When Apple announced the App Store and iPhone/iPod touch SDK last year, it was clear the platform had a great deal of potential for several types of applications. Sega's demonstration of Super Monkey Ball in particular proved that the iPhone and iPod touch could also handle games more akin to the Nintendo DS or PSP rather than typical mobile phone games. Several quality games have seen release, many from high-profile developers. What's a bit lacking though is the amount of quality RPGs available. While the surprise port of Vay helped, GAMEVIL's upcoming Zenonia is a title iDevice-owning RPG fans should keep an eye out for.
At this year's GDC 2014, GAMEVIL known for publishing the ZENONIA series and Baseball Superstars, have announced five upcoming games set to launch in 2014. This year's line-up appears to be packed with strategy/RPG games which caters to their existing audience from previous titles.
The RPG, or role-playing game, is one of gaming’s foundation genres. A broad category of playing experience, it approaches other genres with open arms, welcoming them in and sharing its addictive gameplay loops liberally. Most modern game experiences pay respect to the mechanics of the RPG in some capacity, while the entire gamification movement has seen life imitate art, bringing RPG staples to the real-world. Some might say this diffusion of the RPG across the industry has diluted its roots, but traditional RPGs still exist with all their flavour and fun intact.
Techinasia: Started in 2008, Korean mobile RPG game Zenonia has a total of 40 million downloads globally. The latest in the series is Zenonia 5. Zenonia Online, its web-based version should be out soon. At one of the ChinaJoy conference talks, Yonghee Jung, CTO of Zenonia Series and vice president of Gamevil, shared some views as to why Zenonia has been a success. Despite praising his own games, Jung also revealed some of its weaknesses and how Gamevil plans to tackle them. We have summarized Zenonia’s greatness in eight points for your easy reading, including some its flaws and plans moving forward:
