WEMADE Connect, which caused a surprise sensation early last year with 'Lost Sword', has announced the release of 'Make Drama: MAD' this coming June. 'Make Drama: MAD' is a subculture collectible RPG crafted with the lighthearted, cheerful vibe of an 'isekai' (otherworld) story, themed around being an 'RPG you want to play.' From its initial reveal, the game drew attention for its characters, which feature the art style of illustrator 'Snowball,' who is already familiar to some users. Following a mishap in March where a Closed Beta Test (CBT) for the 15-rated version on One Store was cut short due to rating issues, the developers lifted the censorship, raised the rating to 'Adults Only,' and promised a broader spectrum of stories and characters.

Ahead of its June launch, 'Make Drama: MAD' is kicking off its official activities by participating in the ILLUSTAR FES held at KINTEX from the 23rd to the 24th. We met with the development team before the festival to hear more details about the game.

A gathering of experts in the field: Fluffy Duck and 'Make Drama: MAD'

Q. You are debuting your first title, 'Make Drama: MAD.' Before we dive in, what kind of company is Fluffy Duck?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = Our company is composed mostly of people who are truly passionate about subculture games. We were founded in 2023 with the goal of creating content that specifically targets adult players and ensures they find it genuinely fun.

Q. I remember meeting you back in the DMM Games Korea days. Years later, you've founded a company and are taking on the challenge of launching a new subculture game. What points did you focus on during development?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = We discussed this extensively even before the company was founded. As the subculture game market has grown and gained significant attention, competition is bound to intensify. We believed that the most important thing when making our game was to focus on 'what we do best.'

In other words, we judged that we would only have a fighting chance if we based our game on our accumulated experience and know-how. So, we naturally narrowed our target audience to adults and reached the conclusion that we should sharpen our focus and develop accordingly.

Q. The title 'Make Drama: MAD' is quite unique. What is the meaning behind it?

Narrative Lead Kim Jae-won = The title first came to mind with the idea of having users and characters engage in a lively, bustling story. It literally means that the user should 'make the drama' themselves. It’s not just about collecting and raising characters; we wanted users to build relationships with the characters while playing and enjoy the narrative by creating their own stories.

The subtitle 'MAD' implies a level of fun that is 'crazier' than usual.

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = We wanted users to see the title and feel a bit of curiosity, wondering, 'What kind of game is this?' So, we intentionally made it a bit enigmatic.

Q. Following the publishing contract in March, the CBT, and now pre-registration, launch preparations are moving quickly. When did you start development?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = After founding the company in 2023, we spent about half a year in pre-production during the second half of the year. We began full-scale development in early 2024.

Q. If you had to explain the motto of 'Make Drama: MAD,' what would it be?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = It’s quite difficult to define our motto in a single word, as there are so many different elements involved (laughs).

Creative Director Jung Ji-hun = The first thing the development team discussed was, 'Let's not make a difficult game.' As subculture games become more sophisticated these days, playtimes are getting longer, and there are many types that require a significant commitment and deep diving from the moment you start. This trend seems even more pronounced in games that aim to be blockbusters.

As a result, people start playing to enjoy themselves, but at some point, it feels like the tail is wagging the dog because it requires so much time. The market seems to be heading in that direction, but we questioned, 'Do we really need to go in such a heavy direction?' Of course, games that require that much effort provide their own kind of fun, but it would be exhausting if everything had to be a full-speed sprint.

Although the content has changed slightly as the story was refined, the core keyword of our initial narrative was 'freedom.' Even after polishing the narrative, our direction of ensuring users can enjoy the game freely and without burden has never changed.

Q. Since it's a subculture game, the 'story' shared with characters is important. How is that aspect shaping up?

Narrative Lead Kim Jae-won = The content revealed during the CBT covered the prologue and Chapter 1. Through that, we wanted to show test users an isekai story that follows the conventions of the subculture genre while offering a slightly different charm.

We chose this subject because it is familiar to users as it is common in the current market, and we thought it would be easy to approach, allowing users to enjoy it without pressure. While a wide spectrum of diverse stories will emerge in the latter half as the plot progresses, we chose this introduction to lower the initial barrier to entry.

Q. Looking at the character lineup, the spectrum is surprisingly wide. Is there a special reason for this?

Creative Director Jung Ji-hun = We actually worried about this a lot at first. If I only focused on my own art style, there would be many characters with emphasized body types, but I’m not the only one making this game. Since we aim for a game that can be enjoyed lightly and where users can freely relax, I thought the content should be diverse as well. The character pool became more varied accordingly.

Of course, once we enter live service, we will gradually add designs that meet user needs, but I wondered if it was right to only place characters in one direction from the start. So, we wanted to try various things initially. As an adult game, we put a lot of thought into scattering a wide range of characters that could stimulate various fetishes.

There are countless tastes and stories in the world, and we are thinking about how to show stories tailored to those diverse tastes from various angles. We are even planning episodes where characters with somewhat niche tendencies can show unexpected sides of themselves.

Above all, we wanted to show types of characters that are difficult to release in general beautiful girl genres due to live service constraints. Thinking about it, I wondered, 'Where should users who like unique, non-standard styles go?' Since we decided to make a 19+ rated game, I thought we should definitely scratch that itch for users within this niche genre.

Of course, that doesn't mean we won't release mainstream characters in the future. We are moving toward satisfying a wider variety of fetishes, and 'mainstream' is included within that diversity.

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = Because we set a wide spectrum for characters from the opening, we have created an environment where even if a unique or niche character suddenly appears during a mid-update, it won't feel out of place.

If we had a worldview and artwork focused excessively on one area, we would face constraints like 'Does this fit the worldview?' when trying new things later. We wanted to minimize those constraints. It might be the greed of the development team, but we are preparing a story where that diverse spectrum, while it may look a bit complex, can be unraveled organically. The key will be how much users can feel and enjoy this, and the entire development team is doing their best to prepare for it.

We are creating an environment where we can showcase a wider range of characters to satisfy diverse needs, including Valentina and Black Angel, so please look forward to it.

'An RPG you want to play' that is light, rich, and full of excitement

Q. You are working hard to build a differentiated art style for 'Make Drama: MAD.' Could you explain the direction of the art to attract users in more detail

Creative Director Jung Ji-hun = I didn't feel too much pressure regarding the art direction. We worked with the feeling of 'let's incorporate various individual tastes.' All eight original artists, including myself, actively expressed their own tastes, and we wanted to create a worldview and story where they could coexist diversely. That's why we didn't strictly unify the art style.

While unifying art styles is a trend in games these days, I believe that also has pros and cons. When you want to show a variety of things like we do, I judged that a direction that brings out individual personalities gives much better results and a more colorful feeling. If you match everything down to facial structures and fine details, you might get overall uniformity, but the sharpness that hits niche tastes would decrease.

It might look a bit messy to some, but I judged that showing personality and characteristics clearly was more appropriate, so we set the direction that way. We thought, let's pour out what we each like without reservation.

Q. Unfortunately, the last CBT had to be ended early. I'm curious about how much you've 'powered up' the level of exposure for the official release version.

Creative Director Jung Ji-hun = Actually, the level of exposure in the version released during the last CBT was the most covered-up version to pass the review. It was, in a sense, a censored version.

From the beginning, we thought about an uncensored 19+ version, but since it's impossible to release as-is on general markets like Google, censorship was necessary, and the CBT version was the result of that compromise. The level of exposure in the official release version, based on platforms like One Store, reaches the level of top-off nudity seen in typical adult games.

However, aside from exposure, the level of intensity in terms of actions might actually be the 'mildest' version at launch. This will gradually increase through future updates.

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = Nevertheless, the release version is much higher in intensity compared to the last CBT version. Of course, the stats and tendencies set for each character are different. We have everything prepared, from pure-looking characters to those who are very bold.

We originally thought the CBT version was around a 15-rating, so we judged it would be fine to cover it up to that extent, but experiencing it firsthand, that wasn't the case. What we thought was 'not that erotic' while looking at it internally was judged differently by market standards.

Creative Director Jung Ji-hun = Before the issue of whether to control the intensity internally, users' standards and thresholds have already become quite high through various mass media, even outside of games. So, rather than trying to adjust the intensity ourselves, I think it's right to raise the intensity to meet the users' standards.

Narrative Lead Kim Jae-won = It is indeed a market that walks a tightrope on the edge of expression. We wanted to show the first glimpse of that in the CBT, and it was a bit regrettable that we couldn't show it fully.

Q. Quite a few users left feedback during the CBT. I'm curious how you are reflecting that feedback ahead of the launch.

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = The key is the connection to the artistic aspect I mentioned earlier. Although we set a 19+ direction, we want to avoid focusing solely on peripheral stimulation. Instead, we are trying to balance the moe code, narrative, and 19+ code.

The moe code we talk about includes various elements such as cuteness in addition to sexiness. We have built various systems and frameworks based on the fields the development team has done well in and is most confident in, but there was no guarantee that this would be 100% satisfactory to users. So, we wanted to verify this through the CBT.

After testing, there were various opinions, such as reinforcing the direction by further utilizing the 19+ concept or significantly increasing the quality. Of course, we could not overlook the game's balance or strategic aspects based on data. We informed users of the progress through developer notes, but there were parts we couldn't refine previously due to time constraints.

Based on this feedback, we are putting all our efforts into refining the system and improving the level of completion.

Q. You mentioned the game is light. Does that mean it's an idle game or a so-called 'clicker' game?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = 'Light' does not mean it's an idle game or a simple 'clicker.' It means we aim for a form where users can easily take a break and come back during their daily lives by simplifying controls and reducing fatigue, rather than requiring an excessive amount of time to play.

If a user has free time, they can richly enjoy the elements where the narrative and characters are tightly connected in-game. It was really regrettable that the last CBT period was too short, as we couldn't fully show the charm of the in-game content we prepared with care.

We couldn't show it in the CBT, but we plan to show the prepared content slowly in the official service. Through this, we expect users to be able to deeply feel the relationships with characters and their positions in this world. Users will also be able to share the worries that each character carries.

To summarize easily, the core system of the game is not heavy or complex, so anyone can feel familiar with it, but the deeper you dig, the stronger the immersion and the more you can enjoy the narrative. In addition, there will be small 19+ rewards and points as an adult game, and we will also provide the fun of character growth and a clear sense of achievement from raising them.

Q. Are there special exclusive productions or perks for high-grade characters?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = As those who know from the CBT are aware, for 'Desire' characters who are 3-star at birth, we have prepared 'Desire' and 'Affection' scenes, which are special reward scenes that you can experience through direct interaction linked to the affinity system.

The important point is that these adult scenes do not appear suddenly without any development or context. We want to maximize user immersion by clearly providing a narrative context for 'why this scene appeared' and 'why the character acted this way,' rather than just ending with a lewd scene.

The game system might be relatively light, but the narrative production team, including Kim Jae-won, is pouring all their capabilities into this narrative production. We plan to maintain the quality of this part even after the opening.

Narrative Lead Kim Jae-won = We are preparing a wide variety of connection stories between users and characters. Not only our narrative story team but also the art team is cooperating, and we are working while thinking deeply every day about how to show truly satisfying and beautiful scenes to users.

Q. What kind of person is the protagonist that the user plays in the game?

Narrative Lead Kim Jae-won = The protagonist, who will be the user's avatar, takes on the role of a 'problem solver' who leads the narrative in the worldview. As I mentioned earlier that it is an isekai story, it is a standard composition where you overcome crises while building relationships with beautiful girls after arriving in another world by chance.

If you dig deep into the story, since it's a world where everything is chaotic, comic stories that can be called 'MAD' often occur. Then it becomes serious, and the wide spectrum of story development that crosses boundaries from comedy to eroticism can be seen as the core of 'Make Drama: MAD.'

We are also preparing dating content that contains a series of processes to build affinity. It won't be a very unfamiliar type of system to users, but we are putting a lot of effort into linking it well with the main story and event stories to most effectively deliver the game's narrative and character traits to the user.

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = To add a bit more about the systematic update cycle, we plan to introduce regular updates and event stories every two weeks, including the main story. Through these updates, we want to unravel the episodes of each faction in the game one by one and show a structure where these ultimately connect to one huge story. Adding the connection stories of individual characters, we plan to let users see a multi-faceted narrative.

As is the case with collectible RPGs that pursue narrative, our game also features various characters appearing in unexpected scenes where the story unfolds to tell the story. We want to avoid methods that rely excessively on a small number of specific characters or stories that are too difficult. And because the story is not far from the users' reality, we expect anyone to understand it intuitively and easily.

As mentioned earlier, we want to clearly point out the contextual background of why such situations occur, rather than having important production scenes pop up without context.

Q. Besides the narrative, what are the killer contents that can be enjoyed continuously in the game?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = We are preparing seasonal rotation content with a simple structure that is familiar to users who have played games of this style. We have implemented representative types, such as content for attacking bosses, tailored to the world of 'Make Drama: MAD.

We are preparing it so that you can enjoy the narrative fun contained within, by carefully incorporating unique settings or various story elements into the content, rather than just stopping at a test bed to test the performance of the characters you have worked hard to raise.

Q. Since it's a character game, I'm curious about the favorite characters chosen by the development team. Who is each person's favorite?

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = My heart has changed frequently whenever a new character came out while developing the game for the past two years... but now I will choose 'Lumina,' whom I have set as my KakaoTalk profile picture. To describe Lumina's characteristics, she is a person with a somewhat dazed side, to the point where I wonder if it's okay for our game characters to be like this.

Personally, I don't like characters who are always accurate and smart; I like characters with a soft personality and a dazed charm, and Lumina fits that tendency well. Of course, her appearance style is also my taste.

Narrative Lead Kim Jae-won = My favorite character is 'Seven.' Rather than just the appearance, as a narrative lead who writes scenarios, I felt attached to her during the process of designing her character as having a 'tendency completely crazy about dopamine.'

In the story, Seven is a character who is crazy about gacha machines or probability games, and as I projected myself, who cannot stop playing collectible games and keeps opening my wallet, I naturally thought she resembled me and grew fond of her. I should stop spending my salary on this, but I can't stop (laughs).

Creative Director Jung Ji-hun = As an art director, I think it would be sorry to other characters if I said I only loved one specific character partially, so instead, I would like to mention 'Isabelle,' who will be introduced this autumn, as a character of 'love and hate.'

Isabelle was a character whose initial work was completed around January 2024. However, while we were working hard on development, a character with a somewhat similar design appeared in another company's game first. And it was a character with quite a lot of influence. So, the first thought I had was, 'Oh, if I don't completely modify this design, it will be a big problem.'

So, I had to fix everything from the existing visuals. It was an enormous amount of work to consciously change things so it wouldn't overlap with other games. But seeing that work, many people, including Kim Jae-won, said, "This character is so pretty, and you worked so hard, surely she's not a 3-star character, right?" The development staff all burst into laughter at that time, and looking back, we spent a tight, death-like deadline. Anyway, as much as we suffered, I want to polish it well until the end and show it to you.

Make Drama: MAD' announced for June release, will show additional hits to broaden the genre's base

Q. Due to the nature of the 19+ rated game, you have no choice but to target a limited user base. What strategies are you preparing at the publisher level to attract and keep them long-term?

Lee Eun-mi, WEMADE Connect Business Manager: It is true that while the subculture genre itself is core, the 19+ adult genre among them can appear to have a more limited target user base compared to other mass genres.

However, on the contrary, this market has the characteristic that the loyalty of the core fandom is very strong. We judged that the 19+ restriction could be an excellent direction to show the unique charm of the characters much more deeply and broadly without censorship, rather than just a tool to show stimulating productions.

Therefore, we have secured a publishing lineup focused on this genre. Rather than just emphasizing peripheral stimulation or the intensity of exposure, we intend to focus on delivering the charm of the characters more freely and deeply. We want to support them so that they can dig deeper and show the essential parts that fans are truly curious about and want to see.

'Make Drama: MAD', which we will introduce this time, also focuses on that direction from the beginning, concentrating on freely appealing the charm of various characters without addition or subtraction.

Q. On the other hand, there were issues such as the delay in pre-registration for the App Store release version due to problems like guidelines. I'm curious how you intend to respond to these parts in the future.

Lee Eun-mi, WEMADE Connect Business Manager: As you said, the Apple App Store's review guidelines themselves are quite tight compared to Google Play Store or One Store. Since they apply global guidelines uniformly, there are really many items that developers and publishers need to pay close attention to.

As an aside, we covered the clothes enough, so we thought it would pass at the 15-rated level, but we also received feedback from the domestic One Store side to service it as 19+ (adults only). Accordingly, we are preparing the build by reflecting the pre-review guideline items as meticulously as possible internally.

Since it is not the first time an adult game has been released on the market, we are carefully referring to the cases of other games that are successfully servicing and preparing countermeasures from various angles. The App Store pre-registration schedule is in the stage of further coordination with the market side, and we will do our best to prepare so that iPhone users can also meet us as soon as possible.

Q. As it is a subculture mobile game, users are very interested in the BM (Business Model). What direction did you design it in?

Lee Eun-mi, WEMADE Connect Business Manager: Our internal basic stance is to make a 'user-friendly game' compared to other competing works. We are setting it up so that users can basically start the game with a rich character pool from the beginning through various events held in-game, including the 3-star character 'Alicia' provided through pre-registration.

The basic BM structure viewed internally is also set in a form that is not excessive, intuitive, and friendly. By doing so, we are inducing users to enjoy it without stress. Also, it is a market trend to provide enough currency and rewards so that users can settle down and enjoy playing smoothly in the beginning.

Make Drama: MAD' is also following that stance. It is not a form that pressures or forces excessive billing on users in the short term, and we are prioritizing the direction that core users and enthusiasts who cherish our game can be satisfied and enjoy it consistently for a long time.

Q. Recently, user opinions curious about 'rerolling' related to new works are gradually increasing. What is your policy on this part?

Lee Eun-mi, WEMADE Connect Business Manager: We are already providing a quite large amount of currency to users at the beginning of the game, and we have no intention of systematically blocking or restricting the act of users rerolling. We intend to prepare so that users can freely choose the method they want

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = We have set the initial balance so that there is no major hindrance to proceeding with the game normally even if you don't necessarily repeat rerolling hard. Of course, if users want to reroll a bit harder according to their tendencies and start, that is also the user's freedom.

Q. Are there any plans for future offline events or exclusive merchandise production?

Lee Eun-mi, WEMADE Connect Business Manager: There are really many high-quality ideas we want to show and provide to users, but due to the nature of the genre, there is a cautious aspect to exposing them extensively to the outside on a public level. So, we are preparing a kind of two-track strategy.

In particular, in addition to offline events held in public spaces or general official merchandise, we are separately preparing special adult 'uncensored version merchandise' for enthusiast users, which is difficult to sell externally.

Since these uncensored goods are difficult to sell commercially, we will provide them to users in the form of prizes through in-game events in the future. Although there are many restrictions on offline events or merchandise production, we intend to comply with relevant review guidelines to a minimum and raise the intensity to the maximum within the line we can show to users.

We are seeking additional provision methods through separate safe methods other than official routes for this part, and we are continuing to coordinate how far intensity implementation is possible. As the developer side is also very clearly aware of what needs and directions users want and is actively taking care of them, we will prepare abundantly to meet the expectations of fans as much as possible.

Q. Lastly, please say a word to the users who are waiting for the official release.

Creative Director Jung Ji-hun = As the development team prepared it with care, I hope you look at it favorably. We will continue to work hard in the field so that we can continue to service it as a better game in the future, meeting the expectations of users.

Narrative Lead Kim Jae-won = We have compiled a truly vast and large number of stories by squeezing our strength to the limit that the development team can express. Even if all the prepared narratives do not perfectly fit the tastes of each user, I am sure that at least one code that users like will exist among that vast spectrum. I hope you find your own precious favorite character you like while playing the game after the official opening.

CEO Lee Jung-Hoon = We prepared hard for a very long time, but once it opens, there might be areas that look somewhat lacking to users in the beginning. We ask for the warm interest and much support of users, and we will try to continue to make better games by doing our best without settling for reality. A word of support sent by users is truly the greatest strength for the development team.

We recently held a comment event on the official cafe, and just by users posting a line of ordinary support phrases without grand content, it was a truly tremendous encouragement and comfort to the development room personnel who work all night. All employees are putting all their efforts into the final polishing work with the goal of an official release in early June, so please wait a little longer. Thank you.