Hi Elysians!✨
With excitement growing for the major v0.18.0 update, we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how Echoes of Elysium’s patches are created from start to finish as well as diving into how Loric Games was founded.
The journey behind Loric Games stems from a mix of creativity and passion for interactive storytelling. From early experiments in digital art to leading teams on major game titles, the path to founding the studio has been anything but linear. Today, that experience drives a player-first approach, with Executive Producer and Co-founder Ray Soto ensuring every patch and feature aligns with the studio’s vision and prioritizes what matters most to the community.
The Path to Loric Games
Ray’s journey through the gaming industry has been anything but ordinary - starting in games, stepping away to explore new paths, and ultimately coming full circle back to Loric Games.
So where did it all start? Ray studied Computer Science in college with the goal of entering the industry as an artist, later shifting into digital art, and gaining hands-on experiences through internships focused on industry tools and technology.
His early career began with 3D art for training simulations before transitioning into the game industry as an environment artist at Mythic Entertainment, where he worked on Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer. He eventually advanced to art lead overseeing production for the art team. He then joined Paragon Studios (NCSoft) to work on City of Heroes, before returning to Mythic during its pivot to mobile development, contributing to Ultima Forever and Dungeon Keeper. Following the studio’s closure, he took time to reassess his career path and explore opportunities beyond traditional game development roles.
This exact motive led him to journalism at USA Today, where he worked on virtual and augmented reality storytelling, as well as helping build teams, developing strategies, and collaborating across reporting, product, and marketing. The experience gave a broader perspective on the business side of large-scale projects and how teams align around shared ideas. Notably, he also helped launch an interactive AR realization of rocket launches in collaboration with Florida Today with support from NASA, blending immersive technology with live launch coverage out of Kennedy Space Center!
These experiences across games, media, and immersive tech ultimately shaped his path toward founding Loric Games.
Pictured above is Ray standing on the roof of the press box next to NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation of testing our app against a Falcon 9 launch. Fun fact: construction of the SLS was underway which is the rocket that took the Artemis II crew to the moon!
The Initial Spark for Loric Games
Loric Games all started with a message from Brian Johnson on LinkedIn; they had both previously worked together at Mythic. Initially, Ray had actually ignored the message! However, Brian’s persistence paired with Ray rediscovering his passion for games through the Switch had him more open to the idea. What Brian had proposed was bigger than just a game, it was about building a studio, and the two quickly realized they were fully aligned for this studio’s vision - from the games, the experiences they wanted to create, and the values that would ultimately guide them.
It took a while though, neither were quite ready to rush in, but along with Rob and Colin (additional co-founders), they spent six months talking daily and refining the ideas. A trip to GDC four years ago helped solidify that direction, giving them an opportunity to study the industry, gather feedback, learn trends, and connect with colleagues who had started their own studios. And as cliche as it sounds, they hashed up a plan at a bar, shook hands, and officially began Loric Games.
Brian and Ray at GDC 2025
The decision to base the studio in Northern Virginia was completely intentional. While some may be surprised about its location in Arlington, it made perfect sense for Ray and Brian, who both have deep roots in the area and have called it home for decades. The region also has a strong but often overlooked game development community, supported by universities with established game design programs. While many local talents move to California or Texas for opportunities, they saw an untapped opportunity to build a studio locally and grow from there.
Loric Games was founded not only as a studio, but as a way to help grow and support a thriving local game development community.
How We Build and Patch
Starting a studio is one thing, but running it is a whole different challenge, especially with such a small team. As Loric Games grew, so did the need for stronger structure and coordination. Early on, Ray wore multiple hats as Executive Producer and early Art Director to help visualize and synthesize the core concepts of Echoes of Elysium. As the team expanded and communication became more difficult between differing teams, it became clear that a dedicated production role was essential to keep everyone aligned. Ilya joined in as Concept Artist and Art Director allowing Ray to focus fully on production.
For Ray, producing is about supporting and enabling the team for success, making sure they have what they need, keeping development on track, and maintaining strong communication across disciplines and with partners like our publisher, Snail. While he occasionally helps with light engineering tasks like basic scripts and small fixes, his main task is ensuring the team can focus on bigger ticket items that moves the game forward.
This philosophy guides our approach to patch development. The team first builds a high-level roadmap mapping out expansions, quality-of-life improvements, and new features designed to keep players engaged as the game evolves. After launch, patch planning runs simultaneously with ongoing content delivery, with major decisions evaluated daily as Ray works closely with engineers, designers, and QA to ensure the right issues are addressed at the right time.
The patch process itself is highly collaborative and structured. Each week begins with a proposed patch plan reviewed across each team. Every morning, QA runs extensive testing to validate features, confirm bug fixes, and identify any new issues. This leads to evening reviews with Ray, CEO Brian, and CTO Colin, to finalize the most critical fixes for the patch before it moves to staging. Snail also supports QA before official patch release. This is then accompanied by documentation and marketing coordination, including community patch notes. Once final testing is complete, the patch is published for our players! Hotfixes follow a similar but accelerated workflow, focused solely on urgent issues like crashes or game breaking bugs, with streamlined testing and rapid deployment; it is basically a mini version of the patch process.
Success is not measured only in technical metrics, but more so in player experience and feedback! The team actively monitors our community on Discord and Steam, along with bug reports and crash logs, tracking overall sentiment toward fixes and new features. This feedback loop ensures each patch improves stability while also enhancing overall player experience, ensuring the world of Elysium continues to grow in a way that is responsive and engaging - reflecting the same vision that started the studio in the first place.
“This determines more than just success, it shows we’re leaning into the right area as well”
- Ray
Working With Our Community
Our community plays a vital role in shaping Echoes of Elysium. From the earliest days, player feedback has directly influenced both development and patch updates, and the team is deeply grateful for every piece of input, whether it’s positive or critical. Even more critical feedback reflects a desire to enjoy the game, helping highlight issues that may be shared across a wider player base.
Early feedback focused heavily on technical issues like crashes, which required closer collaboration with our hardware performance partners to investigate and resolve. As stability has improved and crashes have decreased, the focus has shifted toward quality-of-life improvements and new features driven by player suggestions. This shift is also mirrored internally, with the team equally excited to work on these improvements.
Discord has become a key channel for real-time feedback, giving the team insight into what players love, what needs improvement, and what they want next. Feedback is reviewed, validated, and integrated into patch planning- prioritized when urgent or logged for future updates or expansions. Ray is especially inspired by how the team connects with players. The team aims to build a place where players feel heard and valued, whether they report bugs, suggest improvements, or simply share their excitement and passion for the game.
And for those curious about the realities of game production, Ray notes that it’s complex, but incredibly rewarding. Everyone on the team is passionate about games and building Echoes of Elysium. Each patch represents a carefully measured step towards the studio’s broader vision, balancing out what the team wants to create alongside what the players need. It’s all part of the early access journey and it’s been essential in laying a strong foundation for the game.
For Loric Games, the community isn’t just playing the game, they’re a part of making it. Every piece of feedback, every conversation, and every moment shared helps shape the future of Elysium. We’re incredibly grateful for our community, and we're so excited to bring you v0.18.0 soon.
If you’d like to be part of that conversation, join our Discord server:
✨ https://discord.gg/loricgames
Our next community game night in the server is tomorrow, Saturday, April 11th, 2026 at 9 PM ET!
We also share special sneak peeks! We just revealed our power jump last week!
And with that, we hope you all have a great weekend, Elysians!
-Loric Games🧡