Manjuu Games' open world RPG, 'Azur Promilia,' participated in Bilibili World, a premier Chinese subculture festival held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai from July 10 to 12. The booth showcased an exciting fantasy world featuring Kibo and pretty girls, while also announcing the game's third closed beta test (CBT) in China to coincide with the event.

'Azur Promilia,' which will be published by Nexon in Korea, received positive feedback during its Korean CBT last May for its blend of pretty girl design expertise—carried over from Azur Lane—with a fantasy-themed open world, rich content, and fast-paced combat. With growing interest in Korea, INVEN visited Manjuu Games at Bilibili World to speak with co-CEOs Lin Shuyin and Chen He.

Q. You celebrated your 10th anniversary this past January. What is Manjuu Games' vision for the next decade and beyond?

Chen He = I am delighted that our company has been able to build this level of experience. All of this is thanks to the support from our users, and I want to express my gratitude to them. Our goal is to create fun subculture games that bring happiness and satisfaction to all our users. To achieve this, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to game and IP development. Once again, I would like to thank our users.

Q. The genre and style are completely different from Azur Lane. What do you consider to be the advantages and strengths of Azur Promilia?

Chen He = Much like with Azur Lane, the art quality we have showcased in Azur Promilia is being recognized by users worldwide. I believe that art quality and design are our greatest strengths. With the rise of 3D, we wanted to evolve our work, and Azur Promilia is the result of our efforts to bring that same quality and design into a 3D space.

Because Azur Promilia features a vast worldview, rich story, and deep lore, we are focusing on character design and world-building to enhance player immersion and highlight the Promilia continent. Maintaining our strength in high-quality design while ensuring the game is fun remains our top priority. Furthermore, we are committed to expanding and improving our optimization and content.

Q. You chose Nexon as your Korean publisher. Is there a special reason for this?

Chen He = I have been playing Nexon games, especially Dungeon & Fighter, for a very long time. While that is one reason, I was also impressed by Nexon's exceptional professionalism and sincerity during our collaboration. Nexon is a company with a long history, and they have accumulated significant expertise in long-term operations. I trust that they understand Korean users better and will provide superior localization and marketing. In fact, the localization has been excellent. We are satisfied with our collaboration with Nexon and look forward to continuing our close partnership to provide a satisfying experience for Korean users.

Q. Azur Promilia held a CBT in Korea last May. What feedback stood out to you?

Chen He = First of all, I am glad that the CBT concluded smoothly. We received a lot of feedback from users, and the praise for our art quality was truly the greatest achievement for our development team.

Another takeaway was that preferred character types vary by country. I believe this feedback will help us design stories, direction, and characters that resonate with users globally in the future.

Q. The modeling and design, which faithfully capture the art, as well as details like dormitory outfits and fabric textures, were particularly impressive. What do you focus on or emphasize most when designing characters?

Lin Shuyin = Our team goes through several stages to enhance the perfection of our characters. We already had strengths in character design from Azur Lane, but we now meticulously check everything from the material, thickness, and transparency of various fabrics to body posture, motion, and center of gravity.

Messa's dormitory skin was particularly popular, and we plan to put more effort into skins for other characters as well. Our goal is to make them instantly appealing so that users fall in love at first sight, while also incorporating the unique traits of characters they have spent a long time with.

Chen He = Every time we design a character, we believe they must become a living, breathing entity within the game. That is why we put so much effort into the detailed movements and expressions of characters in their daily lives. Our research into fabric textures and such details has been a long-standing effort to achieve that goal.

Q. It may not have been intentional, but there are an increasing number of monster-catching games on the market. What are your thoughts on this trend, and do you have a strategy to highlight the unique strengths of Azur Promilia?

Chen He = First, I would like to clarify that I do not consider Azur Promilia to be a simple monster-catching game. In terms of content, there are charming characters alongside the monsters, and we wanted to create a world where they can all live together in peace. We put a lot of effort into the worldview, and the core of Azur Promilia is to create a diverse world by fully leveraging our expertise in pretty girl design.

Q. On another note, the CBT introduced monsters that cannot be 'Starlinked' and a hostile faction called the 'Evolution Cult.' Who are they, and how do you plan to tell their story in the future.

Chen He = As a development team, we are truly moved that you have delved so deeply into the game's worldview. In the Promilia continent, 'Starlink' originated from the concept of a 'link' based on understanding and recognition. We chose this term because we wanted to express it as a process of understanding, building bonds, and connecting rather than just collecting.

As such, not every Kibo can link with a 'Star-bearer.' We plan to reveal through the story why Star-bearers can link and bond with some Kibo, and why they cannot with others. We also intend to gradually unfold the story of the Evolution Cult through various quests, boss battles, and character stories.

Q. The detail where characters seem to look at the player during conversations was impressive. You mentioned focusing more on storytelling and direction than in your previous work; how are you approaching this?

Chen He = As mentioned earlier, we do not think of our characters as mere digital data. Our philosophy is that to the player, the character must be perceived as a living being. Beyond eye contact, we are constantly researching how to use other details to immerse users. These fine details are the foundation for making them feel like living, breathing entities in a more intuitive way.

For example, the sequence where Luluca meets the player and gives them medicine is a scene where we refined every detail. We didn't just express the character through dialogue; we researched how she would act based on her personality and the situation of meeting the player for the first time. We believe that without these details, you cannot truly breathe life into a character. We plan to continue refining these aspects.

Lin Shuyin = When setting up a character, the details go beyond just design; we think about what they say and how they move. We believe immersion is experienced more authentically through gaze, gestures, and interactions rather than just dialogue or design, and that this is what conveys the feeling of truly being together.

Q. How are you dividing roles and collaborating with Nexon?

Chen He = Nexon is a veteran that has been managing companies and operating games for a long time. As such, our cooperation is proceeding very smoothly. In particular, they have organized and delivered feedback on various issues, including optimization, and we plan to adjust character dialogue, motion, and tone based on this data.

Lin Shuyin = We are still a relatively small company with limited experience in the Korean market. Nexon provides a lot of advice on UI, localization, and how to navigate marketing and cultural differences.

Q. In recent subculture games, the story is a key point. What is the core of the story you want to convey in Azur Promilia?

Chen He = There are so many subculture games on the market today, and in this genre, building a history is crucial. To make a character feel alive, you must provide the context that allows players to understand their personality and background.

The keywords we want to convey to players in Azur Promilia are harmony and companionship. We wanted to provide an experience where players grow alongside characters and live together with various beings. While the main and side stories will gradually unfold the world's lore, we hope players will look forward to the larger worldview as they journey with their characters and Kibo.

Q. You mentioned improvements to combat in the CBT. From the developer's perspective, what were the issues, and how are you fixing them?

Chen He = We received feedback that the entry barrier was somewhat high. First, users felt overwhelmed by too much information at once. We also identified that the high volume of on-screen information, combined with camera work and other issues, made the impact feel somewhat weak.

Our top priority is lowering the entry barrier. We have also adjusted the combat rhythm, significantly improving the combat flow, numerical feedback, visual effects, and camera work. We hope that users will enjoy a more comfortable and better combat experience in Azur Promilia in the future.

Q. When do you plan to release Azur Promilia?

Lin Shuyin = Our most important goal right now is to make the best possible improvements based on the CBT feedback. We began recruitment for the next test yesterday, and we want to gather more feedback to complete these improvements as quickly as possible. Our producer is working very hard to prepare for this, and we will do our best to meet our users as soon as we can.

Q. 'Kibo' are essential to Azur Promilia. How did you design them to encompass both cuteness and an ecosystem?

Chen He = Many of the developers on the Promilia team are huge fans of monster-catching games. Since we are so passionate about them, we thoroughly researched games already on the market.

In fact, fans of monster-catching games naturally have a dream of creating their own monsters—whether based on their own tastes or monsters that many people would love. We generated many ideas based on the desire to fulfill that dream. Of course, since harmony cannot be achieved if only personal desires are prioritized, we hold many discussions after brainstorming. The most important question we ask is, 'Would everyone want to obtain this Kibo?' After selecting them, we reconfirm the direction by analyzing market feedback and user preferences. Only after this process do we finalize the plan and begin art production.

Lin Shuyin = What is important is that we consider not just characters, but also Kibo, as living, breathing beings rather than digital data. We believe every Kibo should have a personality, background, and history. We put a lot of effort into concept design to complete Kibo that are both cute and integral parts of the ecosystem.

Q. Are there any other features you plan to add to the dormitory content? Also, I expect some lower-grade characters might not get skins; how do you plan to handle that?

Lin Shuyin = We will be increasing the variety of dormitory furniture, which we will reveal later. We also want to satisfy users who love lower-grade characters by releasing skins for them, though we will share details on that later. Beyond the dormitory, we plan to reveal features like user-customizable circles in the future.

Q. You have great pride in your visuals and art. How would you describe the art philosophy of Azur Promilia in one word? Also, the graphics seem to take cute characters to the peak of cuteness and sexy characters to their absolute limit, starting from Azur Lane. I also sense a strong obsession with bare feet; I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

Lin Shuyin = The most important thing when creating a character is that we view them through a screen. Our philosophy is that the character's personality and traits must be immediately recognizable at a glance. We put a lot of effort into this, and the character's history is also important. We are very dedicated to assigning personality and concepts.

As the market changes rapidly, we are diligent in researching user preferences. We conduct surveys and interviews, and we watch many other games to build a consensus from the user's perspective on what makes a character attractive and popular. Only with such exploration and effort can a character be truly completed.

Q. Could you share your thoughts on participating in Bilibili World and explain what you focused on when designing the booth.

Lin Shuyin = The response on-site was incredibly hot. For Bilibili World, we had been preparing for a long time, from the booth setup to the advertisements seen at the venue. The key was to maximize our strengths and ensure that visitors could quickly recognize them. The event merchandise, exhibits, and events were all designed with that in mind.

We have consistently worked to highlight our unique characteristics, and I believe users felt our sincerity and dedication. Because of that, I feel we received a great response at the booth this time as well.

Q. Lastly, please say a word to the Korean users waiting for Azur Promilia.

Lin Shuyin = Thank you to all our Korean users. We haven't known much about the Korean market until now, but we will continue to work hard and improve as we move forward with you. We ask for your continued support for Azur Promilia.