Korea, was [MUD-Dev] [News] NCSoft + Richard Garriott

[Dave Kennerly]

Daniel "Savant" Manachi wrote:

> ... the only real effort I've seen with true "blending" has come
> very recently with Jake being in Austin.

Two broad points:

1.

  Diablo.  Diablo is much more successful in Korea than US.  It's
  accidental blending, but it's a real consequence.  It's not an MMOG,
  so if non-MMOGs are beyond the reader's consideration, never mind
  this point.  It's also not alone, but it was probably the first.
  More than any other software, it created the huge Korean cyber cafe
  infrastructure that paved the way for MMOGs to sprout upon (Source:
  Jay Kim, Nexon Corporation, 1998).

2.

  Hey.  :) I consider my effort real.

I apologize for the self-promotion to follow (I edited for objectivity
and relevance), but if you're going to talk about Korean-American
development there's two events prior to "NCSoft + Richard Garriott"
/archives/meow?group+

  A) Nexon US from 1997-Present
  B) Shattered Galaxy from 1998-2001.

A) Nexon US (mostly me) started localizing Nexon Corporation games in
1997, and began designing for US and Korean markets.  Nexon has been
exchanging work locales of employees since 1997.  Some Koreans come to
the US office for a couple of months.  Some Americans go to the Korean
office for usually a month or less.  Every day we cooperate.  And
Nexon also has development offices in Japan (1999) and Singapore
(2000?).  So Nexon is consciously blending Korean, US, and other
cultures.

B) Nexon's most impressive success for joint Korean-American
development is Shattered Galaxy (www.sgalaxy.com or
www.tcommanders.com in Korea), which is a Korean-American development
team: mostly Korean artists and programmers plus a few US game
designers (primarily Kevin Saunders).  At GDC 2001, Shattered Galaxy
won 4 of the 6 IGF awards: Grand Prize, Audience Choice, Best Game
Design, and Best Technical Execution.  As Nexon is self-published,
we've entered the IGF every year--all 3 years it's been offered,
though only succeeding this time, perhaps because it was the first
title aimed to satisfy Korean and American market.

Dave Kennerly


_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev