Waylon Snedker

Project Introduction

Odd Realm taps into that same sense of awe and fascination one has when looking at an ant farm. Players see the world from a top-down perspective where the camera slices through the z layer it occupies. This provides them with a horizontal slice of the world, letting them see their settlement's inner workings, and what their settlers are up to.

Being a sandbox game, players aren't given an end objective. The only mandate is to try to keep their settlers alive as the seasons pass. In time, players will encounter various events based on their actions. Dig too deep into the earth? They might uncover some sleeping evil they should have left alone. Turn away a roaming band of settlers looking for a home? They might become bandits and attack the settlement. There are lots of events for players to experience and every session is unique for every player.

Being a fantasy game, there are many unique races for players to encounter, but also play as. Part of Odd Realm's appeal is that it provides different styles of play depending on the race selected when starting a new settlement. Play as the Ancients, an immortal race bound to their skeletal forms, and seek out other Ancients as you unlock the powers of the void. Or, play as the Ardyn, a life-stealing race that can drain other entities of their youth to maintain their own. Or just play it safe as the Humans, and build a sprawling castle supported by verdant farms.

About Developer

My name is Waylon Snedker, and I started my game developer career in 2011, as a game designer at Blackbird Interactive. On the side, I taught myself programming in C# using Unity, and, as time went on, I managed to slowly shift roles from designer to technical designer to programmer (while also working at different studios in Vancouver). From the beginning, I knew I wanted to pursue the career as a solo indie dev, and I spent these early years saving and learning to do this. By 2017, I knew I was ready to take that leap. I quit my programmer job, and spent the next two years getting Odd Realm ready for Early Access on Steam in 2019. Since then, I've continued to work on the game, and have had an absolute blast fostering a community of players while moving the game towards its 2023 full release.