Not-so-Dead Cells: Why maintaining an archive of your game is good for both you and your players

Which Dead Cells is the real Dead Cells? Is it the Dead Cells we here at Motion Twin released on Steam Early Access back in May 2017, a rough sketch of the game to come? Is it Dead Cells as it existed on August 6, 2018, when we celebrated our 1.0 release? Is it the Dead Cells that exists today, more than a year after that so-called “finished” version?

Of course, as artists we like to think the latest version is always the greatest. The truth is, though, that if you asked a dozen of our players, you’d get a dozen different answers — and they’re all correct. When you work on a game that evolves as Dead Cells has, whether through Early Access or post-release, it never has a definitive version. Not really.