This week Zeta was able to take some time to shoot some messages back and forth and answer some questions about his next project: Overwhored 2.
Hey there Zeta. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me about your next project.
Happy to speak with ya Greentext Guy.
So. you’ve spent quite some time working on Snow Daze. How does it feel to be making an RPG again?
Overwhored 2 will be more of a strategy game, actually. Along the lines of XCOM but running on the open source D20 5th edition SRD. Which is to say the publicly available version of the rules of 5th edition D&D. I am in no way affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
As for how it feels it’s always tiring after finishing something big, but I’ll feel most alive after its been going for a while and moving at full steam.
Interesting. You’ve always been really good about topping your previous work and that trend seems to be continuing. 3d models, SRPG gameplay, VR support, it’s all really impressive. Considering your last game was in Ren’Py is making such a large jump in terms of technology and mechanics a large challenge or are all of the dev tools Unity comes with making it easier on you and your team?
I’m hiring professionals who know what they’re doing, which helps tremendously. The sales of Snow Daze and good support on patreon make it possible. Using Unity makes the coding affordable. It’s not actually much different from commissioning pictures and coding for 2d games, to be honest. There’s considerably more work that goes into making the 3d models compared with drawing a simple picture, though.
Also I’m not so much out to top myself in technical terms as exploring the limits of my capabilities. I plan things tightly but I know there’s real limits to what I can do. Still, as the business grows I can just plain afford to do more.
What made you decide to go back to the Overmind story? Was there just more you wanted to explore in this universe?
I wanted to show a game in the setting of heaven so I could go over a few story themes. Also because it provides the greatest possible waifu potential.
I’ve also intended to make this since well before Overwhored 1 was done. Had I not been successful with Snow Daze I just would have made it in RPG Maker.
Speaking of RPG Maker. Were there any big constraints on scenes or mechanics due to using it? Was anything interesting cut?
There were innumerable constraints and annoyances with that system. One of the worst of which was the limit on image sizes. I honestly want to remake Overwhored 1 and probably will at some point. There was one persistent bug I paid several people to try and fix caused by getting on and off boats that drove me insane.
Never did get properly fixed. I’ve looked into RPG Maker MV which is better in some ways. The original Overwhored was made in RPG Maker VX Ace. Well, VX Vanilla, then VX Ace.
Now, how did you get started making adult games in the first place? Did you set out going “I’m going fulfill my life long dream and make big titty adult sex games for a living” or was it circumstance?
I was doing normal SFW work in a hospital and made a quick throwaway game for fun. I put it up anonymously on a now dead chanlike site and people liked it, so I decided to make a full game. Patreon became a thing and I was very unhappy with the state of US healthcare and didn’t want to work in the profession anymore. I ended up moving over to this as it made more money until it became my fulltime job.
Honestly I feel pretty great about it. It’s legitimately a good job.
It seems like most adult games in the West are single person projects. Did you ever expect to have an actual company and be managing such a large team?
I never expected to do any of this as a serious profession at all, I just took advantage of opportunities when they became available. Same as I’m doing now. I do what I think will work and if it does I use the resources to invest in the next thing I think I can make work.
If there ever comes a point where things don’t work out I assess what went wrong, adjust, and try again (hopefully) better the next time. As it stands I’m prepared to adjust if I get the resources to run a big company sometime or if I have to go back to working solo.
Do you plan on releasing Overwhored 2 in the traditional style with a beta followed by updates or are you going to go with a demo and then final release?
Currently the plan is to update and finish Hypnolab VR and use it to preview new models and animations while working on getting Overwhored 2 to a functional game state. We’re getting the coding for the combat system started, though, and most of the main cast has 3d models and some basic animations by now. We’ll likely end up using the same “chapter” system for Overwhored 2 once it starts coming out. It’s surprisingly not a lot more work to make it VR capable. Thank Unity for that. Still, Overwhored 2 itself won’t have VR.
I believed you mentioned that the sex scenes will be what’s playable in VR right?
If anything in Overwhored 2 is in VR, that will be. Making tactical combat work in VR is not the puzzle I care to solve, considering I have an entire porn game to make work already. I know it works just fine, though. I already have a private build of the Branda trailer that works on the Vive.
It sounds like the Vive is finally getting its must have game.
Speaking of the tactical combat, you’ve mentioned it’s an SRPG and will work similar to XCOM. Can you tell us any more about the gameplay?
Like I said, it’s working on the 5th edition SRD. So it will function a lot like the tabletop game with an xcom layout. Honestly I just looked and noticed that said SRD rules and XCOM’s rules were very similar. I’d say the move and cover systems are almost identical. They differ a lot in execution, however, and one is simplified and streamlined to work as a video game. So I intend to just simplify those rules to work in a tactical combat framework. I’ve been playing and homebrewing tabletop games my entire life, so adjusting the mechanics won’t be too new for me.
When I think of XCOM the first thing that comes to mind is ranged combat with a heavy emphasis on cover. Will Overwhored 2 function like that or will it be more melee focused like FF Tactics or The Banner Saga?
It’ll be a mix, like D&D or Disgaea. Also XCOM certainly has always had a love of melee, just ask anyone that likes sending their rookies to fight tentaculats and chryssalids with only stun weapons. You could really bring a lot of rookies along in the old XCOM games. Well, stun weapon in one hand, primed grenade in the other. The new games also have a fair bit of melee, it just isn’t the focus. That’s a matter of adjusting the mechanics, mostly.
Fair point! Alright, now for the big question. When we be able to get our hands on the first chapter of Overwhored 2?
I can’t give you an exact release date yet, unfortunately, but we will be releasing some hypnolab content soon that includes a lot of Overwhored 2 content.
Alright. Well thanks a bunch for answering my questions. I definitely can’t wait to see what you guys can make with a new engine. Before I let you go let me ask you one more though.
This is a bit of a loaded question but who is best girl and why is it Rubati?
Because elves are made for lewd. As the creator I don’t play favorites but enjoy making all my characters suffer equally.
Thanks for having me Greentext guy!
Go show Jewcat some love over at his Patreon.
Free downloads for Overwhored 1 and the animation demo shown at the top can be found here.
Greentext Does 