Chapter 53: Idea Meeting
Chapter 53: Idea Meeting
And just because it was a 3X4 position-based turn-based battle system did not mean party play could not be implemented.
In truth, there actually was a separate system Insu ultimately wanted to realize. But since it was impossible to implement with the current environment and computer performance anyway, there was no point discussing it right now.
Well, I came up with various excuses, but fundamentally, the biggest reason I’m even worrying about this is because The Land Of Fantasy became a much bigger success than expected.
Originally, it had merely been a product of compromise. But regardless, the fact that it succeeded like this meant the popularity and fun of the system had already been proven.
And another thing that made him think it over was that if a game was based on an existing IP, users would naturally expect the original system to return as well.
Suddenly, Insu remembered the ridiculous experiences from his previous life where famous IPs were turned into mobile games that only looked convincing on the surface while the actual contents were completely different.
Civilization Online was like that, for one.
(Translator’s Note: Civilization Online — A canceled Korean MMORPG project based on the Sid Meier's Civilization strategy game franchise.)
Since he had been a fan of Civilization, he had looked forward to it in his own way. But in reality, the only thing they borrowed was the name itself. At that point, it was not even anger-inducing anymore, just absurd.
For these reasons, after much thought, Insu decided to use position-based turn-based combat again for TLF2.
Instead, I’ll have to improve it further and make it usable for online games too.
In truth, it was not some overwhelmingly innovative or unique idea either. Even without going as far as mobile games, there had already been MMORPGs like Atlantica that used position-based turn-based combat during the MMORPG era.
(Translator’s Note: Atlantica Online — A turn-based MMORPG developed by Korean company NDOORS Corporation and first released in South Korea in 2008.)
And it sold reasonably well at the time too, didn’t it?
So even if he could not say it was fully proven, he felt it was at least not some completely absurd attempt.
Aside from the combat system, he was also planning to try incorporating the simulation techniques they had learned while developing Medieval Fantasy Nobility into the RPG.
Of course, for the package game The Land Of Fantasy 2, he planned to use a much more simplified system compared to what he envisioned for the MMORPG.
In the case of an MMORPG, those simulations would run separately on the server side, so the burden on the user’s computer would be relatively small. But with a package game, every system had to run directly on the user’s machine, so there was no helping it.
Even so, he planned to preserve the overall feeling as much as possible.
Another goal was to recruit more graphic designers so they could diversify the characters and monsters further. Until now, because they had continuously developed with a small team, the number of characters had felt somewhat lacking compared to the expansive worldbuilding and freedom.
And though he would continue refining the concept, the last thing that immediately came to mind was adding network functionality.
Even if it was not a fully online-only game, he wanted to implement simple network play so they could acquire and test networking technology ahead of the MMORPG.
(Translator’s Note: Network Play — Multiplayer gameplay functionality connected through a network, planned by Insu as a technical stepping stone toward MMORPG development.)
Not only for building it, but also to gauge player reactions at the same time.
He had already felt somewhat regretful that they could not add multiplayer functionality to Medieval Fantasy Nobility. But the current development team lacked networking knowledge, so it seemed they would need to recruit additional personnel separately.
If it really comes down to it, we could always brute-force our way through it from scratch…
Since they were going to America anyway, and specifically to California, the center of IT, he planned to take advantage of the broader talent pool there.
Of course, before that, they would need to make maximum use of the team they already had.
Only after early September passed did the team members return from vacation and gather once more at the development studio. At this point, the Gold Master Test was essentially finished.
That made sense, since no major issues had appeared so far, and the Korean release was scheduled for the twelfth of this month.
Combined with the fact that they had just returned from vacation and were planning to move to America soon, the atmosphere in the studio had become noticeably lax.
“Everyone, please pay attention for a moment.”
Insu disliked this atmosphere. Part of it was because operating costs were still being spent in real time even now, but more importantly, since he was looking so far ahead, his plans for the future were already densely packed. To him, there was no such thing as time to waste.
“Everyone rested enough during vacation, right? Now it’s time to think about the next project!”
The moment he said this, it felt as though exclamation marks had appeared above the team members’ heads. Whether they welcomed his words or not, it was clear they had regained focus.
“For now, the working title is The Land Of Fantasy 2.”
Insu pressed hard while writing the title on the whiteboard. His handwriting looked exactly like a child who had only recently started learning Korean letters, but since he wrote it in large characters, there was no problem reading it.
Most of the team members reacted with visible interest. Park Yoonsu especially looked as though his eyes were sparkling.
Insu then explained the ideas he had in mind.
“…That’s roughly what I’ve thought up so far. I haven’t completely finished planning everything yet, so if anyone has good ideas, please submit them. At the very least, fill one page each. If the ideas look good, I’ll incorporate them into the design.”
It was not always only the highly motivated people who produced good ideas, so he assigned quotas in order to make maximum use of their numbers.
He also had everyone install The Land Of Fantasy 1 on their computers and play through it again while thinking about possible improvements and ways to combine it with Medieval Fantasy Nobility.
“I’ll give you three days.”
The schedule might feel a little tight, but things like this only dragged out if given too much time. And three days was more than enough to examine a game thoroughly.
Once the work was assigned and the clicking sounds of the game’s audio began echoing again, it felt as though vitality had returned to the development studio.
And three days later, the reports they received contained a surprisingly wide variety of opinions.
Some ideas were troublesome, such as allowing characters to move positions during battle scenes.
Insu himself had once thought of that before, but abandoned it because it would create too many possible variables during combat and potentially collapse the game’s difficulty entirely.
If the enemy AI could be programmed perfectly, it would not matter, but realistically, that was impossible.
This one’s from Mr. Yoonsu.
This person was excellent at development itself, but his ideas tended to drift too far into idealism.
There were also suggestions like adding illustrations to field magic—that is, magic used in the world outside of combat. It was not impossible, but unlike ideas that could be solved through design alone, this required practical conditions such as expanding manpower. Since they already planned to recruit additional personnel after moving to America, it was something worth considering and possibly adopting if the cost-to-benefit ratio looked good.
There were also fun-looking ideas such as allowing summoner or druid-type special skills to turn monsters and enemies into companions.
In the case of monsters, since all the images and stats already existed, there was a lot that could be reused, meaning the system could be implemented without spending too much effort.
If done well, it could give off a Pokémon-like feeling.
(Translator’s Notes: Pokémon — Japanese media and game franchise that began with Pokémon Red and Green in 1996. It is known for collecting, raising, and battling creatures.)
The Land Of Fantasy already had a considerable number of monsters, and since the sequel planned to show an even more expanded world, that number would increase further.
Moreover, once they transitioned into the MMORPG, the world would become even larger and the monster types would continue receiving updates. Combined with those aspects, it seemed like it could become a very solid system.
That’s actually a pretty good idea.
Insu memorized the name Suhyeon, the one who proposed it.
In a way, it was a simple idea, something Insu himself might also have thought of eventually. But most ideas were like that.
Once you heard them, they felt obvious, yet without hearing them, you might never think of them or accomplish them in your entire life. In more familiar terms, it could be called a Columbus’s egg type of idea.
In any case, Insu selected the opinions he liked from the team members and added them to his own concepts, then began designing the game based on them.
While Insu and the team were preparing the new project like this, September 12 arrived, and as scheduled, Medieval Fantasy Nobility officially launched in Korea.
Shin Taeho had safely entered middle school and was now in his second year.
He was still enjoying The Land Of Fantasy.
After discovering the fun of RPGs, he had obtained and played many other RPGs as well, but he always ended up returning to The Land Of Fantasy.
Part of the reason was that there still were no PC RPGs matching this level of quality. And because no matter how much he dug into the game, there was always more to discover, he found it difficult to pull himself away.
Furthermore, the game had become enormously popular not just domestically but also in Japan and America, and it had become trendy among his friends as well, so his interest never faded.
This time, I’m definitely killing that Demon King bastard.
He was referring to the Hell Cavern dungeon he had recently been challenging. In truth, it was not one of the highest-difficulty areas in The Land Of Fantasy, but perhaps because Taeho was still young, or perhaps because he had not fully become accustomed to computer RPGs yet, his gaming skills were not particularly good, so fully clearing it still seemed far away.
Perhaps that too was one of the reasons he still enjoyed the game so much.
As he walked home from school, he recalled the gaming magazine inside his bag and thought about strategy guides. If this had been a world with developed internet, he probably would already have looked up the proper strategies and cleared the dungeon. But in this era, gaming magazines were the best available source.
As he walked home like this, he passed through downtown.
The busy districts of this era were even more lively than the ones from 2025 that Insu remembered. Car ownership rates were still fairly low, so there were many pedestrians, and since the internet did not exist yet, aside from some television shopping, everything had to be purchased offline. As a result, downtown shopping districts packed with stores were always overflowing with people.
Taeho found the crowds uncomfortable, but at the same time, he also enjoyed the atmosphere.
As he looked around, an electronics shopping center entered his sight.
[Taeil Electronics Center]
Many electronics centers of this era covered the entire exterior of their two-story buildings with glass in order to create a cutting-edge image, and this place was one of them.
And because Taeho was deeply interested in computers and games, his gaze was drawn toward the building as if by a magnet.
While looking toward the game shop on the second floor, he discovered a poster.
[The Sequel to The Land Of Fantasy! “Medieval Fantasy Nobility” Released!]
“Huh?!”
As a fan of The Land Of Fantasy, Taeho read a lot of gaming magazines, so he already knew that Parallel Soft’s next title would be released soon. But after waiting so long, he had half forgotten about it out of exhaustion, and apparently it had launched in the meantime.
Immediately afterward, he hurried home, grabbed the money he had saved up, then sprinted back toward Taeil Electronics Center.
Some time later, after returning home and sitting in front of the computer, he carefully took the package out of the shopping bag.
Cool.
The package, depicting an old-fashioned castle, magnificent knights, wizards, and monsters fighting one another, felt even more upgraded than the packaging for The Land Of Fantasy.
And the developer name printed beneath it—Parallel Soft—further amplified Taeho’s anticipation.
The sensation was so thrilling that the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Being able to feel something like this while opening a game package was probably an experience unique to this era.
He skipped the manual entirely and immediately inserted the diskette to install the game. He skipped the manual entirely and immediately inserted the diskette to install the game. His handling was incomparably more skillful than when he first bought a computer.
It might not have been exactly what his parents had hoped for, but in any case, he had at least become familiar with computers in preparation for the coming computer age, so it could be called half a success.
“Oh! The artwork looks incredible!”
He had already thought it looked cool from the title screen alone, but the illustrations shown at the start of the game gave him a level of satisfaction that The Land Of Fantasy had never been able to provide.