When I say that I work for Zen Studios, your first reaction is probably not "Ooh, that one can ruin an RPG builder!" It's almost like, "So, what are the pinball tables you're working on?" And that's totally cool – & # 39; t because we're definitely known for Pinball FX3 more than anything else, and I honestly don't see that changing anytime soon. But if we've done our job well with Operencia: The Stolen Sun – and as we approach the release date of March 31, I suggest with the humblest we have – my hope is that you'll start to see just how much smaller studio space in Hungary we know.
Beautiful Operencia defines the term "love project." I wasn't worried about it at the time, but about three years ago, a Zen-focused football team was tasked with putting in a new project. After debating some of the potential VR concepts, the team decided that the best step forward was to turn gears into a genre that many of them grew to love but were less beholden to today. The result: the first person to be blown away by an RPG in the spirit of titles like Wizardry, The Bard & # 39; s Tale and Eye of the Seeer. This was the kind of game they wanted to play a lot, and they didn't see many similar games out there – so they chose to make their own.
At the same time, the team realized that simply creating our own reasons for a crazy composer wouldn't really cut it by 2020. So, we made things better – from controlled and automated menu navigation (turn that off if you need to put that graphic paper paper on your desk to use it) to a greater emphasis on the story, complete with memorable characters and a catchy voice to accompany them. And the powerless 4-dimensional drawings don't hurt, either.
But I think what sets Operencia apart and gives it its identity. From the very beginning – long before I boarded, myself – the team decided that making this entry into the blobber genre was theirs, putting it in the world of Central European literary and fiction. Almost all of the 13 maps based on the game are based on some kind of folktale or myth our Hungarian developers grew up with, whether it be forested Copper Forest of the goddess Hadúr or the terrible curses behind the towers of Deva and Balvanyos.
By the way, the last two places I mentioned are very real. You can visit them both today – well, their ruins, anyway. As such, Operencia also introduced myths to historical figures such as Attila, his wife and seven Magyars princes, to name a few. Do not go to this game as a substitute for the history books section – but go for it for fun, if it is allowed to best translate history, interpret it.
Personally I came to this project almost a year later, and I've loved it from the beginning. A solid foundation already existed – the texture and look of the basic levels, the character formation, that kind of thing – but without the basic core of the story, there wasn't much going in terms of putting everything together. That's where I came in. It was my job to get the whole thing up to that point and not only reinforce the narrative, but I also invented a new creation of interactive games focused on myths and legends… most of which, frankly, I knew next to nothing about being an American.
But what an amazing journey it was to drown all of this, from books like The Folk-Tales of the Magyars and Tales of Superhuman Powers by Csenge Virag Zalka (his constantly updated website
The name "Operencia" itself comes from these legends. When I was researching, I kept seeing that name seem like a place I should have known. It turns out, it is translated "far, far away," and it has just been accepted internationally as the "real place of deception" in these matters. We liked the name so much, we decided to make this remote world the name of the world where all these myths come together. And finally, we thought it would make the best title of the whole game, too.
At the end of the day, Operencia represents Zen Studios' single largest product. The power of Pinball FX – which only continues to mature as we introduce Wander's virtual and virtual tables to our portfolio – has set the stage for a different resurgence of the old-school niche. And, of course, we hope that the answer will enable us to continue rolling out Operencia's qualifications over the next decade.
