Norwegian developer Encircle Games, member of the Hamar Game Collective, is preparing for an upcoming beta test of their debut game, Corroded. A closed beta is planned for spring next year, and the signup for the beta is already live.
CEO and programmer at Encircle Games, Siw Espeland.
“Since Corroded is an online game, building a community will be just as important as getting user feedback and finding bugs during the beta. The work with community building has already started, as we need enough players when the beta starts. Balancing will also be important, as this is a competitive game”, says CEO and programmer at Encircle Games, Siw Espeland.
Showing off their game at expos like SpillExpo and The Gathering has helped spread awareness about their project and will hopefully bring people to the beta-test, Espeland continues to explain:
“In addition to showing off the game at expos, we have a group of alpha-testers who plays the game once a month. That way we have eradicated a lot of bugs, and built a tiny group of fans. We also use tools to analyse usage and other details with every player. The road towards the beta will be to test the game more frequently, and keep working to expand the already growing community”.
So far, the development of Corroded goes according to plan, says the Encircle CEO. If the six person strong team can stick to the scheduled plan, the closed beta will go live in the spring of 2016, and the game will go into early access sometime during the summer. A release date is yet to be decided, according to Espeland.
Screenshot from Corroded.
“Game developing is so much more than just creating a game. Besides the development itself, there’s networking, company administration and community building. It doesn’t matter how good the game you’re creating if nobody has heard about it. We have also learned that game development is time consuming. Even though we are on schedule, we have put in much more hours of work than expected.
Corroded is an arena brawler heavily inspired by the warlocks mod from Warcraft 3, with some mix-ups focusing more on speed and a more compact skill system giving it a more arcade like feel. Another big feature is the dynamic arenas that changes over the course of each match. Encircle Games recently won 50.000 NOK in an entrepreneur award.
