泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ A Unique and distinctive video game

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

A Unique and distinctive video game

 

Recently I participated in a video game-related event named investment market. In spite of the high-sounding title, through this event, investees introduce a game which is in the making and create a vision to raise money and investors listen to a presentation and see the displays to look for better investment destinations.

However, the question comes to mind whenever I attend this type of event is what the difference between a new game and existing ones is although every developer emphasizes distinction and uniqueness of the game. Some of them don't even talk about 'fun' which is the most important factor in the game.

 

"This product is small and light and easy to carry around. Also, it looks good with a pretty shape. Men and women of all ages can easily use it. Consumers can buy it throughout the country."

 

What do you think about the phrase in the advertising campaign for a headache pill above? It's meaningless if the tablet doesn't help you get better. The distinctions, which lack a fundamentally useful function of the product, are totally pointless.

We often hear that we should always keep to the basics. Nevertheless, there are many people whose words and deeds are in contradiction to each other as if some grown-ups who lack morals teach their kids to protect morality.

I still don't know what an amusement factor of auto-battle feature in an RPG game is. But everybody seems to regard it as an essential part of the game. Of course, it can be a suitable mode for mobile devices, but it doesn't suit my taste at least. Accepting the auto-battle system as a critical feature, developers talk about differences in it. There is nothing about the fun of the autoplay. Though I cited the auto-battle function as an instance, it's much more than about it.

There has been no discussion of the fun factor for some time and everybody are talking about a distinction. The distinction should be an element for fun of a game. Some well-made video games so-called a classic are still fun and exciting. In fact, it's not easy to differentiate between the classics and a lot of games released after when it comes to unique factors including graphics. Still, they are fun. Fun is the most fundamental element for a game. I expect to see many games that can appeal to players with their significant basic element, together with emphasizing on the distinction.

 

※ 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 _ A legend of mecha design talks about pets

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

A legend of mecha design talks about pets

 

It has already been one year since I have written this column. Looking back the past year, a topic related to the article, which I wrote by this time last year, came into my mind. It was about a new challenge.

I'm a venture capitalist who specializes in video game investment. But the game is not the only one I invest in. Today I want to talk about other content.

Recently the domestic gaming industry thrives on stereotyped themes of games. The materials are like you've heard of them somewhere: fantasy, monster, magic, knight, evocation, auto-battle, etc. If a player reads an introduction of a game without image, it's even hard for the gamer to recognize whether he/she played it before or not.

I'm a fan of Shōji Kawamori, a Japanese anime creator. His new theater anime Animal Detective Kiruminzoo, which is about transforming into an animal, will be released soon. Some of the readers who don't know about the legend might ask what the animal-themed animation has to do with one-size-fits-all game materials. But a fan of the producer should have noticed why I suddenly mentioned the Japanese animation about animals. Shōji Kawamori was originally a mecha designer. He is not only a specialist but also a great master. The leading figure in mecha designing involved in various types of anime: Valkyrie in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, mechanical characters in Patlabor, The Vision of Escaflowne, Cyber Formula, and Ghost in the Shell and he also took part in a mecha-based video game Armored Core. Animal Detective Kiruminzoo is his first animal-transforming character design for children. I made a big, long explanation because I'm a big fan of him.

So cut to now, let's go back to the topic. The great artist's new attempt is refreshingly shocking to me who have wanted more than just the same old game materials. It was that the master in his mid-50s having reached the top of his field tried his hand at something completely new. Kawamori observed ecological habits of animals of the forest for months and interviewed hundreds of children to design characters for kids.

I won't give up hope to see a whole new local game which makes me so excited about. Expecting a sobering and challenging game with high quality, I'm going to the movies this weekend taking my nephew and niece who attend primary school to watch Animal Detective Kiruminzoo.

※ 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 _ Video game development and investment

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Video game development and investment

 

I have mainly written about domestic video game developers hoping that they will be able to commercially successful with a good-quality game. But, it may sound like an excuse, I'd like to make harsh comments for game makers this time. Recently I went to a conference-like meeting for content producers and developers. There were a large number of manufacturers and content providers complaining about investors. In short, the complaints can be summed up in four ways.

Firstly getting investment is no different from taking out loans with high-interest rates due to overly conservative investment conditions. Secondly, in spite of detailed explanations, investors cannot well understand a good point of the content because they lack the ability to evaluate it. Thirdly investment firms mostly refuse to invest in new content whose sales performance is hardly expected. Lastly, they don't willingly use their funds in the interest of the public, although a large portion of the fund is from government money.

I'd like to give them convincing explanations about the above in my defense.

First of all, investing in a small business is high-risk so that an investee can think that investment conditions are too conservative. To be honest, the reason a developer raises money from a venture capitalist is not to make a lot of money for the investor but to find a new way for the studio which has encountered difficulty in securing loans. In spite of the investment seen as being conservative according to the internal regulations and conditions, investors often make great losses in a considerable proportion of cases. And the more strict conditions the investee is offered, the less the investment earnings rate the investor take when the company is doing great. If it is visa versa, they will probably complain about a little profit.

Furthermore, most VCs are veterans who have been involved in a particular activity for a long time. I also had ten-year experience in the gaming field as CEO of a game studio for three years, game designer, project manager, and worker for a video game publisher. Most investors actually have much longer experience than I do. If an investee can't win an investor to consent with the beauty of the product regardless of a period when the VC has left the gaming industry, he/she is not good at explaining or the game has no merit to invest in.

Thirdly a venture capitalist externally evaluates the possibility of investment, however, he/she internally have to persuade the people in charge. In the investment committee, VC should convince the insiders to see a chance of success from the point of view of the developer. Unpredictable performance means that it's difficult for the investor to convince the other VCs on behalf of the game maker. The case that the investor is less certain about is very likely to be rejected.

Finally a venture capital investment runs public funding, however, it's a financial company which has to create revenue. The government doesn't leave the management of assets up to the venture capital firms to promote public interests. Each branch of the government uses a fund, named what is called a support project, to serve the common good. And the investment firms cannot run the public funds anymore if profit margin falls. Therefore a developer shouldn't expect a venture capital to invest in it for the common good.

In conclusion, venture capital is a company that invests money in a profitable business and expects to generate more returns than it has invested in. I hope that developers can understand the investment world better and they will get investment with high-quality content. They complain about the difficulty of getting an investment, however, investors also struggle to find a good company.

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

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui