Business Registration
The company's name is important.
Just as appearance has a huge impact on first impressions, the company's first impression is determined by its corporate name, they say.
“Yihan. You really want to go with Joyland Studio?”
But Daniel was trying to keep it simple and easy. Since the president's name is Yihan, it has to include “Jo.”
“Argh.”
“Got it? You mean Joyland Studio?”
“Shut up.”
I glared at Daniel, who kept pushing the lame name “Joyland.”
“Why have you been obsessed with ‘Jo’ all this time?”
“Because your name is Yihan. Imagine it. ‘Yihan Studio’ in the game intro sounds weird, but ‘Joy Studio’ has that nice feel. Yihan? People would wonder what it means. But Joy? Oh! I know it's a place that makes fun games right away!”
“My name doesn't need to be in the company name! And don't obsess over the studio name either!”
I wasn't arrogant enough to shove my own name into the company title. If the name reminded anyone of Jo or Yihan, I'd feel embarrassed.
“Tsk. Joyland is actually not bad.”
“Shut it. Think of a name that suits a game studio.”
“A name that suits a game studio… I don't know. You know, before I met you I wasn't into games at all.”
Even after months of working together, I knew this guy. Apart from board games like Halli Galli and Uno, he had no game experience.
“Let me give you examples. In Korea we call the three biggest game companies 3N—Next, Nice Games (NG), and SmileNet.”
“SmileNet doesn't start with N. Why call them 3N?”
“I just slapped it together to group them.”
“Hmm. So we should also make a name with an N?”
“No need.”
I was just giving him ideas for naming, not planning to make it 4N.
“Since you're American, let's try American-style. Tornado, Sirius, Internet Arts, Make Crew Interactive, Unique Games—”
“No. No. No. Stop. You're going to list every game company in the world?”
“Now that you're in the game industry, you should know at least this much. It's common sense, common sense.”
“That's not common sense.”
In the game industry, common sense is real.
I would teach Daniel his missing common sense later, and focus on naming.
“Is there nothing special? Something that makes the company instantly feel like it makes games, but still unique.”
“We make games, so Game Maker Studio. What do you think?”
“Too on the nose. Not bad, but pass for now.”
“Hmm. Then Mega Games, meaning it aims to be the mega corp of the game industry?”
“In an era when Terabyte is already a thing, they'll laugh at Mega.”
“Fuck. If you hate everything, just make one.”
Annoyed by my rejections, Daniel got irritated.
‘Was this my fault?’
I brought up a bad name and why am I getting angry at me…
“Hoo… this is hard.”
“Stop stalling and just throw out some IDs.”
“Um…”
Daniel shyly scratched his head.
“Sorry. Nothing comes to mind.”
“Fuck! I knew this would happen! The guy who always spat out ideas like a vending machine was telling me to come up with one and I figured it out!”
I thought my skills were solid in many areas, but naming? Not so much.
“Nuclear Bomb Games, meaning we'll destroy the game industry?”
“Holy…”
“Or God Games, meaning we'll only make god-tier games?”
“Okay. I got it.”
“What did you get?”
“No. I got it means ‘aragi.’”
The language is evolving fast. I had no native speakers.
‘Was it really that bad…?’
I thought the meaning was good.
“Just use any word you like. Yihan. What word do you like?”
“I don't really have one.”
“No! Just say any word that comes to mind! Something game-related!”
No special word came to mind, but I said to go ahead.
“Well, there are guns, superpowers, portals, gates…”
“Oh. Good feel. Keep going.”
“Really? Got it. Heroine, map, past and future, luck…”
“When are you stopping?”
“None of those hit! Is there nothing?”
While talking, one word suddenly popped into my head.
“Forge… how about Forge? It just came to me.”
“Oh. Good feel? Like craftsmanship? Factory feels too mass-produced.”
“And we make fun games, so Play. PlayForge. What do you think?”
“PlayForge! Perfect! But why Play? If it's fun, why not Joyforge since my name is in there.”
“The vibe… is a bit off.”
Anyway, Joyforge is out.
“Then PlayForge it is. PlayForge Studio.”
“Okay.”
With the company name decided, it was time to move to the next step.
*
“You really aren't helping and you're taking vacation?”
“Yeah. I haven't seen my parents in a year. I'll buy the tickets. One week is enough, right?”
“Thanks, bro. I'm not relying on you that much.”
I sent Daniel on vacation because I didn't need his help right now.
While he was gone, I handled one thing after another for business registration.
The first thing was to look for office space.
“Next year's property tax… scares me…”
I was a little upset about being taxed, but I had just settled Dot Hero sales into my personal account.
‘Where should I set up the office?’
I thought of Pangyo, which would become Korea's IT hub, but shook my head.
‘Too early.’
After a quick search, Pangyo Technovel is building buildings and has no infrastructure yet, and the Shinbundang Line isn't open.
‘In this era, Teheran-ro or Guro Digital Complex seems best…’
Teheran-ro in Gangnam has many investors and IT startups, making talent easy to find, while Guro has lower rents and solid infrastructure.
“Yeah. Forget Gangnam. I'll save some money for later Pangyo.”
I chose Guro Digital Complex and started looking.
“How about this place, Mr. Sa… President? The rent is cheap and there are lots of restaurants nearby. Perfect for an office?”
“Um. A bit wider would be better. Enough for about ten people?”
“Then the deposit and rent would be higher…”
“It's fine.”
My account has about 170 million won left after giving Daniel his share.
“Deposit 3.5 million, management fee included, monthly rent 300,000. A bit expensive, but the office is spacious. The landlord must have been quite knowledgeable. They installed fast internet. From what I saw in the lobby, security is strict.”
It was a pretty good office.
Wide windows, decent height, no stuffy feeling, independent cooling and heating, and clean public restrooms because the landlord was careful.
‘And there are many 24-hour restaurants nearby.’
This was the most important part.
Overnight work was routine for developers.
“I'll take this one.”
“Smart choice!”
I signed the lease and went to the tax office to complete business registration.
Now that registration was done, I needed to fill the empty office. I called the number my father gave and ordered office furniture.
“Thank you for the cheap prices.”
“You're the president's son, so I had to give a discount. Haha. By the way, you said you're making games? Your little president's works are praised as the best mobile games in the world right now. Impressive at your age. My son doesn't even want to leave home even after turning 30. Hee hee.”
“Late bloomers do exist.”
“Hahaha! You talk well! Great! I won't charge shipping. But if you do well later and move to a bigger place, use our furniture then too.”
“Wow. Thank you. I'll definitely contact you when I succeed.”
With the desk and chairs in, the office felt a little warmer.
Next, I ordered the computer parts we needed most. At first I planned to order specs and get pre-assembled products, but remembering the bad reputation of Yongsan, I assembled them myself.
“When will all this be delivered…”
As I ordered electronics like keyboards and mice, boxes piled up in the office.
Unpack, set up, repack.
When I felt overwhelmed trying to do it alone, Daniel returned from America.
“Yihan! I'm back!”
“Did you have a good rest?”
“Of course! Mom and Dad were shocked when I showed them the game we made.”
“Sounds like you rested well. Then it's time to work, right?”
I pointed at the pile of boxes. Daniel looked dazed.
“Fuck… what did you order so much?”
“Monitors, keyboards, mice, pen tablets, everything.”
“Yihan. I haven't adjusted to the time difference yet.”
“Stop talking and start unpacking.”
Unpacking with Daniel was way faster than alone.
“Huff… huff… done…”
“You worked hard. Hungry? I ordered Chinese food.”
It wasn't a move, but after the office setup, I ordered jajangmyeon and tangsuyuk from a Chinese restaurant.
“This place is great. I should order from here often.”
“Yeah, this Korean-style Chinese food is the best I've tried.”
“Korean-style Chinese food? That's just a weird term.”
“It tastes different from Chinese food in the US. So Korean-style. Yihan. So where do I sit?”
“There.”
Daniel pointed at the only spot with sound equipment set up and smiled brightly as he checked his assignment.
“Oh! This headset is pretty expensive. And this MIDI keyboard is way better than the one I used.”
“I wanted to make you a separate studio, but for now just use this. Later, when we succeed, I'll get you better gear.”
“Bro…”
Daniel looked at me with感动 eyes.
I wonder what he's misunderstanding.
‘I bought expensive equipment so he should just work and make good music…’
There seems to be a misunderstanding, but since Daniel's work ethic is up, maybe it's okay.
“Hey. Yihan.”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“So, what now?”
Now we were no longer freelancers struggling in a smelly basement. We were a properly registered business.
We had an office and a company-like atmosphere, so there was only one thing left to do.
“Time to hire people.”
“Finally!”
I immediately posted an ad on a recruitment site.
Two programmers, two graphic designers, one writer.
With me and Daniel, about seven people should be fine for a startup.
‘Will any talent show up?’
Like Daniel, who would casually eat off Billboard charts later, would talent appear?
I welcomed the interviewees with anticipation.
“I'm not very familiar with programming yet, but I'll work hard if you teach me! Diligent and honest! That's one thing I'm confident about!”
“Is the salary too low? At the academy they said starting salary is around 4.5 million, right…? Huh? A new developer at Next gets 3.5 million? Sir, you didn't say that…”
“Ah. I came in casual clothes because you didn't give the dress code. Huh? Slippers are too casual? Then give the code!”
All of them were total losers.