ORION (26 Year Anniversary)

26 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

On August 25th, 2000, a mod called INCOMING was announced to the internet with a promise:

［ Jetpacks + Dinosaurs & Vehicles ］

Twenty six years later those are still the three pillars that keep ORION anchored.

INCOMING

(Announced Aug 25, 2000)

Pre-production started in 1998. This included initial designs, concept art, the story, the universe, the characters; everything that came before actual development or a single line of code. Then the recruiting. On August 25th, 2000, we went public on Valve's GoldSRC engine, the tech behind the original Half-Life.

Two things from that era I still think about:

A member of the Counter-Strike team personally got INCOMING hosted at PlanetHalfLife.com back in 2001, which handed a bunch of kids an audience they had no business having.

*We also had permission from a smaller company back then known as Bungie to use the likeness of the Warthog and Spartan Armor as long as it was a free mod. This was a huge motivation at the time; though this would later change with the transition to Incoming: Source (and ORION) to become its own wholly unique game universe.

*Fun Fact: We also got multi-passenger vehicles working on GoldSRC (including flyable ones) behind developer doors. Valve shipped theirs publicly first. We were still very proud of ours.

INCOMING: Source

(Revealed Aug 3, 2005)

Nearly identical feature set, ported to Source (Episode 1 branch) after a few years of work. The whole series was torn down and rebuilt:

• Architecture

• Backstory

• Game Universe

• Races

• Characters + Classes

• Weapons & Gear

• Vehicles

This paved the way for the conversion from INCOMING to ORION shortly after and within the Source era of development. One of the hardest but best decisions I ever made for the longevity of the game.

ORION: Source

(Released Dec 4, 2009)

The first release to the public. Released for FREE as a Source Mod for Half-Life 2.

Featuring the core foundation:

• Class-Based Gameplay

• Weapons

• Abilities + Grenades & Melee.

• PvP as a focus with objective-based gameplay.

ORION: Prelude*

**Pitch **(2011)

The initial pitch for ORION: Prelude was focused on a PvP experience expanding what we did on the ORION: Source Multiplayer Beta. Focused on integrating the remaining pillars:

• Dinosaurs

• Vehicles

• • Expanding Core Combat + Ability Sandbox.
  • Transitioned to Dino Beatdown due to needing to release earlier than expected.

ORION: Dino Beatdown

(Released May 4, 2012)

This is where the concept for ORION: Dino Beatdown came from with a focus on:

• Open World Gameplay

• Objective-Based Online Co-op

• Class-Based Gameplay

• "Jetpacks + Dinosaurs & Mechs"

ORION: Dino Horde

(Released April 15, 2013)

[ FREE for owners of ORION: Dino Beatdown ]

• Focused on Upgrades + Power-Ups + Weapons & Gear.

• Customization & Cosmetic Store

• PvP-Based Gameplay is introduced across multiple game modes. & more

ORION:

Prelude

(Released August 25, 2014)

[ FREE for owners of ORION: Dino Horde ]

• Progression

• Open World Gameplay (Conquest + Vital)

• Playable Dinosaurs & more

**Guardians of Orion **(Phase 1)

(Released December 1, 2015)

A brand new game in the ORION gaming franchise; originally launched as a Top-Down (Twin-Stick) Online Co-op Shooter.

Received major free updates including elements such as:

• Loot

• Inventory

• Crafting

• Third Person

• First Person

• Social Hubs

• New Heroes

• New Weapons

• New Abilities & more...

**Guardians of Orion **(Phase 2)

**Product Update **(Released November 1, 2021)

[ FREE for owners of Guardians of Orion (Phase 1) ]

• Focused on Fidelity + Optimization & Performance.

• Revamped Visuals

• File Size Reduction (20gb to 10gb)

• Faster Load Times

• Faster Boot Times

Most importantly: this transitioned the entire game architecture from Cloud Server to Player Hosted infrastructure for game preservation purposes. One of the harder developments we've done but I am happy with the end result as it keeps the game around to this very day.

THE NEW ERA

ORION: Prelude is back in active development.

The goals are simple:

• A better game across gameplay and feel.

• A more optimized game across polish and performance.

• An open development process worth following along with.

FREE FOR EXISTING OWNERS

This is all on an existing game that you may already own. Every update and quality-of-life improvement goes to existing owners for FREE.

PRICING UPDATE

*The price for ORION: Prelude is increasing on October 25, 2026 from $0.99 for the base game to **$9.99 *for new owners. If you've been sitting on this one, the window before October 25th is the cheapest it will ever be.

NEW GAMES

[** There are also new ORION projects in development **]

THANK YOU

RECAP TO DATE:

• Twenty-six years.

• 3 Products.

• Across 4 Game Engines.

• One idea that refused to die.

Held together by my love for the IP and your incredible support. Thank you.

Here's to the next chapter.

JOIN THE ORION DISCORD

https://discord.gg/cY5XHC3

• Additional previews

• Dev interaction

• Poll voting

• Early testing opportunities

• & more

TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@dankie.dev

Twitter: https://x.com/dankiedev

YouTube: [dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/@dankiedev"][/dynamiclink]

ORION: Prelude @ Steam:

[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/104900/ORION_Prelude/"][/dynamiclink]

With Love,  PRAZ