Topic: Single player game production for fans of genres
Lecture: Kim Jin-sang-Ocean Drive Studio Creative Director
Field: Game Development, RPG
Time: 2022.11.18 (Fri) 15:00 ~ 15:50
Summary: Ocean Drive Studio finds ways to survive SRPG genre game Lost Eidolons. In order to earn money, which is a realistic problem, I was able to look back on the way for Ocean Drive Studio to become a studio.
■ Minor Heinlein SRPG Genre Challenge -LOST EIDOLONS development process
The game business should be able to make money in the business machine. Still, many large companies earn money by following the popularity of the popular games and genres.
Nevertheless, Ocean Drive Studio has made a choice to walk on their own way. It produces a PC/console single play game and develops a minor SRPG genre. It is said that the company operates the company with the intention of creating a game that developers can know well and play well rather than the market trends.
The title of Kim Jin-sang's creative director, who gave a lecture, also came out differently. If you are a creative director of a general company, you will have difficulty in considering the reality of departments and acting as a director under a given fund. However, director Kim Jin-sang literally only needs to make the direction clear. Ocean Drive Studio has created an environment where you can only think of games. You just need to play as a director without worrying about schedules and budgets. This has the advantage that it may not be swayed by the direction set in the early stages of development. The satisfaction of developers developed together could also increase.
Kim Jin-sang, who can handle the SRPG genre, also stems from a long interest. Genesis 2 was the best game in life and thought, 'I want to make this game too.' It is said that he enjoyed and developed SRPG games such as Final Fantasy Tactics-Three Kingdoms Series-Jojojeon Online. I wanted to make a game that can be completed rather than online-mobile, so I chose a console/single play game.
■ How to overcome the real problem of minor genre development?
No matter how ideal companies and developments, they can't turn away the most important 'money' problem. Executives were also concerned about whether they could make money by game. I could not worry about the launch of the development cost or to raise sales.
However, Kim Jin-sang was thinking that if he raised trust as he increased the user fan base, he would eventually return as much as we invested. I just started rolling a small snowball, but I thought I made a big snowball. In addition, existing game developers often see that the team is shattered after a project, and Ocean Drive Studio is positively that it can be united again because people who constantly make games of the same genre.
Then the user fan base had to suggest a specific way to form. Kim Jin-sang chose how he communicated directly. Existing game companies collect opinions on the bulletin boards or pages created by developers. And because you can't review everything, we selectively collect opinions. And he was communicating unilateral notification. In the meantime, it was often seen that the anger of users accumulated.
Director Kim Jin-sang is in real time in real time. The users who strongly write on the bulletin board also streamed and talked about it. It reflects real-time communication that receives feedback in real time through broadcasting, so users satisfied their satisfaction. Users also responded well because they could be reflected in the game.
This role is possible for developers. The operating team has no choice but to ask the developer that it should be asked, but the developer can communicate and communicate. That's because you can change what you want. Kim Jin-sang is also a developer and is taking the lead in the user's feedback.
At the same time, Kim Jin-sang, who started as a developer, talked about storytelling. It was difficult to lead a long story. As the story is the most important in SRPG, the story writer and the story composition process had to be established. In Korea, there are many story writers in movies and dramas, but it was not easy to select these artists in the game field.
■ Development-How to overcome and overcome the real problem?
The limit of the SRPG genre was that the Korean market was too small. As a result, Ocean Drive Studios also had to be sponsored by the North American market. In order to start the North American market, we recruited patrons from Kickstarter. The build, which is in a hurry to play demonstration (episode 7, 8), was unveiled at the Steam Next Fest Popular Game Show. Since then, the user feedback has been released to unveil the 1st and 2nd beta tests (episodes 1-8 episodes) that do not feel like a game spoiler. A month before launch, he also participated in the US PAX West game show.
It was not easy to switch to an Xbox. There were many issues when I developed it on my PC and went to Xbox. The biggest problem was limited memory. It was not easy to do everything in 3G. Users without PCs play with hands, which also had to be solved because there was a problem with video play and UI font size.
There was also a lack of know-how about the game cut scene. During the beta test, the users made a lot of feedback that 'there are too many unpleasant valleys'. It was a real and live-based character, which was similar to the animated character, and it was pointed out that the character was not visible. So when I changed it into a cut scene, another point came out that I didn't know what it was. It was evaluated that the story delivery ability is weak. Cut shin, which will be changed into a patch in the future, will be made with a compromise and users are continuing to receive feedback.
Inside the game, I was able to receive various feedback from North American users. In the turn-based SRPG, there was a North American user who pointed out that all battles had limitations. We planned to give a bonus for the idea that I would like to be able to finish everything in 10 turns. There was a strong rebellion that North American users were chess games. The fact that the main character could not choose was also a major protest among North American gamers.
North American users basically pursued a free play style. It avoided artificial control and emphasized diversity. Ocean Drive Studio tried to give the chewy of the game through the turn limit, but admitted and modified it. In many ways, feedback reflects and improved.
In this process, Lost Eidolons grew. It is still a single package game that does not catch up with the cost of development. Nevertheless, we expect sales to continue to increase as the platform is expanded. The positive thing is that he expected 80 points of meta critical scores, scoring 77 points nearby, and fans are increasing in the Discord and Twitch Channel. Above all, the reaction that the next game is expected is being reborn as a reliable ocean drive studio.
Lost Eidolons had a lot of trial and error. It was not easy to focus on reflecting feedback and to make our own color. We will work hard to prepare our next work to produce our own color. The role model is holding a wider. Witcher was not a famous game at the time of release, but it became famous enough to appear as a drama. Director Kim Jin-sang gave a lecture with the words that he wanted to make a masterpiece with remakes and series.
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