Project 100 Is A Gorgeous Mobile ARPG From Eyedentity Games' Co-Founder
At Unity's annual Unite convention earlier this week, it was revealed that Eyedentity Games Co-Founder and Dragon Nest Development Manager Jung Sic Park has been working on a new mobile ARPG, codenamed "Project 100," with his new team at Hound 13, a company founded last year. The team is about 45 people strong and has been working on the game for approximately a year and a half.
At the event, Inven conducted a massive interview with the company's CFO Jeon Dong-il and CTO Hwaseong Seo about the game. When asked why they decided to make another ARPG, Seo responded that that was what they were good at. The team is made up of many who have years of experience working on action games and, rather than sticking with current trends, they believe that it is more important for something that they know they can do well.
If I am reading the Google Translated version of the interview correctly, they believe that what makes their game stand out is that it is simply of a higher quality than many others in the ARPG genre. They believe that their attention to detail and story that is "designed to be fun" will set it apart.
The only information provided about gameplay was the detail that there will be a small number of playable classes, but a variety of weapons available to each class. Furthermore, your weapons will grow with you and it will be important to pay attention to your weapon's growth, as well as your character's growth.
As it appears to be a rather intensive game, some details about system requirements were also discussed. While the demonstration at Unite ran on an iPhone 6 Plus, it was confirmed that the game would run on a Samsung Galaxy S4.
At this point in time, Project 100 is estimated to be around 70% complete. It is expected to release in 2017, but the team does not have any specific dates in mind. As Seo put it, "the time to develop and launch mobile games in a short period of time has ed. Nowadays, it is big and the content transfer is not small compared to online games." A Western release was not discussed.
A decent amount of gameplay footage was captured at the event and I've embedded the two videos that Inven provided below. I've also included the Google Translated version of the Inven interview below the videos.
Thanks to NepNep for the tip.
Park Jung Sik, co-founder of Identity Games and development manager of Dragon Nest, founded Hound 13, a new game developer last year. He said in July that he was developing a mobile action RPG in an interview with Inven.
It was revealed that the mobile game, the genre was ARPG, and the name was 'Project 100'. It was a game that emphasized action, but it was difficult to identify the details of what kind of world view it was and what kind of class it was.
However, from November 1, Hound 13 has participated in 'UNAY LA' in LA 'Los Angeles Hollywood Hotel' and has been holding a demonstration of 'Project 100'. The prepared content was all four stages, but it was enough to figure out what style of project 100 is.
Hound 13 Electric Day CFO (left), Seo Hwaseong CTO (right)
Q. Please introduce yourself briefly before a full-scale interview.Electricity Day: Hello. I am Chun Dong-il, who is in charge of management and finance at Hound 13. I have been working in Neowiz for about 10 years, and since then I have been releasing several games for two and a half years in the startup called Depo Games. Then it was a good opportunity to Hound 13.
Seo Hwaseong: I am the Director of Development at Hound 13. When I was a child, I developed 'fishing light 2'. Since then, I have been involved in game development such as 'Kingdom Under Fire', 'Shining Roar', 'Yogging', and 'Arcade'. Since then, he has developed Rusty Hearts at Stageaway Games, and now he is developing "Project 100" at Hound 13.
Q. Please briefly introduce 'Project 100'.
Seo Hwaseong: Simply put, it is a structure that grows with several weapons. There are not many kinds of characters, but various types of weapons will be implemented. In addition, I have an assistant to help with the battle. You can grow associates with weapons and enjoy linked play based on two factors.
So, in 'Project 100', not only the main character is important, but also how important it is to grow the deputy and the weapon to what nature.
Q. Is 'Project 100' the official name?
Power Day: The name of the project, not the full name of the game. The original concept of the story itself is to awaken your ancestors. It is the hero's role to summon and recall the souls of their ancestors. I decided to use the name 'Project 100' because I thought I would make up to 100 people.
Q. What was the reason for ing 'Unite LA'? I wonder what the reaction of the people who played 'Project 100' in Yunite LA was.Electricity Day: Our project is getting longer. Before filling out the formal service, I thought it would be necessary to inform the company or the outside of the game in order to recruit people. Of course, Unity also gave me a good suggestion. If it is released from overseas, this news will be announced in Korea, and I hope that many people will be able to announce 'Hound 13' and 'Project 100'.
During this time, many people played 'Project 100' during Unite LA. We were surprised to see a better response than we thought. Some people tell me that graphics quality is good or action is good. I am happy to be in a good event. I am very happy that I have responded to my game.
Q. I am making an unbelievably high-quality game with the Unity engine. What is the secret?Seo Hwaseong: The designers have done everything to help me (laughs). Most of our designers in Hound 13 have a lot of experience. And as we have a lot of online gaming experience, the requirements are not mobile game gaming but online gaming gaming. I am pursuing the quality of online PC games.
The high-quality graphics of online games and the limitations of mobile devices, we have to find an agreement between them. I also have personal greed, so I try to maximize the quality. So I'm doing a lot of testing. If there is a good element, I try to optimize and test it, and if it does not work properly, I try to lower the quality or find an alternative.
Q. Have you chosen Unity for several engines?
Seo Hwaseong: I used C ++ when I was developing Rusty Hearts, but it took a long time to build. However, when I developed C # through Unity, I was able to play it directly from the Unity tool. The tools were intuitive and easy to use.
I was able to find it right from the Unity Asset Store without having to google it for what I needed. I could code it for the game right away, and I thought it was a flexible engine in many ways. I also had a good skill sharing among developers. So I started working on 'Project 100' using Unity.
Q. What is the difference of 'Project 100' which is different from existing ARPG?Seo Hwaseong: At first, we think that we are ahead of other ARPG. I think that I have maximized the action by adding a linker instead of simply introducing the skill.
In the storytelling section, famous writers who were active in drama, novel, and movie fields participated. So the story is designed to be fun. Because Action is a group of people who are making a lot of action games, I can confidently say that the action and graphics part will come out well.
I'm also paying a lot of attention to effects, sounds, camera effects, and so on. It is an element that does not exist in other ARPGs. Instead of simple repetition play, the play pattern is changed according to the ancestor, and you can enjoy various combinations of actions while using the skill that floats above the state. This means that you can feel more action than the existing ARPG. I think I can go to a game that I can enjoy for a long time.
Q. Is there any reason to stick to 'Action'?
Seo Hwaseong: We thought it was the best genre we could create. I've been doing a lot of action game development in the past. The project manager of 'Project 100' was also in charge of the 'Dungeon Striker'. There are people who are specialized in action. So I thought it was important to make what we do better than trends.
There is a direction of the action that the representative Park Jung Sik thinks. That's why we have adopted a back-view method to show the nature of the action by abandoning the quarter-view method. Hound 13 was created to create a game that emphasizes action.
Q. Due to the high graphic quality, the minimum requirement seems to be quite high. What is the minimum specification for 'Project 100'?Seo Hwaseong: In 'Unite LA', I prepared for the demonstration with iPhone 6 Plus. I set it as the best option to enjoy the game with 60 frames. This was the best spec. In the internal test, I confirmed that the game was running on the Galaxy S4. However, it seems to be necessary to adjust the options somewhat by not shadowing or removing some effects.
In order to reduce battery consumption, we dropped the frame in the result window after the game was over. As we continue testing, we will limit the frame rate of each element so that s will be less stressed by heat or battery depletion. For s who are concerned about battery drain or heat generation, we will also introduce a "low power mode" as an option. I am struggling with various aspects.
Q. I am curious about the current development progress. How far has it been developed?
Seo Hwaseong: It has been about a year and a half since I started developing. There are about 45 developers. The basic framework or structure is finished. In the current systematic part, s are deg elements that can be played for a long time without boredom, and they are renewing the contents as a whole. It can be said that about 70% has been developed.
Q. It's a lot of people wonder about. When do you expect the release date of 'Project 100'?Seo Hwaseong: I believe that the time to develop and launch mobile games in a short period of time has ed. Nowadays, it is big and the content transfer is not small compared to online games.
There are a lot of people who are concerned about the action RPG market. So I think it is important to finish well with a long-lasting game rather than quickly releasing it. We plan to release in 2017, but specific dates have not yet been set.
Q. Looking at the domestic mobile market in recent years, the trend is changing from ARPG to MMORPG. 'Project 100' is ARPG. Are there any concerns about this?
Electric work: I think masterpieces are made regardless of genre. Though market trends are changing from ARPG to MMORPG, well-made games can get to market well whatever the genre. Hound 13 The most focused part of the development team is to implement Action.
Seo Hwaseong: Actually, there seems to be no big game to say that the trend has changed with MMORPG. I think we can divide the current game into a growth type and a collective form, and we will combine both elements. It's not just weapons that grow like 'raves' or 'hits'.
Q. I would like to ask the s who are waiting for 'Project 100' finally.Jeon Dong-il: I also showed the video of 'Project 100' and now I'm showing it one by one. We will do our best to make good games and enjoy them. 'Hound 13' has a lot of good people. Everyone is enthusiastic and committed to development. I also would like to ask for your .
Seo Hwaseong: The developers of 'Hound 13' are not all in the middle and compromising moderately. So I think that 'Project 100' will have good results in of gameplay, graphics and action. We would like to hope that many of you will be working hard.