Ham’s unfiltered talk on the path from ArcheAge to Chronicles and the post-MMORPG

The official ArcheAge Chronicles channel has posted an unfiltered talk by executive producer Ham Yong-jun about the path from ArcheAge to Chronicles. He discusses the problems of hardcore MMORPGs, the failure of X4, the importance of a pervasive open world, the idea of a post-MMORPG, and how Early Access will be used to verify the mix of MMO, action and adventure. He also mentions planned monthly updates and faster development speed once in Early Access.

▶ Watch the video with translated audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r20261102w

Introduction

Hello, I'm Ham, the producer in charge of development. I wanted to set up a relaxed space to talk about the concerns we had while making ArcheAge Chronicles and the things I think you might be curious about, so I've stepped in front of the camera.

Q1 What kind of game is ArcheAge Chronicles?

Some players have said that it's difficult to define ArcheAge Chronicles within existing genres. What led you to create a game that takes such a different approach?

Playing ArcheAge for so long, I felt that MMORPGs were becoming too core. It was an RvR game, but faction imbalance was always the topic of the day. So we started a new project called X4, more focused on cooperation, an MMORPG you could comfortably play solo, but we flopped completely. What we tried again after that is ArcheAge Chronicles.

I think it can feel strange when you start playing. We certainly felt that way. It's clearly an MMORPG, with other players coming and going through the same world, yet the action combat and the single-player adventure are very prominent; and if you look at it the other way, as an action game, it turns out to be mixed with an MMORPG where people come and go. I understand the confusion that creates. There may be parts we haven't managed to polish enough, but the ambiguity of the game's very position is something we felt at the start, so we understand it well.

Q2 What was Project X4?

You mentioned X4 earlier. What were you trying to achieve with that project, and what did you learn from the challenges you faced along the way?

If I get into the details I'll never finish. Back then there was a book by Kojin Karatani, “The Structure of World History”. From it I started asking how to approach the idea of exchange in an MMORPG: instead of competing so fiercely and exhaustingly, a world where everyone has their own shortcomings and we make up for them together, living happily.

It was too radical. People said, “what is this?”, and we quietly shelved it.

Q3 How did your experiences with ArcheAge and X4 shape ArcheAge Chronicles?

How did the limitations you encountered and the lessons you learned from those two projects influence the direction of the game you're making today?

With ArcheAge we believed, and in practice it was true, that the game only starts being fun at max level. At first we built a huge amount, and the world was enormous, but since the goal ended up being to reach max level as quickly as possible for the large-scale content, the whole growth process and early gameplay were skipped or lost their meaning. You can do that kind of game well, of course, but even if it's fun the first time, if you repeat it over and over by grinding, even well-made content gets consumed quickly. That left me wanting more.

With X4, although the combat was hard to build, I understood that building a persistent, wide MMO world is a fundamental and very important value. At the time it felt more instanced, but no: you first have to lay down the entire open world. It's very hard to explain convincingly, even now. It's a feeling of “this is real, this is fake” that you can actually sense while playing. With ArcheAge Chronicles there's something of “this one is real”. People who at first thought it wasn't an MMORPG notice, playing this demo, that “yes, it's real”: the concept of a real world is the more important value, and that's where ArcheAge Chronicles started.

It can be confusing that it mixes two kinds of experience, but we deliberately put very simple, intuitive elements up front. Maybe it isn't exactly “mass market”, but we wanted you to understand the game intuitively and for playing together not to feel like a burden, with everything blending naturally into a single experience. We built Chronicles with the idea of being only 20 or 30% different.

Q4 What values were most important to you when making ArcheAge Chronicles?

What was the most important aspect for you when combining your experiences with MMORPGs and single-player games?

Some people play a little every day, and others, if they have time or take a holiday, play for a whole week. Everyone has their own time and play pattern, but whichever it is, I imagined you being able to hop in without pressure whenever it suits you, play comfortably and, if you meet other players, enjoy it even more.

You create your character, keep playing, and your 500 treasure chests are yours. That's a bit different from the MMORPG experience, but I considered this kind of middle ground very important; you'll see it in many details of the game. I thought that's the only way to play solo pleasantly and enjoyably, and the only way playing together is fun afterwards. It used to be said, “it isn't fun alone, but bear with it and it'll be fun together.” I thought that might be so, but, truly, having tried it, I don't think it is.

I've levelled around 200 characters to max level in ArcheAge myself. And whenever there's a level jump, a booster, or being able to reach max straight away, everybody loves it. From the point of view of someone who makes and runs the game, that's a bit odd. Since this position is so peculiar, I figured that if the gameplay is fun at its core, there would be quite a few people able to accept it. Even if the genre is strange, or doesn't fit what you expected, or feels unfamiliar: if you pick it up, play intuitively and think “hitting things is fun, the action is fun”, there's a basis that gets accepted, and the important thing was to get in through there.

Q5 Why did you choose to take a new approach with the ArcheAge IP?

Despite the expectations of longtime ArcheAge fans and the possibility of pushback, what made you decide to move away from the traditional MMORPG structure?

I wouldn't dare say it that loudly, but I do think a post-MMORPG has to appear: the next-generation MMORPG. Better quality, flashier visuals, or being able to feel the nostalgia of the original again… I think we can stop doing that now. If the next MMORPG is coming, shouldn't it be like this? I thought someone had to keep making proposals in this direction.

Besides, MMORPGs have declined a lot compared with their heyday. The old days were good, but when you try them now you can't. As a memory or a topic of conversation over drinks it's fine, but when you actually sit down to play…

Q6 Why did you choose Early Access instead of a full release?

Given that ArcheAge Chronicles takes a new approach, I imagine you'd want players to experience it in its most complete form. What led you to decide to release it in Early Access at this stage?

In previous developments we ran a very long CBT. Now we're making a buy-to-play package game, so in practice it isn't easy to keep a CBT open that long. But Early Access is a common system in the package-game world, so we can run a CBT-like test over a long period.

As for quality, I think it's more than good enough, and we pushed as hard as we could until the last moment to raise it. The volume is a bit smaller than I'd imagined, but it still has an enormous playtime: since it's adventure content, even replaying it now I go past 50 hours. So the playtime is more than enough.

The thing is, we've combined an MMO, an action game and an adventure game into a single experience, and we wanted that proposal validated as soon as possible. That's why we went into Early Access. The direction is right, but the details we still need to fill in require us to keep developing with your feedback, so we can finish the game in the form we want and that you'll like too.

Q7 Are preparations for the Early Access launch going smoothly?

It's been only a few months since the decision to self-publish, and you're already approaching launch. How are things coming along behind the scenes?

Much better than expected. We actually lacked quite a few things besides the game itself: as a development organization, we had to set up some things in a hurry in terms of staff and having to handle publishing and operations ourselves. But almost all the technical problems have been solved and approved, the rest is in progress, and service preparation is going as planned.

It's true that I regret a little not having been able to do larger-scale advertising and promotion. But that's something you do: you play, come away thinking “this is fun”, and tell the people around you so you can play together. We need your help a lot. We boldly took on the challenge of a next-generation MMORPG, a post-MMORPG, and we ask for your support and encouragement so we can close this out well up to the official launch, in this direction. It would help us a great deal if you gave us a hand.

Q8 What are your plans for updates after the Early Access launch?

What kind of new content and major features can players look forward to, and how frequently do you expect to release updates?

Depending on how critical it is, we can patch even weekly, or daily. As for content updates, things like the gender lock or the third weapon we think we can release roughly every month. We do have a roadmap to some extent, but since you haven't started Early Access or played yet, we think it will be more effective to discuss the roadmap together after you've tried it, so we've pushed that moment back a little.

Once we're in Early Access our development speed will be even higher than it is now. We'll update at a speed and cadence second to no other game, with the typical pace of Korean games, so don't worry: you can look forward to it.

Q9 Many players have been requesting localization into more languages. What are your plans?

Players from different regions have been asking for additional language support. Could you tell us about the current localization status and your plans going forward?

You've told us a lot about localization. At first we planned an English dub, and we actually did quite a lot: we spent a lot of money and hired well-known foreign voice actors. But suddenly that work could no longer be used, and we ended up with the Korean dub.

Seeing now that people are playing from so many countries, as an urgent measure, as soon as we verify it we want to put in machine or AI translation first, and our goal is for most languages to be formally translated, with good quality, by the official launch. I know it may be inconvenient for now, but we're preparing to be able to support you along those lines. Please wait a little, and if you have opinions, tell us and we'll find a way.

Q10 Is there anything you'd like to say to players before Early Access?

As we approach the Early Access launch, is there a final message you'd like to share with the community?

I lived through the whole MMORPG renaissance, and that's where I built my MMORPG development career. What I want most is for the MMORPG to become a popular genre again and to boom once more. There are many kinds of new MMORPGs, post-MMORPGs, next-generation MMORPGs, and ArcheAge Chronicles is one of those various attempts; I hope it becomes a game players accept.

Thank you for your support, for playing a lot and for helping us. Let's revive the MMORPG together. See you in the world. Thank you.