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:

1. A better game across gameplay and feel.
2. A more optimized game across polish and performance.
3. 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:

ORION: Prelude @ Steam:

With Love, PRAZ