泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ Ah! Com2uS

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Ah! Com2uS

 

October.16.2013

I went to Busan International Film Festival recently. I had a chance to see a number of good movies and meet with Jummy Wang Yu, once a famous action star, as well. But I especially want to talk about a shocking news that I heard on Oct. 4. It was that Gamevil announced acquisition of Com2uS whose rival has competed with more than 10 years for first place in the mobile gaming industry.

The two firms are first generation mobile game companies established in 1998 and 2000 respectively and they have been business rivals and associates. It may be meaningless to give my opinion about the results and of the acquisition. Many articles already includes each predictions and I don't feel like mentioning about it.

I started working in mobile gaming areas in 2001. The two companies were my longtime role model. Screen color of cell phone was black and white when I entered the field. GVM, Go Version Manager, was used in a poor mobile game making environment where the total limited capacity for program, image files, and sound files was just 64KB in total, less than the average one page of Word. Reducing the size of the game was one of the best technology at the moment. Animation and design with 1-2 frames per every second couldn't contribute to making a game near perfect. Colorful images weren't allowed until production environment enabling 128KB game in 2002. Looking at character motion in games, I was thrilled in the presence of the environment where 4 frames per second was possible. There was even an advertising phrase 'A blockbuster game with over 1MB is coming.' when a game over 1MB of capacity was released for the first time. Considering color and capacity of mobile games nowadays, it seems as if ages had passed since then compared to only ten years ago.

I said too much about it because I feel very sad to say goodbye. I have seen Com2uS for more than 10 years waiting for a new work each time and I used to inform customer center by e-mail whenever I found bugs. I guess I have played Com2uS games more than 2000 hours at least. Of course, Com2uS won't disappear right away under new ownership. However, the company with newly renovated key executives won't what they used to be. It's definitely not the same one which made games I enjoyed playing, for example, Phone Go-Stop; in the bathroom, Pro Baseball; in the bus; and Bungeoppang Tycoon; before go to bed. I feel sad like a baseball fan who hear the news of his/her favorite baseball player's retirement.

I know I can't fix it. And the whole takeover process will go smoothly. There is only one thing that I expect is Com2uS, which impressed and entertained the users a lot, will not be faded into history.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 What is the most important thing in the game?

이중반룡의 게임애가
泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌
[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] 
 What is the most important thing in the game?

 

September. 24. 2013 

I have considered what I will write about, thinking a deep thought, as I begin to serialize columns. In spite of considering various subjects related to games including history, culture, material, and planning etc., it was hard decision to define a specific topic. It is not only from my lack of knowledge but also so many stories I want to talk about. I am thirty seven years old this year. For the first 20 years I had enjoyed games as a player who loves it and I have engaged in game making in the gaming industry for 10 years since then. So I'd like to deal a variety of stories about games in general, which I have enjoyed and I will love as ever, as the user and the gaming industry worker depending on the circumstances.

 

I had run a small game company from 2002 to 2005, which it may have changed my life if it succeeded. Afterwards, I had worked as a planner, marketer, and project manager etc., and now I'm working for a venture capital company as a venture capitalist specializing in games. It's often said that I devoted my youth to game with 12-year-experience in the gaming industry. I'd like to talk about, based on the experience, what I have felt while having investment-related interviews with many CEOs of game companies.

 

There are many investors who invest in game companies evaluating them using a range of criteria of their own. CEO's philosophy of making games is considered one of the most important evaluation criteria for me. That sounds really heavy, but it's the question of what kind of game he/she wants to make. People whose profession is to create a game desire to take pride in the products they are producing and most of them take great pride in their works. However, many owners answer that it is expected to make large profits putting forward splendid graphic design, genre reflecting current trend, and optimized program etc. when I ask them about strong point of the game in production right now. Frankly speaking, it's not the answer I wants to hear. It isn't much different from replying that star studded films of popular genre cannot help being expected to be a good show. For all that they have ideal conditions for box office hits, we've seen countless cases did badly at the box office. I am anxious to hear planning point where they focus on for pleasure of players in the currently producing game. Korean gaming industry has had spectacular growth during the recent 10 years. And hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in the game industry every year. Sales and success are becoming a big part when we talk about games and majority people within the industry seem that just say how much some games make.

 

I am one of them and I regard the part as important of course. But I don't think it's the first priority in the game. Looking at the leading games in the recent market, they don't take over the game market thanks to their high quality of graphic design or program. The nature of the game is fun. A variety of factors certainly exist for pleasure of the game but they don't guarantee fun. Still playing PlayStation 2 games which released more than 10 years ago, I look forward to seeing many fun games not plausible ones for players' enjoyable gameplay.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui