August marks my final month at Eternal Dream Arabization*, the localization studio I co-founded with Montassar Ghanmi 7 years ago.
EDA started with two guys and a lil’ dream (heh).
That little dream, a few thousand cold emails, and an uncountable number of hours juggling all sorts of hats like my life depended on it allowed me to work on some of my favorite indies and grasp my biggest professional breakthroughs. Both in what I wanted to do with localization and art, or as a business.
For better or worse, EDA shaped a lot of who I am today professionally.
This might come as a shock, but Montassar and I have always been polar opposites in our approaches to localization, which was always a boon and a curse at the same time.
Seeking excellence doesn’t always mean treading the same path. And if you know me, you know that I like to approach my work in a very particular way.
Despite ‘my way’ rarely intersecting with the way EDA did things, I’ll always be grateful to the team for letting me do my own thing on my solo projects, some of which—Tunic & Obra Dinn—I still consider career highlights.
At this stage, I believe we’ve matured enough to let our unique approaches breathe and do things our way, completely independently.
I’d already stepped down from direct management years back, but stuck around to chip in here and there. Now, I’m fully passing the baton to those who come after.
Coincidentally, this also marks my 10th, and final, credit as part of the team. On something very special no less—something I can’t talk about quite yet, but I’m very proud of.
All in due time 🤌
Thank you. And here’s to more awesome projects <3
By Seif Chaib.
Originally posted on Linkedin.