Rebuild 3: Steam Early Access on May 16

Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville is set to go live on Steam early access next Friday. That means the beta’s about to begin and you can all play it! I’ve been waiting for this day for about, let me see… about fourteen months!

Beta? Why isn’t the game finished yet?

Lovely new mission icons for the many-many things you can send survivors to do
Lovely new mission icons for the things you can send survivors to do,
several of which were not, *ahem*, exactly in the original design doc

Yes, it’s been longer than expected, and I’m cramming more content into this game than I imagined when I first set out. But I was playtesting Rebuild 1 and 2 last month for the Survivalist Edition bonus content, and was shocked at how clumsy and simple both games seem compared to Gangs of Deadsville. This is, like, a real game we’re making here.

For Early Access launch I’ve decided to raise the price of the game from $10 to $15. So turns out all y’all pre-order-ers got a good deal. One more missed marketing opportunity on Rebuild’s road to success.

Okay, so why early access?

Steam logo

Just ask my awesome alpha testers. I’ve been sending them monthly builds since last November, and their feedback has affected everything from the UI to difficulty balancing, making me rethink survivor skills and zombie attacks. They’re even helping us write random events. Let me tell you as soon as I have a spare minute I want to add Steam Workshop stuff so you can mod the game.

There will also be a direct-download version for Kickstarter backers and anyone who preorders through the official site, and an Android beta build later this month. But Steam’s a more public, mainstream store, and I’ve found the Early Access community surprisingly cool and forgiving with other beta games I’ve played.

I’ve been developing this game in public since the beginning, and though it’s been extra work (my stuffed inbox for instance), the motivation alone has been worth it.

Speaking of that inbox…

Community Managementarianism

I do need some help in this department, since I’m about to go from hundreds of playtesters to thousands. So I’m bringing on my good friend Jack Shirai (@Roshirai) as Northway Games’ new community manager. He’ll be haunting the forums as Roshirai, posting here about Rebuild’s development, and taking my place at all the tedious political luncheons that we game developers are often forced to attend.

One more week to go. Wish us luck!

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13 thoughts on “Rebuild 3: Steam Early Access on May 16

  1. I’m so excited!, I just can’t hide it!, seriously. I get to play this game in beta today ^_^ this game may need a health warning, when it’s released I may explode…. Looking forward to your great work so far! :D

  2. I have been hoping for a rebuild 3 for over a year now. When I heard about the kickstarter I flipped. Unfortunately I couldn’t back it then, but I’ve been waiting for the beta release date, checking this site every day. And now today’s the day. I get to finally buy it on steam! So freaking excited Sarah. You got me hooked on zombie games and I can’t find any as good as yours in terms of replay factor, now I get to wallow in gangs of deadsville!!! BTW I even came across a game element I missed in rebuild 2 the other day. I went down the path of religion and ended up with almost 40 survivors walking out into the city to join their zombie brethren. Hilariously brilliant.

  3. Hello, Can I have that or plat it for free, and where is the link? ( Yestersday I search in google and don’t find it at 23.00 ) Thanks

  4. Hey Sarah (and team) I cycled like a banshee home from work this evening, and I’m now downloading the game. I feel like the kid running down the stairs on Christmas morning!

  5. Hi there,. Awesome work guys,. Is the new version of rebuild maded using flash? If not why you adopt a different tecnology,. Thanks

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