In mild of the current international launch, FreeMMOStation.com had the chance to talk with Jaejun Lee, Producer for The Strolling Lifeless Match 3 Tales. Learn on as we study concerning the inspiration for the sport, the work that went into it, and why the selection for match 3 gameplay, amongst different matters.

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FreeMMOStation: Are you able to introduce your self to our readers and clarify your position within the growth of The Strolling Lifeless Match 3 Tales?

Jaejun Lee: Hello, I’m Producer Jaejun Lee and I’m answerable for directing The Strolling Lifeless Match 3 Tales. I began my profession within the gaming business as a recreation designer in 2002 and since then have held positions corresponding to recreation design, chief of the design group, and producer. I joined Com2uS Group’s Novacore in 2017 and commenced the Strolling Lifeless venture after my enterprise journey to LA in January 2020, so it’s been about 4 years and 10 months.

FreeMMOStation: How did you provide you with the thought of blending Match 3 gameplay with The Strolling Lifeless? What was it that made it sound like an interesting mix to you?

Jaejun Lee: I’ve labored on a number of tasks for gamifying IPs into video games. I labored on gamifying SpongeBob, a globally identified IP, and the webtoon Hardcore Leveling Warrior. All through this course of, I contemplated the right way to symbolize the sport both by specializing in the universe of the IP or by emphasizing recreation mechanics. Based mostly on my expertise, I’ve come to the conclusion that an effective way to gamify an IP is to start out by creating fascinating recreation mechanics after which incorporating the IP’s universe appropriately. I consider that designing with a concentrate on recreation mechanics is the appropriate strategy. After all, throughout growth, I made an effort to replicate the IP’s universe when figuring out character abilities and attributes, and when creating illustrations. I communicated with the unique creators about this.

Our dev group wished this recreation to be each well-liked and complicated. At the start, to attraction to a wider viewers, we opted for match 3 gameplay. Cell video games have turn into a widespread pastime for anybody with a smartphone. Nevertheless, there are nonetheless fewer avid gamers in comparison with the quantity of people that get pleasure from different media like TV reveals, motion pictures, and animations. The most important purpose non-gamers usually give is that they do not know the right way to play video games. You may not totally grasp this should you’re studying this, however should you ask your non-gamer mates, you may perceive. Nevertheless, in South Korea, we’ve got a recreation that acquired individuals of all ages and genders into cellular gaming – Anipang. Match 3 puzzles have easy and intuitive guidelines, making it straightforward for anybody to study and revel in. Once I checked out screenshots of The Strolling Lifeless Match 3 Tales, I hoped that the match 3 puzzle system would make it straightforward for anybody to start out and revel in.

However I discussed earlier than that I wished the sport to be well-liked. Effectively, whenever you truly play it, you may discover it is an intricate RPG with strategic battles. We should not sacrifice the depth and strategic enjoyable of RPGs only for reputation. Most RPGs carry out calculations throughout fight conditions. They decide targets primarily based on inner guidelines, calculate possibilities, and show the outcomes via assault and ability animations. The Strolling Lifeless Match 3 Tales merely visualizes the method of selecting a goal and fascinating in fight with the enemy utilizing match 3 puzzles. As you get pleasure from taking part in these puzzles, you may naturally begin interested by the basic relationships primarily based on character attributes, the order of ability combos to deal extra injury to the enemy, and which characters to contain in battle. Our dev group wished to create a recreation that is straightforward to study and revel in for a very long time, and that is why we selected the match 3 puzzle system.

FreeMMOStation: Which mechanics in your opinion need to be highlighted within the Match 3 half? What’s it that you just really feel prefer it offers the sport a novel hook?

Jaejun Lee: A number of video games that use the match 3 mechanic have discovered long-term success available in the market. You may assume that match 3 is an overused and easy puzzle. However on the similar time, it’s very intuitive and never too exhausting. The principles are clear and it’s straightforward sufficient to play casually, however you even have transfer limits, requiring you to have interaction with the enemy inside a sure variety of turns. This makes match 3 significantly interesting, as it might grow to be an fascinating puzzle. Isn’t it fascinating, a easy however complete puzzle? You’ll be able to create a really strategically intriguing RPG with acquainted guidelines and a average stage of complexity by linking a personality primarily based on RPG guidelines to a puzzle block and hitting the enemy primarily based on the placement of the block within the puzzle that matches 3.

FreeMMOStation: What number of characters did you carry to the sport from the comics, and what number of characters are unique creations for the sport?

Jaejun Lee: Now we have most of your favourite characters, together with Rick, Lori, Carl, Negan, Glenn, Michonne, Andrea, Tyreese, and extra. However Daryl Dixon, the preferred character from the collection, doesn’t characteristic in our recreation because it’s primarily based on the comics.

We don’t have many unique characters in the mean time. You’ll meet an unique character known as Morris within the early recreation, and some extra as you progress via the sport. I don’t need to give any spoilers! *laughs*

FreeMMOStation: When it comes to the development gameplay, what do you assume makes it completely different from different video games of the style, together with some that characteristic zombies, corresponding to State of Survival?

Jaejun Lee: I personally need this recreation to turn into a masterpiece. We would like gamers to have the ability to immerse themselves on the earth of The Strolling Lifeless franchise inside the puzzle RPG style. Our dev group traveled to the USA to report the voiceover with voice actors to ship genuine dialogue for your complete season one. We additionally composed the entire music, utilizing actual violinists and guitarists to emulate an analog expertise, with out computer-generated sounds. We created a lot of storytelling illustrations, so should you’re a fan of the unique comics, it is possible for you to to relive the story as you play the sport, and should you’re new to the collection, the story itself can be a gripping expertise.

Apart from the paintings talked about earlier than, we eliminated most inconveniences and clunkiness. We made varied quality-of-life enhancements so character development is extra user-friendly in comparison with older puzzle RPG video games and eliminated conditions the place enemies can’t be focused by matching puzzles. Fight and development steadiness was additionally designed to be extra user-friendly. You’ll be able to solely discover this out by taking part in, so please give it a strive.

FreeMMOStation: How trustworthy is the sport to the comics talking of lore? Did you comply with a sure timeframe, and did you add something unique to the tales?

Jaejun Lee: It’s most likely simpler to elucidate with numbers. I feel it embodies 110% of the unique comics. What I imply is that this recreation follows the precise storyline of the comics. It’s not straightforward to inform a narrative in a cellular recreation. That’s why we’ve offered the unique story as visible paintings, in order that gamers who’re accustomed to the story can relive the moments. The event and timeline of characters and the story within the recreation are practically an identical, however you’ll discover some new episodes in between, such because the introduction of a brand new character. It’s a recreation the place you’ll be able to benefit from the unique story in addition to new occasions.

We wish to thank Com2uS USA and Skybound for reviewing the sport’s content material and offering suggestions on how nicely it matches the unique comics. The Strolling Lifeless comics are revealed in varied variations of books, and there’s a mixed set of 4 books. Based mostly on this set, the opening spec covers the story of the primary e-book. The dev group has ready 2 books price of the story thus far. The story is so huge that we are able to proceed to service the sport primarily based on the unique story. In a number of years, we’ll have to start out introducing the backstory of the characters. Michonne’s and Negan’s tales earlier than the apocalypse are fairly fascinating.

FreeMMOStation: Are you contemplating crossovers with different franchises, and even The Strolling Lifeless tv present for the foreseeable future?

Jaejun Lee: The Strolling Lifeless franchise expands its universe by constructing on the universe of its unique characters. It’s an fascinating transmedia technique that pushes the boundaries of a accomplished comedian.

Though our recreation is new to the market, we’ve got a variety of content material ready over the previous 4 years and 10 months. We don’t have plans for any crossovers with different franchises, however bringing characters from the TV present to our recreation is an fascinating concept. Particularly since characters are portrayed in another way on TV and in our recreation. For instance, Rick is portrayed as having a foot damage as we comply with the comics universe. It’ll be fascinating to have each of those characters in a single recreation. I additionally need to add Daryl Dixon to the sport.

A beauty of video games is you can have conflicting universes or characters who can not exist on the similar time.

FreeMMOStation: Anything you wish to say to our readers?

Jaejun Lee: There are such a lot of video games on the market and a variety of them are performed yearly. We would like The Strolling Lifeless Match 3 Tales to be a recreation that folks can keep in mind. Our dev group and the Com2uS ops group worth your suggestions. So please give it a attempt to tell us what you concentrate on the sport. Thanks.