there game improving and going to the right direction for being a complete game. There are some abuses for this of course like games being released a week early for more money. The game is the same just get to wait less. Maybe we gained less patience over the years since everything is so fast in our world. I think we should have more games who need help in early access rather than exploiting the fact that the game is "unfinished" for more money. I hope I can make a game later on with early access being the start of my success. I find it great that the community helps support a possible great game with just a little push.