In January, Origin of the Age of Navigation appeared to the world as the first test. Fans’ expectations for the game were tremendous. In fact, it was enough to attract people’s attention from the fact that it was close to two remakes, which are evaluated as the best works in the series, to the part of adding an MMORPG to the original.
However, after the closed test was over, the user reaction was far from being well received. The overall impression, such as graphics and BGM, which interpreted the original well in a modern way, was good, but it was because most of the core contents of the game were in an unfinished state. Of course, the closed test itself is intended to receive feedback from users before completing the game, but nonetheless, there were many opinions that it was not enough to leave the port and go to the sea.
What kind of feedback was received from users about this, and how the development team would complete the game, met Lee Seong-gyu Lee of the developer Motif and Sung-wook Huh, head of the line games business division to hear about the future development direction.
The most enjoyed by users is trading
8,808 users participated in the first test of the Age of Navigation. There were a total of five countries to choose from this time: the Netherlands, Portugal, England, Ottoman and Spain, and three admirals to choose from were Catarina Erranzo, Joan Ferrero, and Al Bejas. Each is in charge of combat and adventure trade, which are the core elements of this game, and except for Al Bejas, the other two have similar selection rates.
Domestic users mainly enjoyed trade and battle among the three contents of trade, battle, and adventure. In particular, the trade received support from so many people that more than 70% of all testers played the content proactively. There were also many users who purely enjoyed sailing. Among the 217 ports, 193 ports were discovered, and some users pioneered the trans-Eurasian route, passing through East Asia through the southern tip of Africa and returning to Europe to the North Pole.
However, the in-game economic system did not work smoothly. Since the trade return itself was not high, most of the users suffered losses, and because the price fluctuates in real time and the fluctuation range is large, active trading was not conducted. “I was aware of the problem with respect to the balance of goods, but I watched the progress to see to what extent the self-cleaning action occurred without the involvement of the development team,” said Lee Ki-gyu PD. Various shortcomings and problems were found.”
The adventure part was not properly implemented, so evaluation itself was impossible. Of the 2,567 findings, only 66 were found. Testers were disappointed as it was as popular as trade in the original work. “In this test, the village or land exploration itself was completely blocked, and there was no battle with the black market or ghost ship in the port,” said Lee Leek-gyu PD. “I will surely implement it in the next test.”
To present the finished content
Feedback from this test will be reflected in the next test. First, trade, which has been the biggest problem, will be revised drastically. In order to lower the level of difficulty, we plan to introduce a system that summarizes the trends of traded goods on a weekly basis, provides information, and maintains the trend. In mid- to long-distance trade, a new element will also be created so that minimal gains can be obtained regardless of price fluctuations in inflation. The UI and UX are also modified to make it easier to adapt.
The battle is also completely new. In the first test, only the basic framework was in place, so I couldn’t find any special features other than turn-based battles. However, from the 2nd test, we plan to make various strategic tactics unfold according to the characteristics of the navigator and the combination of the ship. In addition, the formation of squadrons that players can directly conceive is increased, and unique elements that other users or NPCs can intrude during battle are also implemented.
Adventures that were only possible to proceed through a set scenario can only be enjoyed properly in the second test. In addition to marine discovery, area exploration is implemented, and more than 2,000 species of discoveries and productions are added. Land exploration content, which was enjoyed online in the Age of Navigation, does not enter the test phase and at the time of release, but will be provided through an update later.
In addition, the overall sailing speed is improved, and a system that can further increase the sailing speed through manual operation is included. While sailing, fishing, salvage, and interaction with other ships are added to make sailing less boring. In addition, the UI and UX are drastically changed, and the fonts and icons are generally improved to look good.
Next test is multi-platform
The 2nd test is conducted on multiple platforms. You can enjoy testing on both Steam for PC and iOS and Android for mobile, and it is scheduled to be held in the summer. The release timing is also determined by the results of the second test.
The following is a question-and-answer with Motif Lee Sang-gyu.
Q. What is the player’s reaction to this test?
There were both negative and positive reactions, but we are working hard to reflect them well. What I wanted to verify through the first test was dynamic balancing, server stability, and client stability. In the case of the server, I wanted to see if it works properly even when the network environment and the app environment are switched. It uses Unreal Engine, but it has also undergone a lot of engine modifications, so it was necessary to review the problems that occur in the live environment. It could have been embarrassing for users who wanted a finished game. Still, thanks to the confirmation of many problems, I think that the service will be able to be stably serviced in the second time.
Q. Spain was an advantage as a starting country as online in the era of voyage was also based on history. Does the origin of the era of voyage vary in difficulty depending on the starting country?
The start state is configured so that it can start the same unconditionally. For countries with a small number of ports, we plan to match this with sub-national bonus buffs. Of course, the preferred country will be different depending on the service country, so this will be adjusted while looking at the situation.
Q. Is there a scenario for Admiral who will be added later like Yi Sun-shin?
The same is true of Yi Sun-shin, and every admiral has a scenario. Playing the scenario is the basic concept of the game. There are also navigators and characters that can only be obtained by playing as a specific admiral. For example, Ryu Seong-ryong can only be obtained by playing as Yi Sun-shin. In this way, the character’s story play is forced to some extent.
Q. How did the history-based characters structure the story?
History-based characters may have a distortion problem, so it will be a form of unraveling a story that mixes the assumption of’what if’. For example, if there is a gap in the actual history book, I thought of a direction to fill that period with imagination.
Q. There are a lot of prepared discoveries. Are there any changes or characteristics unique to Origin related to adventure?
In this work, you can get supplies only through adventure and play smoothly through it. In other words, farming is possible just by looking for a discovery. For example, if you find a gold mine, it doesn’t end with a discovery, you can farm and sell the mineral through that gold mine. If you find a lot of discoveries, you can receive additional rewards in the rankings, so you can receive a variety of goods.
The composition of adventure content is as follows. First of all, if you interact mainly with things floating on the water or seashore while sailing, find discoveries, and raise related stats, you will be able to discover villages along the coast. Villages are the same concept as the entrance to land exploration, so if you find many villages, you can explore and discover more land in the future. In addition, it provides a variety of discovery methods, such as discovering Excalibur on the black market and obtaining unique discoveries through battles with ghost ships.
