Allan ‘Orion’ Maki Returns To Work On Lord Of The Rings Online After Nine Years
Former Lord of the Rings Online lead designer Allan “Orion” Maki is back at Standing Stone Games after departing the studio in 2014 back when it was still called Turbine. After working with American healthcare company CVS for almost seven years, Orion is back to working on the long-running Lord of the Rings MMORPG.
Orion is one of the game’s original developers and is best known for his prolific writing, which, once again, comes to the fore in his first forum post following his return, aptly-titled “There and back again… a developer’s tale.”
“[…] This developer is the last person one would expect to see return to the developer-cube some nine years since he went missing; indeed, when the call came in ‘looking for someone to help continue the journey of The Lord of the Rings Online,’ this developer was fervently entrenched elsewhere.
What luck then; that soon after the call all the pieces of a puzzle should happen to fall into their correct places and suddenly the developer finds himself amongst several old faces and new that remind him of those glory years – not so long ago – and entice him with whispers of wondrous adventures yet to come if only he would sit back at the keyboard. What luck then; that fate, fortune, or magic nudged our developer just a smidge in this direction and now after nine years away from his developer-cube he returns in time to enjoy the fifteenth anniversary of the game he helped launch.
Some may remember his moniker, emblazoned and blue etched across developer diaries, the general discussion board, class boards, and most often down in the dirt and filth of the monster play forums. Some may only know him by the fitting homage that stood in the Ettenmoors forever there to be beaten silly as a test for skills against the enemy. If you knew him, you would have an opinion – good or ill.
But gentle reader if you knew him, you understood that his passion for design was as deep as yours for enjoying the world he helped create. If you did not know him, you would understand that passion as it is sewn into the fabric of the world you inhabit and dwell in even now.
Knowing him or not matters little because after nine years apart from a love that he cherished, he has returned.”
“I have loved and still love LotRO and I have been graciously accepted back into the fold of the development ranks,” he wrote. “I have made my way back home and you will be hearing from me more soon.”
