Lost Eidolons Demo Now Available!
Steam Next Fest has begun and Lost Eidolons is participating! You can try out the game demo today until June 22nd!
[What You Can Expect from Demo]
This is an early look at the game and isn't a representation of the final game.
In the demo you'll be able to:
- Challenge Episode 7's battle.
- Visit the camp after Episode 7's battle.
- Challenge Episode 8's battle.
- Visit the camp after Episode 8's battle.
While at the camp, you can perform a variety of activities, as well as prepare for the upcoming battle between episodes 7 and 8. The combat will be set to the Challenging difficulty, and since we are not providing other difficulty options, we are providing unlimited use of "Undo" function for the demo.
Also, since we are not providing a "Save" function, you have an option to "Skip the Battle".
[Join the Community, Provide Feedback]
We want to hear about your first impressions of the game! Let us know on our Discord server or in the newly minted sub-forums in the community Discussions! Feedback and bug reports are duly welcome!
Like what you're playing and want to support the project? You can still reserve an early copy of the game or it's limited minted Physical Collector's Edition on our BackerKit!
[Participate in the Events]
We also have prepared events for all the participants!
1. Observer Contest
We want you to capture screenshots of your favorite moment during the gameplay and share them with the community. Share your screenshots in the screenshots section of the Community Hub or on Twitter with the hashtag #LostEidolonsMoments and leave the link on the Discord event channel!
You can learn details of the event here!
2. Master Strategist Challenge
Try to win in the fewest number of turns! Clear Episode 8's combat scenario as quickly as possible and share the video with us! You cannot use the Undo function nor can you lose any units, and the video must be an unedited video of your try. Upload the video on YouTube and share the link with us!
You can learn details of the event here!
Demo Play 24-Hour Recap
Greetings, Tacticians!
It’s been over 24 hours since the Lost Eidolons gameplay demo became available to install and try out on our Steam store page. During the preparation for this, our team worked diligently to ensure the game’s build was stable and playable for multiple language options. Some of them were up working until as late as 3 AM in Korea making finishing touches!
Meanwhile on our end, we set up our stream room in our office and tried our hand at streaming on Steam for the first time. It worked swimmingly! And we managed to set up a looping livestream to show newcomers to the game page what the tactical turn-based gameplay was all about.
We were also super excited to see an awesome amount of highly constructive feedback from our community. With their help, we’re planning on creating a game with an open development plan where players can contribute towards the creation of the project together.
Check out just a few of the feedback our players provided so far that we want to act on:
All feedback will be reviewed, and we’ll share a list of the actionable items after Steam Next Fest has concluded.
- More detailed combat information. A lot of folks felt like there wasn’t enough information provided in the UI to make detailed decisions. Whether that meant being able to expand status effect menus, see weakness or strengths when using types of attacks against types of armors, or even being able to see when a unit still has an action left in the turn more visible.
- Dealing with line-of-sight issues during combat. Fantasy game aside, units should be able to see where they’re casting or firing an arrow to successfully hit that spot.
- Better camera controls. It might have been a little challenging at times to work the camera to get it in the exact position that you wanted it.
Before Steam Next Fest ends, we want to do a stream on Monday, June 21st as an opportunity for community members to ask questions about Lost Eidolons while the demo is still playable. The stream will take place on our Twitch channel at 7:00 PM PDT. You can join Community Manager Pat and Creative Director Jin Sang as they answer questions about the demo, the current developments, and what’s ahead for Lost Eidolons.
If you have any questions about the game as well, it’s a good opportunity to head on over to our Discord server and ask them in the #town_hall channel! We answer literally anything and everything. It’s also a great opportunity for you to leave messages in the #feedback channel to directly contribute towards the development of Lost Eidolons!
Enjoy the demo and make sure to check out the special events!
Check us out at the links below:
- Support us on BackerKit
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Twitch
- Subscribe to us on YouTube
- Like us on Facebook
So, which one is better. This or WarTales?
June development update preview with ODS Creative Director of Lost Eidolons, Jin Sang.
Was the latter a consequence of the former?. I spoke to a couple of people, but then I turned the game off
Nah, I just downloaded so many demos that I want to try.Was the latter a consequence of the former?. I spoke to a couple of people, but then I turned the game off
First thing I noticed is apparently no support for 4K or any resolution above 1600p. Also lmao, leave it to Koreans to make a vaguely European-resembling Medieval setting with a story about Monarchy & shit actually populated largely by people who look like they'd fit in there, also some hot chicks.
Game Demo starts with a Cinematic, immediately afterwards throws you into a Turn-based Battle/Siege without much of any explanation. After you've finished that, it throws you into a 3rd person over-the-shoulder "Camp Exploration" section, where you can walk around your campaign war camp and talk to the troops. Presumably this is also where you upgrade the camp, buy new equipment etc. but can't do too much in the Demo. Can't jump or do lots of stuff with the character either, just sprint around and talk to random people starting brief conversation cutscenes. There's some weird/awkward animations and clipping making it all look a bit janky. Talking "realistic" characters having no lip movement or voice-over at all in "Cinematic 3D" adds to that feel, but presumably they plan to change that for the final release. I also stumbled upon Quicktime Events during combat Training, it wanted me to press Q+E and disappeared so quickly I couldn't even react. You spend Leadership points (10/50 pro section apparently) to do things like Training, Sparring and Talking or sharing a meal with other characters to improve relationships in these segments between missions. Dialogue during these scenes seems to be generic/repeating about a few generic topics you can choose from and not specific. Another thing that'll get old fast.
If you're confused of how to break the Siege at the beginning, "Swap Weapon" on Knights/Warriors changes their current Weapon to a Bow. Attacking enemies with magic or Special Attacks from afar that they can't counter (you see on your HP bar if you get any incoming damage and lose HP when you are about to attack) and then finish them with an attack that they could counter but are too dead to do afterwards for less damage. Enemy does nothing with his units when you're moving/repositioning your troops from one side of the map to the other while you're not engaging or within direct sight of that specific group of units.
Kinda Eh... Battles drag on for quite a bit with not much happening, gets a bit boring. Played over 4 hours for two missions and a bit of running around in camp after each. Don't know if I can stick with slowly and systematically moving the same ten units across the battlefield and patiently murdering everything of the wrong color while watching the same attack animations play over and over again with the distinct possibility of them whittling down my units and not being able to finish the final fight/having to redo the entire thing. The camp stuff felt boring, since it was largely fetch-quests with a bit of choice text.
Finishing the Demo sends you to this page with some sort of Survey: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1580520/view/5466788056884269812
A bunch of Screens:
ODS Pat
-I hope that you will implement an option to speed up combat animations, especially item usage.
-When there is dialog in cut scenes, I hope that you can implement a dialog window like there is during missions. Or at least make dialog go a bit slower, because you can already skip it.
-I feel that ranged units could have slightly better range. Maybe add another square range to their attacks.
-In dialog, let me use the keyboard numbers to select a choice.
In general, it's like I thought, very inspired by Fire Emblem (the reason I backed in the first place). Combat is okay, from the one encounter that I played. I didn't do much in camp. I spoke to a couple of people, but then I turned the game off. I'll just wait for the release, since I backed it.
Thanks for playing the demo!
Greetings, Tacticians!
What an amazing Steam Next Fest!
Over the course of the festival, we saw an awesome amount of people try out the Lost Eidolons demo, and the number of people who wishlisted the game quadrupled.
We're floored!
Moreover, the amount of in-depth feedback and critical analysis we received about what players had an opportunity to try out was incredible. We've scoured feedback from sources everywhere including our Discord, Steam forums, external RPG forums, Twitter, YouTube, and more.
We're looking over each of these feedbacks and are planning on creating a summary of your thoughts and our responses to share with you all in the upcoming week or two.
The survey to submit feedback will remain open until Sunday, June 27th at 12:00 PM PT, at which time it'll close. Please submit feedback if you haven't already! For those who didn't back the project, you can gain a beta access key for a future playtest, as up to 100 forms will be provided a key for their feedback. Additionally, 10 forms that provide the best feedback will be given a full digital deluxe copy of the game! Even if you pledged to back the project, you can partake in this as well to provide to a friend.
Survey Link: Click!
Next, concerning the demo that you all have already downloaded, we'll keep it up for a brief period of time before pushing an update to disable it temporarily. However, if you are a content creator or know a content creator that wishes to try out this latest demo build, they should reach out to us either on here or via our Twitter and we'll work something out! It's all part of getting the word out on Lost Eidolons.
Lastly, if you have any friends who tried out the demo and still wants to support Lost Eidolons, they can still pick up a copy of the game or the physical Collector's Edition via BackerKit until Wednesday 5:50 AM PT!
Following Steam Next Fest, CM Pat & Creative Director Jin Sang talk player thoughts on the 1st playable demo!
Lost Eidolons Demo Event Winners
Congratulations to our community members who partook in the Lost Eidolons demo events! We looked through the submissions for both events and have picked out the winners for the Observer Contest and the Master Strategist Contest. Check them out below:
Observer Contest
The goal of the Observer Contest was to take a screenshot of a moment in Lost Eidolons that you enjoyed or stuck to you.
Master Strategist Contest
The Master Strategist Contest put players' wits to the test by having them complete the daunting Episode 8 scenario without losing a single unit or using the undo command.
Winning entrants will be reached out to via Discord DMs this week so that we can collect additional information to send out your prizes.
Our team is looking forward to holding more contests for our community to challenge in the future. We’ll also look into simplifying the process for entering these contests, since the previous one involved a couple of extra steps too many.
Thank you to each of you who participated this time! We'll be sharing more news soon on the feedback from this demo and our next steps in leveraging them.
Demo Feedback Responses & Release Timeline Update
Greetings, Tacticians!
It’s been about 4 weeks since the Lost Eidolons demo was playable during Steam Next Fest last month. Since then we’ve been preparing plans to polish several areas of the game! Our team was excited and grateful for the quality and quantity of feedback we got from everyone.
As an indie game studio, our mission that we set out to achieve was to work on games together with our community as our peers. Thanks to the demo’s great success towards that mission, we’re aiming to create more opportunities for folks to try out future builds of the game so that we continue to keep integrating you all into the creative process.
As for today, we’re writing this blog to share two things: 1) A list of feedback that we've collected and our plans on how to incorporate some of them into the game, and 2) the new status of the game’s current roadmap, and how we must make some adjustments in order to produce the best game that we can.
Leveraging Feedback
During the demo, we received a lot of feedback from fans, friends, and backers about the game as a whole. The brunt of that feedback came from our after-demo survey (a huge thank you to all 72 participants who submitted theirs's).
From the survey and the feedback from external community sites, we've identified a total of 52 topics for us to review, and we decided to take action on 45 of them. We'd like to share some of what we've reviewed thus far and what kind of actions we’re in the process of taking in order to implement them!
Status of Development
Over the course of the month of June, our team made great strides towards the development of the game. This includes:
After reviewing the feedback from the demo, we worked on planning future improvements, including:
- Building a demo build for Steam Next Fest
- Cut Scene Improvements
- New Skill Animations
- New Outfits, and Armors
- Basic Foundation for the Camp Outgame
- Additional Scenario Developments for Future Episodes
However, as a consequence of the time and resources needed to undertake all these important changes, we have made the careful decision to delay the release of Early Access.
- New UI/UX Design
- Control Improvements
- Addition of Language Options
It’s not the happiest news, but we all agreed that delivering a quality game should always be the top priority. Some fans may be disappointed we couldn’t meet the original deadline for Early Access, so we’ll do our damned best to ensure this extra time is well spent to create a solid playthrough experience.
The main reason for the delay is as follow:
Based on internal review, we are making changes to the development roadmap as follows:
- Major revision on UI, UX (including controls)
- More resource, and the time investment into story elements
- Additional graphical and animation polishing
As for the beta, instead of a single beta test we'll be taking 2-3 rounds of testing to ensure the game is definitely ready for Early Access. We'll treat the beta as an additional opportunity to acquire more feedback accordingly.
- Beta: Early Q4, 2021
- Early Access: Q1, 2022
We’re confident that this decision to delay will lead to a better overall game experience, and we’ll continue to regularly keep our community channels updated on the current state of development as it progresses. Please continue to provide your feedback to us on anything that you see! You can check out what we’re working on each month through our milestone livestreams (we just had one yesterday) and join in the discussions or ask questions on our Discord!
Our friends at Owlcat Games
Lastly, we wanted to take a moment to shout out a big supporter of our own campaign, the folks from Owlcat Games that are currently working on Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous! They were also responsible for the critically acclaimed Pathfinder: Kingmaker. We're big fans of tabletop games as well and it was an honor to have their support. With just two months until their game's release, they're actually entering their third and final beta now.
Embark on a great journey to rebuff the mighty Demon Lords and close off the portal to the demonic plane of existence known as the Abyss. Their game lets you pick from countless customization options to create your own path through the richness of Pathfinder's first edition ruleset.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility later this year.
July development update preview with ODS Creative Director of Lost Eidolons, Jin Sang. This month features new improvements following last month's playable demo feedback!
⯈ Wishlist on Steam: https://bit.ly/3mHDs7i
⯈ Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OceanDriveGames
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:10 - Speed-up toggle
01:24 - Better obstruction visibility
02:14 - New death animation
03:09 - New costumes
03:55 - Night camp
04:09 - Camp fast travel
05:52 - Addressing affinity system
06:58 - Addressing side quests
09:07 - Addressing training QTE
11:20 - Introducing the Hellhound
14:00 - Ep. 4 camp music preview
15:38 - Ep. 4 battle music preview
17:02 - Town Hall start
19:50 - Outro
Call To Arms: Closed Beta Tester Program
Calling all Tacticians!
We’re looking for passionate strategy gamers interested in testing the next playable build of Lost Eidolons! This program, called the Benerio Grand Company, will have a direct hand in shaping the future of the game by providing direct feedback to our development team.
The creation of this team is important for us at Ocean Drive Studio, whose core principles in creating new games involve community involvement in that process.
The closed beta test, which will only be taking place on Windows PC Steam, will include a more robust-featured version of the game than the previous demo that was available during the recent Steam Next Fest. We’re planning on adding several fixes, tweaks, and a notable amount of additional content including the tutorial episodes for playtesters to get a much more thorough grasp of our game. These playtests will occur a few times over the course of a few months in multiple phases, with the first playtest sometime early this Fall 2021.
It’s also important for us to mention that the beta phase of Lost Eidolons will be under NDA. This is because it’ll be a huge chunk of the game which can include story spoilers. We want to preserve the experience of the game from those waiting to play the game in its entirety. That being said, the NDA only covers images and videos of the game build and you’d be free to discuss your experiences with others.
Members of the Benerio Grand Company will be able to participate in all future playtests from now until Early Access. Additional perks for joining the test group after having provided your valuable feedback includes:
Are you a diehard tactical RPG fan that wants to get involved in this project? Then please fill out the following form and join our Discord server:
- An additional beta access code for you to give to a friend or family at a later testing phase.
- A unique Benerio Grand Company role in our Discord, along with access to post on a special feedback channel viewable by everyone in the community to comment on.
- A special mention in a separate section of the in-game credits, celebrating the efforts of the Benerio Grand Company.
For those who are already a Kickstarter backer! Backers are automatically in the Benerio Grand Company and can earn the extra benefits should they contribute their feedback towards the betterment of the game! Filling out the form is not necessary. Simply reach out to ODS Pat via DMs and he’ll get you set up with the role to access our feedback discussion channels, and you should expect to receive beta access codes soon as part of your pledge fulfillment.
- Form URL: https://forms.gle/CV1JNH9biTNDbspZ7
- Discord URL: https://discord.com/invite/nvzRKzh5Mn
This announcement is mostly for onlookers who missed the campaign to still participate in the beta test. On the topic of fulfillment surveys from BackerKit, we're currently aiming to have the first batch sent out next week. The surveys are already mostly done, but we're finalizing some of the backend things before sending them out.
Applicants will be reached out to via e-mail letting them know if we have selected them to join the Benerio Grand Company. Please regularly check your e-mail including your spam folder to check if you were picked! And if you weren’t picked in the first batch, fret not, as we’ll be regularly adding new fledglings to the Benerio Grand Company through each of the testing phases.
Closed Beta FAQ
Q: How can I get into the Closed Beta?
Q: When will the Closed Beta begin?
- Please fill out this form if you’re interested in joining the Closed Beta group!
Q: How many beta test phases will there be? How long does the test last for?
- We will inform everyone of the date in a separate announcement in the near future!
Q: What are the requirements to be selected as a Closed Beta tester?
- We will have a total of 3 beta test phases between now and Early Access. The dates will be revealed in an upcoming announcement.
Q: How will you be inviting people who signed up for the beta test?
- We're looking for highly passionate fans of tactical turn-based RPGs that want to really help us provide solid feedback about the game! We want to see your enthusiasm in the application!
Q: How will I access the Closed Beta build if accepted?
- If your application is accepted, you should expect an e-mail from contact@oceandrive.studio with additional instructions on how to proceed!
Q: What perks do I get as a beta tester?
- Once you have been accepted to the Benerio Grand Company testing group, you'll receive a Steam Key which can be redeemed through your Steam Library. After you redeem the key, you should see 'Lost Eidolons Closed Beta' in your Steam Library. Download and launch to start playing the game!
Q: What kind of content will the first beta test have?
- You will be granted access to all phases of Closed Beta tests. An additional invite to try out the game will be given to you to give to a friend or family member. On Discord, we'll assign you a unique Discord role that provides access to a tester’s channel. Lastly, your alias will be added to a special section of the credits dedicated to the brave men and women of the Benerio Grand Company.
Q: Where can I submit my feedback as a beta tester?
- We will reveal this at a later time. Content will be gradually added throughout the three beta tests and will include an early look at the game’s first two major arcs.
Q: What platforms are the beta available on?
- We will have feedback channels available for testers on our website forums (available later) and Discord server.
Q: Is there multiplayer?
- The beta will only be available on Windows PC.
Q: What languages are supported during the Closed Beta?
- There are no multiplayer functions planned at this time.
Q: Can I collect footage or images from the Closed Beta to share with others or to make content with?
- Full voice acting in English, with text support for Korean, Russian, German, French, European Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Text seen during the beta tests may not be final.
Q: Will my campaign progress carry over between beta phases and later to Early Access?
- Closed Beta game builds are under NDA. You are free to talk about the game but please do not share images or videos.
Q: What are the minimum system specs?
- We will be wiping progress before Lost Eidolons' Early Access in early 2022.
- Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4460 or AMD equivalent
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: GeForce GTX 960 or AMD equivalent, 4 GB VRAM
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 40 GB available space
It's honestly fucked up that adding a way to speed up animations is considered a bonus feature rather than a standard addition. I'm glad they put it in though.
I think you misinterpreted my post.It's honestly fucked up that adding a way to speed up animations is considered a bonus feature rather than a standard addition. I'm glad they put it in though.
I assure you that the ability to skip or speed up animations was planned from the beginning! We also mentioned this a long time ago, but there were two reasons to want to include either a speed-up or skip function:
1. It would get tiring to watch the animations for many people.
2. Concerns that some people might get some form of motion sickness with the way the camera pans to detail ground level.
If we worded it as a bonus feature, then I apologize for the crappy wording.
If anyone missed out on the crowdfunding campaign and wants to still participate in beta testing the game even without having backed it during Kickstarter, please do follow the link in the previous post mirrored by Infinitron! The testing group is kind of like additional testers added to the pool of the Kickstarter testers. Same weight in providing feedback, access to the same beta build, etc.
Needless to say, we're looking for fans of the genre who want to critique the early builds of the game or rip apart anything that needs adjusting to ensure that the game is as good as it can be by the time it does reach Early Access.
Kickstarter Fulfillment Surveys
Greetings, Tacticians!
Back in May, we had a resounding success as the Lost Eidolons Kickstarter smashed through its $45,000 goal and funded a glorious $51,989, an amount which also fulfilled its stretch goal for an enhanced difficulty ‘Hell’ mode.
It’s been about two months since then, and we’re just about ready to send out surveys to start handling fulfillment of everyone’s pledges who backed our project.
The surveys will be sent via BackerKit, who we’re working with to ensure that everybody gets what they paid for. The first surveys will be sent out today to a few folks to ensure that everything is working properly, followed by all the other surveys at once if everything checked out okay with the first batch. We hope to have all surveys sent out to all backers by next week, Tuesday August 24th.
We ask that you carefully read over each survey question and check twice before submitting your survey. For pledge tiers that are receiving multiple copies of the game or digital deluxe edition, you must select which platform you want each copy of the game as well as how you want to receive the bonus digital content if applicable.
After completing your survey, you’ll have the option to pick up any additional add-ons that you still want before submitting. For those of you who pledged extra support when you initially backed the project, you can use that surplus amount towards any of these extras as a credit if you wish! Add-ons include:
Our team at Ocean Drive Studio is excited to see all of the creative things you will all come up with to be immortalized into our game! Lost Eidolons is our game as a collective, yourself included.
- Physical Collector’s Edition ($69.00)
- Digital Artbook + World Map ($5.00)
- Original Soundtrack, Digital ($5.00)
- Digital Copy of Lost Eidolons ($30.00)
For any additional questions or survey troubleshooting, please join our Discord server, where you can ask questions and receive answers live! You can also reach out to us at contact@oceandrive.studio for e-mail assistance.