The Balance Between Press Demos and Spoilers

First and foremost, and this is going to sound a little bit cheesy and maybe even a little bit phony, but believe me when I say this is sincere: I feel a tremendous responsibility not to let you down. I feel humbled by you and everyone else who has been looking forward to Axiom Verge and relishing the idea of getting your hands on the game. As you’ve probably heard a few times, I’ve been working on this during evenings and weekends for almost 5 years now. Every time I was tired after work and just wanted to turn my brain off and watch TV or something, I fought the urge and got back to working on the game. When I wanted to unwind on the weekends, I just kept working on the game. And I probably could have kept doing that for another few years if it weren’t for you and others like you who gave me the courage to quit my job and work on this full-time so I can actually finish it and get it out there. I don’t have a ton of savings, and what I do have I’m burning through quickly, but I feel confident I’ll be able to make it to the finish line. I know, indie cliché that you’ve heard a million times, but it’s my current reality. And it’s because of people like you that I feel like this is a risk worth taking.

But here’s another reality – for every person like you, there are probably a thousand other people who have never even heard of Axiom Verge. People who I think would actually really like it if they heard about it. That’s not really due to any lack of trying to get the word out or anything, it’s just the nature of the business and how easy it is to get lost among a sea of new and upcoming indie games. I’m hoping that each time I release a little bit more of the game is another opportunity for people to find out about it. (And any opportunity you have to help spread the word would be very much appreciated!) I think the Axiom Verge universe has enough depth to support a series of games, but for that to happen, the first one needs to do well enough that I can continue working on it as a full time job.

The first build we're sending out is just a very small slice.

As a die-hard fan of the genre myself, believe me when I say I’m extremely sensitive to the concern that all of the secrets will be spoiled before it’s released. I’m only going to be releasing a little bit more of the game each time, pulling back the curtain ever so gradually between now and launch. By launch time, I’ll probably have revealed about 20-25% of the game. That means even if you watch everything, there will still be another 75-80% of the game that you won’t have seen. And if you’re worried about spoilers and want to go into it fresh, I would encourage you just to avoid watching any of the Let’s Plays. Launch will be coming soon enough, so hopefully it won’t be too hard to avoid!

So again, I really want to thank you for caring so much about Axiom Verge that you want to avoid having the experience spoiled. You’re exactly who I’m making the game for.