According to White Paper on Korean Games 2018 by the Korea Creative Content Agency, Korea’s domestic game market is expected to grow steadily; in 2017 Korean game market reached KRW 13.1 trillion, and it was expected to reach an estimated KWR 13.9 trillion in 2018. In the case of the global game market, it tallied at $162.79 billion which had a 12% increase compared to a year ago.
Behind the rapid development of the Korea domestic game market and the global game market, there are efforts of countless developers and artists. In order to make a “fun and entertaining” game, the best teamwork between all parts of game development — game planning, coding, sound design, graphic design, and publishing — is significant. Thus, in the game scene, working as an ‘individual developer’ who deals with all of those parts alone, is considered as a huge challenge.
In July 2019, a new developer, Parker Park, has joined FLETA. As an individual indie game developer, he has developed more than 20 games since 1998.
In the Korean game scene, Park has been known as an influential indie game developer who presents pretty much fun and unique games with high quality all by himself.
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- Tell me about yourself.
I’m Parker Park, a game developer. I have started game developments since 1998 when I heard that a winner of game development competition can receive admission from Sungkyunkwan University, one of the top universities in Korea. It was rather impure motivation, but since then, I have developed indie games for about two decades.
[Walpurgis Night, the game Park first created when he was a high school student]
2. You have developed games for a long time. Which games have you developed so far?
The games published in Korea include Horus Cannon, Don Quixote Online, Blue Ocean Messenger, Observer Online, Kitten Taxi and Nekopocha. Besides them, there are about 20 games unpublished.
3. Do you have the most attached game among them?
I would say Horus Cannon is the one. As there were so many episodes and difficulties while developing the game, I feel a special affection for it.
[Promotion material of Horus Cannon]
It was the game that taught me the fun of real-time communication with game users. There is a bitter-sweet episode about the game; I once found the users blaming me in the online public chat room. Then, I said to them, ‘Hello, I’m the developer of the game.’ Different from my expectation, they rather welcomed me and told me what they felt while playing the game and what would make the game better if modified. That was the first time I found communicating with users interesting.
4. What made you have an interest in blockchain technology?
The interest in blockchain technology has been with me since the very beginning. I once had a great opportunity at the time, but unfortunately, I focused more on other things. I can’t imagine what it would look like if I have chosen the opportunity at that time. [laughter]
[Images of Observer Online]
Watch Observer Online gameplay
5. Is it possible to build existing games on a blockchain? I would like to know how it will be implemented if possible.
From my point of view, it is not that much hard. However, we should consider how to utilise cryptocurrency, an inevitable part of a blockchain, in the game effectively and efficiently. I think this is the difficult part of planning blockchain games.
Personally, I don’t think it is necessary to adopt blockchain to every single part of the game. That means every transaction of the game does not have to be recorded on the blockchain. If we apply blockchain technology as one element to where it can improve the game, we may realistically utilize the technology and complement its limitations.
[Images of Don Quixote Online]
Watch Don Quixote Online gameplay
6. Is there any reason you chose FLETA out of many blockchain projects?
As I get to know FLETA, what attracted me was its fast speed and unlimited scalability. As a game developer, I have these guts about what kinds of features are necessary for better. However, FLETA’s technology is not the only reason that I joined FLETA.
Before I decided to join FLETA, I had in-depth meetings with FLETA executives more than three times. Through these meetings, I can feel the team’s strong commitment to developing fun and high-quality blockchain games, which helped me make a decision. My goal is to develop a high-quality blockchain game, and FLETA has decided to build its first game-related use case by developing its own blockchain game. We had the same goal from the beginning.
[Images of Nekopocha]
7. What is your role in FLETA as the CTO?
I will lead all game development using the FLETA blockchain and be a troubleshooter dealing with every issue related to game development. Also, I would like to connecting dots between FLETA and acclaimed game development teams outside. Because I am known as a kind of cool and praised game developer in this field. [laughter]
8. What do you think about the future of the blockchain game industry?
Even though blockchain technology can solve some of the current problems, personally, I do not think blockchain technology is a new technology that can solve every problem.
Game and blockchain are not that different. For example, currency A, which is an in-game currency that can be used only in the game L, can be encashed since it creates value in the game, though it is not related to blockchain. Unlike in-game currency, place of issue, amount of issue, and distribution of cryptocurrency are revealed and verified on blockchain. Likewise, with its distinctive features, blockchain will be recognized all by itself and I expect the game will be the first field that actively utilizes blockchain technology.
Of course, in the current situation, there is an absolute lack of contents. However, let’s take a look at the cases of online and mobile game industries. They also were not attractive at the early stages, but after one successful game, they have grown remarkably and ended up forming a big market as it is today. Blockchain game industry is similar to the early stages of online and mobile game markets. Not many people pay attention to it due to its low quality, but a single successful blockchain game can be a game-changer.
It should be our team that creates ‘the one’, right? [laughter]
9. Lastly, please tell us your goals or ambitions.
As I mentioned above, I will primarily focus on game development until blockchain games as a whole gain recognition from users and the market. Personally, I have another goal, but I will consider it after I complete developing a ‘fun and entertaining’ blockchain game. [laughter]
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FLETA is trying hard to lead the commercialization of blockchain technology and we believe the key is in the game industry. With Parker Park, FLETA can accelerate not only the games we have already planned but also developing new blockchain games. We look forward to your supports for the first FLETA-based games that Parker and the team make together.
TEAM FLETA
