Crimson Desert Developer Q&A: Moving Forward

At a media briefing session in Korea for Crimson Desert, co-producers HwanKyoung Jung and SeongWoo Lee, as well as lead combat designer, Hyoseok Chae, were on hand to answer questions regarding the title. Read on to see what’s in store for you in this grand new world…

The gameplay trailer has been released at The Game Awards. What was it like?

SeongWoo Lee: I was flattered and embarrassed. It was overwhelming when the results of our hard work were finally revealed to everyone. I was proud when the Crimson Desert logo appeared in Korean at the end.

HwanKyoung Jung: I’m really happy to show everyone the gameplay scenes we’ve developed so far through TGA since we revealed Crimson Desert for the first time at G-Star 2019. If there is an opportunity, I would like to reveal additional information, our plans, and videos in the near future.

Hyoseok Chae: Everyone was thrilled and excited whenever we watched the trailer and I’m proud to see that people are even more excited after the TGA release. There were more scenes that we prepared, and although we regret that only some of them were included in the trailer, I believe that the trailer gave our fans much to anticipate, be excited about, and enjoy.

Last year, you introduced Crimson Desert as an MMORPG. Is there a reason for changing the genre to open world action-adventure?

HwanKyoung Jung: We thought a lot about the genre. When we were considering the things we wanted to show through Crimson Desert, we wanted to show that the game offered something beyond the expected norms of an MMORPG. We wanted to give players the option to play with people they want in a multiplayer environment, while delivering narratives and scenarios as well as expressing desired actions.

You will be able to enjoy the engaging narrative in an open-world and optionally participate in content with other players where you can engage as a community.

Where did you focus most when developing Crimson Desert?

HwanKyoung Jung: We didn’t want to miss anything.  Our goal is to fill the world of Crimson Desert with various content such as adventure, exploration, combat, and narrative.

Crimson Desert is a new IP after Black Desert. What are the goals of the game?

HwanKyoung Jung: I hope that the favorable comments about the continuation of the “Desert” title continue. Also, it would be great if Crimson Desert became a game that is recognized globally and attracts many players across the globe.

Founder Daeil Kim is participating as Executive Producer. What are his roles in Crimson Desert?

HwanKyoung Jung: Daeil has been in charge of directing the game from its initial planning until now. He has focused a lot on technical areas such as the game engine and 3D visuals.  He has also been involved in the planning and development of the game.

SeongWoo Lee: In the case of this gameplay trailer, Daeil participated in the editing process himself so that he could include the scenes he wanted to reveal.

Hyoseok Chae: Daeil is also involved in sounds. He is very detail-oriented and likes to incorporate sounds that evoke emotions. The same applies to the in-game action scenes. He deeply cares about the level of hitting and motions.

In the battle scenes, movements such as wrestling and Taekwondo were seen.

Hyoseok Chae: A lot of people must have played wrestling games in arcades. Such games gave us a lot of ideas and we also did plenty of research. You can use weapons in Crimson Desert and enjoy tag-and-play battles. With the aim of fighting with mercenaries, we could develop the necessary features accordingly.

The Taekwondo kicks were motion-captured by a student of an actual Taekwondo national athlete and wrestling moves were taken from an actual wrestler. Based on this, players will find mercenaries using various action skills that include fighting with their bare hands.

SeongWoo Lee: Wrestling and Taekwondo are features that are unique to Crimson Desert as they usually don’t exist in other games.

How do single player and multiplayer work?

SeongWoo Lee: Macduff’s journey itself is single player. Of course, there are parts where you can get help from other players, but the bulk of this is single-player. After that, if you switch to multiplayer, you can play the part that comes after Macduff’s journey. However, you can also switch between single and multiplayer play at any moment during the game without having to clear the single player storyline. In multiplayer mode, you can contact others while making your own story and in multiplayer mode, you can bump into others whenever you want.

Levels, items, and skills will be shared between single-player and multiplayer play.

Is there any change in the direction of the mercenary development?

HwanKyoung Jung: As seen in the trailer, the initial frame of playing in units of mercenaries with the protagonist and those around him has not changed significantly. What we haven‘t decided yet for sure is how far users can play as a mercenary. As mentioned earlier, Crimson Desert is being developed in a different form from typical MMORPGs.

There seems to be puzzles and Runes involved in the game.

SeongWoo Lee: Runes symbolize ancient writings and ancient legends. Through content related to ancient legends, you will get legendary items which are quite important in the game. You will have to travel around the world and go on multiple adventures, and you will be asked to solve different mysteries to gain ancient knowledge. As you can see in the trailer, you can also obtain certain items and use electricity as part of your skills.

HwanKyoung Jung: I don’t think hunting and fighting are the only things that players can do in an open-world setting. We are preparing content so that players can enjoy various content in addition to the battles, exploration, and stories found in the game.

Can you explain the part in the trailer where the character moved to another space by going through the pillars?

SeongWoo Lee: It is one of the contents of Crimson Desert called “Time Dungeon.” By entering a new realm of time, you can unravel an ancient story. By solving this riddle, you can get new abilities and items.

HwanKyoung Jung: In addition, similar to the story of the ancients in Black Desert, the Time Dungeon brings the unique myths and religions within Crimson Desert together.

Will Crimson Desert support next-generation devices when it comes to consoles? And is it going to be available in the current devices as well?

HwanKyoung Jung: We are preparing to support next-generation console devices. Our goal is to create a game that allows as many users as possible to play on a variety of platforms.

Crimson Desert is developed using Pearl Abyss’ next-generation proprietary engine. How is the new engine applied to game and what are the advantages of using this engine?

HwanKyoung Jung: The advantage of using our game engine is that we can get feedback quickly. If we request our desired functions, expressions, and directions, we can get feedback immediately while these requests are applied to the game.

We are worried about the frame rate issue seen in the trailer.

HwanKyoung Jung: We are not concerned internally about the frame drop. We have accumulated an extensive know-how of our proprietary engine over a long period of time. In the end, we are confident that we will be able to sufficiently deal with the issue through optimization before the game releases.

SeongWoo Lee: We have shown the scenes as they are. We want you to think that this is a kind of our confidence.

Will the quality from the trailer be maintained after the game is released?

HwanKyoung Jung: Pearl Abyss’ games have hardly ever differed in quality between the trailer and the actual play.

SeongWoo Lee: Players can expect that the quality will be even higher after Crimson Desert is optimized.

There is only one year left until the release. Is there is any part you want to focus until the release?

HwanKyoung Jung: As I mentioned before, the goal is to fill the world with diverse content for the rest of the time. By doing so, players will feel that there is an adventure and excitement waiting for them wherever they go. We will fill the world with interesting content organically.

Hyoseok Chae: There was feedback about the trailer that said it was dizzying. We are trying to make improvements on this part of the game. We also plan to provide options to adjust screen effects like Black Desert. At Pearl Abyss, there is a philosophy of creating actions and the level of hitting and we are constantly improving them in a way that will satisfy as many users as possible. For example, we are paying attention to making in-game action more realistic. For example, we try to bring out the pain felt by characters when they get hit.

SeongWoo Lee: Games are about ‘entertainment.’ Our goal is to find elements that will provide entertaining content for our users.

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