PLAY THE ANIMATION! Epic Seven!

Hello. This is GM Alcasus.

You can obtain catalysts from the event tokens "Ruins Exploration Coins" obtained in the dungeon through the new emergency mission, [Catalyst Search]!

■ Period

4/16 (Thu) 12:00 ~ 4/23 (Thu) 11:59 (KST)

■Location

Battle > Event > Emergency Mission

■ Unlock Condition

Episode 6 1-6 Clear

■"Emergency Mission! Catalyst Search" Basic Information

- You are provided with 5 entry chances for the emergency mission daily.

- After using the 5 entry chances, you can additionally charge up to 3 times using Skystones.

* The number of Skystones required to charge entry chances will increase with each repeated charge.

- The emergency mission consists of [Normal/Hard] difficulty levels.

- You can participate in battles with Heroes, Pets in the emergency mission.

* Supporter support cannot be used in emergency missions.

* Pet skill effects are not applied in emergency missions.

■ Rewards

- Clearing the emergency mission allows you to obtain Gold and event tokens [Ruins Exploration Coins].

- [Ruins Exploration Coins] can be used for item exchange. All [Ruins Exploration Coins] you possess will be deleted after the emergency mission event ends.

- You can exchange the exclusive tokens obtained from the emergency mission for random spoils. (100 per exchange)

Obtainable Item Name

Quantity

Probability

Meragora

1

5%

Gold

100,000

20%

Rare Catalyst Selection Box

1

35%

Rare Catalyst Selection Box

2

25%

Legendary Catalyst Selection Box

1

15%

* The exchange will close immediately when the emergency mission ends, with no grace period.

Thank you.

❄️ FlakeMission｜April Day 15 #260415

Week 3 - Day 15 Started! Don't forget to check progress!

■ On the evening of the 10th, we released a preview video for the Half Anniversary event and shared various news.

■ A Half Anniversary Showcase video, celebrating the half-year anniversary since launch, is scheduled to be released at noon on April 18th(Sat). 

■ First look at new agent ‘Heidemarie’ and new Chaos ‘Illusory Theater’ information.

Smilegate, which services and Super Creative, which developed the dark fantasy roguelike RPG ‘Chaos Zero Nightmare’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘Kazena’), announced on the 13th (Mon) that it has previewed the release of a ‘Half Anniversary’ showcase video to commemorate the game’s half-year anniversary since its launch.

Smilegate previewed the Half Anniversary event on the official Kazena YouTube channel at 6 PM on the 10th (Fri). According to the video, Kazena plans to release a Half Anniversary showcase video at noon on April 18th(Sat) to celebrate its half-year anniversary and introduce the large-scale update roadmap to be unveiled in the future.

In addition, the preview video attracted attention by revealing for the first time information about the new agent ‘Heidemarie’ and the new Chaos ‘Illusory Theater’ to be introduced in the next season. Furthermore, background music from a concert hall and scenes of the in-game idol group performing together appeared, hinting at the theme of the Half Anniversary event.

During this Half Anniversary period, Smilegate plans to communicate and share joy with users not only through various online events but also through the offline event ‘Nightmare Garden Tea Party’.

Smilegate’s Business Director, Kim Ju-hyung, said, “We are preparing Half Anniversary events that encompass both online and offline, with a heart full of gratitude for our users. We plan to explain the details in the showcase video to be released on the 18th, so we ask for your keen attention.”

Meanwhile, additional information about Kazena can be found on the official communities on ‘X’ and ‘YouTube’, and the official Stove website.

Just give me hot time

⚓ [Windrose] Stove Official Launch Commemorative Event! 🌊

The open-world pirate survival game, awaited by 1.5 million users, Windrose,

 has finally been officially released on Stove!
You can get additional benefits just by using the store,

so don't miss out on the special coupons and prizes prepared!

👇Go to the promotion page 👇

"

A game where the story seeps in on your way to find treasure,

"

Scenario

The story of Windrose begins in a world where fantasy is mixed with the Age of Discovery in 18th-century Europe.

Edward Teach, the Pirate King who leads Blackbeard, made a deal with the devil and threw this sea into chaos.

And his evil influence eventually reached the player....

Action Game

As soon as the short story ended, the tutorial began, and after a few minutes of persistently teaching parrying and dodging, I immediately realized.

"This is an action game."

Today, the topic I want to talk about is 'Action Games'.

What is an action game?

Simply put, it's a game where the player controls and moves the character in real-time. 

And Windrose is a game that cares about the 'feel of action' more than anything else.

I believe the biggest characteristic of an action game is this: never stopping the player's input. 

During combat, the player dodges enemy attacks and runs backward,

then finds an opening to land an attack. This entire process is a continuous series of actions.

How was combat induced?

Windrose has a massive main quest, divided into Chapters 1, 2, and 3, with a long quest line. Furthermore, they plan to continue updating it.

To approach this goal, the game lays out numerous designs. Broadly, there are three types of content: first, action; second, crafting; and third, quests.

However, covering all of them would make the text too long, so today, I will talk about Windrose with just one topic .

"Windrose's Action and Story."

It's rare for action games to lack a story. Why is that?

In many action games, when an NPC explaining the story starts describing an event in a specific area, players tend to get distracted or skip the dialogue. 

And then, curiosity begins to arise. "Why do I have to kill the dragon?" "Why do I have to kill a man I can't kill?"

Earlier, I mentioned that 'the core of an action game is to not stop the player's input,' but the moment the story progresses, the player stops and listens.

Even if the story is skimmed, even a small context from the past story imbues the player with the most precious and valuable essence in an action game.

This is the moment when the player's violent actions are given 'meaning'.

This is where the causality of why the player must cut down this enemy or cross this sea is created.

However, if such explanations are continuously listed, the story quickly becomes boring and didactic. It damages the feel of action and input.

Windrose has created many devices to solve this problem. Today, we will explore what has been solved through 'story'.

Implication through Environment

The method is implication through the environment.

Instead of simply posting a notice or directly conveying through a quest that 'something happened here',

it's a method of placing structures within the space that suggest 'something seems to have happened here'.

Players naturally look around each space to gather resources or with anticipation for quests.

In the process, they guess 'something must have happened here,' and even players who are not usually interested in the story naturally speculate about 'the story of the space'.

And when they reach the end of the space's story, the events the player imagined are verified.

At that moment, the player will be amazed, saddened, or annoyed by the plausibility.

This is Windrose's method of letting the space tell the player about the world. 

But why would the player bother to scan the environment?

No matter how many elements and stories are well-placed in the environment, if the player doesn't pay attention to that space, it's all for nothing.

The cloth tied to a tree, the story of a buried box on the ground – these are all devices that are meaningless if the player 'doesn't look'.

Windrose solved this problem very simply.

By linking rewards with the space. When you open the map in this game, treasure chests are linked to each space (icons), and the player fights to enter that space, naturally exploring every nook and cranny to find the hidden chests.

And this chest hunting is not just a supplementary element.

Windrose has RPG growth elements, where you can level up, allocate stats, and unlock skills.

However, the way to gain experience is peculiar. You don't get experience by defeating enemies.

Experience is only given when you clear a quest or collect all rewards in a space.

The problem is, combat in Windrose is surprisingly difficult.

To overcome this difficulty, where enemies have high HP and high attack power, you need to grow your character, and to grow, you need to open chests.

And in that process, the player's eyes naturally sweep over the environmental details.

Even without reading the story, as you search for chests, the story seeps into the player.

Consume the story for action.

The story design philosophy of Windrose, in my opinion,

is not to stop the player for the story, but to consume the story for action.

This is it.

There are no long scenes where NPCs hold you and explain, nor cutscenes that take away your control.

The story is finely scattered throughout the spaces, and it is delivered by seeping in piece by piece as the player moves 'to become stronger'.

Thus, the story becomes fuel that drives the action, rather than an obstacle that stops the flow of action.

Windrose, a game where the story seeps in on your way to find treasure, binds the player to the space with rewards (experience, treasure chests) and consistently maintains a state where their hands don't stop moving in that space.

As a developer who also makes action games, I often ask myself a question.

How can I make the world convincing to the player while keeping their input non-stop?

Windrose's answer to this question is:

Make the story the fuel for action.

It answered.

Conclusion

This game left me with a different final impression than my initial one.

When I first started playing this game, I thought it would be a survival crafting game mixed with action, but I was intrigued by how strong the 'action' philosophy the game advocated was.

Even if the experience I wanted when starting the game was different, I believe the numerous battles with enemies I enjoyed while playing  prove the high completion of the action this game pursued.

It's a great game where you can feel the developer's love for action, connecting all content to the core of action, so I hope you all play it at least once.

I hope you enjoyed reading. This is my first post where I've written a lot about game design, and I'm not sure if everyone had fun.

Game Name 

Among these, which ones should I prioritize raising?