EXCLUSIVE: Solo Leveling: ARISE Devs Talk About Representing Less Prominent Characters More While Remaining Faithful 

Webtoon to mobile gacha game adaptation Solo Leveling: ARISE recently launched with great success, generating over $43 million in revenue in only about a month. The game spots memorable characters to play and the chance to experience protagonist Sung Jinwoo in his journey to become an overpowered legend.

Amidst the hype, we had the opportunity to interview Seong-Keon Jin, the game project director, and Inho Kim, the art director, about the fascinating elements of Solo Leveling: ARISE.

Adapting the Best Aspects of the Manhwa

There are many interesting elements of the manhwa that fans adore, so we asked Seong-Keon Jin which aspects he feels are best suited for adaptation into the gameplay mechanics and how the team innovates upon them for fresh experiences.

“In my opinion, one of the points that fans liked the most in the original web novel and webtoon is how the main character, Sung Jinwoo, levels up like a game character, becomes stronger, and wins against challenging enemies,” said Seong-Keon Jin. “We applied this element of ‘leveling up’ of the original series to Solo Leveling: ARISE, so that users can play the character, level up and experience the original series’ narrative in a video game form.”

“In terms of gameplay, we strive to bring the elements of the original series as much as possible unless it affects the game’s balance.”

“For example, ‘Kasaka’s Venom Fang’ has the [Paralyze] and [Bleed] debuffs as it does in the webtoon. Status Recovery from [Daily Quest Completion] fully restores Sung Jinwoo’s vitality when activated.”

“Also, we referred to the scenes from the original webtoon when creating and designing Hunters’ skills. We believe that our efforts will provide users who have experienced the original webtoon with more enjoyment than expected.”

Staying Faithful 

The story of Solo Leveling ended on a high note, but fans have no doubt hope for more lore in its universe. In terms of expanding the game’s universe, we asked the team if there are plans to develop new narratives or side stories to dive deeper into the world’s lore.

To that, director Jin responded, “Solo Leveling: ARISE aims to expand the universe of the original series; we don’t intend to deviate from the original IP. That’s why we’ve been planning from the early stages to remain faithful to the original storyline while encompassing additional narrative content that comes after the original story ends. We try to reflect the original story in the game and utilize scenes from the webtoon at the same time. We have also implemented various narratives that capture the unique mood of the game, and we believe that the game can provide a refreshing experience to users who are already familiar with the original work.”

“In the original series, there are some characters who are not really noticeable in the story. Let’s talk about Song Chiyul for example. Song Chiyul enters the Cartenon Temple with Jinwoo in the early part of the storyline. And when it comes to the highlight of the Dungeon’s story, Song becomes the last Hunter to escape the Dungeon with Lee Joohee at Sung Jinwoo’s request. The original series sets Song Chiyul as the teacher who taught Cha Hae-In the techniques of swords. Doesn’t this spark curiosity about Song Chiyul’s relationship with other Hunters in the universe of Solo Leveling?”

“Likewise, we will continue to look through interesting elements within the universe of Solo Leveling to create diverse sub stories and original Hunters, expanding Solo Leveling’s universe to make the users’ gameplay experience more fun. As for new story content, we’re working in collaboration with the IP holder. We have numerous discussions about the settings and stories before we start creating them. They have always given us a thorough review and positive feedback on the proposed content from the planning team.”

“We believe that Solo Leveling: ARISE could offer fans of the franchise the joy of exploring the universe and discovering new information. For newcomers, we have created content that they can enjoy in Solo Leveling’s grand universe”

Balance and Meta

As the game grows and more content is added, maintaining a balanced and fair gameplay experience becomes increasingly challenging. So we asked the team about how would they go about monitoring and adjusting the game’s balance, particularly when introducing new characters, abilities, or items that could disrupt the existing meta.

Jin replied, “There are a number of elements, such as Hunters, weapons, artifacts, skills, and Blessing Stones, that enrich the combat in Solo Leveling: ARISE, while enhancing the fun gameplay experience. Each of these can affect the game balance, so the team goes through a series of processes, repetitively reviewing each content before we bring them to the players.”

In terms of the process of releasing a new Hunter, Jin broke it down and said they always propose a concept first, before deciding on details, create the character, then go through the testing phase, verify their gameplay and balance before finally releasing the character.

“When it’s time to release a new Hunter, we first identify their required role, decide the concept and plan out the details,” Jin further elaborates. “Then the art team creates the resources, followed by the program team who creates, sets, and tests the necessary features for the new Hunter’s meta.”

 “There’s a role for the balance team as well. They oversee the test process, creating a group of existing Hunters to play the game. The team also works with other groups to test every possible Hunter formation, which often reaches up to tens of thousands.”

“We then adjust the balance of the new Hunter by referring to the play data from the balance and AI teams. This process occurs several times until the new Hunter performs as well as we originally planned. When the new Hunter goes through this process and is completed, we go on to the final test and QA phases. After the new Hunter is released, we keep monitoring user feedback to make sure everything is running smoothly.”

 “A similar process applies to weapons, growth resources or artifacts. The development team of Solo Leveling: ARISE continues to invest time and manpower to maintain the game’s stability and balance.”

Play Progression and Reward

Player progression and reward systems are crucial for maintaining long-term player engagement, especially in a free-to-play gacha title. In terms of what new types of rewards or progression milestones the team is considering in the future, Jin said:

“In Solo Leveling: ARISE, users can experience the Challenge system where they are rewarded for their progression. As the story expands, so do the Challenge Chapters. We expect players to enjoy the sense of achievement and motivation from the new content. The development team also puts emphasis on Sung Jinwoo’s growth in terms of leveling up the character, and is now working on providing additional rewards for players reaching a certain level. We felt that motivating players and offering rewards are very important to the game, and will continue to work hard on creating these types of systems.”

Expectations of Solo Leveling Fans 

Solo Leveling is an extremely popular manhwa, so when it comes to balancing the team’s creative vision with the expectations of fans, Jin noted, “When working on an IP that has existing original content, there tends to be criticisms from fans. If we reproduce the original work, fans will say, ‘why even bother producing a game if it’s just a reflection?’ and if we stray far from the original work, there may be criticism for undermining the original. It is understandable that fans who love the original series are very passionate. Since the original storyline of  Solo Leveling has concluded, we felt there are some parts of the game where we can diverge  from the original series and bring a unique narrative of its own.” 

“Solo Leveling: ARISE offers new and existing fans of the IP the joy of exploring the universe while discovering new information.”

Consoles

Solo Leveling: ARISE is also available on PC and will be available on Steam coming soon. With the growing trend of cross-platform play and connectivity, we asked if there are any plans for bringing the game to other platforms.

“We believe the best approach is to also launch the game on console platforms that we are currently working on,” Jin replied.

“However, there are common preparations needed for Solo Leveling: ARISE to be supported on both Steam and console platforms. We are currently looking into launching on Steam first as an initial step before the console release. The game will first launch on PC, and then we can look at additional platforms shortly after. We will work hard to meet the needs of users around the globe by rapidly expanding to other platforms.”

Addressing Pay-to-Win Mechanics

Monetization sometimes intersects with game development, especially when considering long-term sustainability. Solo Leveling: ARISE has been criticized at launch for its more egregious approach to gacha, so we ask how the team planned to address player concerns about ‘pay-to-win’ mechanics while still creating effective monetization opportunities.

“As we incorporate various weapons, Hunters, skills, and Shadows into the game, we had to think about how users will acquire them during their gameplay and how to generate revenue from this F2P game,” Jin responded.  “We decided to utilize some sections of the game as its business model – this is how we introduced the draw system after much deliberation.”

“I understand that the draw system can be viewed in various ways. However, it is clear that the draw system has been utilized in many games and is proving to be effective. There are various business models for F2P games, and the draw system is, by far, the most familiar and widely used by users. Games with a large fan base also incorporate the draw model. It was natural for us to consider the draw system for Solo Leveling: ARISE as it is an effective business model that is widely understood and easily accessible.”

“The draw system offers many options. Users may utilize the draw system for free while playing, or the system may possess greater difficulty to obtain items. In the case of Solo Leveling: ARISE, we have introduced additional systems that increase the probability depending on the number of attempts from users or allow them to choose the various options for the draw. We have put a lot of consideration into using the draw system at a level that is acceptable to all users.”

Representing the Manhwa’s Artstyle 

Talk to any fan of Solo Leveling and they will be quick to praise the manhwa’s artstyle. The visual style and art direction of the Solo Leveling manhwa are integral to its identity and appeal.

Speaking to Art Director Inho Kim about how he leverages the art direction to evoke the sense of awe and immersion that fans experience while reading the series, he said, “The most important aspect of developing the game based on Solo Leveling was to keep the core design of the original webtoon. During development, we aimed to incorporate as many of the original materials and concepts as possible into the artwork, with these elements and ideas being seamlessly integrated throughout the game. If you look at the designs of Sung Jinwoo and other Hunters, you can see that they were created using elements, key colors, and narratives from the original.”

“Our team reflected the art style of the Solo Leveling webtoon as much as possible, combining various styles in gameplay, 2D cutscenes, dialogues and cinematic cutscenes to create an immersive storytelling experience. Additionally, it was important to design the combat gameplay that suits the overall mood of Solo Leveling. To enhance Sung Jinwoo’s charisma as the Monarch of Shadows, we have developed two different modes: the Sung Jinwoo Mode and the Hunter Mode. Additionally, we have created a mode that allows users to play as Sung Jinwoo and other Hunters simultaneously.”

“It’s important for us to inherit and develop the concept of the Solo Leveling webtoon that many people love. We have designed original characters in a way that complements the webtoon, and continue to create unique hunters and monsters that are exclusive to the game.”

Environment Design 

The environments in Solo Leveling are diverse and atmospheric, ranging from bustling cities to mysterious dungeons. When discussing the design process, Kim elaborated, “Background elements are presented in a much-simplified form in the webtoon due to the nature of the medium.”

“The original series gave us a clear guide to distinguish where the scene is taking place even with its simplified elements. From these sources, the planning team gathered various references and came up with the blueprint for combat stages and character movements. Based on the planning team’s guide, the art department created stages using references from other games and real-life photos.”

“In particular, we visited the actual Hapjeong Station to gather additional references when creating the in-game dungeon version and reflected that in the game.”

Dynamic Animations

One striking visual element of Solo Leveling: ARISE is the transition from static illustrations to dynamic animations, which no doubt could present challenges in maintaining visual fidelity and fluidity. Since Solo Leveling: ARISE is an action RPG, we were curious how the art team approached the animation design in the game.

“What makes Solo Leveling: ARISE remarkable is the fact that the original webtoon, which was praised for its excellent drawing style, has been adapted into a 3D game,” described Kim.

“We tried to combine the webtoon’s articulate scenes with cool action moves that were hard to convey in the webtoon, resulting in the unique cinematic narratives you can see in the game now. We experimented with different ways to apply the transition effects to turn a 2D image from the webtoon into 3D and vice versa. In order to better use these transition effects, we also tested features that auto-capture scenes in the Unity Engine.”

“However, the team agreed that the quality will improve when concept designers draw with their own hands by referring to the original webtoon, and that is how we came up with the current presentation. Users can experience highly detailed and fast-paced combat from various characters, including Igris and Kang Taeshik, who transition between 2D and 3D forms.”

“We used a 2D Spine to maximize the emotions of characters and monsters. This is best represented by the Giant Statue of Cartenon Temple. We first tried 3D modeling to depict the horror smile of the Statue. However, it turned out that Spine was more effective than 3D in bringing the creepy yet frightening smile of the Statue as seen in the webtoon.”

Original Visual Elements

The development team has been expressing how Solo Leveling: ARISE aims to capture the essence of the manhwa, as such we as art director Kim if there are any original visual art or narrative elements introduced in the game to contribute to its identity as a standalone gaming experience.

Kim replied, “While there are so many unique Hunters with different backgrounds in the universe of Solo Leveling, fans rarely have a chance to get to know them, since the original series mainly focuses on Sung Jinwoo. Solo Leveling: ARISE offers the never-before-told stories of these existing Hunters, as well as new ones created for the game, which allow users to have a fresh experience captivating universe.”

“When it comes to the ‘identity as a standalone gaming experience,’ I would say it’s these Hunters that have been adapted from the webtoon and the newly created ones for the game that give it a unique identity.”

“It would be nice to reproduce the original series as a game, but my team agreed that we should come up with our own visuals when creating or reinterpreting characters – even if a character is from the original series, we wanted to add something new to him/her. The art team took the lead in designing the characters from the original series, and believe we have done it successfully. Characters such as Lee Joohee, Park Heejin, or Yoo Jinho were arranged for the game, showcasing their unique characteristics while still maintaining the look they had in the original series.”

“Creating the game’s original Hunters required thoughtful consideration. These new characters have to fit in the universe of Solo Leveling and be appealing to fans at the same time. That’s why we often have multiple meetings and drafts for the new Hunters. The IP holder reviews the appearance, background, and story of these original game characters while providing feedback that helps these new characters seamlessly be a part of Solo Leveling.”

“The art and development teams work together to create stories and content for the game to meet fans’ expectations. Upcoming content will feature more stories from the universe of Solo Leveling. Please stay tuned.”

Balance Graphics and Performance

This game is no doubt visually pleasing, featuring rich and detailed graphics. When discussing optimizing performance to strike a balance between maintaining visual quality and performance for various mobile devices lower-end smartphones and tablets, Kim said, “It is indeed important to maintain the balance between visual quality and performance optimization.”

 “Given the nature of an action game, one of our goals for Solo Leveling: ARISE is to provide the user a seamless gameplay experience with smooth controls. We set the optimal standard for frames where players can have smooth controls and maximize the quality within that standard. The art team also worked on certain parts of this aspect of the game. Since Solo Leveling: ARISE has been developed for the action genre, the art team puts more weight on the appearance of characters, their motions, and effect, while focusing less on the backgrounds.”

Here concludes our interview. We would like to thank game project director Seong-Keon Jin and art director Inho Kim for taking the time to answer our questions about Solo Leveling: ARISE.

Solo Leveling: ARISE is now available on Android, iOS, and Windows PC.

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Solo Leveling: Arise

Publisher: Netmarble

Developer: Netmarble

Release Date TBC

Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows

From the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind to the world's strongest hunter, play as Jinwoo and experience the journey yourself!

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