PC.com brings you an exclusive interview with the creators of Summoners War, where we speak to Producer Min-young Jung and Graphic Designer Young-sil Lim on their experience and journey in developing the game.
PC.com: How long has it been since you started working as a Game Producer/Graphic Designer?
Have you always wanted to do something game-related since you were young?
Jung: It’s been about 13 years since I started developing games. I always enjoyed playing games since I was little but it wasn’t until I was in my early 30s that I decided to pursue a career in game development. Before that, I tried programming different things, such as websites, apps, and games. At one point, I thought about what I really want to do for living and I finally decided to choose a career in game development.
Lim: It’s been about 5 years since I started working as a game designer. The first time I played a game was when I was 7 years old, and since then I’ve been enjoy playing games. Although, I never thought I’d be someone making it because I thought that people who make games must be good at programming. I enjoyed drawing rather than programming, so it wasn’t until later that I realised that I could be a graphic designer and still work at a game company.
PC.com: When the Summoners War Team was first formed, how many team members did you have? Any differences compared to now? (Number of team members, development environment, developing process, etc.)
Lim: There are more than 40 members including Mr. Jung (Producer) now, but when we first started the project, there were only 8 people (1 Game Designer, 4 Graphic Designers, 2 Programmers, and a Producer). I remember getting a lot of help from other designers since I didn’t have a lot of experience back then.
Jung: She (Lim) has improved so much and she’s now an inspiration to other designers. During the prototype stage, we usually proceed with the development with only a small number of people. Once we lay out the basics of the game, we recruit more team members. Right now, the team has gotten much bigger that there’s a leader for each part. However, we put a lot of importance on communication and atmosphere of the team, so we always try to keep all of the team members included and encourage them to actively communicate with one another. Our team members are pretty close with each other regardless of which part they’re in.
PC.com: When was the toughest/happiest moments while developing Summoners War?
Jung: The happiest moment would be when the game became a hit, of course. I believe it was one of the most rewarding moments especially for the members who developed the game from the beginning. The hardest moment was when we got negative feedbacks on the game. We actually did get a lot of negative feedbacks while developing the game, too. I think we were frustrated when things didn’t go as we expected while we thought we were trying our best.
PC.com: Being a Game Producer and a Graphic Designer must require a lot of creativity. Where do you usually find your inspiration from? Also, how do you manage your stress?
Jung: I get inspired from all content, including movies, animations, TV shows, musicals, and so on. I really enjoy playing games, but I also learn a lot from watching other media content. They help me relieve my stress, too.
Lim: I try to think of the scenes from animations, books, movies, and games that I like. Even the ones I read or watched a long time ago sometimes help me get inspired. When I’m too stressed out, I play games, watch movies and animations. I often go on a trip to relieve my stress. When I see a great content, I think, “Oh, I really want to try making something like this!”, and that’s how I get inspired again.
PC.com: It’s been 2 years since Summoners War was first released, and the game reached over 60 million downloads worldwide. How do you feel about that? Did you have a feeling that the game would become a hit when you first started developing the game or when the game was first released
Lim: We never expected the game to become such a hit, and we’re really grateful for all the love and support the users have shown us. We used to joke around saying “Let’s aim for Global Top 10” when it wasn’t even 3 months into developing the game, and now we’re truly thankful for how it turned out. We all feel really proud when we hear people talking about Summoners War at a restaurant or see people playing the game on a subway. We’re trying our best to provide them with the best graphic quality to return the favour.
Jung: I did have some expectations about the game because I’m an RPG user and I thought the game was pretty fun. Yet, I never expected the game to become this big of a hit. It took a long time to get used to the fact that the game became a hit, and I still wonder how that happened even until now. The most rewarding thing to a game producer is to watch the players enjoy the game. We try not to forget about the fact that we got very lucky with Summoners War. We get a lot of energy from watching our fans enjoying the game, and we learn new things every day from their feedback. Once again, we’d like to thank our players for all the love and support!
PC.com What’s your favorite Monster in Summoners War and why?
Lim: My favorites are Inugami and Angelmon! Inugami is supposed to be a wolf, but it rather looks like a puppy with mane which makes it kind of cute. Angelmon is the only Monster that comes in different colors, and they look cute when you put them together!
Jung: I like the Light Inugami and Archangel the most. The Light Inugami is pretty popular among the users, and I believe that’s because the Monster appears in the game at the right timing. I can’t emphasise the importance of this Monster enough. This Monster had a huge impact on the game, in a positive way! For Archangel, one of our main characters, we have some behind stories on this Monster. All in all, I think it turned out to be a great Monster that symbolises our game.
PC.com: Summoners War will launch the Homunculus patch soon. I think Summoners War fans will be eager to know more about future Homunculus contents. Could you reveal some of the details
Jung: First, the September Major Update (Homunculus & Craft System) is only a beginning for the future update. Soon, other types of Homunculus will be added along with new Craft Features. Our next goal is the official release of the Live Arena Service, which is currently on the 2nd test service. We also have other plans but I think it’s too early to reveal them. We’re hearing a lot of opinions about the content becoming too difficult and complicated, so we’re trying our best to keep the game easy for the users to access.
PC.com: The name “Homunculus” is rather unique. Any special meaning behind the name “Homunculus”?
Lim: The magic letter effects surrounding the Homunculus were actually created by one of our graphic designers. When you combine the letters, they become an awesome sentence!
Jung: I was genuinely surprised to hear this. I never asked for any of that. The designers drew each letters based on Korean alphabets, and the sentence is from the poem which was also written by one of our team members. I was really moved by this because it shows how much each of our team members cares about the game.
PC.com: Could you show us some of your favorite sketches you’ve done since the beginning of Summoners War and explain to us how you came up with the characters?
Lim: For Pierret, I was sketching “Joker” in different versions, and this was one of the sketches that came up. It’s a female version of “Joker”, but I really liked it and we ended up creating a separate Monster for this sketch.
As for the Low Grade Monsters, I enjoyed coming up with various ideas on the animation.
Drunken Master: I like drawing characters with unique characteristics, and I had fun drawing drunken characters in various forms. Although, we ended up using a drunken grandpa!
Raid Hydra (Khi’zar Kha’jul): It was the first gigantic Monster that I worked on, so I still remember worrying about how the Monster would turn out.
Here are some illustrations I’ve worked on especially for the fans in Malaysia.
1. Elven Ranger
2. Homunculus (New Monster)
PC.com: Any last words for Summoners War fans out there?
Jung: We’d like to thank each and every one of you for all the love and support you’ve shown us! We want to let you know that we’re keeping our eyes and ears open for your feedbacks and videos! We’ll try our best to provide you with better gaming experiences so you can continue to enjoy our game!
PC.com would like to thank Min-young Jung and Young-sil Lim for setting time aside outside their busy schedule for this exclusive interview. We would like to wish the Summoners War team “All the best and continue to create more great contents for all Summoners War fans around the world.”
If you’re interested to try out Summoners War, it is free to download on both Google Play and Apple App Store. Mingle with 600,000+ of Summoners War fans here: https://www.facebook.com/SummonersWar
