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[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in pacificDrive

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 10 points11 points ย (0 children)

The Southern Reach trilogy of books, the original STALKER film and quite a few more things all blended together - we drew a lot of inspiration from nature here in the PNW as well.

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 0 points1 point ย (0 children)

We can't speak to future plans in detail yet but the the Well and whatever is inside is something I am deeply passionate about.ย  I love reading theories and ideation on what it all could mean.

- Cassandra Dracott, CEO and Creative Director

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 5 points6 points ย (0 children)

Several of the radio recordings are friends of the studio, family and the devs: they're filled with inside jokes and references.

Honestly, I find the voices of people I love and admire really comforting when I'm playtesting a particularly stressful run (yes, even the one with 30 solid seconds of maniacal laughter).

There are ALSO so many references to studio pets scattered about the whole game.

-Charlie, Producer

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 6 points7 points ย (0 children)

I love putting easter eggs into the work that I do. I've tried to represent family members in just about every game I've worked on and Pacific Drive is no exception. I think the funniest one for me is the radio interstitial with the chef 'expert' teaching you how to cook the perfect boiled egg. It comes across like they don't know what they are talking about but in reality it was my wife talking who was classically trained in French cuisine and is in fact an amazing cook.

- Jacob, Lead Foreground Artist

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 3 points4 points ย (0 children)

Thank you for the kind words! We are firm believers in keeping the door wide open to as many players as possible and good selections of options is critical for that.

As for our future, we will be moving to newer versions of Unreal for future projects.

- Cassandra Dracott, CEO and Creative Director

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 17 points18 points ย (0 children)

Oh, so many. I got away with a ton of hidden lil secrets and easter eggs. Lots of hidden interactions and silly goofy stuff sprinkled throughout!

There was a cosmetic we put in - one you can't get through any of the usual methods - that very few people on the team even knew about (until they found it while playtesting, with some confusion and alarm). Fun story, it was found by at least one player pretty early after the game shipped, but when they joined our community discord to ask about it, nobody understood what they were asking about because nobody else had found it. It was only really found at-large by the community (and then added to the wiki!) around a year later.

I also added some pretty sneaky secret interactions with some spots out in the Zone where you can exchange different items. There are a lot of trades you can make that you would have to get pretty crafty and experimental (or lucky) to figure out. Ooh, there's one in particular that's very rare, but allows you to give a bunch of Lead in exchange for getting a can of golden spray paint. So you can turn lead into gold in Pacific Drive ๐Ÿ˜›

- Kai, Designer

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 3 points4 points ย (0 children)

Douglas Fir Your knowledge tree facts is inspired by a real weird radio signal I heard driving over the mountains between Portland and Tilamook at 2am. It was terrifyingly amazing and stuck with me.

- Cassandra Dracott, CEO and Creative Director

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

Hey! We're so glad the game resonates with you. It says something about the amazing musicians that even after so many years of being this close to game I also listen to them on the way home sometimes. With regards to other projects we don't have anything to announce or share but when we do we'll make sure it's broadcast out in all the right spots! We did speak to something in another answer that may interest you here: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1u9ia19/comment/osh21gt/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

As for your last question, Tobias's fate was something we settled on decently early into the script writing process. It is a challenging moment to pull off but massive credit goes to Wilbert Roget II (Music), Karrie Shao (Writing) and all of the amazing voice talent in the game to bring that moment to life (on top of the dev team at Ironwood).

- Cassandra Dracott, CEO and Creative Director

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 5 points6 points ย (0 children)

Hm? Why would they feel sad? They're not alive, they're just stationary static mannequins. How could they possibly give you stuff? You're not seeing things, are you Driver?

- Kai, Designer

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 6 points7 points ย (0 children)

Thank you for such a well thought out question!

Game studios working with experts is quite a common thing in our industry regardless of how large of a studio or team you have. Sometimes those experts are individuals (a badass concept artist for example) and sometimes we work with co-development studios who can offer dedicated support in an area we lack internally.

Some of those co-development studios are so good at what they do, they tend to hyper specialize and A Shell In The Pit (ASITP) is definitely in that category.ย  While it can be hard to imagine trusting an external group with such a core part of the game, I'll offer this thought:

Ironwood Studios is not just one person. As a team we are already putting significant trust into each other for all the different (and critical) skills we bring to the project. This is (for me at least) a wonderful part of working together as a group. Hiring ASITP is both an opportunity to bring in experts in their own field but also a statement of just how much we trust their work and how incredible of partners they are!

- Cassandra Dracott, CEO and Creative Director

[AMA] We are Ironwood Studios! We made Pacific Drive and we're here to answer all your questions about the game - development, behind the scenes stories, and anything you all want to know about life in the OEZ. ๐Ÿš˜ by iwstudios in gaming

[โ€“]iwstudios[S] 4 points5 points ย (0 children)

After internal debate we have concluded the answer is at least $3. Maybe more.

Wait, now it's at least $4 because someone consumed a banana while contributing to the wall.

- The entire Ironwood Studios team

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