Open Development
and Beyond For their debut game, Darewise is going beyond early access to embrace open development. MCV/DEVELOP looks at the opportunities and challenges presented by being as transparent as possible with your nascent community
T
he concept of the early access game has become something of an industry staple over the last few years. Once an exciting new trend that changed how we viewed development, it’s now commonly used in even some of the biggest upcoming games. And yet companies such as Darewise, founded by ex-Ubisoft developers, are choosing to skip early access entirely, in favour of ‘open development’, letting players in even earlier and making them a part of the process – with a real influence on the game’s direction. Darewise believes that open development is the future for new studios with new IPs. That’s why they currently have thousands of players testing the pre-alpha version of their first game, Life Beyond. Described as “the next-gen social MMO,”
Life Beyond is a non-violent game, with a specific focus on teamwork and player choice. To find out more about open development, we sat down on Zoom with Darewise co-founders Benjamin Charbit and Samuel Kahn. SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Before we can get to the game itself of course, one thing needs to be made clear. What exactly is the difference between plain-old early access and Darewise’s open development? “I think it’s really about when you start showing the game to the player,” says Charbit. “If you think about early access, usually you show something that is basically your concept as it will be. Whereas in our case we are being very explicit and saying ‘Hey, we’re not making any promises. What we’re
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