One question that came up recently was a high-level philosophical question and I thought this would be a great answer to share at large...
New stuff IS in development but it is still likely years away.
I touched on this a bit with the 25th Anniversary update last year:
While working on that update I was going through a lot of old files to revisit those 25 years through all the data, files and archives. Even though the last time ORION: Prelude was updated was in 2015 (over a decade ago) I started to look at it under a new lens:
I've been away from it for so long which gave me a fresh outlook.
I became really immersed in some of the original concepts.
I've learned A LOT in the last 10+ years.
Since 2017 my main focus has been R&D. Engines, software, technology, anything and everything in between. This led me on an interesting journey and I was able to help a lot of other people and projects that gave me additional perspective and time away from Orion.
So when I returned, it was under this new lens. All of these new techniques, skills and research (much of it is engine-agnostic; meaning it could be integrated into engines and games even as old as ORION: Prelude) makes things possible that never were before.
I believe there is still untapped potential with ORION: Prelude and I am excited about putting in the work to realize that for both myself and the fanbase. There are also additional reasons including but not limited to...
Celebrating 25 years of ORION as a concept and nearly 15 years of ORION: Prelude had me wanting to find a way to say thank you to everyone that ever helped support these projects.
I am really into things like native rendering (no upscaling), wide platform support and the old engine will help ensure it runs great on all devices from lower end to higher end PCs and even handhelds like Steam Deck.
Prices are getting a bit wild across games, components and hardware. New consoles look like they may be $1000+ or Lease-based and the idea of making something feel new that doesn't require players to acquire anything feels right.
I am a huge fan of certain eras of games whether 1997-1999 (Quake 2, Half-Life, etc) or 2007-2011 (Skyrim, Gears of War, Halo 3, Left 4 Dead) and I am very fortunate to have my very own project from that era. The updates planned to modernize the feel/visuals mixed with this era of tech will be something quite special.
I hope to cover these topics (and others) more in depth as development continues.
There is a lot of potential that still remains in ORION: Prelude.
I've learned a lot that can be applied to ORION: Prelude.
I really love the era of tech/game.
It will run on everything.
It lets me continue to show my thanks to everyone that helped make it possible.
I am currently working on a large Q&A based on questions I am seeing. If you have a question about something please feel free to ask it. The absolute best place to do this is on the Official ORION Discord Channel where I am often interacting but I also try to do my best to read the comments here. I will let the questions pile up for a week or two and then I'll get the update out with as many answers as possible for additional perspective and clarity.
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:
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.
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.
With Love,
PRAZ