We are currently working on writing a history of OrbusVR - from our start on Reddit until our last day in April.
In the meantime we wanted to share our feelings about the game and what it meant to us. We also wrote up some final reports to share with you all. We hope you find them as interesting as we did.
From Robert (Outlander):
We have reached the day—April 10th—days after the servers have gone down. I am overjoyed at the number of players who were on in the end, bustling through Highsteppe, playing dungeons, and reconnecting with old friends. It felt like a true reunion of old souls.
To say that I am sad to see this game end, sad to see this era of my life close, does not do justice to what I feel. I never imagined that I would get to be part of something so once-in-a-lifetime magical, something that has changed so many lives.
I’ve heard countless amazing stories—players meeting and eventually getting married, lifelong friendships forming both inside the game and out, people finding their voice among strangers who turn into friends, or even just finding a reason to keep waking up every day. When Riley started this journey, I never realized how far it would go or how deeply I would come to love this community (and, if I’m being honest, become completely frustrated with it at times too).
So, I just want to say thank you one final time. To those of you who logged on once and never again, to those who logged on every day, and to everyone in between—thank you for having such an impact on my life. I hope that we had a positive impact on yours too.
From Jake (jakeee):
I started working on Orbus in the Fall of 2018. It’s crazy how fast time has flown by! I feel like I’m a completely different person than I was 6-ish years ago - I’m sure most of you can relate.
Like many of you, I am incredibly introverted and shy. I was pushed out of my comfort zone fast, not only as a developer but in general. I had to learn how to make things work with very little hand holding and listen to feedback and interact with this community in-game, “face-to-face”! These interactions were so real and personal to me and have given me more confidence than I ever thought I needed.
I’ll be honest, this genre of gaming was never on my radar of games I dreamt of working on, but I’m so glad I did. Coming from a more corporate job to something like this reminded me of why I got into gaming to begin with. I really found my stride with Orbus and this has been everything I wanted in a dream job.
As you can imagine there was plenty of stress and anxiety but there was also a lot of love and genuine care. I put so much of myself into this game and I hope I made a positive difference in someone’s life through Orbus. I am hopeful that I’ll get to experience something like this again someday.
I’m so grateful to Riley and Robert for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to help them with this dream of theirs. I’m also grateful to all the players I’ve had the pleasure of meeting for making this part of my life so unforgettable. Even though the servers are offline, I would consider this game a huge success and something I’ll always be proud of.
) named lizard was actually to be caught with a fishing rod in the cold area! To find those invisible ramps in the desert which led to practically nowhere… but it was such a discovery, such a mystery “What will come here???” After finding them running around everywhere with that Ithecac potion just because MAYBE something is there! It was simply fantastic!
). Let’s say: we managed. Not exceptionally good, but we managed. Many times with outside help (I don’t want to name names, one or two made it onto that Total Hours Wall of Fame above), so thanks for that! But most of all: we were playing! We were honestly enjoying our time!! And for me that was always the point! I think there it happened that someone who later became a central part of our guild after like 20-30+ wipes on a boss we killed it and she said: “All right, we were good…ish…”
