Whenever he found a spare moment, Taeyeon researched ways to raise the efficiency of every development task.
On the way back after finishing a lecture for students, Taeyeon came up with another good idea.
“Come to think of it, don’t most recent 3-D animations create all the character and map assets first and then shoot?”
Of course, at the layout-shooting stage, any portions outside the selected camera cuts are left merely roughed in, but in any case, everything is designed before production goes forward.
‘Since this is a collaboration and we’re splitting the profits, there’s no problem using their assets once we get them.’
Plenty of original assets would be added to the game, yet even those were to be jointly owned with Disney.
That had been the contract from the start.
“Let’s request it right away.”
During the U.S. trip, Taeyeon had received business cards listing the private contacts of every affiliate executive and working-level staffer who attended the meetings, including CEO Ellen.
Hurrying back to his desk, Taeyeon enlisted Project D’s art director Lee Yeongae and tried calling the animation-studio manager.
A few days later they got a positive reply, and Taeyeon and Lee Yeongae cheered.
Character 3-D models, animation, maps, special effects, and more.
Disney was famous for almost never sharing assets they had produced with outside companies, but this job was a true co-production between the two firms.
“So the art team can start hiring and get to work now, right? The artwork’s been approved.”
“Let’s do that.”
An art-staff recruitment notice went up.
And at that time a news article broke.
It reported that the New World consortium had purchased the Gwacheon Superland and Seoul Grand Park sites and would turn them into a new-type theme park.
The article also revealed that Nexple was part of the consortium, that Nexple Entertainment headed by Yoo Taeyeon was running various collaborations, and that Project D was one of them.
It became a huge issue.
—So that D was that D? 0_0;;;
—Disneyland? At last we’re getting one in Korea! ㅠㅠ
—The art-team posting just went up; I applied right away… If I fail again, I’ll beat the ground and wail. Please let me pass…
“Korea Disneyland” dominated the real-time search rankings on every portal site, and articles with fresh details were updated hour by hour.
Game magazines, bloggers, YouTubers—everyone who handled industry news in real time—focused their coverage on the story.
[Project D: The Veil Finally Lifted!]
[Disney × Nexple Joint Project!]
[Following Pantheon and Monster Eater: Console VR RPG Project D, Exposed!]
Nexple was soon swamped with inquiries.
No developer had ever drawn so much attention in so short a time. Now every team Taeyeon led was in the spotlight.
Whenever Taeyeon’s developers gathered, they whispered about the changes they were feeling.
“People I used to work with keep asking if there are any openings in our studio and begging me to recommend them.”
“Inside the studio nothing’s changed, but outside it’s crazy. A game journalist I know keeps pleading for a single interview—it’s killing me.”
Taeyeon and Nexple headquarters were giving as many interviews as they could, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy the media or the countless others interested in the issue.
After all, this wasn’t limited to game development; it was tied to the tourism project the government and the New World Group were staking everything on.
Reporters had learned that Taeyeon had visited Disney headquarters with Chairman Yoo Jin-seong for several meetings and had then met with the consortium firms back in Korea.
What was being discussed?
What exactly was Nexple Entertainment?
How deeply was Taeyeon involved in the theme-park venture?
The press demanded key information that could not yet be revealed.
Taeyeon fully recognized the importance of the information he held, so even while giving interviews he spoke as sparingly as possible.
The moment would come when everything could be disclosed, but this was not the time to blow it open.
The instant he acted as though he were the main player in this giant project and lost his sense of proportion would be the instant his career as a developer ended.
Thinking so, Taeyeon kept himself under strict control, and media interest in him quickly subsided.
After every Project D art-team slot was filled and all the postings came down, industry attention faded as well.
At last Taeyeon could focus solely on development work.
And in August, the first closed-beta test for Monster Eater began.
Over four hundred thousand people applied for Monster Eater’s first CBT, and only ten thousand, selected by lottery, got to play the Korean build ahead of everyone else.
10 a.m. on August 1.
The moment the servers opened, thousands of users poured in.
Dozens of elite GMs who had completed an intense schedule of training for this day began live operations.
Members of the design, art, and programming teams logged in too, playing alongside users to feel out the atmosphere.
Today Taeyeon set every other duty aside and focused only on Monster Eater’s service.
They had tested rigorously, and the global version had been running for years before the Korean launch, but small bug reports still came in frequently.
Even so, no issues had surfaced big enough to force a patch or maintenance.
At 10 p.m. the first test session ended.
After the servers went down, Taeyeon personally organized the reported issues, forwarding those that needed cooperation to Takizawa Satoshi by e-mail and dividing up the ones that could be handled in-house among the teams.
“It was–” The hour was already late, yet every employee stayed, immersed in wrap-up tasks. To get the service up again by 10 a.m. next morning, there was no other choice.
Nexple Plus CEO Kim Myeong-uk approached with a bright face.
“I’d say the first-day test counts as a success, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes. There were some minor problems, but nothing that really hampered play, and there was no downtime—so it went great.”
“I’m personally checking reactions on the homepage and community sites, and most of the CBT testers seem satisfied.”
Reactions were good, but it was too early to relax.
No matter how tidy the CBT, if revenue was weak at launch, it would mean nothing.
Providing flawless service was important, but it was just as vital to judge how well the game would appeal to Korean users and build a marketing plan.
That was CEO Kim Myeong-uk’s job. In business and marketing, he was several steps above Taeyeon, yet he didn’t know which parts of the game to push, or how, to the public.
That had to be hashed out with Taeyeon, the PM.
Midnight.
Even after all staff had gone home, Taeyeon and CEO Kim kept meeting without a break.
As proof of Monster Eater’s huge popularity, incidents and accidents never stopped, even now.
Taeyeon was well aware of the problem and was doing his best to keep any static from arising in the Korean service.
Producer Takizawa Satoshi sometimes referred to Taeyeon in media interviews as the director or producer—a sign of his boundless trust.
That was because Taeyeon was fulfilling the director role, imposed as a localization condition, with excellence.
The translation quality of the Korean version was so high the Crying Soft localization team was impressed.
All the issues that had surfaced when launching in other countries were compiled into a separate list, and thorough preparations were made so none of them would recur in Korea.
Recently the global version had been plagued by hacks that moved characters illegally, but after discussing with internal devs, Taeyeon proposed countermeasures that helped solve the problem cleanly.
That effort was shining through the CBT.
Testers were beginning to notice.
—First off, the translation quality is flawless. I went over every line of Korean text with my eyes peeled and couldn’t find a single fault. Zero jarring mistranslations.
—What I like best is the live service. Sure, we’ll have to see if it lasts after launch, but when you report an issue, they answer well and patch details carefully, so I’m satisfied. Please keep it up to the end.
Of course, it wasn’t all praise.
—Optimization’s still lacking, isn’t it? The frame drop we saw at the Frenzied Behemoth in “Glory Forest” is here too.
—I’m new to Monster Eater Online, but for all the game’s fame the main story is a bit disappointing. Story is my top priority; if it’s thin I won’t even look at the game, no matter how famous or fun… hmm.
—Maybe it’s the Japanese style, but watching the in-game cut-scene acting feels like cringey edge-lords. I just can’t empathize with the emotions.
—Still lacking optimization! Fix it already!!!
Criticism centered on two points: optimization and the main scenario.
For Crying Soft’s dev team, it was a matter that would take ample schedule time and a major overhaul, yet that was difficult.
Even new development and bug fixes filled the timetable to bursting. Taeyeon knew this well, but he couldn’t just sit back and watch.
Such a helpless stance didn’t suit his nature.
‘Should I suggest dividing up part of the optimization work with our developers? If I propose revisions to the weak, unconvincing parts of the main scenario, how will they take it?’
Taeyeon sorted the topics he needed to discuss with Producer Takizawa and let out a heavy sigh.
No matter how close they had grown, these weren’t light matters he could suggest casually.
He might be accused of overstepping.
‘But I can’t just stay idle. At least I should propose it.’
Even if it was only for two years, this game was his responsibility as project manager.
With his name and career on the line, he had no intention of doing anything halfway.
Taeyeon immediately picked up his phone.
After a few rings, a familiar voice answered, and Taeyeon cautiously spoke.
“I have a proposal I’d like to make…”
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