Game Market 1983

“There's no better way. We have to pay them back the same way they did. ”

“The same way? ”

“The owner of a store outside of Yongsan that doesn't have a lot of floating population said that the area already has a good neck in Yongsan, which is occupied by several large businesses. ”

“Yes, it is. The other day, we tried to set up shop nearby, but the landscape was so heavy that we had to give up whether the owners were united or not. ”

I'm sure they will. If Raon's professional stores get in there, their unethical distribution network will collapse.

“By the way, that tunnel stall. In fact, it's not a good place to do business in some ways. ”

“Well... definitely not a good location. There's a street in the station...”

So you've made the entire affordable street market a specialty for selling games.

I emptied the glass in a heartbeat. I smiled at Kim.

“Then let's change the board. ”

“Yes?”

“On August 15th, the Raon 1st Anniversary launch will take place in Yongsan. ”

&

The next day.

I came to Mapo-gu, Seoul, but I couldn't find a place to stop, so I was circling the same area.

"Is there really no place we can stop the damn car? ’

So I got out of the car grumbling and barely parking around a few times.

As I learned from Representative Kim, Somnori was making a game at the home of Representative Lee Won-seung, without having a company office.

In 1992, the game development environment in Korea felt like seeing Japan 10 years ago.

A character designer and a programmer in a cramped backroom. And one of the main directors that coordinates these two.

Somnori, who created the story of Actonicia, was also one of the amateur game producers with similar numbers.

As I understand it, the story of Actonicia was 1994.

The game was made by 5-6 people who knew Lee Won Seung Won. The total development cost for the year was about KRW 3 million.

Usually in the case of indie game producers, after selling the game, they often acted as a side business rather than a business because it was a form of distributing revenue among their team members.

Some people blame the total development fee of KRW 3 million for nonsense, but there is no rent because the office is not paid for separately, and all work computers have brought in personal items and worked on them, so there is no facility.

Only use the minimum cost of food and expenses to craft the game and then distribute the proceeds sold among your team members.

This was the beginning of South Korea's development of indie games in the early '90s.

Ding-dong.

After a long time following the enemy's address on the note, you hear the voice of the man hanging from the intercom as you ring the doorbell of the house you found.

“Who are you?”

“Hello, I'm Kang Jun-hyuk, who I contacted yesterday. Are you Lee Won Seung Won from Somnori? ”

“Oh, yes. Wait a minute."

- Tick tock, tick.

A private house with a small courtyard, in the early '90s, faced by a large red brick house with a typical middle class household, a glass front door opens, revealing an awkward image of a man.

“Are you from Mantra? ”

“Yes, it is. ”

I smiled at the man who was staring at me in a tired tone.

“Your house is a bit messy, but you should come in. ”

“Now, if you'll excuse me. ”

As I walked into the house's workshop, the smell of a wily widow provoked my sense of smell, according to Lee Won Seung Won's suggestion. The cups on the table were all stacked with different types of containers, and the 1.5L petting bottle next to it was filled with butts and had a strange color.

In the bunk bed in the corner of the workshop where the light was not very good, I noticed that someone was taking a detour after finishing the work.

‘Hah... It's too clumsy to talk about work here. ’

After wandering around the workshop because there wasn't enough room to sit to talk, Lee Won Seung Won's representative was embarrassed and scratched his back head.

“Can we just talk at the dining room table? ”

“That's better. Haha...”

Soon after moving to the dining room table, Lee Won Seung Won picked up a juice bottle from the refrigerator, but there was no cup to put it in.

Seeing a pile of dishes that seemed to overflow in the sink, it was probably natural.

“I'm fine. ”

“I didn't think you'd be here in person, so I wasn't prepared. ”

“No, I'm in a rush to schedule a visit. I'm here to talk business anyway, so you don't have to worry about tea. ”

I once again introduced myself to Lee Won Seung Won, sitting across from the dining table.

“Hello, I'm Kang Jun-hyuk, who I contacted last night. I'm not actually from Mantra, but I'm from Pentagon Soft in Japan...”

“Then you must be the developer of the Dragon Emblem...!" ”

“Oh... yeah, that's right. ”

Lee Won Seung Won was furious with my answer, and he couldn't help but open his eyes.

“Somehow. I heard your name yesterday, but I really didn't know you were Kang Jun-hyuk.”

· · · · · ·. Was my name that famous in Korea? It felt awkward, so I scratched my cheek and opened my mouth.

“Thank you for noticing. So you don't have to explain me in detail. ”

“Of course. We've all played the game that Joon-Hyuk created. ”

“Thank you."

“By the way, what brings you to Somnori? ”

At that moment, I asked Lee Won Seung Won's question, 'I had a lot of fun with Actonicia as a child.' I almost replied.

Somnori's story was remembered as a masterpiece of the Korean gaming industry.

While escorting the stalk of Cainan, knight Lloyd, who was robbed by the enemy raid, wrote a story of taking his granddaughter Ilene with him on a journey to retrieve the staff.

The story stream was influenced by the JRPG at the time and had a simple story structure that led to the village buying new armor and repeating the level nogada.

Nevertheless, the story of Actonicia was very popular with its users, a surprising possibility of graphics and stories that were not found in the local games at the time. And it was thanks to the unique combat system that represented SRPG.

Although it didn't come to mind at first, Actonia began to increase in sales volume through word of mouth from PC users. However, after 80,000 copies, the sales started to decline dramatically.

At that time, the story of Actonicia was released at a time when illegal copying of the game was very high.

Of course, to prevent unauthorized copying, a total of three times appeared in the middle of the story, which resulted in a password character asking the users for a password, but the 'cracked file’ that made that effort a blunder led to a rapid decline in sales.

So the 1st Korea Gaming Promotion Agency. After 100,000 copies of the target game, he got down on his knees to illegal replication... but this small number of people brought 100,000 copies of hedge money to the domestic market won't be ignored.

It's just that he can't get far...

100,000 copies is 100 million won per soft incentive.

However, Im Won-seung Representative of Somnori was unaware of the sale option contract at the time, and made a big mistake in handing the finished game over to a company called Soft Ray for a cheap price.

As a result, all sales revenues in Actonicia went to Soft Ray, and Lee Won Won said that he really only had a small amount of money in his hand.

If we add a little bit to the story of Soft Ray, which embodied all of Actonicia's great masterpieces, they run a institute that nurtures industry professionals themselves called Game School, created games such as Poinsettia, the Invincible, but not so great, and subsequently changed their mission to ST Entertainment and produced a few more games, but closed the company doors leaving a monster called "Speaker Blue Bird."

With the exception of Actonicia's distribution, there was not a single success, and they were also buried in the ruins of illegal replication of the game and were forgotten for a moment.

I answered Lee Won Seung Won's question, "What brings you here?"

“I've played a demo version of Actonicia you sent to Mantra. ”

“Oh, have you done it yourself? ”

“Yes. I had a little bug, but it was definitely fun. ”

In my acclaim, Representative Lee Won opened his mouth, blushing his face.

“In fact, the battle system in Actonicia was inspired by the SRPG method of the Dragon Emblem. And the person who came up with the idea said so, and I don't know how to react to this. ”

“I heard the head of Mantra's Kim Han-seok is looking for investors. ”

“Ah… yes. Yeah, we're amateur game producers, but we're all just as passionate. But to unleash that passion...”

“You're going to need money. ”

He said, "Yeah, well, we're all out of work, and we're not even costing enough to live. So we created a prologue section and sent it out to a number of companies to attract investment. ”

“Did you get the answer? ”

“Oh, thank God I got a few calls. There are positive answers for Mantra, Soft Ray and Myrine Soft, famous for their legendary new swords. ”

“Soft Ray..."? ”

I said, "Yeah, it's a popular place for PC magazines these days. Do you know it? ”

“Oh, yeah... a little bit. ”

“But, Joon-Hyuk is the first person to come to the office like this. ”

“I'm also very interested in the story of Actonicia. ”

“Oh, thank you for saying that. But…”

“Hmm? Is there a problem? ”

“Well... actually, I made a deal with Soft Ray last week. ”

“Yes!? ”

“I'm in a bit of a hurry, actually...”

Lee Won Seung Won, who scratched his back head with an awkward smile, avoided the look of apology to me.

I looked at him with my fist wrapped around me for a moment and carefully opened my mouth.

“May I see your contract with Soft Ray for a moment? ”

“Yes?”

“I'd like to check on you for a moment. in case there are any improper contracts in Somnori. ”

“Wrongful... contract? ”

Surprised by the appearance of an improper contract, Lee Won Seung Won's representative tilted his head a moment later and brought over the contract documents from Soft Ray.

“I've checked a few times, but nothing's wrong. You will receive KRW 3 million in advance, and after the game, you will then be offered KRW 7 million in Soft Ray. ”

"Oh my, you've got a lot of money. I don't know how much Actonicia will sell..."

I swallowed an empty laugh into my heart and examined the terms of the contract I received from him.

‘As expected, there are no contracts for future incentives. ’

And I immediately passed it on to Lee Won Seung Won's representative. Then, Lee Won Seung Won replied with a big smile.

“It's not the right time for PC supplies in a typical home yet, but how much would I pay to sell it?

If you go out two or three thousand, it's going to be great. ”

This guy... He's totally underestimating his own Actonicia.

I answered his pranky reply with a serious look.

“What if they sell over 100,000? ”

“Yes…? ”

“A mere $100 million is an incentive. Will you give up?”

“Uh, uh, well...”

At this time, the amount of 100 million won was unimaginable, so Lee Won Seung Won suddenly started to sweat.

“Well, can we sell that much? ”

“I'll let you sell a million. So you can cancel the contract on Soft Ray and come with us. ”

“Yes? One million!! ”

The door slammed open inside the workshop with a thud, like the scream of Lee Won Seung Won's representative.

“W-what's going on!? Brother.”

The programmer who was in the middle of conception woke up to the shout of Lee Won Seung Won.

However, Lee Won Seung Won didn't care, but he was just looking at the contract in my hand and my face.

“Is that really possible? ”

“Yes, I can. I'll pay for the breach of contract as well. But there are conditions. ”

“Condition?”

“The story of Actonicia is not published for PC. Release only for Raon, the Pentagon's mobile device. ”

Then the programmer who just woke up said to Lee Won Seung Won.

“Sir!? What's that guy? What the hell is he telling you to do? ”

Then, Lee Won Seung Won opened his mouth while drying up his excited brother.

“You fool. Can't you be quiet? What are you doing in front of a guest? ”

“Sir, do I look like I'm going to stand here?" Your answer is making a mess right now. ”

“What is wrong with you? What's your problem?”

“Of course I'm upset!! If you were to develop the Achto for Raon, as he said...”

The programmer takes a deep breath and opens his mouth, almost broken.

“Shouldn't we be working from the beginning...”

Hey, don't freak out. I'll join you this time.