Soon, STARDROP will be a part of the Early Access crowd. The stigma that surrounds Early Access games is not something that I am particularly happy with but at the same time I can fully understand why it exists.
People have blamed Valve for the program and to an extent I also can understand and agree with these individuals. And as I'm looking at what Valve has been up to lately, trying to update/fix the Steam store one word pops up a whole lot and it's the one word Valve seems to be ignoring the most. Be it Early Access or Greenlight, the one major absence in all of these are: curation.
Greenlight started being curated at first and when that stopped, well, we can all see what has come of it. Early Access never has been curated and developers have run with it. There are no penalties in place if a developer stays in Early Access seemingly forever (Day Z comes to mind). If Valve only curated these programs I bet you we wouldn't be in this mess.
Que: STARDROP. I am so incredibly aware of the many things gamers have communicated over the years that it's been a tough decision to decide to let STARDROP release in Early Access. But my view is the same as it was with Kickstarter: Show people that some games will do it properly.
Kickstarter much like Early Access can provide developers a chance to grow their audience and also, to gain monetary funds to further development. I know that the community surrounding STARDROP, especially those that have been around for a while, have seen the strides the game has made. The progress that the game has gone through. I believe that if you keep true to your word people will see your intentions.
A lot of people also seem to forget the good games that came out of Early Access. Developers that kept their word, that grew a connection with the community and that listened. I hope that I can establish a similar connection with my own community and give them a polished product. That they can look back and say: These devs listened. They worked hard and their updates always brought something new and fresh to the table.
And to help further drive the point home as to what Early Access can do for smaller developers is this:
There's a lot more I could talk about but for now this will suffice. Thank you for reading and take care.
Joure