Netmarble is moving to target the global market with 'Mon Gil: Star Dive', a sequel to 'Monster Taming'. The development team described the new title as an action role-playing game that carries over the original's feel while lowering entry barriers. In South Korea, it plans to build on the intellectual property (IP) awareness, but for global users unfamiliar with the original it aims to compete on gameplay itself.

Netmarble held a joint pre-launch interview for 'Mon Gil: Star Dive' on April 9 at G-Tower in Guro-gu, Seoul. Dong-gi Kang (강동기), head of Netmarble's business division, introduced the game, while Geon Kim (김건), CEO of Netmarble Monster, and Da-haeng Lee (이다행), head of Netmarble's business headquarters, took part in a Q&A. The game is set for a simultaneous worldwide launch on PC and mobile on April 15, excluding China and Vietnam.

Kang introduced the original 'Monster Taming' as having driven the popularisation of mobile RPGs in South Korea, recording 15 million downloads after its 2013 launch, reaching No. 1 in both major mobile app markets for the first time, and winning the top excellence prize at the Korea Game Awards. He added that the sequel, returning 13 years after the original, raises the fun of collecting and adds the fun of action.

◆ 'We first thought about what to cut'...focus on lowering hurdles in combat controls and monetisation

The development direction can be summed up as "selection and concentration". Kim said an early principle was to do only what the team could do best within its resources. He said the longest early debate was not what to add, but what to cut.

The area of focus was combat controls. Kim said the team focused on immediacy that responds the moment a button is pressed, adding that even if it looks similar in video, players will feel a clear difference when they play it themselves.

Design to lower entry barriers was also a core task. Lee said the game is far more focused on making it easy for users than on the direction developers want, and includes a system that lets players clear quickly without hurdles if they choose an easy difficulty. Kim added the team is also considering lowering hurdles further if there is feedback after service begins that players feel them. The story progression follows the same approach. Kim said even when skipping, users can move forward sentence by sentence, allowing them to grasp the content while progressing quickly. He said it is structured to enable immersion without investing long hours.

The monetisation structure follows the same approach. Lee said there is a rumour of "50,000 won for 15 days", but at maximum efficiency it is around 23,000 won. He said the character acquisition probability is 1 percent, higher than the typical 0.6 to 0.8 percent for the genre, and that a 100 percent guaranteed acquisition is possible with 90 attempts. Artifacts are guaranteed at 80 attempts. He drew a line by saying that while there is a six-stage awakening system, there is no additional transformation system for the same character.

Kim said the easy difficulty is designed not to force spending or excessive growth. He said the character acquisition-related monetisation is effectively closer to an area of affection. The development team said that in preparing for launch, it focused on balance work to clearly differentiate the two difficulty levels and on optimising touch controls for mobile.

◆ Global bet on gameplay...two pillars are East Asian-themed region and console expansion

Lee said the Mon Gil IP can build initial expectations in South Korea, but overseas many users will be encountering the IP for the first time, so it must compete on the game itself. It collected and reflected local feedback through region-by-region closed beta tests in Japan, North America and other markets, and consistently secured opportunities for hands-on exposure by taking part in overseas game shows including the Tokyo Game Show and the Game Developers Conference (GDC).

A differentiating feature is the East Asian-themed region called "Sura". Lee said that in a market filled with medieval European fantasy or near-future settings, the East Asian theme is a colour that can be experienced only in its game, and global reactions are even better. The launch spec is structured to move into the East Asian region story after the first part. Kim said the team internally verified detailed historical references such as dancheong patterns and bipa-shaped elements. He said it took care to ensure Korean elements are not mistaken for those of other cultures.

Console expansion is also a pillar of the global strategy. After the PC and mobile launch on April 15, it plans to expand sequentially to console platforms including PlayStation 5 and Xbox. Kim said a live demo conducted in collaboration with Xbox at GDC this month became a talking point in the console community as well. He said separate optimisation work for UI and UX by platform was needed, making it effectively like creating the game separately for each platform.

On recent controversy over the industry's use of AI, Kim said there is almost no use of AI in graphics production and that, as a fully 3D game, it is unlikely to face much controversy over AI-generated outputs. He added the team is experimentally reviewing AI for development support areas such as automating code reviews.

Lee said a live-service game grows after launch, and it will communicate with users to improve shortcomings and grow the IP. Kim said the game can guarantee a sufficiently enjoyable time even viewed as a standalone game regardless of whether users spend money. He stressed that people who know the original name and those who do not should take a look at the game itself.