game dev twitter! I'm at a bit of a crossroad

should I release Flowstorm on early access, even though it's very lacking in content?

(thread for more info/concerns I have)

I've been developing Flowstorm while streaming for a long time now. many people ask for the game, to alpha test or generally try it out!

I've been giving steam keys to those who donate or support me on patreon at a specific tier, but, it's a bit of a clunky system!

on top of that - it's kinda messy to just, I don't know, point someone to the game?

because it's on steam, yet not publicly, so there's no like, public landing page with info and screenshots etc, and I think steam would be a really good place for that!

so all of those are the good things!

as for my concerns - I worry that the game will be sort of soft-released when early access hits, and that it might have its one and only marketing push *and* active playerbase at that moment, rather than that happening at the real 1.0 release

but at the same time - maybe I'm being too pessimistic? is this really how communities develop over time?

I also think/hope this is mostly an issue if you manage to capture a huge % of your potential audience, but not so much if it's out mostly under the radar. right?

I don't know. I'd love to hear from devs experienced with early access! other opinions are welcome too but it'd be neat with some data, and not just opinions~

does anyone have any experience with this type of setup, or otherwise have thoughts on what is/isn't a good idea?