Between the years, Chronicles of Elyria takes some time to look back on the year and look ahead.
In everyday life, the view of the big picture often gets overlooked. Between the years, some MMORPGs take the time to look at this “big picture.” In the indie MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria, the game’s head Jeremy Walsh, Caspian, compares the situation at the end of 2016 with the state at the end of 2015. He notes significant differences.
At the end of 2015, there were still four people working in the basement
Back then, they were cramped in a small room, with only 3 people who had to do everything at once. The three had just transitioned into self-employment, leaving their regular jobs behind. They worked with the first animator out of Walsh’s basement.
They were diligent and full of great ideas: As a team of four, they had already developed over 100 pages of design ideas and concepts.
Now there’s an office, but it won’t be enough for long
Throughout the year, Chronicles of Elyria has grown significantly. They moved from the basement to an office. There were workstations, known as “cubicles,” pre-installed for 10 people. The team hired technicians, artists, designers, a community manager, and many more. They removed the cubicles and renovated the office, so that 20 people could work there. Soulbound Studios currently has 16 employees. Even the new space won’t last long.
For 2017, they plan to increase staff to over 20 employees and move to another office. It is expected to be an “incredibly productive year.”
Land sold for the dream house, Kickstarter launched with dream game
Financially, the situation is now completely different. At the end of 2015, Walsh had 50,000 US dollars. That was the founder’s savings, and he also took out a loan of over 100,000 dollars. The future of the four employees rested on those 150,000 US dollars back then. “We were pretty crazy,” says Walsh in retrospect.
After realizing how well the project was received, Walsh decided together with his wife to sell the property that was actually intended for the dream house. This led to a total budget of 500,000 US dollars, which allowed them to polish the game to the point where it went on Kickstarter.
They then raised 1.36 million dollars. Later, another 675,000 dollars came in, bringing the total to 2 million.
At Chronicles of Elyria, those who belong together grow together
But not only have the circumstances changed, the workflow and the game have grown significantly from 2015 to 2016.
At the end of 2015, Chronicles of Elyria consisted of individual projects, problems that needed to be solved. Today, everything is integrated into clients, with the goals clearly ahead of the team. Today they have videos, concept arts, and even regular playthroughs. The work processes have been completely changed – from paper to digital.
What exactly will happen in 2017 is hard to say, Caspian believes. But several publishers and investors have already knocked on the door. They are in a good position and have more money available than they could have expected. In 2017, there will be enough space to complete the development and transition to testing and publishing.
At Soulbound Studios, they are fully motivated to continue the journey with the fans’ support, and before they know it, they will finally be together in Elyria.
More about CoE:
What is Chronicles of Elyria? The MMORPG with the aging process has made it!
