Project Hwarang (3)
"I want to drive you all crazy."
That's been on my mind lately.
Watching the chaos unfold — a mix of lunatics insisting the full game will be garbage quality even after we dropped a demo, and players eagerly waiting for the official release — I keep getting the urge to stir the pot.
"When should we set the official release date?"
I pace around the office like someone with ADHD, muttering to myself, until a brilliant idea hits.
"I mean, I stayed up two nights straight playing it myself. Do I really need to release it on a weekend?"
I knew I should stop, but I couldn't, and I ended up racing to the ending. I played on Normal difficulty to focus on the story, and it still took me three days. I can't even imagine how long it'll take for people cranking up the in-game difficulty. Every single choice I made affected the ending, and since there's no fixed bad ending or happy ending, I'm just going to set a rough release date and jump into a second playthrough.
"Let's do a surprise drop. On a weekday."
Players are going to be dead at school and work the next day, but I'm confident it'll be worth it.
How about Thursday?
"Thursday sounds good. Around 8 PM?"
That's when people get home from work or finish classes, eat dinner, clean up, and have time for hobbies. They'll think, Let me just check it out, boot up the game, and next thing they know, it's time to go to work.
Nice. Other players will love it too.
"What price are we setting for the official release?"
AAA game prices have gone insane lately, so even setting it a bit high wouldn't be a big deal. But we already saved on marketing costs, and development costs were literally zero, so I don't need to stress about recouping them. I'm thinking a reasonable price.
How about 49,800 won?
"That's a clever number. 50,000 won is basically the price of two chickens."
I can't tell if it's weird that two chickens cost 50,000 won, or if it's weird that games are so expensive these days.
"Honestly, if this had gone through normal development, it'd cost way more, right?"
Considering the quality, nobody could complain even if you charged double.
Anyway, it's not like I'm doing this to make money. We're all here to have fun, so why squeeze people dry? Just supply it at a reasonable, cheap price and that's that.
"A complete surprise drop feels a bit much. Should we make one more trailer and put it out?"
Sure, I'll make it and upload it right away.
Tuesday evening, 9 PM.
The time when people exhausted from their weekday routines are home enjoying their precious relaxation, dreading tomorrow. Neo Gate, which had exploded into the spotlight three days ago with the sudden demo release, dropped a second video.
A peaceful three-minute clip — the protagonist, whom anyone who played the demo or watched related content would recognize, eating at a tavern and fishing by a river. Sure, the setting was peaceful, but the graphics showcasing that background were genuinely breathtaking.
"Oh... so there's some life-sim content too?"
Seong-hun, whose mind had been blown by the demo, had set an alarm and was waiting. The moment he heard a new video dropped, he rushed over like a dog and was watching it with his viewers.
Whether it was because of his slick reactions or because he'd become the fool who sold his stocks, his stream had twice the usual number of viewers, with tons of new people flooding in.
In the latter half of the video, the protagonist is fishing at a large pond. The bobber starts vibrating, and a massive black serpentine dragon emerges from the water.
"Whoa, holy shit, that looks so badass?"
With blood-red eyes, it's clearly some kind of boss, but even so, the design is way too cool. The screen goes dark as the startled protagonist throws down the fishing rod, draws his sword, and charges at the serpent.
"Ah... that's it. No more?"
Neo Gate keeps teasing people with videos, and it's starting to piss him off a little, but he's about to close the video with the mindset that he can wait as long as it takes — when the black background turns into white paper, and brush-stroke calligraphy appears.
OFFICIAL RELEASE: This Thursday
Sting | P-Station | Cross Box
"Huh? Wh-what? Thursday? This Thursday?"
At the news that it's releasing the day after tomorrow, Seong-hun jumps out of his chair screaming incomprehensibly like an orangutan. The viewers, seeing the massive announcement of a simultaneous release on both console platforms that dominate the global market — not just the PC platform Sting — also lose their minds.
With twice the usual number of people all typing at once, the chat is impossible to read even without the delay.
"Did the price show up?"
He frantically launches Sting and searches for Hwarang. The words "Coming Soon" are gone, replaced by a clear "Thursday." The price is a whopping 49,800 won.
"...Huh?"
This is even more shocking than the surprise release news.
"You crazy bastards... I love you, Neo Gate!!!!"
I finished my first playthrough and started a second one to pick different choices and see new endings — and time got deleted again.
"Ugh, my head... I'm dead tired, seriously."
I didn't stay up all night this time, but playing nonstop without a break has my brain fried.
"Still, I've gotta watch the official release."
I'm almost at the ending, but I can't miss the incredibly fun event of the official launch.
10 minutes left.
I'm browsing the comments on the trailer video after the release date announcement, and I notice quite a bit of foreign languages.
"Is it because of anime? There's a surprising number of foreign players coming in."
Korean content has been making waves everywhere lately, and I'm reaping the benefits just as I expected.
Based on demo play metrics, the foreign player ratio is actually much higher. A lot of people played in Korea too, but the influx from overseas is really significant.
"Think we can win GOTY with this? I'm a bit worried since there's a game coming out this winter that looks like a natural disaster for the competition."
I'm confident we won't lose on quality, but they have a longer history, so Hwarang might be at a slight disadvantage.
Shouldn't we just wait and see? You never know until it's out.
Even if we don't win GOTY with this one, I don't really care.
Why?
Because it only takes us a day to develop.
Time's up.
I've been grinning like an idiot, and ten minutes have flown by.
"Alright then... let's take a look around, shall we?"
In front of me, I have Korea's two major streaming platforms and Nootube floating in my vision.
"Whoa... way more anticipation than I expected. And they're all playing our game?"
Most of the top streamers who don't have prior commitments are lined up and ready to play our game.
"Alright, let's go~"
It's finally 8 PM. Seong-hun, who thought he was going to die from how slowly time passed over the last two days, presses the play button with a reverent heart.
Demo play detected. Skip tutorial?
"I'll skip it. It's not like there's any difference, right?"
Seong-hun has already played through it several times and doesn't feel like doing it again.
He presses the skip button. The character emerges from a dense forest and steps onto a rock.
"Whoa... you guys can see this clearly, right? Even seeing it again, the graphics are just insane."
Looking at the graphics that strike the perfect balance between reality and game — not unpleasant, just peak quality — the hype builds up. The sight of Seorabeol, the ancient capital of a thousand years, bathed in moonlight, is truly beautiful. The nine-story wooden pagoda of Hwangnyongsa standing tall, countless tiled roofs, and the vast sprawling field — the thought flashes through his mind that sleeping tonight is out of the question.
The chat from viewers doesn't even register anymore. In that brief moment of leaving the mountain and following the path into the city, the realistic sound effects and beautiful scenery instantly suck him into the game. Entering downtown Seorabeol, the rain has stopped, people are out and about, water droplets still drip from the roofs, and sunlight reflects off the puddles on the ground.
Everything feels like a dream.
"I've already gotten my money's worth just from this. Seeing this alone makes the price totally worth it."
He spends nearly two hours exploring the city, interacting with things, and taking in the scenery. When he finally heads to the outskirts to follow the story, there's a woman in flashy clothes who looks like a villain at first glance.
"Oh... what's this. A shaman?"
At first glance, she seems to be wearing ornate clothing, but the bloodstains scattered here and there and her clearly unhinged eyes suggest she's a mid-boss.
"Hehehehe... you fool... you've crawled right into the lion's den!!"
The boss lets out a chilling voice and suddenly pulls out a weapon, attacking.
"Ah, f***. You scared me."
Startled, he dodges immediately, draws his sword, and strikes back.
Clang-!
The shaman's unidentified weapon clashes with the protagonist's sword, sending sparks flying. Realizing she's outmatched in strength, the shaman leaps back, slams her strange weapon into the ground, and lets out a bizarre scream. Something that looks like a dangerously twisted vengeful spirit flies toward him.
"Wh-whoa??"
He frantically hits the dodge button at the incoming spirit, but this crazy game even simulates slipping on rain-soaked mud.
"No, no. I'm slipping!!"
Panicking, he spams "no no" and slams his keyboard nearly to the breaking point, barely managing to evade the vengeful spirit. While sliding, he catches the off-guard shaman and swings his sword at her heart. A motion plays, smoothly transitioning into a cinematic — the protagonist plunges his sword into the mid-boss's heart. Thanks to the setting that he's from Hwarang, the protagonist is disgustingly handsome, and just looking at his face is impressive.
"He's good-looking, but in a likeable way. You know what I mean?"
He's not just handsome to appeal to women — even another guy can appreciate his clean, sharp features without any discomfort.
You have been playing for 4 hours. Excessive gaming may interfere with normal daily life.
A warning message appears at the edge of the screen after the cutscene ends.
"Huh? It's already been 4 hours?"
He picks up his phone to check, and sure enough, it's 11 PM.
"This is seriously addicting. Time just disappears."
"Guys, how am I supposed to go to work tomorrow? I don't think I'm gonna sleep."
Master. The initial launch metrics have been compiled. Shall I report them?
"Yeah, let's see how many copies sold."
Total concurrent users across all platforms: 850,000. Total sales: 1.2 million copies.
"That's way higher than I expected? I was prepared for it to be dampened by the surprise drop."
At $34.99, it's incredibly cheap from Western players' perspective.
"This isn't even the 24-hour metric yet, so this is already a success. Can we expect around 2 million copies in 24 hours?"
Based on current metrics, it's possible. Additionally, the dropout rate is extremely low. Even considering it's the first day, mathematically, players are averaging about 8 hours of playtime.
"Excellent. Everyone's going to stay up for three days straight like me, right?"
I know from experience.
It's that kind of drug — the kind where you blink and the sun's already up.