Development began in 1999 under the code name "Project Ares". The title was changed to "Eternal Arcadia" in 2000, retained for the Japanese release. The internal Sega development team, Overworks, consisted of development staff from Team Andromeda and from the "Phantasy Star" development teams. Producer Rieko Kodama had worked on "Phantasy Star 1", "2", and "4", and the first two "Sonic the Hedgehog" games for the Sega Genesis, while scenario writer Shuntaro Tanaka had written the stories for the first two "Sakura Wars" RPGs. The soundtrack was composed by Yutaka Minobe and Tatsuyuki Maeda; Maeda had composed music for "Sonic 3 & Knuckles". Expectations were high, as Team Andromeda's prior game, "Panzer Dragoon Saga" (1998), had received critical acclaim, and the Dreamcast had few well-reviewed JRPGs.