Steam Early Access guidelines have changed

Valve has posted new guidelines for Early Access games on Steam, with the company clearly looking to tweak the system so as to make it more transparent in the future.

Early Access is an excellent opportunity for developers to engage with their communities, but more importantly it's a good chance for gamers to get involved with the development of games that they're interested in (a good example of Early Access done right would be Nuclear Throne by Vlambeer).

It's not a perfect system, and sometimes games don't get finished, or they get finished but don't come equipped with the features that developers promise their prospective customers in exchange for their investment of time and money. Valve wants developers to start being more honest/realistic when marketing their unfinished games (and this includes making sure that when selling a key for a game away from Steam they disclose that it's in Early Access).

As outlined by Giant Bomb, there's now a much clearer definition of what Early Access should be. Instead of being a chance for developers to fund their ongoing projects (something that perhaps is better done on Kickstarter), it should instead be an opportunity for developers to engage with their audience and involve them in the development process.

The new guidelines are as follows:

"Don't launch in Early Access if you can't afford to develop with very few or no sales.

There is no guarantee that your game will sell as many units as you anticipate. If you are counting on selling a specific number of units to survive and complete your game, then you need to think carefully about what it would mean for you or your team if you don't sell that many units. Are you willing to continue developing the game without any sales? Are you willing to seek other forms of investment?

Make sure you set expectations properly everywhere you talk about your game.

For example, if you know your updates during Early Access will break save files or make the customer start over with building something, make sure you say that up front. And say this everywhere you sell your Steam keys.

Don't launch in Early Access without a playable game.

If you have a tech demo, but not much gameplay yet, then it's probably too early to launch in Early Access. If you are trying to test out a concept and haven't yet figured out what players are going to do in your game that makes it fun, then it's probably too early. You might want to start by giving out keys to select fans and getting input from a smaller and focused group of users before you post your title to Early Access. At a bare minimum, you will need a video that shows in-game gameplay of what it looks like to play the game. Even if you are asking customers for feedback on changing the gameplay, customers need something to start with in order to give informed feedback and suggestions.

Don't launch in Early Access if you are done with development.

If you have all your gameplay defined already and are just looking for final bug testing, then Early Access isn't the right place for that. You'll probably just want to send out some keys to fans or do more internal playtesting. Early Access is intended as a place where customers can have impact on the game."

Early Access, when it's done properly, is a good thing. It's educational, it brings together developers and their communities, and it means that games are better than they would be without this kind of crowd support.

However, there's always a risk when buying something that isn't finished, and no amount of guideline tweaking is going to change that. At least Valve are asking developers to take more responsibility for the way they market these work-in-progress titles, and for them to be more realistic with what they offer prospective players. Hopefully that'll lead to less disappointed gamers from here on in.