Stories from a far away land

All of us at the Overmare Studios apologise for the delay, it seemed like the constant setbacks on the website was going to prevent us from ever posting this blog post, but thanks to our website designer, Airplay, we are proud to present to you the post.

To start off with style, we are proud to present the main theme for our Fallout: Equestria game!
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First up is BronyExpo with panelists Airplay (Programming Lead) and Yondy (Sound Director). While the convention was relatively small, that did not stop the panel from covering a wide range of topics. Including a sneak peek of another one of the songs featured in the game, the voice of Velvet Remedy, as well as a bunch of questions from attendees.

The majority of the panel consisted of the Q&A session with many, many questions from the attendees, the highlight of the panel was a short gameplay video. Unfortunately, pretty much everything critical broke down just days before the panel, and despite the team pulling all nighters to fix everything, the video was left extremely unpolished and ended up missing a bunch of the planned content. This is also the reason why the BronyExpo panel was missing the video completely.

But despite all this, the panels were a success, and we couldn’t have asked for a better audience! We will also be uploading a more polished version of the video on our Youtube channel later, hopefully in our next blog post, so stay posted for that! If you missed the Crystal Fair, we recorded that as well.

During both conventions we where asked many questions ranging from our motivations for the project, to what kind of spells the game will have. So, for you convenience, we have gathered a list of some of the questions we were asked during both cons.

Q: Are you guys afraid of getting a C&D
A: No. We’ve been preparing for such a scenario from day one of this project. Legally speaking, we are just fine. If you want more details, we did a video on this.

Q: Are you guys afraid of a spontaneous team failure?
A: Not in particular. We recognise the risk of it and we do our best to make sure everyone in the team is enjoying what they are doing to minimize the risk.

Q: How long have you guys been working on the project?
A: The team has officially been working on the project for a little over a year now.

Q: Do you guys have any plans after you finish the project?
A: Of course, most of the team members that have joined us, including the TLs, have plans for after the project. However, that does not mean that we will be any less enthusiastic about this project.

Q: Do you have any use for 2D animators?
A: Not at the moment.

Q: What kind of software requirements do you have for modelers and texture artists?
A: As long as you are able to export the models in the .FBX format and the textures in .TGA format, you are free to use any software you feel the most comfortable with. For animations, we are also able to convert SFM skeletal animations.

Q: Are the deaths in the story going to be fixed or will there be ways to keep side characters or companions alive?
A: The game will allow the player to make choices that Littlepip in the story never did, which means that some characters that were supposed to die will have a chance to live and vise versa.

Q: Are you going to have anything from other side stories in the game?
A: There may be a few references or other things from side stories, however they will most likely be very small or completely unrelated to the side story it is from.

Q: Will there be any other large storylines as the main quest?
A: No, but there will be plenty of side quests and shorter storylines.

Q: Will you be able to have a beard?
A: Most likely.

Q: Will you be able to customize your cutie mark or name?
A: Unfortunately, no.

Q: So if the player is Littlepip, will there be any character customisation?
A: Yes, only the name, cutiemark and race are fixed, the rest is up to the player to decide.

Q: In the demo the PipBuck was on the left hoof, even though in the story Littlepip wears it on the right hoof?
A: Yes, despite Littlepip wearing it on the right hoof, allowing that would require us to make a separate version for each of the armor/apparel models in order to account for the free space a PipBuck requires. Due to this, the player will be wearing the PipBuck on the left hoof.

Q: Are you guys working on Homage?
A: We have cast Nowacking as the voice actress for Homage. More dialogue is in the works.

Q: Are there going to be squad commands?
A: Yes, bad squad management mechanic was an issue that plagued Fallout 3/New Vegas. Sure, you could put the fanciest hat on them and parade through the wastes, but once combat started they would simply charge in guns ablaze. We plan on giving much more control over companions to the player both in and out of combat.

Q: Is there going to be dynamic or complex character development?
A: Yes, we currently plan on having it so characters personalities will change depending on your choices, and how you interact with certain characters.

Q: Will characters react to situations similar to the way they did in the story, for example if you tell Velvet Remedy to kill someone she will complain?
A: As said above, characters will change depending on your choices. In the case of Velvet Remedy, it is possible that through following you that she becomes more cold and calculating, however it is also possible to develop her to be the same character as in the story.

Q: Are you going to have a Hardcore mode?
A: Yes, hardcore has been one of the many things that Design team has been very excited to work on. Like in New Vegas, hardcore will incorporate the usual food, thirst, and sleep mechanics, however we plan on adding a few new mechanics, such as diseases.

Q: Will there be augmentations?
A: Yes, the game will most likely have augmentations. However, the details are pending.

Q: Will you be able to use a smartphone, PS Vita or such as an alternative way to access the PipBuck?
A: No, the game is mainly being developed for PC, Mac, and Linux. Adding alternative platforms for optional support like that would require a lot of effort.

Q: Will the Alicorns become more difficult as you fight them?
A: Unfortunately, no. Such an AI would be far too advanced to design/create with our resources. We are going to try and make as adaptable of an AI as we can, but it may not be story accurate.

Q: Will there be any kind of level scaling?
A: Yes, we will aim to make it so that even simple raiders poses a threat if you let your guard down, even in the end game.

Q: Will the enemy types scale with the level, so on lower levels only weaker enemy types will be spawned, or will they be tied to specific locations?
A: Both.

Q: Will there be different difficulty levels, and if so what will they affect?
A: Yes, however we are still too early in development to know exactly what they will change.

Q: Will difficulty levels affect the enemy AI?
A: No, not currently.

Q: Will combat have any sort of variety?
A: Most definitely, design team has been working with programming in order to offer a very complex AI. As well as working to make sure that almost all weapons and spells in the game are unique and allow for different play styles.

Q: How will the weapons be balanced? Will they still be usable towards the end-game?
A: We are doing our best to balance all the weapons so that no matter which one you have, with some effort, you will still be able to survive with it even in the end-game.

Q: When playing in first person, will the character still cast a shadow and will you be able to see your own body?
A: Yes, the player model is no different from the rest, so you can see your body and shadows.

Q: Will there be some weapons you can only use with battle-saddles, some you can only use with telekinesis, etc.?
A: The player will only be able to hold weapons with telekinesis. However, various NPCs will use battle-saddles for larger weapons and mouth-held for smaller ones. This is to prevent awkward and impractical animations from ruining the experience.

Q: Does the above mean you won’t be able to wield large weapons like miniguns, missile launchers etc.?
A: You will still be able to wield all heavy weapons.

Q: Will there be any kind of multiplayer?
A: No, sorry. We are focusing on the single player experience.

Q: How are you going to handle Memory Orbs?
A: Currently, memory orbs are still being designed. However, we are planning on having them as pre-rendered scripted gameplay videos.

Q: How complex is your dismemberment?
A: We have not worked on the combat aspects of gameplay enough to give any definite answer.

Q: How extensive is your armor customisation.
A: Characters will be able to wear multiple varying apparel pieces, such as: body, head, facial, etc. However, at this time, you are not able to, for example, change the color of your armor.

Q: What are the game’s RPG elements going to be like, are you using Fallout’s or are you making your own?
A: The RPG elements will remain fairly consistent to Fallout 3/New Vegas, however changes are going to be made to expand on those systems in order to make our game a unique experience.

Q: In the story, there were perks that were gained through story progression, are those still going to be in the game?
A: Most likely yes, and we will try to keep them as consistent to the story as we can while also offering a fun and interesting experience.

Q: Will there be any time limits on quests?
A: No. Time limits are not a bad idea if the game is designed around them, like Majora's Mask, Dead Rising, etc. However, with a world like Fallout: Equestria, a time limit would just get in the way.

Q: Do you have any plans for some kind of visual aspect for what you’re wearing, for example, a power armor in first person (aka Project Nevada)?
A: Currently, there have been no real plans for that, but who knows, maybe in the future.

Q: How are hacking and lockpicking going to work?
A: They are most likely going to work similarly to how they work in Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

Q: How are you going to handle the magic system?
A: There will be about 11 base spells in the game, each with multiple upgrades, some of which can dramatically change the way the spell works.

Q: Will you be able to combine magic and weapons to produce alternative effects, such as in Skyrim?
A: Unfortunately no, however, you will be able to use a weapon and a spell simultaneously, and there will be potions for other alternative effects.

Q: It was mentioned during the presentation that there will be around 11 spells, could you give some examples as to what those spells will be?
A: Telekinesis, Shield, Harmony (Buff), Light, Teleportation, Regeneration, Magic Missile, Illusion, Anesthetic Spell, Magic Trap, Strife (Debuff).

Q: How much of the stuff in the wasteland will be movable by Telekinesis?
A: Anything that isn’t bolted down or part of the scenery.

Q: Even boxcars?
A: Unfortunately, no. Those will be part of the scenery.

Q: How large will the gameworld be?
A: Huge

Q: Will there be any original locations?
A: Yes, the game will definitely have original locations which are not present in the original story.

Q: Will there be a day-night cycle?
A: Yes, most definitely.

Q: Will there be any dynamic environmental effects?
A: Yes, there will be a variation of different environmental effects, and the weather will vary between different locations.

Q: Are you guys going to have any easter eggs?
A: Most likely. However, they are not exactly something we are really looking into at the moment.

Q: How many hours can we expect from the game?
A: No exact number yet, but we expect it to be a lot.

Q: Will there be any kind of made up language?
A: Currently, we do not have the resources to develop an entire language of our own. However, if there is a linguist who is interested in helping, please send us an email!

Q: Are you going to make the game moddable by the community?
A: We will do our best to make that possible, but at this time we can’t confirm the full extent of modability the game will have.

Q: Do you have any estimation for when an open beta will take place?
A: Our personal goal is by the end of the year. However, that is subject to change. We want to make sure the demo will have enough content and is stable.

Q: Will there be gore?
A: Yep

Q: More radio and Velvet Remedy songs?
A: You bet!

Poll Results:
"What part of the panels are you waiting for the most?"
Demo - 81.5% - 66 Votes
Q&A - 18.5% - 15 Votes
Total Votes: 81