Seasons greetings from the ODS Crew!
With the world in a tizzy getting a handle on global health affairs, game developers everywhere were also met with new obstacles in the creation of their games. 2021 felt like NG+ on Hard mode!
Despite that, our little studio was able to unveil our first game, Lost Eidolons, at the ID@Xbox gameshow back on March 26th!
Following that was a successful Kickstarter campaign to help spread awareness about Lost Eidolons and the budding new studio developing it. It was the first time any of us had ever tried a crowdfunding campaign, and all of our community’s hard work spent spreading our campaign helped put us over the goal.
The final moments as our Kickstarter campaign came to a successful end!
We wanted to dedicate a special thank you to the volunteers in the ‘Benerio Grand Company’. Over 300 of you became the driving force behind our first Closed Beta which came at the tail end of September. Not enough gratitude could be expressed to thank you each for your hard work.
It was your input that gave a wild wake-up call and helped us come to grips with the fact that Lost Eidolons still needs a lot of work.
If you’re reading this, then thank you for supporting us all throughout 2021. Whether you found us on Kickstarter, Twitter, Steam, Reddit, or any of the RPG game forums (you know who you are), it was an absolute pleasure to talk to all of you about what you thought about our passion project.
2022 will be our year to show you what we’ve got. Look forward to Lost Eidolons and maybe some unique stories and content from our game development journey next year!
Have a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
The ODS Team
We couldn’t get a tree in our studio this year… hope this will suffice!
P.S. – We poked around and asked a few members of our team their thoughts on the year. Check out their messages below!
“Joining start-ups always come with risks. What made you trust your gut to join ODS?”
Pat: Literally a childhood dream of being part of a team making a tactical turn-based RPG. That dream, realized! Also, prior to this I only worked in live service games, so the opportunity to branch out and work on crafting single player experiences instead of managing online games felt like chance to grow.
Roy: I really liked the idea of working with people who had a vision in what they wanted to build. From the initial interview, I learned that the company is made up of people who have worked in the industry for a long time, and wanted to pursue their vision and make games they wanted to see made, not games driven by profits.
Joyce: In most game companies, a localization process is an after-development step, and due to this process, loc team usually first considers a dev team’s needs. However, Ocean Drive wanted to set a loc team/process within the development team/process, promised me the complete ownership on localization and direct communication channel with the creative director, and it was a rare opportunity for me to directly work with the dev team, joining the game development process. So I couldn’t miss the chance!
“Is there anything special or a custom message that you want to share with our community?”
Sujan: Thank you so much for all of your support thus far! We’ve been working really hard and will continue to work harder throughout the new year! I hope you all are looking forward to the many misadventures of Eden and co! Thank you for being an Ocean Driver ♥
Jungsoo: We really appreciate being part of the Ocean Drive Studio’s community, and giving us great feedback and insights!! We have much more to share next year! Happy New Year!
Kay: I hope players are following our news about Lost Eidolons and how we are working hard to implement the community’s feedback to the game. It’s truly a great opportunity as a development team to build the game from the get go to the launch with the core fans and community.
“What are you most excited for when it comes to Lost Eidolons in 2022?”
Brandon: I cannot WAIT for voice acting to get implemented in the game. I think it’s going to bring the characters to life in a whole new way, and I’m really excited to see how players react once we’re able to announce the cast.
Jace: Official game launch and being able to play game with my sons!
Hyun: Adding voice-overs to the game! I can’t wait to finally hear what Eden and gang sound like.
