Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Operencia: The Stolen Sun - turn-based blobber by Hungarian pinball devs

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
https://operenciarpg.com




https://af.gog.com/game/operencia_the_stolen_sun?as=1649904300
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/operencia/home
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/operencia-the-stolen-sun/9pfkkz5t89nl

From the developers of Pinball FX games o_O

Bard's Tale 4 did this? Well it looks more traditional dungeon crawler than BT4 at least!

ss_565c98d242a69de5af6a7326b14bacd193042e90.jpg



Operencia_logo_effect_b.png

Zen Studios’ modern homage to classic first-person dungeon-crawlers takes you to the land of Operencia, an unconventional fantasy world inspired by a faraway land referenced in countless Hungarian folktales. An old-school turn-based battle system combines with inspiration from Central European mythology to offer an RPG experience that feels unique yet also familiar.

ATaleForTheAges.png

An unknown force has abducted the Sun King Napkiraly, leaving Operencia in a state of perpetual darkness – and eventual doom. From hidden royal tombs and cursed castles to an ascent up the World Tree to reach the Copper Forest of the Land of the Gods, explore diverse settings throughout the far reaches of the land…and beyond. Each location boasts its own unique atmosphere, visual style, level design and puzzles, and many take place entirely outdoors.

Lake_of_Anna_cutscene_wide.gif


WhereHistoryMeetsLegend.png

Operencia is home to an intriguing mix of unexplored mythology and fantastical versions of actual historical locations (e.g., Deva Fortress, Balvanyos) and characters (e.g., Attila, Seven Chieftains of the Magyars), all coming together to form one cohesive new gaming universe. Several of your own seven party members take influence from heroes of forgotten tales told hundreds of years ago, such as the brave knight Mezey and Sebastian the Dragon Slayer.

Operencia_Anna_wide.gif


ClassicGameplay.png

Along with a deeply strategic turn-based battle system full of spells and special skills to execute, tile-based movement encourages thorough exploration of each area. For added challenge, turn on Cartographer mode to plot out each of the 13 maps yourself. How many secrets will you find?

Combat_gif_wide.gif


BeautifulPresentation.png

Breathtaking hand-drawn cutscenes and fabulous 2D character portraits bring the story to life in a style not easily compared to any other game. More than 30 colorful roles are fully voiced through top-tier performances authentic to the game’s Central European roots.

Operencia_exploration.gif


OtherKeyFeatures.png

  • Explore 13 diverse, puzzle-filled levels
  • Defeat more than 50 enemy types
  • Switch between 7 fully upgradable – and memorable – characters
  • Robust difficulty settings allow you to select options such as limiting saves, implementing permadeath, and disabling auto-mapping to create your own
  • Stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4
  • An epic orchestral score composed by Arthur Grosz
  • Fully 3D environments, enemies and objects, plus high-fidelity advanced effects with dynamic shadows and lighting
  • AAA Indie production quality and polish with top-tier voice acting, soundtrack, cutscenes and writing

Sign up for closed beta: https://steamcommunity.com/games/985950/announcements/detail/1723087600585716595
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Darth Canoli

Arcane
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
5,687
Location
Perched on a tree
Watching the first gif (inside the quote) you poosted, i wish the whole game was designed like that in 2D.

Well, if they keep their promises, they will be remembered and we'll sing songs about their game development skills for decades.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Game development in 2018 - launching a Steam page for your game before it even has a website or a trailer on YouTube.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Here we go: https://operenciarpg.com/



https://operenciarpg.com/faq/

FAQ – Updated December 8, 2018
Operencia is a unique title, what does it mean? How did you come up with it?

If you translate the word “Operencia” from Hungarian to English, you’ll get the phrase “far, far away” – you can tell the name derives from many Central European folktales. In fact, many of them begin citing “Operencia” as the location where their tale is told. This is not a real place – never has been – but it’s universally understood to be a place far away from where the story is being told.

As a setting for this game, it’s an entire world, as our narrator puts it, “on the other side of imagination.” If you can imagine it, it’s there in some capacity. This includes everything from truly fantastical tales to more “legendary” takes on characters who were larger than life.

What is the background for the stories in Operencia and how are you bringing them together into one cohesive universe?

The backgrounds of the stories told in Operencia range from adaptations of popular tales to concepts we developed ourselves. Hundreds of years ago, the idea of stories passed around through the ages existing in one cohesive universe was never even fathomed. We’re simply operating under the assumption that everything imagined exists in the same world. As a result, characters and locations created hundreds of years ago – sometimes literally, as they’re actual historical figures – may be crossing paths for the first time ever. Have you heard of them all? Probably not – but we’re hoping that the knowledge that these stories exist piques your interest enough to seek them out yourself. (Don’t’ worry – we’ll specify some of them as we unveil more about the game.)

How does combat work in the game?

Without getting overly technical with our explanation here, this is Zen’s take on a classic turn-based RPG gameplay setup. You’ll amass a team of seven adventurers throughout the course of the game, each with distinct classes and abilities. Your own play style and strategic mind will determine whom to choose as the four in battle at any given time. Some will be better at melee; others will excel at casting spells or shooting projectile weapons. Some can do a healthy mix of them all. As you build your characters’ skill trees, you’ll be able to customize your tactics to your own personal style.

Are there other games that influenced the design and gameplay in Operencia?

Of course! The game was conceived as a love letter to the first-person dungeon crawlers many of our team grew up playing – classics like Wizardry, The Bard’s Tale and Eye of the Beholder, just to name a few. Our overall goal was to modernize that flavor of gaming – which we think works great with Unreal 4! – and to create a game that we ourselves want to play. Though there certainly are some quality modern titles of this genre, they are few and far between.

What inspired Zen to venture into the world of RPGs?

While Zen is best known for pinball games, we definitely have proven our capabilities go far beyond the silver ball. CastleStorm was hugely successful for the studio, and there titles in other genres we have experience in. Our teams have been working together now for many years, and they have all released successful titles – it was time to turn this team loose, and let them make what they are truly passionate about. Operencia is a game many at the studio have long dreamed of making, and it has resulted in our biggest single game production to date. We have poured everything into this, and it is exciting to see this scale of production coming from Zen.

Tell us about the music in Operencia. What was the inspiration for the sound?

We worked with an incredibly talented individual named Arthur Grósz to craft a score that served the dual role of fitting with gameplay and honoring the source material. This is very much a product of Central Europe, and the music reflects that admirably, as you probably heard in the trailer.

Does the game feature real-world representations of historical figures? What inspired the characters?

Yes and no. We do feature historical figures – locations too! – but it’s all in a very “legendary” context.

The most important of these is definitely King Attila, whom you absolutely play as for a bit in the game (you may even fight him!). He’s obviously based on Attila the Hun, who – depending on whom you ask – was either one of the greatest leaders in world history or, as his enemies knew him in his time, the Scourge of God. We skew toward the former with him – in fact, we refer to him as the Scourge of Demons – while also not ignoring core character traits, from his conquering spirit to his fathering of many children, and even his lifespan and the way he died.

It’s not too far removed from what has happened with the likes of Robin Hood and King Arthur throughout the years. Both were probably real people – but their legends through time likely far surpass the men they actually were.

What makes Operencia stand out from other RPGs of its kind?

At its core, Operencia stands out simply for being a new take on an old-school genre we don’t see very often these days. The art style is also very unique – we’re not sure you’ll find anything else quite like it – and we’re quite satisfied with the relatively bright world we’ve managed to bring to life…which is saying something for a land whose sun has literally been stolen! Beyond this, we also believe our approach to creating the universe we have crafted is also something you just don’t see very often – especially pertaining to Central European folklore and mythology.

Is it a multiplayer game?

Operencia is a single-player narrative-driven experience. There are not any multiplayer modes or elements in the game.

On which platforms can we expect to see Operencia available?

Right now we are only announcing Operencia for Steam. However, the game is being developed for more platforms, and we will have more details in the near future.

When can we expect the official release of the game?

We’re just saying 2019 for now – hopefully we can get more specific for you in the near future.

Will there be a beta available for Operencia? How can it be accessed?

A closed Steam beta begins December 10. Players can request access via the game page on Steam.

What is the expected price for the game?

Reasonable. We will announce price closer to launch.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Short interview, Hungary's Witcher ambition: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/zen-studios-operencia-dungeon-crawler-witcher-hungary

Zen Studios on Developing Its First Dungeon-Crawler, Its Pursuit of Hungary's "Witcher" Moment
Operencia: The Stolen Sun is steeped in Hungarian lore and designed for RPG fans worldwide.


Today Zen Studios announced Operencia The Stolen Sun, a new dungeon-crawler RPG set in the backdrop of Hungarian legend. Primarily known for their immersive pinball games Zen Studios the developers decided it was time to let the pinball drop and start working on something different, and we got a chance to speak with the team about their new passion project.

Headquartered in Budapest, Hungary Zen Studios came to prominence thanks to the Pinball FX and Zen Pinball series. The pinball sims proved so popular that Zen Studios released virtual pinball tables for franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, The Walking Dead, and more. Along the way Zen Studios worked as developers on various licensed digital games for companies like Marvel while experimenting with games developed for mobile, motion controls, and VR. While pinball might be Zen Studios' claim-to-fame, it's hardly the sole focus of this eclectic studio.

Enter Operencia, a game based on the legends of Zen Studios' native Hungary. Operencia is a first-person dungeon-crawler set in the eponymous land. The developers say Operencia is a modern take on an old-school experience where players must traverse and chart their way through winding dungeons, solve intricate puzzles, and engage in turn-based combat with over 50 different types of enemies.

There are between seven upgradable characters to switch from and a difficulty slider can enable things like permadeath and disable automatic map charting so you can grab a pen and paper and map the dungeons yourself. The trailer shows off a colorful 3D world developed in Unreal Engine 4, but cutscenes and character portraits will be hand drawn in 2D.

Before getting a glimpse of Operencia I admitted to Zen Studios that I unfortunately wasn't too familiar with Hungarian folklore. The team in Hungary wasn't surprised, but Zen Studios is a multinational team and for Operencia the studio tapped American writer Chris Baker as creative director on the project to write and develop Operencia's story and lore.

"We want to make sure [Operencia] is accessible to a wide audience and that they understand the story we want to tell," Zen Studios producer Akos Szabo tells me in a Skype call from Budapest. "You don't need any social-historical knowledge of Hungary, these are tales and legends."

We've seen with franchises like The Witcher and local traditions and local folklore can be used to tell epic and adventures understood universally. Chris Baker agrees. "You know I'm in the same boat. I didn't know a lot of this [Hungarian] mythology coming in and it was kind of one of the more interesting challenges," says Baker in the same Skype call.

The origins of Operencia are obscure for sure. Probably because there's no readily available English-language resources on the subject. The best I could find was a Hungarian Wikipedia page I translated using Google which told me that Operencia is literally an unknowable fairytale land.

"It wasn't like the Marvel Universe or Middle-Earth or something like that where there was one person thinking this one cohesive universe," says Baker. Instead, Operencia is a, perhaps library is a good word, of specific Hungarian legends that span hundreds of years and take place a long time ago in an unknown land. "Literally if you type [Operencia] into Google translate you get 'far far away'. So, I like to joke that we're making a Star Wars game," says Baker.

Baker is designing Operencia's overarching lore to feel original while incorporating real-life touchstones. Operencia includes real-world locations with legends attached to them, along with historical figures like Attila the Hun, or just King Attila in Operencia. Attila is a figure that's more myth than history and his reputation depends on your culture. For Operencia Attila is being depicted more as a hero, though not without complications.

Operencia began as a prototyping project about two years ago when Zen Studios decided it wanted to work on something other than the pinball series it became famous for. There were some VR games Zen Studios tried out, but ultimately the team decided to pursue something more traditional.

"Pinball has always been our stable horse and it's something we know how to do and we're experts and we're pros...but we have so much other talent in the office and in the studio and they've been developing over time and working on successful projects and we knew that we had something else to do," explains Mel Kirk, vice president of publishing at Zen Studios. Once the studio found Operencia it was a no-brainer. "We put everything behind it and we just say, 'hey yeah, we're know for pinball, we've made other things, but this is really where the passion lies within this team itself."

One thing that's cool about Operencia, at least for gamers on the go like me, is how Zen is taking a "level-based" approach to the game. Players can choose to explore a single-dungeon level, leave, and return to tackle the next level. Olivér Sándor a game designer at Zen Studios says that one of the goals of Operencia is to find a balance that will appeal to the hardcore but let a new generation of dungeon-crawlers to enjoy the genre.

Zen Studios admits that it has had some trouble getting players to pay attention to its non-pinball works in the past but sees Operencia as a unique opportunity. "I think there's things original and special about this game and it's also going to a moment for the Hungarian gaming scene," says Kirk.

"There's a sense of the culture that is going to be highlighted here which is going to stand out. I look back with CD Project Red with Witcher that put Poland on the map, I look at other parts of the world where game development hasn't really been felt yet from the cultural sense and this is a really special moment I think in that regards."

Operencia: The Stolen Sun is available on Steam wishlist now.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
First:

"I want to do a modern dungeon crawler!"

"...oh shit, I also want it to sell. Quick, eliminate all of the features that require thought and planning from the player! That's the ticket! I need this thing to appeal to as many as possible..."

then:

"WHY DIDN'T ANYONE BUY MY MODERN CRAWLER!!!!1"

pre-generated chars with dumb skill trees running around 15 levels moving block puzzles or whatever? no thanks.

i'll be happy to change my opinion once actual info trickles out but so far it's just pretty graphics.
 

lophiaspis

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 24, 2012
Messages
379
Good luck getting your "Witcher moment" with the most niche of all RPG subgenres. But the neat visuals, cool world, pregen characters and seemingly streamlined gameplay have me intrigued - a modern Lands of Lore?
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
I mean, to be fair... "simple" does NOT necessarily = BAD. Far from it. My comments and those of others stem from wanting a REAL "AAA indie graphics blobber!!", not something streamlined for eventual release on iPhone or whatever, which is almost always the real end-goal of these indies devs.

This thing very well could turn out to be enjoyable, but from the little information here it seems like it will be a quickly forgotten thing of little lasting impression.
 

tritosine2k

Erudite
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
1,465
Thats the most deluded stuff I've read in months, it'd take some otherwordly amount of whimsicality to take on witcher, not a try hard attempt of a "folk inspired game".
 

Morkar Left

Guest
It looks like a polished version of BT4, char development seems to be related to combat only, probably as popamole as BT4, too
 

Morkar Left

Guest
char development seems to be related to combat only
Where do you get that from? None of the screenshots shows any char development.

There are stats for attack, defense and the third is magic I guess. Skilltree looks really simple and is the meat of the combat I guess. Can't see any stats like charisma, trade, persuasion, stealth etc.
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,404
Location
Djibouti
I don't mind premade party as long is level design is any good. Besides, it's char development that matters.

This.

Frayed Knights was pretty good despite no party creation, and if the pre-made dudes can be developed in different ways, that's good enough for me.

Can't see any stats like charisma, trade, persuasion, stealth etc.

Good.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
char development seems to be related to combat only
Where do you get that from? None of the screenshots shows any char development.

There are stats for attack, defense and the third is magic I guess.
If you're referring to this screenshot, it's from inventory screen. Naturally, the inventory screen wouldn't show all the stats.


Skilltree looks really simple and is the meat of the combat I guess.
If you're referring to this screenshot, then look again and notice that it's not a skill tree but crafting interface (which actually looks interesting for a change).
Otherwise I'm really curious as to your source of information.
 

Morkar Left

Guest
My "source of information" are these screenshots. With the one screenshot you seem to be right, looks indeed more like crafting. Combat screenshots remind me a lot of BT4 with the skillbar. Otherwise there are no skills shown in the trailer which is telling enough for me atm.

It's just the impression I've got from the screenshots. Don't try to lock me into a statement I haven't made. If my impressions are proven wrong then that's nice and there might be a good rpg ahead. But somehow I don't get this vibe from the screenshots. Sorry to disappoint you in that matter.
 

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
Did Brian sell unused assets and levels from BT4 to these people? Looks a lot like an alternate build of BT4.

I mean it does look cool though. I'd give it a spin probably.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom