WATSI will officially release its solo-developed building game, Hanok: From Thatch to Palace, on Steam at 10:00 AM on the 29th. The game features a step-by-step construction process for 11 hanok buildings and a village-building feature utilizing 210 types of architectural components.
In 'Guided Build', players construct structures starting from a three-bay thatched cottage, L-shaped thatched house, magpie hole house, gabled and hip-and-gable tile-roofed houses, Seowon (Confucian academy) lecture hall, palace halls and gate pavilions, to a two-story pavilion over a pond. Each component includes a one-line explanation of its real name and why it is placed in that specific spot.
In 'Village Build', players can place thatched and tile-roofed houses, government offices, corridors, walls and gates, streams and bridges, town fortress walls, fields, market stalls, and lanterns. Towns can be populated with 40 types of people and 8 types of animals, and players can also build to fulfill six types of requests, such as a farming village, market street, Yangban village, and palace main hall.
Completed villages can be viewed across four times of day: dawn fog, midday, sunset, and moonlight night. At night, light diffuses through Hanji paper windows and alley lanterns turn on. Players can also walk through the village or look around verandas and inside rooms as a king wearing royal dragon robes, while 11 traditional Korean music tracks play in the background during construction.
'Build by Hand' allows players to combine components to create any desired form of hanok, such as large thatched houses or U-shaped houses. Players can construct according to traditional architectural order or arrange freely with order rules turned off, and finished houses can be moved into the village.
The architectural components and construction sequence were compiled based on materials from the National Folk Museum of Korea, the Korea Heritage Service, and the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. Summarized content adapted for the game and unverified details are distinguished and displayed on the in-game 'Basis of Creation' screen. Code and in-game text were written using AI assistants under the direction and review of CEO Kim Gun-woo, while no generative AI tools were used for artwork or 3D production.
The game supports Korean and English on 64-bit Windows 10 or higher PC environments and is rated for all ages. Following launch, WATSI plans to add palace buildings, such as the queen's bedchamber and the crown prince's palace (Donggung), as well as village household items through updates.
