Dear Survivors, this is NAKWON's Game Director Jang Kyoung Han.
Thank you for your interest in NAKWON: LAST PARADISE.
This Q&A list was written based on your questions as seen below.
Q. How do I join the pre-alpha tests?
A. We are planning to make the pre-alpha test open to anyone with Steam.
We will announce the details soon.
Q. Is the pre-alpha test completely confidential, or is it allowed to be discussed in live broadcasts or YouTube videos?
A. As we are planning for the test to be open to anyone on Steam, please feel free to share content of the game.
We always welcome live streams.
Q. When is the game’s release?
A. As for the actual release/launch of the game, it will take some time.
The pre-alpha test will be within this year, and details will be announced through official community channels.
Q. For the pre-alpha test, would a selected pool of people gain access to it or is it an ‘early access’ open to anyone on Steam?
A. We are thinking of a test where anyone can try playing through Steam for a certain period.
It would be different from early access or launch.
Q. What area does the game’s map cover? Are there any plans to expand the map range?
A. Currently, we have implemented gameplay within an area roughly equivalent to one block around Jongno 3-ga subway station.
We plan to continue expanding from this central location.
We will dive deeper into this subject on the fifth week of #dev-talk in the official Discord server, where we will discuss ‘game content(levels)’.
Q. What direction is the BM headed?
A. Of course we are excluding Pay-to-Win elements as P2W is not a good fit with this game, but we are considering a Battle Pass-centered BM, including emotes and costumes.
We haven’t given this particular area too much thought yet.
Q. I'm curious if NAKWON will operate on periodical resets or seasons like similar games.
A. We plan to have seasonal updates, but we are not considering asset resets.
Instead, we are thinking of resetting season ranks or achievements.
Some may wonder if inflation would become an issue if we do not implement asset resets, but we believe this could be resolved by making resources continuously consumed in the NAKWON Safety Zone.
Food will be needed every day to survive, and depending on where in the Safety Zone you live, survivors will need to pay rent.
The top players may be required to send ‘donations’ to the NAKWON Safety Zone, and we are also thinking of creating a high-level Scouting mode only available to those users.
Q. Will the pre-alpha test showcase any ‘Simulation’ content?
A. Only the minimum.
Our current objective is to complete developing the food system, Citizen Grades, unlocking city areas, Store system and random event systems before the test.
Housing, Quests, achievements, ranking and Citizen Market are under consideration. These features are to be updated after the test and are subject to change.
Q. Is NAKWON a co-op game?
A. For the pre-alpha test, we plan to develop two types of parties (solo, duo).
If you want to scout the city alone, you can do it solo, and if you want to scout the city with a friend, you can party up with a friend and move in duos.
While you're in the city, you may encounter other solo or duo players.
Q. Is there an ETA on the pre-alpha test? I'm very ready to get into it.
A. Thank you for the support.
We know a lot of people are eager to try NAKWON, and we definitely want to share our project with you as well.
The test will take place this year, and the ETA will be announced in a month or two.
Q. Will it be available to create private servers online, and will the game be open to users creating various user mods?
A. As we are thinking of an MMO environment(economy including Citizen Market, ranking, etc) encompassing all users, private servers are more likely to be unavailable.
As for game mods, it is too soon to consider as the game is still at its very early stages and resources are limited.
Q. Like ‘Escape from Tarkov’, which is of similar genre, does the health system vary depending on how damaged each body part is, or would it be a unified health system like in FPS games?
A. In NAKWON, injuries are not managed separately for each body part.
However, the damage you take will vary depending on which body part was attacked.
Whether the attack comes from the front or back (for example, suddenly being attacked from behind) will also affect the damage received.
Armor equipped on specific body parts can absorb damage directed at that area until the armor is broken.
Injuries and conditions based on body parts will be managed in the form of debuffs. For example, if you fall from a height, there's a chance of a 'leg injury' condition occurring, which would slow down your movement speed.
Q. Wouldn’t it be easier to create a more frightening atmosphere if the zombies reacted to the flashlight?
A. That is a great idea, but while we agree that it would definitely be more scary, we thought the game would be less fun if it becomes too difficult to play.
Also, it would be hard to tell if the zombies are reacting to the light, or because they saw the player. This is why we decided on the current way where zombies react more to sound.
Q. Besides the normal zombies, will there be boss zombie types which are huntable but still more difficult to fight against?
A. Currently we don’t have any plans for more difficult zombies, as we don’t want to make hunting zombies the main objective.
Q. How do you plan to motivate survivors to farm, and how do you intend to stimulate the in-game economy?
A. This is actually one of the most vital points in farming-escape genre games like Tarkov.
Once the motivation for farming disappears, and the penalties for losing assets due to death become insignificant, the overall tension in the game diminishes.
Therefore, we plan to allocate a significant amount of effort to the structure of motivation for farming and its sustainability within the game.
In summary, we are considering a survival ‘Simulation’ format where players continue the game by surviving day by day.
Each day, they have the option to perform one of several actions, including Scouting (actual gameplay).
During this process, the following elements will constantly consume resources:
- Fullness: Decreases by a certain amount every day. Farming and consuming food are necessary to satisfy it.
- Random Events: These events occur randomly as each day passes. Depending on the choices made, they can lead to changes in your assets. For example, if you encounter a theft, your decision to pursue or give up can result in different outcomes.
Apart from the mentioned elements above, through housing and different elements, we plan to require daily maintenance fees to keep the following aspects in better condition:
- Maintaining Survival-Enhancing Buffs: You can activate certain characteristics through furniture placement in housing that helps with survival. However, a higher housing rent may be required as multiple furniture placement slots are needed.
- Reduced Risks: Placing appliances like refrigerators in your accommodation can increase the shelf life of food. However, accommodations that require electricity can come with higher rent.
If you ask what would be the characteristics that help survival, while there are offensive elements, mobility, parkour skills, stamina management, and jumping abilities all come in to play.
As these details are still under development, they are not finalized and may change, but we trust that you get the idea of how we are planning to go about this topic.
Only a very minimum of this ‘Simulation’ will be shown in the pre-alpha test.
In this test, we are more focused on Scouting, which is a different approach to the zombie game genre.
Besides the benefits that come from certain aspects in ‘Simulation’, we are planning to delve deeper into gear and detailed options in the future. Here’s a list of what we are thinking of now, which of course can be changed.
- Detailed Gear Options: As in Diablo
- Melee Weapon Customization: Detailed parts for each type of melee weapon and customization features
- Diversification of Gadgets (Gloves, Shoes): Ice-cleat shoes, lightweight shoes for increased speed, gloves for improved parkour, gloves for climbing pipes, etc
- Various Accessories: A variety of accessories, such as devices that audibly alert you of moving objects in your vicinity or wristwatches that constantly display a mini-map
Q. Do you have any plans to develop vehicles to ride like cars?
A. Currently there are no plans as it clashes with the game’s purpose.
Q. What is the method for collecting rare items (e.g., extremely rare items apart from RPG-style collectibles)? Will it be through exploring hidden areas or probability-based drops?
A. Depending on the item, we plan to distribute it through various channels, and we are looking forward to seeing players discover these on their own while scouting.
Q. I'm curious if there are any measures in place for bankruptcy. New players may struggle to deal with zombies or escaping, and it's possible for them to lose all their assets until it becomes zero. What happens in such cases?
A. Every time a player dies, we plan to provide minimum items (e.g., a piece of lumber) for Scouting, so there won't be a situation where the game becomes unplayable due to having zero assets.
Costs like housing rent will be paid in advance for seven days, so bankruptcy won't have an immediate impact.
Additionally, we intend to set probabilities for random events that act as relief measures based on the player's asset situation.
Asset-zero situations are more likely to occur in the early stages of the game.
Q. Can we visit a friend’s accommodation?
A. As accommodations do not exist physically (they only exist as UI slots), visiting a friend’s accommodation would not be possible. (Though that would be a cool idea.)
Q. If it's impossible to completely kill zombies, will there be weapons or items that can incapacitate them on a wide scale or put them in a groggy-like state with one hit?
A. Shotguns are planned to serve that role.
Also, it seems that many people are concerned with the fact that the zombies cannot be killed, but the balance of combat with zombies is being approached like dealing with basic mobs in games such as DayZ or Dark Souls (manageable one-on-one, overwhelming in groups, and easy to die if hit by zombies).
The intention is that even if you kill all the zombies and clear an area, it won't stay clear until your escape; after a few minutes, the area will be swarming with zombies again.
This is designed to create a situation where it's essentially futile to try and kill them all.
It is intended so that in the later stages, humans aren't the only ones left- Zombies will also continue to roam the streets and maintain tension throughout the game.
Q. I prefer a brute-force style of charging into battles. Is it very difficult to play as such in the early stages of the game?
A. You can do it, but it will cost you.
If you invest in good armor and weapons and carry them with you, you can engage in this style of play for a while.
However, it will likely cost more than what you can gain.
Also, once your armor breaks, you won't be able to go brute force.
Q. Up to how many people can join in one session?
A. 10~16 players would be able to join at random but this is not set in stone. It’s Free for All.
Q. How many people can be in one squad?
A. We support a maximum of 2 players per squad.
Beyond that, the game genre would shift towards zombie massacre, so there are no plans for more than 2 players in a squad.
Q. Can you obtain rare items from police stations, fire stations, hospitals, military checkpoints, etc. (e.g., military checkpoint, police station = revolver, shotgun, ammunition, taser, baton, military helmet, flak jacket, riot shield, helmet visor, tear gas, smoke grenade / fire station = fire axe, fire extinguisher, fire helmet, fire suit, gas mask / hospital = vaccine sample, antibiotics, painkillers, research lab keycard)?
A. We are trying to place items where you might find them.
We are doing our best to balance and arrange everything within the given time frame.
Q. Are cars available for farming?
A. Some cars are available.
Q. Can we expect locations filled with stories or the stories of other survivors (e.g., the never-gets-old story of a loving father, the situation of becoming stuck in school written and drawn on a wall, etc.)? Personally, I think it would be great if there were hidden items in such places.
A. That definitely sounds like something I would like, but it is too early to add these types of details.
If the game does well, we may be able to incorporate these kinds of elements in the future.
Q. Would there be special enemies like cultists, scavengers (hostile survivors), or similar unique adversaries?
A. Currently, there are no plans for NPCs other than zombies. However, the ideas you mentioned have been discussed internally before as well.
Q. Can you sound the sirens of special vehicles (police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, tow trucks, security vehicles)?
A. Currently, there is no such feature.
Q. Will characters be affected by weather and temperature?
A. Currently, there is no such feature, but we are considering adding it if time allows.
To be precise, we want to introduce various weather conditions and gameplay changes based on them in the future, but there are no development plans at the moment.
Q. I know the developers would have surely thought this through, but wouldn't a first-person perspective suit the genre better?
A. The debate between first-person and third-person perspectives can likely go on endlessly.
However, at this point, we thought it would be best if we give a brief answer, as everyone has yet to play the game.
- Confirmation needed: There seemed to be a lively debate about this in the chat on this topic. This was indeed a sharp bone of contention within the development team as well. The conclusion of the debate was that it ultimately depends on ‘what type of game NAKWON is’. So, we decided to quickly develop the game and confirm that our choice was the most fitting.
- Perspective shift: We are making this game not as a "kill-others" game but as a "survive-in-chaos" game. These two concepts are quite different. The former provides various ways to kill others, while the latter must offer various ways for players to survive.
- Survival suitability: In terms of player interactions, third-person view was more suitable for making various choices (combat, cover, escape, diversion, etc.) actually work. Of course, there are certain players who (quite astonishingly) can do all of this in first-person, but it's challenging for most gamers.
- Genre adaptation needed: This genre (farming-escape) itself is not yet a major market and has not been standardized. New genres require new styles of gameplay. When battle royales first started gaining popularity, people had to adapt to playing differently from what they were used to (for example, running away or camping could also lead to victory). Likewise, I believe that this genre we are trying now hasn't been standardized yet, and when people encounter it for the first time, they will need to adapt to playing differently than before. Once everyone adapts to this genre, I think it may become possible for them to play in first-person.
In conclusion, we hope everyone will play the game and see if this a good approach.
Q. What are the minimum / recommended specs of NAKWON?
A.
[Recommended PC Requirements]
- OS: Windows 10 x64 (or higher)
- CPU: Intel i7-7700K / AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
- RAM: 16 GB
- GPU: GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5600XT
- API: Direct X 12
- Network: High-speed internet connection
[Minimum PC Requirements]
- OS: Windows 10 x64
- CPU: Intel i5-3570 / AMD FX-8350
- RAM: 8 GB
- GPU: GeForce GTX 1050Ti or AMD Radeon RX 570
- API: Direct X 12
- Network: High-speed internet connection