Interview with Zeta Unleashed
Tarro:
Hey there readers! It's been a while since we've had an interview, but today we've lined up something really special. We're joined by Knotty Raccoon Girl, or Kracc for short. She's a newcomer to the community, but is making big waves with her funny memes, her general awesomeness, and more relevantly to our current discussion, her decision to start up a zooey video game studio! We're going to get into that, and what you can expect from them, but before any of that...
Hi Kracc! Why don't you introduce yourself?
Kracc:
Hello! Well, I'm pretty much a normal zoo. A trans girl from Europe, working more or less in the IT field as many zoos are, and similarly to other ones, loving animals with all my soul. In my free time I spend a lot of time listening to weird music and podcasts, I try to play some instruments, and I like being generally helpful around communities I frequent. I'm also big fan of cartoons, animation and claymation in general.
Tarro:
And, out of totally normal non-biased curiosity, why choose to represent yourself with a raccoon?
Kracc:
Hahaha, it's because raccoons are awesome! They're very smart, able to learn, they have very handy paws and can get to what they want with their mischievous plans. I relate to raccoons a lot, being a night owl-type, having black circles under my eyes constantly, and possibly rabid at times.
Tarro:
Wow, it's like you're describing me! I guess great raccoons think alike! So, this is the most basic person question, but I think every time I ask I get an interesting answer, so forgive me the interview 101 faux pas, but what was your zooey awakening moment? How did you realize that you were animal attracted?
Kracc:
Well with me I kinda always related to animals a bit more than other people (being an undiagnosed autistic brings a bit of difficulty with socializing, and animals don't judge), but as with many, it started showing on the onset of puberty, first with vague hard to describe thoughts, which later gained concrete form and name with the inevitable discovery of zoophilic pornography. And with that came shame, since all I encountered in my environment regarding zoos was just ridicule and disgust, so I was naturally inclined to try to suppress these thoughts.
Tarro:
Yeah, it's really unfortunate that that seems to be a common experience for people like us. It can be something really hard to overcome, and as someone who's spent a lot of time talking with people that are new to the community, it's something we have a lot of trouble helping other people get over too. For any readers out there that might be struggling with that feeling, what helped you get over it, if you are over it that is?
Kracc:
What was most helpful to me was probably just discovering that other zoos exist, being able to talk to them, and see they're pretty much normal and not the demons society tries to paint them as. Having at least some community helps wash away the society's view that zoos should be alone. Being able to talk with others also helped me educate in ways of zoosexuality, body language and consent, which helped to dispel many of my fears.
Also, really, seeing an animal show consent to zooey stuff in real life does help accept it all, because you actually see it happen.
Tarro:
How did you manage to find your way into the community? I'm always curious to know how people arrive at our little corner of the web.
Kracc:
I was aware of existence of zooville and similar sites before, I also knew there are some groups out there on telegram, but I haven't really been anywhere. And I had no idea that something like zooey twitter exists, with a base of users that magically keep persisting despite the site's approach to certain topics.
It has been brought to me by a friend actually. I've came out to them as a zoo, they told me they might be zoo curious, and asked me if I know that Veronica Silesto has a twitter account. I had no idea, I looked there, and suddenly twitter started recommending me other zoo accounts, where the first one was Kara, who I started chatting with, and after few months, she helped me get into the community, told me about general safety guidelines and such. I can't thank her enough for helping me get to know so many wonderful people.
Tarro:
Hey, shout out to Veronica as well! She's a friend of the magazine, and a really awesome person even outside of the great content she makes too! Anyway, since you're starting a game studio, let's chat gaming for a second. What would you say is the thing that really draws you into a game? I'm not talking genre here or anything. What's the thing to you that takes a game from good to great?
Kracc:
Being drawn to something can be by many factors. Some games can get beautiful with the universes they create, and I love seeing detailed worldbuilding in games, noticing little details that show that the design has been done with love. I'm a really big fan of various elements of immersion, and when the game's world feels like it responds to the player and coherently works with itself. For me a great example is Project Zomboid, which has immense realism in its way of showing the apocalypse despite looking like Sims 1, but the game lays such obstacles in a well simulated world in front of you you start to really care for your character, and their inevitable death will hurt you. Another example is Dwarf Fortress, which might be less of a game for normal people, but the depth of how the world works is fascinating and very entertaining to watch. And with some games, it's just how the game flows. Platformers are a great example. They might not offer some thrilling convoluted story or hyperrealistic touching graphics, but they can draw you in with the pure fun of smashing buttons and having your reactions fight the game's obstacles.
Though, honestly, the question of "what takes game from good to great" is a subject of almost academic study, so what do I know, hey?
Tarro:
Hopefully a lot, considering you're making a game studio! Why do you think video games are such a powerful medium? It's clear that gaming is something that's here to stay, with the technology getting better and better. But creating a game is infinitely harder than just writing a book, or even filming a movie. What makes it so special?
Kracc:
Video games can address such a mass of people because they really connect all the different departments of art. You need artists for things to look nice and designers for the world to make sense. You need musicians and writers to make moments that grab you by your heart. It's really an ultimate cooperation between art of all forms, and as such it can have something to say to a huge audience where everyone will appreciate at least a part of it.
It's also special by how much the actual cooperation and compromise is important if the game is to be good. There's so many things to balance. To tune up. To test. Making games is a huge and resource-intensive effort, nowadays on par with the high-tier film industry. As you said, the technology is ever evolving and people have higher and higher expectations. And really it is needed to have a special passion to work through that. Those games that do get special have a piece of the creator's soul. A bit of their passion, their view on the world. And video games offer such a great way to show worlds because of their interactivity. Offering to branch stories and show alternatives, not only "how did it go," like in the movie, but also "how it could go." With this stories can get not only deep, but also wide. And people like having options to explore the world and have a voice in it.
Tarro:
This one is a little philosophical, but would you say that there are some video games that are more or less artistic than others?
Kracc:
Oh definitely, but both more and less artistic games are equally valid and needed in the world! Some people don't need to have deep philosophy in their game, and just need some way to enjoyably pass time. And with this audience, the pure fun factor is more important than artistic message. But making people entertained is art too! And here we could really get philosophical, debating on what actually is artistic and not. To top it off, everyone can have a bit different definition of what art is, so one game that's pretty artsy for me can be just a boring uninteresting waste of time for someone else.
Tarro:
Haha, that was a tricky question, but I think that was a really great answer! But enough nerd shit, let's talk your studio, Zeta Unleashed. You're opening doors to the public this weekend right? How long has this been in the planning stages?
Kracc:
Ooooh yes. We'll be opening member applications.
I actually just checked and it's exactly two months today since we started the server. Prefacing that was a discussion on ZDP discord about the idea, and about how we should call ourselves. And since then I've been slowly planning stuff, thinking it out, laying down ideas, and by little steps preparing the server and the organizational structure. From the start I've been joined by Fawnly who's been helping with a lot of the organization and decisions and is basically a co-lead of the project. And also by a few other founding members who helped decide some stuff and with building the server.
It could probably had been done faster though, if I wasn't so busy in the real life ^^
Tarro:
Speaking of being busy in real life, as I'm sure you're very aware, making a game is VERY complicated, and requires a lot of work. How do you plan on actually making sure everything comes together into a finished project?
Kracc:
We plan to take things seriously and follow some kind of an agile development model with work being incremental and presented in small tasks. We are well aware that since we are a voluntary effort, people will probably not have that much time to invest on their own, and with keeping the bits of work small and simple, people should be able to chip in with their limited time. We are planning a structure to the team, and to have regular meets between leaders of different dev departments and the corresponding artists to maintain feedback between all levels of the team. We will also heavily encourage exchange of information between team members, so that someone willing to finish the work of someone busy will have all needed resources. There's probably much more to be said to this, and I've already talked about it on our discord, where applicants can read about the current plans of future organization themselves.
Tarro:
What kinds of games are you looking into making? Are there any projects that you're planning on starting with?
Kracc:
It should be said that we are first going to be making some zooey game modifications, to see how the team can work, before we jump into making a game. And with these, there's really nothing concrete yet. We want people to cooperate on ideas and vote on what we should do, so this really is a community effort.
Tarro:
For those that might not be familiar with the back end of game development, I want to try and set some expectations right out the gate. I'm sure you're still in very early planning stages, but when should people expect to see updates, and when should people expect to actually play something?
Kracc:
Whew, that solely depends on how much traction we gain and how many people will join, and how much work will be put there.
I myself have been planning to have the second grow stage for at least two or three weeks, during that start working on some designs for mods and also on the infrastructure for keeping the development up with tickets and such. However, if things go well and we don't pick an insanely complicated mod to make first, we could have some first releases in two months. It really depends on what we come up with. We can just end up on some silly small mods that will take just days to create, but we could also start working something more complicated taking weeks, so I really don't want to give false promises, and I'd much rather have people be surprised by things appearing sooner, than having them disappointed by delays.
Tarro:
I'm sure there's lots of gamers in our audience, as well as people that have some familiarity with art or programming. Are there any specific skill sets you're looking for to try and fill gaps in the team right now? What's the best way for people interested to apply?
Kracc:
At this moment I think what we're missing most are 2D artists and coders. Also someone with experience in game design would be well appreciated. There's also never enough writers. But really, at this moment we just need everyone capable of doing something in the field of developing a game and having at least decent amount of skills.
The best way to apply is to show us some work you already did. Art you made, code you've written and understand, stories showing your writing. Contact us either on our twitter or our email and we'll send you an invite to our discord where you can show yourself off!
Tarro:
Okay, I know you're a busy racc, so I don't want to take up too much more of your time. So let's end it with this. Why are you doing this? This is going to be a lot of hard work, time, energy. It's going to be frustrating and stressful. What do you hope is the end result?
Kracc:
I feel like the general air about zoo acceptance is slowly changing by little steps, and since video games are so great at connecting people and transferring emotions and experiences, I feel we could help the world understand that we are not that unusual, not something alien, and we're here, feeling the same fears and having similar dreams. We have games that talk about trans experiences, and they help make the world understand and see more. Why not let the world look at us too, and see we're just like any other. I myself dream of a world where a zoo won't have to be afraid to show their face, although I don't know if I'll live to see it. But giving it at least a little nudge, so people can say "hey this was made by zoos, but it's so good and pure, maybe they're not bad, let's see what more they have to say," yeah, that would be nice.
Tarro:
Thanks so much for chatting today Kracc! Any last words for the readers out there?
Kracc:
Thank you a lot too, Tarro! It's been an honor.
Don't be afraid and pursue your dreams! Don't let mindless hate stop you on the way. Things might get exhausting at times, but there's always another day!
Interview between Tarro and Knotty Raccoon Girl (October 2023)
Find Zeta Unleashed at https://twitter.com/zetaunleashed
Find Tarro at https://twitter.com/hereforthezoo
Find Knotty Raccoon Girl at https://twitter.com/kraccgurl
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