One of the many new mobile games announced by Nexon recently, a demo version of Traha is currently available for play at the consumer hall over at G-Star 2018. Powered by Unreal Engine 4, Traha is a massive mobile MMORPG developed by indie studio Moai Games as its maiden project. Many have mistaken Traha as a PC MMORPG based on its announcement trailer, which I totally understand. Here are some summarized key points based on the interviews which the Korean media had with the Traha team over at G-Star 2018. Read on!
• On the topic of Traha launching in the first half of 2019 along with many other mobile MMORPG titles in South Korea, the development team admitted Traha does not have any particular strength which makes it stand out. They are just concentrating on making a good game and hopes the effort put into Traha will be the differentiating factor.
• As for setting the launch schedule, the team was not particularly conscious of other games’ timeline, but instead aimed to be in-sync with Nexon’s plans. It generally means that Moai Games left the strategy part to Nexon while they focused on game development.
• Addressing the issue of requiring a high-end mobile device to run Traha which might not be accessible in many other countries, the team stated that mobile technology has improved considerably during Traha’s 30 months of development. The current generation of mobile devices already have specifications which are beyond the maximum requirements to play Traha. Since global launch will not take place immediately and the focus is on a domestic launch for the near future, the team still has time to optimize the game.
• Moai Games claimed that technically, it is not an issue to have many players appear on a single mobile screen during scenarios such as RVR. The main issue is actually the viewing experience on the small mobile screens. The team is still working on a solution for Traha, with options such as running multiple channels or simply adjust the maximum capacity of number of players in each field. Nothing is confirmed yet as they are still working on this.
• One of the key mantras while developing Traha was to improve and simplify combat due to the limitations of mobile devices. Players can switch weapons and obtain new skills to fit different roles (such as switching to a cane weapon to become a healer). While it may seem like a hassle to train different classes, bored players can always try to play a new class and there will be less issue of being unable to find a certain role during party play.
• Moai Games also claimed that while not announced, it is working on various non-combat features to supplement combat. For example, players can craft a rod to fish, and then cook the fish into boost/buff consumables.
• The final aim for each character in Traha is to master 3 of 6 available combat weapons, and also 4 non-combat roles (including cook, blacksmith, craftsman, explorer, etc).
• While there are instanced dungeons in Traha, the team claims there are lots more content waiting to be experienced in the open world.
• Speaking rather honestly, Moai Games said that the aim as a developer is to survive first following the launch of Traha. Currently, it is not easy to survive and achieve enough to make the next game (I guess they are speaking out as an indie developer). The goal now is to continue developing new content for Traha and succeed with the help of Nexon.
