NCSOFT Continues to Invest in the Future Driven by its Core Value in Game R&D
G-Audio Launches Loudness SDK to Provide a Consistent Streaming Media Listening Experience
“Quality and interoperability will be key for VR’s future,” says VR Industry Forum
WeQ Launches Innovative App Ranking Solution to Boost Apps to the Top of the App Store Charts
WeQ Launches to Transform Mobile Ad Tech with Human Intelligence and Inclusivity
Pearl Abyss Developers Give First Global Lectures at Game Developers Conference 2018
Cashbet And Storm Gaming Technology Expand Partnership with Exclusive Real-money Games for US and AGCC Customers
GAMEVICE PUTS GADGETEERS IN FULL CONTROL OF THE HOLIDAY’S HOTTEST TECH
Unreal Summit 2017 PD Katsuhiro Harada Keynote Speech
Unreal Summit 2017 Tim Sweeney Keynote Speech
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Epic Games Korea 'Robo Recall' Major Development Team Joint Interview
On the afternoon of the April 21st, Epic Games Korea office located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, held an interview with a major development team of VR action game 'Robo Recall,' developed by Epic Games and released for 'Oculus Lift'. The interview was prepared before Unreal Summit 2017 to introduce the features of Epic Games' VR game 'Robo Recall' and discuss the future technology development. Nick Whiting Technical Director, Nick Donaldson Lead Designer, and Jerome Platteaux Art Director attended the event. ▲ The interview with 'Robo Recall' major development team was held. First, about VR's attractions felt while developing 'Robo Recall' with VR platform, Nick Donaldson pointed out that giving the feeling that the virtual environment is unfolded before the eyes, unlike 2D as the biggest attraction of VR. He also introduced the case that it becomes difficult to return to the previous 2D monitor environment after his friend, who did modeling, first checked the result in one to one size through a VR headset during development. In addition, Nick Whiting answered to the question about what advantage Unreal Engine 4 has in developing VR games that, "In development, without enough understanding, the progress will become slow. However, rather than simply applying VR function, it could be possible to present an improvement by applying know-how gained from developing games to the engine. What's more, through a visual script blueprint allows as many people as possible to quickly share and try ideas." Next, to the question about differences between the game and movie, Jerome Platteaux answered that the movie tries to put all possible scenes in one scene while the game has a completely different working method as the camera freely moves. Also, in the case of VR games, careful attention should be paid to lighting and others in terms of programming. Nick Donaldson answered to the question about the plan to use a sequencer function of Unreal Engine 4 to create a movie-like VR game that, "We do not have a plan to create it right now, but we have seen a lot of things created by other companies such as Oculus VR. It was possible to get a feeling different from the usual cinematic when performing an experimental work in the intro scene of Robo Recall." And, Nick Whiting expressed his opinion that "It could be a true VR cinematic by adding interactions about users' reaction to increase the immersion." Meanwhile, in regard to 'Robo Recall', the company have gotten a number of feedbacks related to controllability such as "there is a difficulty in controlling rotation" and the feedbacks related to details such as "the city in the game is too much cleaner than the actual San Francisco". It is introduced that the company is applying the updates like skipping the cutscene and 360-degree tracking and planning a partnership with a partner related to MOD function. In addition to the question about the future of VR, Nick Whiting said, "Although many people have skeptical views on VR equipment, VR has not been long since its emergence and think that there will be masterpiece contents that will make you feel the necessity to purchase after 2-3 years. Personally, I do not think that AR and VR will be combined into one, but as I believe both of them have the same problem, if we first dominate VR market, it will be easier to adapt to AR." ▲ Nick Whiting Technical Director ▲ Nick Donaldson Lead Designer ▲ Jerome Platteaux Art Director
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Mobile Games Global Direct Entry Strategy Seminar: Japan
On the afternoon of the 6th, 'Mobile Games Global Direct Entry Strategy Seminar: Japan' was held at the Google Seoul campus in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The event was prepared to share relevant know-how that could help mobile game developers when entering the Japanese market directly, and representatives from three companies including Latis Global Communications, Ambition and Ventom attended as presenters. ▲ 'Mobile Games Global Direct Entry Strategy Seminar: Japan' was held. For the first order, Lee Ga-ram, a team manager of Latis Global Communications, presented with the theme of 'Cases to See Localization of Korea and Japan'. He said that it is important to 'grasp the characteristics of the game' when deciding to expand into Japan and making preparations for the localization project. This is because it is necessary to use a different style of language in the same genre to express the language of the game. For example, when comparing a role-playing game in a general fantasy world with an elf or dwarf race and a martial-base role-playing game, both games can be grouped into the same genre as 'role-playing' in aspect of the game's atmosphere or playing style. However, the language styles used in the games are entirely different. He then recommended to write 'glossary' and 'style guide'. 'Glossary' is a simple and effective way to provide a consistent experience for users through the unification of the game's terminology and improve the quality of localization. 'Style guide' is a document that summarizes the basic rules to apply to localization. It is a great help for the worker to understand the game, and also prevents the unnecessary shifts when two or more workers are put in at the same time. In addition, he said, "As there will be many difficulties in localization work if translation of a specific part is difficult to understand or is not intuitively communicated, writing a 'checklist' might help when having a problem with expressions translated into foreign languages due to cultural differences and improving text quality, which is essential for deployment." ▲ Choosing the language that matches the game atmosphere is necessary. ▲ You can work more easily with set data. ▲ When you request a translation, you must take care of the necessary data. For the second order, Jo Ki-won, a director of Ambition, gave a presentation on 'About Trends and Operation Methods of Japanese Game Market'. In the beginning of the lecture, he introduced that Japanese smartphone game market is steadily growing as much as Japanese game market ranked the 2nd in worldwide sales after the US. Moreover, the size of the market for Google Play and AppStore is maintained in a similar way without any big difference. As features of the market, he mentioned that the downloads of casual and RPG games account for more than 75% among the top 200 games, while RPG games are occupying sales rankings as they occupy more than half of the profits. Next, for differences between Korea and Japan, he introduced cases largely in product, billing, market and event. In the case of product, which is game, Korea is centered on 3D real graphics and hardcore action RPGs and PvP, auto function are essential. But Japan prefers a cooperative play that 2D cute characters appear, and auto function is not considered important. In the billing system, profit creation of Korea is mainly focused on time-saving items and advertising, while that of Japan is focused on ‘Gacha(Random box: Gashapon-style item distribution)’ instead of low advertising. In the case of market where games are downloaded, in Korea, the role of Google Play Store is big, while One Store and Kakao Market play some role. But in Japan, Google Play Store and App Store are similar, but local markets are less. For the way of events, Korea is mainly using CPI boosting and centralization of users through community establishment. Instead, it is having difficulty in developing offline media. In Japan, it is actively utilizing pre-viral and offline media, and collaborations with famous IP also frequently happen. In addition, he chose 'Continuous Marketing and Operation' as the key to success for successful entry into Japan. In the case of the Japanese market, the customer transaction of obtaining genuine users is 4 to 10 times higher than that of Korea, so it is important to keep the users who once have flown in. For this, it is emphasized that marketing will be necessary after launch as well as pre-publicity through various media. Moreover, when selecting a local partner, several things to be checked; 'if the partner has an abundant marketing experience,' 'if the index of the content currently being serviced is high', and 'if there is no problem in communication'. ▲ Korean market and Japanese market have many different parts. ▲ Continuous marketing and operations are essential. ▲ When selecting a local partner, a lot of thought is needed. At the end of the event, a member of Ventom, Lee Dan-woo gave a lecture on 'The first step of Japanese market marketing.' He said, in terms of app download size, Japanese market is in the ninth place, but the ARPU per user is the highest in the world, so it is worth challenging. It is introduced that viral promotions, Twitter and game broadcasting are the trends of digital marketing promotion trends in Japanese mobile game market. First, in the case of viral promotion, Gravure Idol or You Tuber is used at the pre-booking stage, and it is used to attract attention to the timing of large updaters. Next, Twitter is actively pursuing an anonymity that matches the tendency of Japanese people, and game-related live broadcasts are also being used for the purpose of increasing game retention. Promotional budgets are expected to be around 500 million ~ 3 billion won for large-scale, 200 ~ 400 million won for small and medium-sized businesses, and about 100 million won for small-scale businesses. Companies that want to maximize efficiency with minimum investment can also advertise their games with effort as they can conduct marketing through reservation sites, PR distribution, Twitter official account, etc. ▲ Japan's ARPU is the highest in the world. ▲ Viral promotion, Twitter, video, etc. are mainly used. ▲ There are various marketing methods for small budgets.
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Global Game Jam @ Busan 2017 Field Sketch
The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is internationally recognized as the world's largest game development competition. The global game jam was held at the same time all over the world for three days from January 20th to 22nd. This year's global game jam theme was 'WAVE'. In addition, 23 diversified missions were given, giving the opportunity to compete with the team members in various types of attempts to save the big theme. This year's diversified missions are Comic Book Color, LEGO Assembly Manual, Story of the Minstrel, Local Game, Where Are You Now?, Crowdsourcing, No Retreat at a Battlefield, Bluetooth Interlock, Custom Controller, Ostrich Belief, Gandhi Game, Put One Hand at the Back, Multi-Jam, Story Mode, Forever, Loudmouth, What Was That Just Now?, Work While Playing, Like a Child, Multi-Screen, Unanimity, Twitch Plays (Twitch sponsorship), Do You Even Care? (iThrive Games sponsorship), etc. A total of twelve teams took the challenge to the world from Busan Metropolitan City, considering the topic 'WAVE' and various diversification missions. Under the title of 'Global Game Jam @ Busan 2017', the games that were conceptualized in the theme during the two-night and three-day event at the Korea Contents Lab in Busan Cultural Contents Complex operated by the Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency were produced and exhibited. In addition to Busan Metropolitan City, Incheon Metropolitan City, Seoul Metropolitan City, and Uijeongbu City have also produced and exhibited games in Korea in accordance with the Global Game Jam Program. ▲ The Global Game Jam Busan event was held at Busan Cultural Contents Complex sponsored by Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency. ▲ The contests were held with the world developers by using the work space and convenience facilities located in the 5th floor of Contents Korea Lab. ▲ Participants were often seen sleeping all over the venue as it was a long stay of two nights and three days. ▲ They organize teams on the spot and gather improvised skills, but their concentration is great. ▲ Since the teams are organized on the spot and the themes and missions are taken into account, meetings and discussions frequently took place. ▲ Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency is providing unstinting support for indie and community level events.
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[BGC] Representative of World Mobile Games, So Byeong-gyun, “World Mobile Games Will Show Mobile Game Broadcasting That Presents Pleasure"
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ World Mobile Games is providing an application for mobile game broadcasting called WMG TV. World Mobile Games is a company that services mobile game-oriented broadcasting platform, and is developing mobile game broadcasting application and next-generation game broadcasting platform as main businesses. World Mobile Games, which is centered on So Byeong-gyun, who was responsible for developing new businesses in WCG and WeCG, focuses on realizing the idea of e-sports and broadcast transmission of the mobile games so far. World Mobile Games has been helping with office and infrastructure support and development support projects since moving into BGC, and it was able to pave the way for foundations without much difficulty. Now, it is in the stage of presenting the results of its efforts one by one. "Based on our accumulated ideas and know-how, we launched WMG TV, a specific mobile game broadcasting application, in August 2016. We are now promoting applications and enhancing service quality through partnerships in Southeast Asia and South America." WMG TV is an application that can broadcast while playing a mobile game. It can broadcast anytime and anywhere with only a smartphone without a PC or a separate camera. So Byeong-gyun, a CEO of World Mobile Games, introduced that he is currently working on contributing to the promotion of mobile game broadcasting through WMG TV as well as the activation of mobile e-sports. "Through the experience obtained from participating in WCG, we have accumulated knowledge and operational know-how on game competitions and broadcasting. Through them, we have been planning and developing the most suitable and efficient game broadcasting platform. I am confident that broadcasting of various mobile games and e-sports through WMG TV will soon be possible." World Mobile Games is currently preparing a game broadcasting service platform that utilizes virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platforms as well as mobile game broadcasting applications. Streaming large files are becoming a barrier of VR and AR broadcasts, but he said that the company would soon be able to solve them. "VR and AR platform markets have not grown yet, but I expect to grow significantly within the next two to three years, and I want to be a trend leader in this area. Particularly, in solving the existing problems, we want to spread technology more easily by utilizing current technology." He plans to not only sell the platform, but also play an important role in broadcasting and e-sports of mobile games. Moreover, he wants to gain trust from the world's stakeholders. He also expressed his desire to become a space where users can enjoy various tastes and have fun together. "As we are aiming for the next generation mobile game broadcasting platform, I think the future is far ahead. However, based on the know-how we have accumulated so far, we will strive to show a better broadcasting platform to you." So Byeong-gyun, who introduced the future plan, said that he would show a broadcasting platform to share the fun with mobile game users and asked for much interest and encouragement in the future. Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter).
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[BGC] Representative of Tyfon, Jung Yong-beom, “Tyfon Will Be a Game Company That Develops with Users and Partners”
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Tyfon has been presenting various games based on the self-developed engine so far. Tyfon, a game company founded in the first half of 2015, has developed mobile games professionally and has released a number of RPG games. It is also developing games with various genres and is currently releasing to domestic and overseas markets. Since moving into 'BGC', the company has been helped through various education systems and support policies. Moreover, both direct and indirect support for offices and equipment, software purchases, etc., has given them power to focus more on development. "Since the establishment in 2015, we released the game 'Everlasting Moon 2', a martial arts game, after introducing 'Immortal God' using self-developed engine. Since then, we released 'Skyrim' based on Greek mythology. It combines our own engine with the unity 3D engine to satisfy both stories and graphics." Jung Yong-beom, a director of Tyfon, introduced the way Tyfon has walked, action, story, and the company's self-developed game engine. He also emphasized that the community with domestic and overseas game companies is one of its strengths. "We have networked with game companies around the world including Korea, China and Japan. In addition to being able to immediately understand the trend of the game, it could also be an opportunity to make it easier to promote Tyfon's development skills. We also have experience in user management as well as development, so having know-how on how to satisfy users is one of our strengths." Likewise, progressing various tasks such as user management and development at the same time, Tyfon will continue to think about how to develop in the future. "There are games with mystery action adventure genres for the games that we would like to develop in the future. As considering that users' interest in history is getting higher, we plan to firstly develop a game based on modern and contemporary history." In addition to game development, based on game development know-how and sales and user management know-how, he had a clear plan for helping growth of indie game developers and one-man game developer in Busan. Jung Yong-beom said that he also plans to establish a comprehensive consulting center and a game investment company that can mentor from development stages to sales. At the end of the interview, he expressed his gratitude to users and partners that it was possible to make progress with their help. "Without forgetting the help so far, we will strive to grow into a company that grows and shares joy with users. Tyfon will also be a developer that does not disappoint partners. Thank you." Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter).
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[BGC] Representative of Oblique Line, Kim Pu-reun, "Oblique Line Will Be a Developer That Endeavors to Develop Continuously"
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Acrofan heard about story of the goals in the future from Kim Pu-reun, a representative of Oblique Line. Oblique Line is a developer that specializes in mobile games. It had been worked as a one-person development team, but it has developed into a three-person group since 2016. The company has been releasing games that can be enjoyed lightly, and is gaining popularity based on gag elements. "The first game I showed was the game called 'Ultimate Grandpa (kkeutpan halbae)', which combines RPG and defense genre with a comic story. The second game is a game called ‘Ultimate Event King (kkeutpan haengsawang)’, a kind of raising games that are going around lately." Kim Pu-reun, a representative of Oblique Line, introduced two games that have been released so far, and they all feature unique fun and comic elements. In this part, it is introduced that a characteristic of Oblique Line is that it makes you feel the fun that you cannot feel in large-scale mobile game with serious atmosphere. "Our games do not have anything special about graphics or system, and there are not many developers in the company. However, there is definitely a lack of competitiveness to compete with large-scale mobile games for games with pretty graphics. Instead, we think that a unique humor code tailored to young users' tastes is our own advantage, so we tried to present fun with the humor code as a center." However, Kim Pu-reun pointed out that as the development team increased in size, it was also the goal of the company to introduce games with improved quality. It is his desire to show users that he has developed as a developer. In addition, he introduced that 'BGC' helped the development process a lot. It was able to get quick feedback on development projects through other game companies and testing support programs. He also mentioned its advantages that it provided a good place to increase work efficiency, and it was possible to communicate information with other companies and to compete in good faith. "The game under preparation now is a casual arcade game based on animals, and I also want to make a game that has greatly improved graphic quality in defense game style that was presented at 'Ultimate Grandpa (kkeutpan halbae)’.” ▲ 'Ultimate Grandpa (kkeutpan halbae)' and 'Ultimate Event King (kkeutpan haengsawang)’ are the games characterized by their own gag senses. He revealed that, currently, various efforts are being made to raise the design capacity for developed Oblique Line, and if it is judged that the preparations are finished, the game will be started its development in earnest. "Many things can change in the future, but there will be no change in the value of development that I had in the beginning. I will continue to work hard to maintain the original colors of the Oblique Line and look forward to more advanced developments." Mr. Kim has expressed his gratitude for the support he showed so far and expressed his gratitude for his interest and expectation for the new game to be shown in the future. Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ He said that he will make steady efforts to show results of enhanced outcome as a developer.
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[BGC] Representative of Appnori, Lee Sang-wook, "Appnori Will Be Remembered As a Sports VR Development Company"
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Acrofan heard story about service game and future plan from Lee Sang-wook, a director of Appnori. Appnori, a virtual reality (VR) content-specialized company that was established in 2011, decided to focus on VR from 2015 and moved the company to Busan. Since then, it entered BGC in Busan and has been getting supports of various information such as new information, technology consulting, networking, introducing overseas markets, etc. Currently, it is producing various kinds of sports VR games. "In the past, we have been developing mobile games mainly, and among them, ‘Baseball Kings’ has gained popularity in the US, Japan, Taiwan, South America, etc. We will show this game with VR base and also other games into VR games." Lee Sang-wook, a director of Appnori, did not forget to introduce about the company’s major work, ‘Baseball Kings,’ when talking about the history of the company. This is because one of the main contents presented after changing development content to VR is a VR version of ‘Baseball Kings’. "When developing a mobile game, we have developed a lot of sports games. Sports games have many advantages. First, sports use rules that everyone knows, so everyone can enjoy it without informing the rules, while other games may need tutorials for explanation. And, in terms of negative views on the game, sports games’ another advantage is that they are relatively less objectionable due to the viewpoint of physical activity." In addition, while concerning about the genre that could compete as a small-scale developer to large companies that develop major games such as FPS, racing, and action, they noted that there are not so many companies specializing in sports VR. So, they have developed a sports VR game with the idea of preoccupying sports fields that they are good at. Currently, Appnori has released 'Baseball Kings VR' on the theme of baseball and 'Ping Pong Kings VR' on the theme of table tennis. Both of these works have attracted much attention from visitors and industry representatives in G-Star 2016. Moreover, since then, it plans to develop various sports such as archery, bowling, and soccer into VR contents. ▲ Appnori has released 'Baseball Kings VR' on the theme of baseball and 'Ping Pong Kings VR' on the theme of table tennis. "Ball games that use balls can provide realistic VR experience only if the movement of the ball is realistic. It is our competitiveness that we can develop the engine for ball physics application and provide more realistic experience. In the case of 'Ping Pong Kings VR', complex movements such as spin, back spin and push are accurately applied and we plan to implement these realistic movements in other events as well." At the same time, Lee Sang-wook has expressed his intention to develop table game contents such as VR Casino. The weak point of VR game is dizziness, but as the position of table game does not move so much, there will be sense of presence with little incongruity. So, it received attentions from buyers of Southeast Asia when produced prototype as a sample. At the end of the interview, he expressed gratitude for the love that the users from all over the world have given since the days of mobile games. He also said that he would like to be remembered as a specialized production company specializing in sports VR games. Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ He wants the company to be remembered as a specialized production company specializing in sports VR games.
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[BGC] Representative of Next Stage, Kang Hyun-woo, "Next Stage Wants to Be Remembered as a Company That Makes Action Games Well"
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Acrofan heard the story about the games and goals from Kang Hyun-woo, a representative of Next Stage. Next Stage is a game company established in the first half of 2015 and aims to develop a unique mobile game. Kang Hyun-woo, a representative of Next Stage, introduced the start of the company that he confirmed the commercial potential through the outsourcing of KakaoTalk game and winning the global game contest and decided to start the business in earnest. "We've been thinking a lot about making games that are different from the existing games, and as a result, we launched a game called 'The Dice Is Cast' in May 2016. Now, we are developing a game called 'Ark,' a sequel. The direction that we pursue is a control-oriented action game that users can experience rather than automatic battle." According to Kang Hyun-woo, 'The Dice Is Cast' is a game combining action genre and puzzle genre, and its feature is that users can enjoy board game that rolls a dice to move and combo action that requires control. Currently under development, 'Ark' is based on hunting action, and users can enjoy the fun of participating in hunting with their colleagues on mobile. Next Stage is developing a game that provides fun not only through automatic hunting but also through manual hunting through enhanced action. Through 'a system that counterplots the sweep system,' in which users will get more rewards if they go into a dungeon and use acting power at one time, the game's biggest advantage is a system that users can receive satisfactory rewards even if they play once. ▲ Next Stage aims at control-oriented games. For the future direction, he revealed that he would do his best to realize the goal of 'making a game similar to video game' after establishing the base of hunting action with 'Ark'. His idea is that he would like to develop a stylish action game and enter the video game market in the long run. "We have been doing a lot of research since the beginning to realize a game similar to video games into a mobile game, and the games we have released are the outcomes of that research. In addition, I believe that the know-how we have accumulated would play a significant role in the way to our ultimate goal, the video game market." However, Kang Hyun-woo selected the direction to develop gradually from the small things rather than showing great things from the beginning, and the team members are composed of development teams specialized in action games. So, he thinks it will be able to achieve the goal if the company continues development continuously. He said that he received much help from 'BGC' in the development of Next Stage, and suggested to beginner developers who develop games in Busan that there will be no better environment than 'BGC'. "Since we did not know the method although we were motivated, it would not have been easy to start a business, if we did not know ‘BGC’. In fact, starting with help for the office, we have gotten new information so far, and we could obtain more advanced development know-how through network with other developers.” Finally, Kang Hyun-woo expressed his gratitude to users because he was able to support the development of Next Stage with the support from users. He said, "Next Stage wants to be remembered by users as a company that makes action games very well, and a company that works on various platforms, from mobile to video games. We’ll appreciate your future support.” Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ He revealed his plan to develop stylish action games and enter the video game market.
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[BGC] Representative of YouCanStar, Choi Dae-gil, "YouCanStar Will Create a 'Miracle' with a Great VR Content"
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Acrofan heard the story about features of the game and development style from Choi Dae-gil, a representative of YouCanStar. A company specializing in virtual reality (VR) content, YouCanStar could get investment and establish a corporation in August 2015. Until then, it had mainly developed mobile games. About 25 developers are making VR content of various genres, and they showed the results through Busan VR Cluster Pavilion of G-Star 2016. "We have been interested in VR content since 2014 and developed a content called 'Virtual Reality Safety Education Simulator,' which got support from government. At that time, there was a social issue about safety, but there was almost no visual experience safety education. So, we developed a content to learn safety education through virtual reality." Choi Dae-gil, a representative of YouCanStar, explained about the meeting with VR content like the above. The company could have shown content that can be simply enjoyed, but it confirmed the possibility of VR industry through hands-on contents, learning through experience. Since then, a 3D rooms escape game 'Cube VR' for PC as well as PlayStation VR has been under development. Unlike the existing VR games that present attraction playing based on time, 'Cube VR' is characterized that it is centered on space. "If events are occurred over time, many cases will be limited by the time. This is why users are pushed for the flow. However, 'Cube VR' lets users recognize space enough, acquire items, progress events and escape the room, so users can enjoy the game with enough time." ▲ YouCanStar is preparing various kinds of VR contents. In addition to 'Cube VR', YouCanStar also introduced 'Blind VR Catalog', an interior VR content. This product is a VR content that you can experience before you buy furniture if it well matches your house interiors such as house lighting, wallpaper material, furniture arrangement, etc. "The reason why people have windows in their house is because not only the sunlight comes in and heats the house, but also they influence the mood of the house. For example, if you have a blind, depending on what kind of product you are installing, the glare effect also changes, so you can check if it matches with furniture or wallpaper in advance. He pointed out that the VR contents of overseas famous furniture vendors show the use and size of furniture, but they are far from consumers' needs as consumers want to see whether the furniture is suitable for home rather than product use. On the other hand, it is introduced that 'Blind VR Catalog' realizes the structure of user's house into VR and shows arrangement in house and harmony with light, so it can give more practical help. As a VR company, Choi Dae-gil mentioned healthcare field for what products YouCanStar would like to introduce in the future. "As the Internet environment has widened, its related industries such as e-mail, portals, cafes, games, shopping malls, and education have also diversified, so it would be difficult to cover VR only with games. The healthcare industry, which is the most closely related to human, will also be established in VR. Recently, healthcare has been dealing with aging and developmental disabilities, and I have been wondering how to combine VR to give benefits to them, and it might be able to find VR's role in assisting the uncomfortable parts." After completing the interview, Choi Dae-gil revealed that the company aims for 'a company that makes miracle with VR content'. This is because it is hoped that the contents produced by YouCanStar will become a life force in life and opportunities to change a life positively. He expressed his gratitude by saying, "We think that producing great VR contents is a contribution to society. So, we will make a miracle by making the contents that each member works together, and we hope you like them. Thank you." Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ He pointed out healthcare as a field that the company would like to focus on.
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[BGC] Representative of GaonMir, Lee Dong-ho, “GaonMir Will Be Judged by Users by Presenting a Creative Game”
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Acrofan heard the story about future goals from Lee Dong-ho, a representative of GaonMir. GaonMir is a mobile game company founded in January 2015 and currently has about 5 employees working for it. In January 2016, they released the project that received the support from Smart Venture Institute and Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneur development (KISED) last year with a name ‘Sliding Puzzle’. In November 2016, it launched a game called ‘Fantastic’ in Google Play Store, Apple App Store, One Store, etc. “I came to Busan when I was working in Seoul, but at first, there was clearly a difference in development environment and developers’ treatment. So, I established GaonMir with the developers that I’d ever known, because we decided to join hands in developing games by ourselves and making a better development environment.” Lee Dong-ho, a representative of GaonMir, explained that since the development has proceeded and the company moved to Busan Global Game Center (BGC), it gradually grew in size. For an advantage of moving into 'BCG', he mentioned that it is possible to get the latest news in Busan as soon as possible about issues such as development, business, and education. The Sliding Puzzle, which was selected by Google Featured since its release, combines a fantasy-style character with a sliding-style number-matching game. It moves the character along the way instead of digits by matching the way. 'Fantastic' is a game in which a stick is stretched and then rolled over to the exact position and a user can pass by crossing the stick. Users can compete with other users by putting their records on the server. ▲ 'Fantastic' is a game in which a user moves after stretching a stick and then rolling it over to the exact position. "Our most confident part is networking technology. The area of game server-client is not popular program area, but since I have know-how that is gained from 10 years of server programming, I have plenty of preparation for networking in the upcoming work. " In this way, he emphasized the company's advantages and expressed his desire to challenge MMO games. GaonMir's plan is to introduce a strategy simulation game based on RPG genre as well as large-scale combat. "In the first place, we are thinking about MMORPG for the next game, and this will play a big role in preparing future games for us. In the future, we want to develop a large-scale military simulation that deals with large-scale battles in which a user plays a specific role. As know-how for A.I. or multi-play will be needed, we plan to continuously develop games and accumulate know-how. In addition, the company, GaonMir, expressed the desire to be evaluated as a company that makes interesting games and games that people should enjoy. To do it, the company will continue to present creative games and receive evaluations from users. At the end of the interview, he did not forget to express gratitude to the users. He said, "Because of the love of users so far, GaonMir has been able to get a good reputation, and we could have been thinking about continuing to develop games. Please pay attention to GaonMir's future, which will continuously present and develop interesting games." Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ Lee Dong-ho said that he wants the company to be evaluated as a company that makes interesting games and games that should be enjoyed.
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[BGC] Director of Goldenpig Entertainment, Kim Jun-cheol, “Presenting Pleasure with New Challenge, Mechanic Shooting”
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ From Kim Jun-cheol, a director of Golden Pig Entertainment, we heard story about new games and future goals of the company. Participated in 'Busan Game Pavilion' located at BTB hall of 'G-STAR 2016,' Golden Pig Entertainment is a mobile game developer established in June 2015. They are showing a variety of games ranging from casual games to story-based games, and attracting a lot of attention with their unique game contents. "Our Golden Pig Entertainment prefers various challenges, and we have been introducing casual games with a variety of themes. At 'G-Star 2016,' we introduce a new game called 'Future Savior' for another challenge.” According to the introduction of Kim Jun-cheol, a director of Golden Pig Entertainment, ‘Future Savior’ is a shooting action game based on the web novel with the same title released many years ago. The story of the game corresponds to the contents of the second part of the novel that the original author is currently working on. Users must clear the mission by manipulating the mechanic tank made of various parts, and enjoy the elements such as PvP and boss raid. "In fact, when I first tried to develop the game, there were concerns among members. This is because the mechanics would not be appealing to general users, except for certain enthusiasts." In the end, Kim Jun-cheol explained that the game development could be progressed after discussion where they decided to simplify the system elements so that ordinary users could feel free to play, and instead increase the immersion level by making stronger scenarios based on web novels. He said, "About the point that scenarios could be weakened as battles become more emphasized, we decided to reinforce the scenarios with cut scenes and animations.” ▲ ‘Future Savior’ is a mechanic tank shooting game based on the web novel. “Our company is small, but all of our members are talented and passionate. Thus after the troubles were resolved, the development progressed smoothly. Now, we are working on improving the quality of the game so that we can expect the synergy between web novels and games.” As he now has confidence in the game, he revealed that his goal is to develop follow-up title and serialize ‘Future Savior.’ As the early system is built and the company got to know the direction to go, expanding worldview of the game as web novel develops became a new goal. Since the development of 'Future Savior' takes a long time, during that time, he will continue to develop and release casual games. Moreover, he said that he wants to challenge games with more various styles through it. At the end of the interview, Kim Jun-cheol expressed his appreciation for the interest and affection he received from users. He said that the driving forces for Golden Pig Entertainment to challenge various games so far were users' attention, encouragement, and affection. He asked for lots of attention to the development of Golden Pig Entertainment with 'Future Savior'. Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ Golden Pig Entertainment plans to appeal to various users with strong scenario and simple battles.
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[BGC] Representative of KaimanGames, Heo Mun-haeng, “Remembered as A Developer Presenting Delightful Pleasure”
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Talking about the feature of game and development style from Heo Mun-haeng, a representative of KaimanGames Participated in ‘Busan Game Pavilion’ located at BTB hall of ‘G-STAR 2016,’ KaimanGames is a mobile game developer with four members and present casual games that can be enjoyed lightly. Particularly, through a dot-type retro game, it can make the game charming that high-level graphics cannot create, and as a result, it is getting positive response from users. "Since KaimanGames is organized with small number of members, we mainly present casual games for progressing development and service as much as possible. Although games might be light, we are working hard on offering them with lots of creative ideas that are interesting, lightly enjoyable, and satisfactory even in a short time." About the company’s development style, Heo Mun-haeng, a representative of KaimanGames, introduced ‘Basketball King Kim Deuk-jeom’ and ‘Hello Farm Warrior,’ which were presented in ‘G-STAR 2016’. To begin with, Heo Mun-heang, started production of ‘Basketball King Kim Deuk-jeom’ by thinking of making basketball machine in arcades into a mobile game. The game is played by touching the ball that appears on the right side of the screen to go into the basket. The play itself is simple, but you can play games in a variety of ways through various game modes, and enjoy fun of collecting character costumes. Next, ‘Hello Farm Warrior,’ which is a farm management game, is played with a unique backdrop of farms where former warriors have turned into farmers in peaceful world after a war with monsters. This game is not simply a farm management. When monsters steal livestock, mini-games that the farmers who are former warriors bring back the livestock prevent the game from being boring and provide a variety of fun. ▲ As the biggest features, he mentioned a spontaneous idea and a short development period. Heo Mun-haeng mentioned a spontaneous idea and a short development period for the biggest features. Extemporally catching up on ideas that come up in life and minimizing the drop in quality while developing games within a short period can guarantee that there is room to challenge more various games. The previous work, "Word Warrior", was a project that was progressed when a new programmer came up with the idea of creating a game that could be released in a month, and he explained that such an improvisational project was able to challenge creative games of various themes. "Of course, due to this kind of improvisational development, it is true that the games presented from KaimanGames lack depth, but we are approaching them with the idea of studying for game development. Since a number of responses about the outcome show that it is creative, we can say that improvisational development is also a key element representing KaimanGames." About the plan, Heo Mun-haeng revealed that he plans to increase the number of games with the subject of fantasy and sports, which will shorten the development period and allow for more diverse challenges. Moreover, the company is preparing for a new project for overseas, but in case of the progression of projects that need major changes such as challenging for another game genre, it may be conducted if circumstances are right. By completing the interview, he expressed his gratitude to users for their interest and affection for the game, and said, "We will continue to develop games that many users will enjoy lightly without any stress." Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ He plans to constantly develop games that can be enjoyed lightly without being stressed.
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[BGC] Representative of HandMade Game, Kim Jong-hwa, “Remembered as VR Studios Going a Different Way than Others”
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Talking about ‘CRANGA!: Harbor Frenzy’ and the goal of the company with Kim Jong-hwa, a representative of HandMade Game Participated in 'Busan VR Cluster Pavilion' located at BTB hall of 'G-STAR 2016', HandMade Game became famous with the puzzle game, 'Rooms' series. As well as the development of puzzle games, it extended its range to VR games and released 'Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle' in VR version through Steam and Oculus. Also, the release of ‘CRANGA!: Harbor Frenzy’ in a variety of VR platforms is in preparation. "HandMade Game is trying to present a unique and funny game rather than a technically great game. Technically great games are good, but we want to be remembered by many people that HandMade Game develops unique games through the features based on our ideas." Kim Jong-hwa, a representative of HandMade Game, introduced that he has been developing games with the idea of presenting a unique and funny game rather than a game with high level of technologies. Based on the idea, he said that he has long concerned for ‘CRANGA!: Harbor Frenzy,’ which will soon be released, as well as ‘Rooms’ series about what kind of fun he could give. As you can see from the title ‘CRANGA,’ which combined the words ‘crane’ and ‘jenga,’ and subtitle ‘Harbor Frenzy,’ ‘CRANGA!: Harbor Frenzy’ is a large-scale jenga game playing with cranes and containers stacked on the harbor. Its biggest feature is that, as the game is developed for VR platforms, it is able to look at jenga tower from various positions and make strategy by using 'positional tracking' technology, which recognizes head movement. Particularly, it was introduced during 'G-STAR 2016' that it will be served not only for PC VR but also for Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation VR. This is because the company thought that PlayStation VR would be the biggest market in premium VR markets. About reason of the development of ‘CRANGA!: Harbor Frenzy,’ Kim Jong-hwa explained, “The goal was to create a VR game that could be enjoyed by many people, and we had a game that people can enjoy the party and play alternately at the same time in mind during development. Of course, it also includes factors such as competing through network and challenging for higher points." He also said that he realized the game was a distinct possibility as he sees his father enjoyed playing it when he created the prototype. ▲ 'CRANGA! : Harbor Frenzy' was developed with the goal of playing a game while enjoying a party. Then, what is the charm of VR game that Kim Jong-hwa thinks? He explained that the elements that were not used well in existing games could be used to create new experiences. Moreover, by using 'Stereoscopic 3D' technology, '3D Sound' technology as well as 'positional tracking' technology, and controllers that suggest various controlling methods, it offers new fun, which is different from the existing games. For future plans and dreams, he said that he wants to develop a casual VR game that anyone can enjoy. Also, he wants to develop a space creation VR game called 'Space Maestro,' which was developed as a graduation work at college, into a consumer version and release it. 'Space Maestro' has the story that the user collects clouds from space to make stars, and that the stars become the sound of musical instruments and the user's galaxies are completed into a single music. Kim Jong-hwa expressed his willingness to develop more advanced VR games, and said that the development of VR games that he is currently doing can be called as a preparation stage for developing 'Space Maestro'. At the end of the interview, he said that he wants the company to be remembered by users as a studio that creates a unique game that will not come out of Korea. In addition, he said, "As it is different from other, I think it's more meaningful to me. I look forward to your continued interest in the journey of HandMade games." Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ He said he wants the company to be remembered as a studio with more meaning since it is different from others.
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[BGC] Co-Representative of FingerCat Games, Lee Chang-hyeong, “Presenting Pleasure with a Community-Enhanced 2D Game"
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Talking about the service game and future plan with Lee Chang-hyeong, a co-representative of FingerCat Games Participated in the 'Busan Games Pavilion’ in BTB hall of 'G-STAR 2016', FingerCat Games launched a role-playing game called 'Hero Collection' at the same time when it was established in June 2015. Currently, three developers, including one developer, one planner and one graphic designer, are in the process of developing games and are developing games optimized for 2D graphics. "We cannot exclude the first work ‘Hero Collection’ when talking about the company. It is a side-scroll action roll-playing game with the story that a high school student, Kim Yong-sa, plays a game at home and gets sucked into the game world to help the princess and the country. Users can meet various characters through a drawing system and grow them to capture powerful dungeons.” As a feature of ‘Hero Collection,’ Lee Chang-hyeong, a co-representative of FingerCat Games, pointed out that the game allows the user to enjoy the best play without limitations to the specifications of the device through the 2D graphics instead of 3D graphics. Since the company need not worry about optimization of the game, their development power can be used at developing a wider variety of contents, which makes it easier for them to expand contents. In addition, he emphasized that, unlike other games, a selling point of 'Hero Collection' is that it reduces the delivery time of the tickets required for game play and diversifies the acquisition methods so that users can continuously play the game. ▲ The biggest feature of ‘Hero Collection’ is avoiding dispersion of development power by selecting 2D graphics. On the other hand, about the games that the company wants to develop in the future, he explained that he would like to develop a casual role-playing game based on the experience of 'Hero Collection' and develop the company’s ultimate goal, 2D MMORPG, by accumulating the experience. His opinion is that even without 3D graphics, 2D can provide much pleasure if various contents are placed properly. "The reason why we want to create an MMORPG is that we want to include community elements that can be enjoyed by other users while the game we are serving now is a one-player game. It would not be easy to do, but I think that if we keep getting experience, one day we will be able to bring the game we wanted to the world.” As a part of the plan, FingerCat Games is developing a game called 'Changing Hero' aimed for the second and third quarters of next year. Customizing of character is a main content of this game, and its goal is to play the game in a bigger worldview. In addition, Lee Chang-hyeong did not forget to express his gratitude to the users who play 'Hero Collection'. This is because the users made it possible to get along with the development up to now and the opportunity in the future. "We are always grateful to all our users who love our game. Based on the feedbacks about the bugs occurred at every update, we keep changing into perfect appearance. I believe this experience will definitely help us in the next game, and we are working hard every day to give back fruition. We ask for your attention." Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ FingerCat Games’ plan is to launch 2D MMORPG by continuously developing.
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[BGC] Representative of BearDoor, Park Jang-hyun, “Releasing a Game with Infinite Game While Enjoying Lightly”
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Talking about the footsteps that BearDoor has walked so far and its new games with Park Jang-hyun, a representative of BearDoor. BearDoor, which participated in 'Busan Game Pavilion' located at BTB hall of 'G-STAR 2016', is a casual game oriented game developer. They have been developing games toward a goal of producing games that anyone can enjoy. Recently, they are gradually expanding their activities such as releasing educational games. "The name of our company started with the idea of putting the name of the animal in it, because the social image of the game at that time was violent and not good for children's emotions. The bear looks cute, but it is a threatening animal. The door, which is visible when turning over the word ‘bear’ in Korean, is a useful invention. Therefore, I named it ‘BearDoor’ as I thought that the game could be useful and good content depending on the viewpoint.” Park Jang-hyun, a representative of BearDoor, started the interview and firstly explained the origin of the company name first. He said that the willingness of making the viewpoint about the game useful and good content led him to name the company ‘BearDoor’. The company’s affection for the bear was felt well in its first game, ‘BearBearBear’, where the company's mascot character appeared. However, it did not start game development in Busan from the beginning. It was established in Seoul, but soon, it participated in Busan Indie Game Festival with its first game ‘BearBearBear’, and got positive response, so this led it to moving to Busan. Since then, it joined in Busan Global Game Center, and it has been continuing its development activities. As it has a small number of members, it is mainly presenting casual games rather than complex ones. In addition, it is actively using contents related to language, culture, and history to differentiate itself from other developers. "Since the company had been moved to Busan, we have released a game called 'Tightrope', a fighting game using smartphone gyro sensor. Moreover, the game called ‘Spelling Guardian,’ which is solving Korean spelling through quiz, is now in service after we signed a contract with a training company. Also, we recently released a three-button game titled “Adventures of Teca" on the theme of Aztec civilization. " ▲ BearDoor is developing a game 'Azteca,’ which is linked to 'Adventures of Teca'. He said, BearDoor is currently developing a game 'Azteca,’ which is linked to 'Adventures of Teca'. Drawing Aztec tribal’s adventure against the Spanish invasion, the game is a strategic defense game that defeats the Spanish invaders through magic or shamanism and defends the tribe. The user gives various offerings to the gods during the day and gets warriors according to the combination of offerings. Then, the user organizes armies with the warriors to battle the invaders during the night. This combat system can be applied to battles with not only A.I. but also other users. The core of the game might be a strategic element that looks at each other's units and prepares them. Park Jang-hyun said that in the future, he wants to make a game that users can easily understand and enjoy without text when they play the game. Also, he expressed his plan that he hopes that games like this will give users around the world the opportunity to have fun. “We want to give pleasure with what we can do best rather than a great work. It may look a little simple, but we will constantly thinking about what the game’s intrinsic fun is and show you the most suitable answer into a new game. I look forward to your continued interest and love in the future. " Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ He expressed his ambition that he will work on the intrinsic fun of the game, and dissolve the answer into the game.
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[BGC] Representative of INUS Games, Kim Jung-dae, "Steadily Brining Fun of Storytelling and Strategy"
From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' was successfully held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City, with much attention from game industry officials around the world. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later. The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. At the center of its movement, a lot of game businesses that are trying to realize dream at Busan are also joining. Busan is continuing many activities with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency for supporting the game businesses showing those active movements, and 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC),' opened in September 2015, became a facility for game industries in Busan. BGC is established for fostering game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supporting its inroads into global markets. With BGC as a launch pad, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. Hence, Acrofan met game industries entered in 'Busan Global Game Center (BGC)' and listened to stories of what dreams they are trying to realize in Busan. ▲ Talking about the new games and existing service games with Kim Jung-dae, a representative of INUS Games. INUS Games, which participated in 'Busan Game Pavilion' located at BTB hall of ‘G-STAR 2016', was launched in March 2015 and started with two people, but now it has been increased to seven. Its major work is the series of ‘A Clue in the Fire,’ which combines various genres such as visual novels and puzzles. Apart from it, it is introducing various genres of games and making its name known in the mobile game market. Kim Jung-dae talked about the history of the game that he made the game series as he got a good response from the puzzle elements and storytelling when ‘A Clue in the Fire’ is first introduced. Moreover, about the response to the store, he said that ‘A Clue in the Fire’ is preparing for a wide variety of markets, rather than concentrating on one side as it got a positive response from users of OneStore. “I tried to make ‘A Clue in the Fire’ a game that focuses mainly on the story based on visual novel style rather than a game that simply aims at solving puzzles and achieving goals. The development process was never easy, but stronger storytelling than any other game seems to be the reason why it gets a good reputation from users.” With the user’s positive response, ‘A Clue in the Fire’ has become a popular franchise that released various stories from One, Two, and Zero to a separate composite pack. Based on these activities, although INUS Games is a new start-up company that has been less than 2 years since its founding, it has been so active that it released five games. About know-how of the rapid production, Kim Jung-dae answered, “All of the members of INUS Games are excellent, and as users give feedbacks when the game is released, the proficiency of the members could get faster. I think the best way to make the game’s name known and give satisfaction is to pay back to the users’ response.” ▲ Apart from ‘A Clue in the Fire’ franchise, INUS Games is presenting many works. In addition, besides ‘A Clue in the Fire’ franchise, INUS Games is broadening its genre by releasing escape games such as ‘Secret of Landor’s Castle’ and ‘War Train: Secret of Rodnal’. Their difference from other games with similar genre is showing a deeper level of content by emphasizing storytelling. INUS Games is developing a new game called ‘War Train,’ which shares the worldview with ‘War Train: Secret of Rodnal’. This game is a multi-genre game based on a strategy simulation set in war trains running among cities and the cities where the war trains stop, and you can experience various activities such as trade activities and field battles with defense style as the story develops. In this way, having showed passionate activities through releasing many new games for a short time, INUS Games will present a game with various genres that emphasizes storytelling. Rather than simply a game consisting of only a system, it will increase immersiveness and fun by combining a system to the story that users can relate to. Also, starting from the release of ‘War Train’, INUS Games will include more strategic simulation elements and will also put efforts into developing a new franchise. Kim Jung-dae expressed appreciation to users by saying, "Thanks to the interest and love that users have shown to INUS Games and the games we have developed, we have been able to show many games in a short time. We will continue to have a sense of mission to show better games in the future. We look forward to your continued interest in the future of Inner Games.” Meanwhile, under the support from Ministry of Culture and Busan City, Busan Global Game Center (BGC) fosters game industry specialized to Busan and Gyeongnam area and supports its inroads into global markets. At BGC in Busan Cultural Contents Complex (BCC), under the close cooperation, Busan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency are creating new industry ecosystem for specialization, development and independence of region game industry through integrating game companies, attracting offshore companies, fostering startups, and training developers. For more information, refer to Naver Blog (blog.naver.com/busangamecenter) and Facebook (facebook.com/busanglobalgamecenter). ▲ It is said that the company will keep strengthening strategic elements and emphasizing storytelling at the same time.
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