Q: Hello, it is nice to meet you! My name is Steparu, would you like to introduce yourself to the people reading this interview?

My name is KimDaeil, I am the director of various games like RYL (Risk Your Life), R2 (Reign of Revolution), and C9 (Continent of the Ninth) published by Hangame Korea. I have been a game developer for 13 years and resigned from NHNGames in 2010. From there, I founded a new company called Pearl Abyss Corporation around September 2010. As of the moment we have around 50 people who are currently working on this game. We have 30 graphics designers, 10 programmers, 8 project planners, and etc.

Q: Black Desert has received a lot of attention ever since Pearl Abyss released the first preview trailer, did you expect that your game to be this be popular?

We didn't expect our game to receive this much attention, we actually wanted wait out on publicly announcing this game since we wanted to develop more things. A lot of the new titles today have really good quality and the amount on detail on their games is really good. We thought that we shouldn't release too much information on our game just yet. GameOn Japan which is the first company that we made a publishing contract with suggested that we release some information about Black Desert Online on the same day we had our contract agreement. Then we decided to show off some of our games content to the public.

Q: I have been really curious as to what kind of game engine Black Desert Online is running on, would you like to tell me more about it?

Our company uses our own game engine we don't have a specific name for the engine just yet, but we are currently calling it the "Black Desert" because we are working on that game with it. Our company consists of a lot of veteran game programmers and developers so creating a new engine wasn't that hard. We needed a special engine just for Black Desert mainly because it is a seamless world and needed an engine that can render a lot of characters very fast and easy.

Q: In Black Desert Online is it possible for players to walk from one continent to the other without load time?

Black Desert has seamless world, so players can run around the world without loading.

Q: I'm amazed at the amount of detail this game has, can you tell me more about story?

The story of Black Desert revolves around Chalpheon Republic and Valencia Kingdom battling it out for resources. Both countries are fighting because of the Black Desert which contains a lot of "Black Stones" a powerful magical stone that provides energy. The Chalpheon Republic is trying to make profit out of the stones, while Valencia Kingdom is trying to prevent it. The Black Desert is also known as the Red Desert because of the amount of bloodshed that is happening on these lands between the two countries.

Q: I have noticed in the preview trailer that this game has an Action Combat System, is there anything special about Black Deserts Combat System that makes it unique compared to others?

One of the things we wanted to worked hard on was the realism in action combat. We tried very hard to make the combat skills look realistic and dynamic as possible. Our main goal is to give our players full control of the combat system so that they can attack, dodge, and block monster attacks manually. We were inspired by a lot of games some like Red Dead Redemption. We want to give players more control of the battle and movement system so we added some cool mechanics while riding horses. For example, we even added horse drifting in the game!

Q: I am really curious about the playable races and classes in your game, are there going to be any character restrictions for them? For example, will the playable classes be restricted by race and gender.

There are various races like the giant, hobbit, elf, dwarf, and humans. We designed them all just to be part of the world and each race doesn't have special skills or stats yet. All the characters are classified by different classes which are fighter, ranger, sorcerer, beast, and tamer. We are still working on other new classes. We are considering a gender lock system but we can't give you any specific details on it just yet. Also the name of the classes may change in the future.

Q: A lot of people who are looking forward to trying out this game and are very interested in learning more about the first Closed Beta Test. Has Pearl Abyss already made plans on when and where will this game be tested first?

We are still working on contracts with other publishers from other countries, so the testing schedule could change at anytime. For now, our goal is to have a public version by 2013 in South Korea. Depending on how much progress we make, I think our first test is scheduled sometime in the first half of 2013.

Q: Black Desert Online's siege system looks like it has a lot of potential. Is it really true that this game will have some kind of friendly fire with cannons?

The cannon system is different compared to other games, players are not just shooting cannons. Players will have to manually load it with cannon balls, move the cannon, aim, adjust the angle, and etc.

Q: Will this game have some kind of Player Kill system? Are there any penalties to players that enjoy PK'ing random players or penalties to players that are killed by PK'ers?

PK is possible but we are still discussing on how much of it we will allow. We think that it should be just right so that players don't leave the game because of too much PK. We are also considering making PK available during guild wars, so other players can PK other players who are in GvG. It is still too early us to decide. Usually there is a chance to drop items when a player dies, though items that are binded on the character won't drop. We think that players losing a hard earned bind on pick up item will be too frustrating so we decided to go with this kind of system.

Q: What kind of features will Black Desert offer to it's users?

One of the unique features that Black Desert will have is building a unique relationships with NPCs which I will go into detail shortly. Black Desert is a very big MMORPG, so a lot of players will enjoy exploring new areas. Once a player builds a close relationship with an NPC, they will sell the player special items that can't not be acquired through the general shop. If a players develops a very close relationship with an NPC, then they will gift that player special items, quests, access to special areas, or even offer their assistance in your journeys. You can't be friends with all of the NPC's in this game. For example, there are other NPC's that don't like each other in the game and if you end up doing more favor for the other NPC, your favor from the other NPC will worsen.

Q: I like Dragons! Actually everyone loves Dragons, are there going to be huge Dragons in this game? It would be nice if a Dragon terrorized a bunch of homes that is created by the community.

There is no dragon so far, but we may design one if it's needed (smiles). We are discussing about monster invasions and the different kinds of approach on it, so far it is looking very good.

Q: Are there any plans on releasing dungeons or any raid instances in this game?

Yes, there is! We are planning on a various kinds of dungeons in this game. We will have a lot of solo and party dungeons that are very challenging. We are also working on raid dungeons that will require a bigger party. Black Desert is a seamless world, so there is a big field which is the whole world that can be explored without loading. The world also has open field dungeons that do not require any loading. Then there are some dungeons that may require some loading.

Q: I've always been a big fan of cool looking outfits and stuff. Will Black Desert Online have any re-skinning features?

There are items that are for looks only, if a player wears those items they can change their look. Right now our designers are working hard on this feature, so expect a lot of cool looking outfits in the future.

Q: Most of the players nowadays look for very challenging content during the low and high level experience, does Pearl Abyss have any plans on adding huge field bosses that one shots players?

We are still discussing about this and it is looking positive so far but please understand we can't answer about this question just yet.

Q: I must Thank You once again and I really appreciate your time in answering all of my questions. Is there any you would like to say to the Black Desert Online fans?

Our main goal for Black Desert Online is to provide players with a very high quality MMORPG we want to make it very special and add as many unique content in the game. Thank you for your support and please look forward to our game.