Scripter's Corner: Softhouse Seal

Hey everyone, Doddler here, the latest recruit to Mangagamer’s ever growing gang of English eroge workers.  My expertise is on the technical side of things (hopefully the part you don’t have to see), handling exciting tasks such as scripting, programming, and text insertion.  So far, I’ve been working with Mangagamer on the three upcoming Softhouse Seal titles, as well as one secret project, which I’m sure you’ll love, which I’ll touch on later.

First though, I’ll give a little bit of background on the localization process for those who aren’t familiar with it.  When we get a new title to work on, we’re provided the scripts and relevant resources from the original Japanese company, and then we pass that on to our translator for that project. Once they’ve worked their magic, it goes off to the editor for cleaning up, and then the text gets sent back to the original company to be entered into the game. Once it’s playable, we hit off a period of back and forth with testing and fixing errors until the game is solid enough for release.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to get hung up on the last few steps. Language can stir up trouble (technical issues are fairly common), and often having people to do the job can be an issue as well. See, a lot of the Japanese companies in this industry aren’t actually very big; the majority of them compare similarly to what we call indie developers in regards of staffing and budget. Handling text insertion and bug fixing can be a big job, as these games can be deceptively huge (The English Harukoi Otome script clocks at a whopping 714,000 words!) The development of new titles often takes priority for these businesses, and it’s not too uncommon that delays can happen on titles as a result.

So in a nutshell, my job is to help streamline the process by tackling the scripting and text insertion portions of the job on some of our upcoming games. What I hope it all means is that we can see a faster turnaround on scripting, and I’m hoping if I can have any say in the matter, a more polished end product.  It also means that when if things go wrong, I’m the guy you get to blame!

The Games

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been involved in working on all three (for now) Softhouse Seal titles that we’ve announced.  For anyone not immediately familiar with Softhouse Seal’s games, the brand is largely known for their relatively lighthearted, inexpensive, sex focused titles.  If that’s not your thing then don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about you, but for those who play these games for the sexy bits, you’re in for a bit of a treat.

Sexy Demon Transformation

 Kouryuu’s been covering it a bit recently, but the first game I’ve gotten to work on is Sexy Demon Transformation.  You take the role of Ashiya Yamato, a prodigy exorcist.  While demons have become weak and nearly powerless in the modern age, the exorcists like Yamato still work by night to keep them from causing mischief and to keep the knowledge of them from normal people.  After being screwed out of competition to determine the next head of the exorcist organization by his childhood friend Abe Asuka, Yamato teams up with the demons he previously sought to exterminate to get his revenge.  With the help of his new partner the (once) great demon Nurarihyon, he learns the technique have a demon possess him and use their abilities. Sexy time ensues.

While the game premise might sound overly dark, the not-always consensual scenes are not necessarily the focus, and I’m not sure it ever really takes itself seriously enough to be very offensive in that regard. The main focus here is on the variety of creative sexual scenarios that are available with the demon possession technique. The demons themselves are all easily recognized for those familiar with Japanese Folklore. There are umbrella demons, ghosts, giant octopi, (toilet) paper demons, and more. I’m also not sure if Kouryuu mentioned it, but the game also contains several animated sexy scenes as well, I believe one animated scene for each of the four heroines. Consider picking this one up when it’s released on the 14th!

Boob Wars

 The second game that we have up and coming which we have already begun beta testing is Boob Wars: Big Breasts VS Flat Chests.  The game takes place in a world split by conflict after an incident that left the world’s women with either very large, or very small busts, with no in between.  The divided world became split into two distinct factions; the Big Breast Kingdom and the Flat Chest Tribe, both still constantly at war with each other.

But behind the scenes there is a group known as the Erorists, the name being a portmanteau of erotic + terrorist, the Erorists are erotic mercenaries for hire who are trying to steer the course of the war.  Our hero is Takamura Manabu one such Erorist, one of the top operatives in the organization.  Manabu receives his final mission: seduce one or both of the queens leading the two tribes, and bring an end to the Boob Wars.

 Obviously as you can imagine, Boob Wars isn’t an overly serious game, but it is good at what it does. There is some gameplay here as well, as combat takes place in a card battle mini-game. Like Sexy Demon Transformation, the game boats a variety of different (and creative) scenarios for erotic scenes, as well as several animated H scenes. If you’re a fan of big breasts, flat chests, or perhaps even a fan of both, there are some good times to be had here.

SSSS: Super-Secret Sexy Spy

The third game we have is SSSS: Super-Secret Sexy Spy.  You play Iiyama Hunt, a covert operative of FAPPS- the Federal Agency of Pussy Protective Services – working to protect women’s reproductive health.  Hunt is armed with a License to Sex, a tool that allows him freedom to have sex with anyone if it’s in the interest of national security.  Follow Hunt, with his sexy partner Lestie Heim Skringla as he unravels the mysteries of the sinister underground organization CUMDUMP (and yes, that’s an acronym).

To put it plainly, the game is what you might imagine from a Japanese parody take on James Bond and other spy films, but with a crazy sexual spin on everything.  It goes without saying the game is ridiculous, but it is quite honestly entertaining in the process.  I must admit I’ve had more than a few laughs going through the game script.  This one’s not due for a while, but keep your eyes peeled for it!

Top Secret Game

I mentioned earlier that there’s a fourth project that I’ve been assigned to working on. We’ve been going through people’s suggestions (and yes, we do go through them!), and picked out this one title that garnered a bit of interest, and we’ve finally been given the go ahead to start working on it! The game is still being translated and requires it be ported to a new game engine so it won’t be ready for a while, but we’re working hard at making it a great release.  I’ve been trying to sneak out some screenshots for you to see, but unfortunately no matter what I do they keep coming out really distorted. Here’s what I’ve been able to get out of Mangagamer HQ! Good luck!

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39 Comments

  1. Okay, I guess I’ll give SDT a chance, though I will say I’m looking forward to the other two games since I couldn’t read those descriptions with a straight face.

    I’ll guess the secret game is an Atelier Kaguya game

  2. I guess somebody was watching some Bond films and wanted to take “Pussy Galore” to its logical conclusion.

  3. FAPPS- the Federal Agency of Pussy Protective Services. xDDDD oh man, it doesn’t matter how many times i read that i can’t help but laught. I’m looking for it mostly for the comedy in it. Bigwars ssems funny too, and i’m sure i’ll like the game play. Having to fight a little in a visual novel is interesting.

    About STD, well i’m more interested i the others one, but the art seems good and it doesn’t seems too bad. I already pre-ordered.

  4. Boob Wars sounds fun. If the art style is good, I’ll consider buying it.
    SSS sounds hillarious and the screenshot looks very sexy. If I’m still as hyped as I am now after I’ve read some more blog entries about this game, I’m definetely going to buy it!

    SDT doesn’t interest me. The art style is (in my opinion) horrible. The girls look good (especially Shiori) in the “potray pictures” (the ones shown at the top of the “introduction blog posts”), but most of the sex scene pictures I’ve seen don’t look all that attractive to me.
    But I’m sure many people will disagree with me and I have to admit that animated sex scenes sound really interesting…

  5. Btw, I’ve found the room that is shown in the picture at the beginning of this entry in this VN database entry: http://vndb.org/v2852
    Could this be the secret game or did the writer of this blog entry simply chose this picture, because it was from a Softhouse-Seal game?

    • The first picture is actually a background used in boob wars, I just thought it was fitting for the post. The secret title isn’t a softhouse-seal game though, don’t worry. 🙂

  6. more hints for the secret game Puureassssuuuu!!(please)

  7. I agree with more hints. Really anxious to see what the secret project will be 😀

  8. A question about the secret screenshot… is it the cover of the game or is it a screenshot in-game?

  9. I think I see Mario jumping in front of the sunset with a daikon in one hand and a goomba in the other.

    Finally a game where I can date a fat Italian plumber 😀

  10. That Secret Game .. Is it a OVERDRIVE game?

  11. Have another one of my silly MD5 predictions:
    4c2dcbc44943143838f5f45a1c41c761
    (Salted before hashing, by the way.)

    • I don’t think so, but dang, that would be incredible…

    • Would be nice, but seems unlikely. After all:
      “The screenshot was taken from the running game.”

      I wonder if anyone else has realised that it might be possible to get some sort of hint from that image file other than simply looking at the picture itself…

      • Hm, the only thing I could think of is the resolution (799×607). The game resolution probably is 800×600, that isn’t much of a hint though.

      • So it’s either this

        http://vndb.org/v1099

        or this:

        http://vndb.org/v5435

        So I guess that answers the “How much blood would you shed to stay alive?” hint that you guys gave a while back.

      • It requires magic CSI powers, and I don’t possess any.

      • Well i doubt it comes from a running game because, the paragraph top secret game doesn’t hint at it. My other guess is Shuffle! Essence+. Its only other thing that I can think of that have alot of oranges, pink, and bit of brown.

        Heck, i have no friggin clue lol

      • Doddler, who posted the blog entry in the first place, posted in the comments that it was taken from a running game.

      • I don’t think it’s shuffle essence+ because i see some blue in there and I don’t remember any of the shuffle girls having blue in them, or any of the covers having that kind of blue. I’d imagine that if it was a shuffle game then it would maybe be Tick Tack since that’s the next game in chronological order. That’s just what I’m guessing.

  12. I think the secret game looks like Really? Really!.
    Maybe it’s just me though..?

  13. Dam this soft company’s games look like fun. I already played enough dark stuff so bring on all the wacky stuff.

  14. If that secret game is the “Secret Game” as per BookwormOtaku’s guess, I’d be quite happy since that one looks amazing..

    On topic of the three games, I’d probably buy all of the 3, since all of them, look interesting to me.

  15. Is the secret game Clochette’s ‘Suzunone Seven!’?

  16. could it be “With Ribbon” from hulotte ?
    http://hulotte.jp/pc/media/uploads/2011/02/wr_package.jpg

    seems close enough.

  17. will you guys consider koihime’s sequel for an up-comingp project? :O

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