Most games these days seem to have a supported "shelf-life" of about two years. That time is even shorter if the game is pretty much universally billed as "one of the worst games ever." But that didn't stop the developers at Spiral Game Studios and TREK Industries when ORION: Dino Beatdown was released.
After three years of updates, fixes, tweaks, game title changes, and improvements, ORION: Prelude has gone from one most criticized and unpopular games on Steam, to one of the best. David Prassel of TREK Industries shared with us their story.
THE STORY OF ORIONThe Intro
Back in 1998 I started penning a prototype under the code-name of 'Incoming' which would later become known as Orion. The first decade was spent developing the overall idea and this included the general story and time line of events, the characters, species, weapons, planets and anything in between. This is basically what I call the ‘Orion Construct’ and it consists of millions of files, documents, designs, sketches and notes. This allows us to quickly pull what we need from the Orion Universe and then quickly develop a game design within any genre. With it we built a variety of prototypes experimenting with different phases and varieties of development.
The Roots
As a gamer I grew up on FPS. Sure I played all of the other Nintendo/Sega games but I didn’t become addicted until playing Quake 2 CTF at the age of 9. This later grew into gaming obsessions like Unreal Tournament, Counter-Strike, Tribes, the Jedi Knight series and so many more. So the first game type that we had to make was just a great and fun shooter built for friends.
The Prototype
In 2008 and 2009 we built and put together a free mod for the Valve Source Engine. It was called the ‘ORION: Source Prototype’ and it focused on Weapon Combat and Player Class mechanics, while leaving other major features like Dinosaurs and Vehicle Combat on the side lines. We released this to obtain as much community feedback as possible before beginning production on the first “real” Orion game.
The ‘ORION: Source Prototype’ ended up winning FilePlanet’s Mod Of The Month for January 2010 and had tracked over 100,000 registered downloads. We updated it continuously and put out the last major update (v1.2) in June 2010 before migrating to the new title.
The Production
After months of research we decided to move forward with the Unreal Technology platform as our primary game engine for the next decade. In the Summer of 2010 we began production on what would end up powering the first official Orion game. We acquired the appropriate licenses and began work immediately.
The Birth
We decided on the game name of ‘ORION: Prelude’ which was to act as a precursor towards where we wanted to go both as a company and a gaming IP. This was over the top, retro-inspired and focused on friends.
I spent much of the Summer seeking like-minded individuals looking to build something incredible together, regardless of just coming from the modding scene with absolutely no production money other than what was in my pockets or account.
At this point I had involved my brother who worked out in London as a Trader to come aboard and handle the business aspects so that I could better focus on the actual game development, design and production.
The Publishing
We put together a bunch of technology demos and showcased them at a variety of conferences to build interest and discuss potential partnerships with publishers. After speaking with more than 20 publishers I decided that it wasn’t an avenue that I wanted to pursue. It ranged from reasons including to shitty deals, corporate mentality and DLC intentions. With this decided we began pursuing other platforms for raising capital, including investors and online crowd-sourcing.
The Kickstarter
In February 2011 we began our Kickstarter campaign. Back then this wasn’t a wildly known platform and no major games had used it to launch their products. It had an element of risk attached to it and we kept to a lower overall goal of $10,000 to cover the Multiplayer Beta, Conferences and Marketing. In the end we had raised nearly $18,000 - $15,000 of which we were to keep after payment processing.
This was the largest sum of money we had ever obtained and while it seemed like much it really wasn’t. In comparison that amount is roughly 1/4th of one AAA game developers salary. This not only had to cover a significant chunk of development but also play multiple developers and assist with conferences and marketing. We needed to supplement this and to do so without a standard publisher.
The Investor
Over the Summer of 2011 my brother had mentioned he had a friend out in London who would be interested in investing. This was of course very appealing to me as I needed to supplement our Kickstarter capital sooner than later. It was my first company and the idea of anyone finding it appealing enough to put their own money into was extremely captivating, attractive and tempting. This is where things started to go very sour.
The Deal
What originally began as an extremely fair and easy deal between the company and Investor ended up spiraling out of control. My brother ended up trying to protect and side with the investor by sharing confidential business documents, details of other dealings with publishers/partners to aid the Investor in negotiation as well as trying to increase the Investors take back by a 3x multiple.
At this point I had to step back into the business aspects to complete the deal just in order to continue development. I was able to revert the deal back to its original and fair terms.
Shortly after I flew to Germany for GamesCom 2011 and connected flights out to London to meet with the Investor in person for the first time. We went to a big dinner and then had drinks and talked about anything and everything to sort of figure each other out. By the time we were done I’d say we were both confident in both the mentality and plan of things going forward. I flew back to the States to get back to work.
The Depletion
At this point I had self-invested thousands of dollars and an immense amount of time towards Orion over the last 10 years. My brother also assisted with expenses approaching the 2011 Kickstarter and Conferences. Originally this was an intended arrangement in exchange for a significant portion of the company via very loose details. Once the money landed it became obvious to me that new terms had to be updated and expanded. So I had arranged for a Skype call to figure out what to do with him and his amounts.
My brother wanted every penny for everything he had put forward immediately from our first investment rather than waiting a few months and to take it from net profits instead. This would be sabotage. This wasn't acceptable and so I offered two other deals. The first was where he’d be able to get his loaned money back 1:1 from net profits and in addition a small game royalty (instead of company) to supplement this OR to keep the originally intended company royalty, where the money wouldn't act as a loan and instead the percentage of company ownership would be the repayment method. In addition, if he were to choose the company ownership route he’d need to be more involved, more present including things like attending conferences when needed and to attend developer meetings.
The Removals
Instead he took every penny that he had invested from the bank account. This led to his removal and us losing 1/5 of the investment which equated to 4-6 months of development at the current rates. Around this time at PAX Prime 2011 we had a handful of other freelancers that attempted theft of hardware. Because of this they were also removed from the company, their work was not used and not paid for as a result.
I take full responsibility for all of these occurrences. I am responsible for the company, I handle all hiring advertisements and I personally handle all integration of new employees. No one can join the company without my say and because of this I am fully responsible. It’s hard to hire personnel for any company, but even more so when these screenings are done remotely and online. Sometimes it pays off greatly and other times it doesn't. Some contractors work out for a week others last for a decade.
Because of these events ‘ORION: Prelude’, an arena-based PvP-only shooter wasn’t a feasible first release option. Instead we had to find a new experience that we could create with the already-existing assets and this is when ORION: Dino Beatdown was formed. Dino Beatdown was a PvE experience and focused on cooperative and expansive world gameplay.
The Release
Approaching the release of ORION: Dino Beatdown was one of the most stressful points of my life, only surpassed by what would come shortly after. By December 2011 we were running out money fast. In January 2012 we were out of money entirely. I sold my car at the time in order to get whatever money I could to funnel back into the development of the game. We originally had planned seed release of March 2012 but it wasn’t ready and we had to extend this all the way back to May 4, 2012. From February 2012 to May 2012 no developers were paid and they all continued to stick around and work whether it was based on the promise of being paid after release, their belief in me or their belief in the game itself.
There was no Early Access program on Steam at this point. Which was a shame as this was the one true game that not only needed it but could have benefited it and from it. We came from a modding background so regularly supporting our games for free and our community was just our default.
The Backlash
As the story goes, the release went horribly awful. The press hated it, half of the people couldn’t run it properly and the other half that could didn’t seem too fond of it. In addition to this, some of the removed developers were scorned and used this opportunity to further slam the game/team. This was unfortunate as it affected the great people who actually were doing great work. It also in return became a witch hunt. In a weird sense this was very admirable to me because if it WAS true, the way that the community and internet banded together in cooperation and support was really something incredible and powerful. Unfortunately that crazy crap wasn’t true and we instead had to simply use it as fuel to do complete what we wanted to: make games we love, support our fans and improve the industry that we work in.
The Fix
The times we did try to address the community ended in fueled discussions and any time we were approached by the press our words or stories were construed. So for the next 4-6 months we went quiet. Our time was best spent focused on fixing the actual game and bringing it to not only where it needed to be but to surpass that. In September 2012 we released Dino Beatdown’s first major Title Update which completely restored the game to working order. From here we continued doing technical work of fixing, repairing and improving any aspects possible.
Once that was accomplished we began work on growing the content significantly. No area was left untouched and we worked on this for another 6 months until it finally became something so much more. In the end we added the following content:
New Artificial Intelligence New Lighting & Particles New Animations New Dedicated Servers & Updated Tools New Netcode Updated Game Engine & Graphics New Audio System New Weapon Mechanics New Player Movement New Game Mechanics (Slomo, Revive, Second Chance, Objectives, Lockdown) 20 New Weapons 5 New Game Modes 4 New Vehicles 6 New Dinosaurs 7 New Levels Lobbies, Matchmaking, Server Browser 100 Steam Achievements Spiral Store (Premium Content - Hats, Taunts, Char Packs) 30 Augmentations (Mutators)The Name
At this point we were very proud of the game and the work we had completed. We updated the game name to flick off the current broken review system that couldn’t update itself as quick as modern video games could. There was no incentive for a developer to improve or add anything to a game because the press and review systems would never reward them or encourage them to. But the most important aspect as to why we did this was because we wanted to let players know that things were different. That things don’t need to be the way they are used to, that they don’t need to pay $60 every year to receive the game updates they could and should expect to either be freely added (or premium) to their already-existing games.
Every owner of ORION: Dino Beatdown upgraded into ORION: Dino Horde for FREE.
The Prelude
With the success of ORION: Dino Horde we were finally were able to deliver the experience originally promised back in 2010. And then some! The original ‘ORION: Prelude’ was to be strictly PvP and only have three game modes (CTF, Vital, Deathmatch) compared to its modern day predecessor which features 15 game modes and a variety of play styles including Open World, Duel, Cooperative, Competitive and Playable Dinosaurs. It is now called ORION: Prelude because it *finally* is ORION: Prelude.
The Resurrection
With ORION: Prelude we have done things never done before in this industry. We have proven that games cannot fail - only developers can. We have proven that you can release the worst game in the world but that it doesn't need to stay that way. With hard work and an open line of communication you can change anything.
The Trek
Right now we are building up our custom Unreal Engine 4 and getting the backend ready to tackle a variety of upcoming titles. We have recently released a Technology Demonstration video showcasing some of it:
We are currently working on two projects and one is code-named "Project Guardians." It features both competitive and cooperative gameplay in a specialized isometric camera mode. We are building the environments in full and it allows us to get really fun and creative with the camera where we are able to take it to spice things up instead of having it 100% isometric. We are able to show any angle of the environment and we are going to use that to the fullest extent. I also believe that more same-screen cooperative games is never a bad thing.
The Marvel
We're coming off of having developed 4 ORION FPS games in a row (2009/2010 - Source Beta, 2012 - Dino Beatdown, 2013 - Dino Horde, 2014 - Prelude) and we're very excited to tackle a new genre for the very first time with Guardians. I've personally been working in Orion for the last 20 years with some of our other developers approaching the ten year mark. I believe the best possible thing that we could do is to change up the IP and pacing with a Marvel Co-Op game to not only deliver a great product but to better Orion by giving us a fresh sense of air and ideas when we come back to the dinosaur-filled world. This is something worth pursuing for both ourselves but also our fans and the gaming market.
Since ORION: Dino Horde, we've done the dual-development cycle where 95% of the developers are always focused ahead on the future title via content production (3D Artist, 2D Artists, Animators) while Chris and I both focus on the polishing/integration phase (Programming, Level Development, Testing, Other). This way our art team has constantly paid work available rather than 50% down-time and we are making massive progress towards the next title when it's time for me and Chris to shift/focus attention towards it.
The 2nd title is the one that shifts around the most and this is definitely a better quality than it isn't. Being able to turn a ship around and into any direction is much better than having to stick to something even if you don't believe it's the best fit, whether for the team, whether for the demographic you're releasing to or any reason above and between. Anyone or anything that can adapt and re-position is better than something that can't.
We have an amazing Marvel Co-Op game design and we'd be more than happy to move things around to incorporate this project into our pipeline if even remotely given the opportunity. This project would take 18-24 months to complete, a bit longer than Guardians. We don't have any approval or licenses yet and we will only attempt to pitch this once the tech demo is complete. We are confident with the design, the quality and the numbers behind it and are willing to invest in the content to make this become a reality.
We believe Marvel is killing it with the movies and that the fans deserve an equally great game to enjoy. The tech demo is being handled by a very small team of people with myself included. If you agree that Marvel needs a great new co-op game then SPEAK UP and be heard!
*Photoshopped mock-ups using game models and game-ready environments.
We will be catering largely to two demographics: the one that loves the movies/comics and wants to actually feel like a super hero in a game whether it's from proper move sets, awesome coop gameplay, great graphics or amazing power/destruction. The other demographic we are reaching out to are any fans of the old Ultimate Alliance games which we have some aces up our sleeves in regards to that. You can consider "Project Guardians" a test bed of sorts for this.
I want to confirm that what we are crafting is *NOT* an Ultimate Alliance 3, but will settle your appetite all the same if that's what you're looking towards.
The Trekking
With the success of ORION: Prelude we've started expanding our focus. Our core passion still remains within Interactive Software & Media however we will be extending our time, finances and resources into generating advancements and awareness into additional territories:
Energy - Clean Intelligence - Artificial Preservation - Nature, Wildlife and HistoricalWe are going to be involving our community every step of the way. We will be keeping you updated on our products, showcasing behind-the-scenes developments, sharing our inspirations and involving you with community events, competitions and fundraisers.
TREK Industries allows us to not only listen to what you’re involved with or passionate about but to act on it and support it in new and more fulfilling ways. With each addition the single goal is to improve the world in which we all share together..
We have sold everything we own, coupled it with savings and purchased an RV unit in one massive life and career transforming move. In return this not only lessens our footprint but has consolidated all belongings.
This new development model allows us to travel directly to the sources of my inspiration as well as interact with remote-based Developers, Partners and attend industry conferences with significantly lower expenses and a greater quality of life as a reward. We are going to be developing the next set of games all across North America and we will be sharing the entire experience with you in the form of TrekkingTV.
You can follow all of our adventures here. We thank everyone who's ever supported us, long or new. We thank people for keeping an open mind and for being willing to revisit our game that we have poured so much hard work into. We are very excited about what we are currently working on and cannot wait to share our next creations with you as soon as they are ready.