# Let’s meet safely!
# A “brand space,” not just a game booth
# Sending a green light to NEW STATE players
# More stories to come as G-STAR continues
# Let’s meet safely
G-STAR is the largest game show in Korea, where game developers can interact with fans directly. Although it was sadly held online only in 2020 due to COVID-19, this year’s event was able to host visitors in person as it was held in a combined online/offline format. KRAFTON considered numerous ways to safely interact with the fans and reward their patience with a diverse range of events.
Two months prior to the opening of G-STAR, there was a meeting of five teams overseen by Hyeonseop Jeong of the XTRM Creative Team, who led the G-STAR taskforce. The most important agenda at the meeting was safety. Despite the country’s phased return to normal life (the so-called “With Corona” plan), the pandemic situation made everything uncertain until November, when G-STAR was to be held. Therefore, it was necessary to devise a plan B in case the infection control measures were strengthened. Even if the offline event was to go ahead as planned without being canceled, it was still necessary to consider the possibility of a restriction on the number of in-person visitors. In order to deliver the prepared programs to the fans in an online format, it was decided to install streaming and open studio equipment inside the booths. KRAFTON also decided to include programs in with celebrities and streamers were invited to meet with fans virtually online.
Thankfully, fans were able to attend the event offline as planned. KRAFTON closely maintained G-STAR’s booth operation policy and set its own standard to improve safety. In particular, it arranged its booths and programs in a “one-way” system of movement where visitors could minimize contact with each other while moving in one direction to view the displays. The restrictions on the number of visitors limited the number of fans in attendance, but those who were able to visit in person thoroughly enjoyed the KRAFTON booths at a leisurely pace from start to finish.
“At KRAFTON, our philosophy is that we grew alongside the game industry and we have to contribute as much as we received back to the industry. As G-STAR is the largest game show held in Korea, we felt that we have to do our very best in spite of the difficult situation, since navigating through a challenge like this is even more meaningful in times of crisis.” – Hyeonseop Jeong (XTRM Creative Team)
# A “brand space,” not a just game booth
To prepare for G-STAR, KRAFTON gathered a team of around 50 members from various departments within the company. We then began to hold semi-weekly meetings to develop the main concept and programs of KRAFTON’s G-STAR exhibition this year. Despite working on different areas including site management, development, marketing and design, we all came together to tirelessly exchange ideas so that we could head towards a unified direction.
The main star of this year’s G-STAR was PUBG: NEW STATE. We decided to refer to NEW STATE players as “Survivors” and we wanted to create an event that we could participate in alongside these survivors. In order to properly reflect NEW STATE’s gameplay and lore into our booths and programs, we focused on the keyword “future,” since NEW STATE takes place in the near future of year 2051, while the original PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS is set in the period from the 90s to the 2000s.
We reviewed various space ideas to introduce NEW STATE, which is set in 2051. Also, in order to solidify NEW STATE’s identity in the early stages of its introduction to the fans, we set our overall direction towards planning a brand space for NEW STATE as opposed to a simple game hands-on space.
We coordinated the entire booth in green lighting to fit NEW STATE’s overall color scheme and chose the core materials of steel beams to represent its post-apocalyptic setting and polycarbonate panels to convey a futuristic ambience. Upon setting the key theme for the booth design, the BX Dept. and Hyeonseop Jeong began to narrow down the specifics of the visuals.
# Sending a green light to NEW STATE players
We divided the KRAFTON booths largely into three sections, consisting of the open studio for various programs with fan participation, alongside the game hands-on space and the “tram space” where visitors can experience various programs such as the 360 emote dance challenge. The tram space refers to the unmanned trams that provide transport on the “Troi” map in NEW STATE. These unique trams are placed at various locations across the Troi map.
The tram space was installed on the right side of the booth to allow fans to experience the emote dance challenge where a special camera spins 360 degrees inside the space around the participants. In addition, a full-scale drone supply delivery box was created to represent the Drone Store, which is another iconic part of NEW STATE.
We also sought to add a variation to the space through lighting. During normal times, the booths were lit in green to represent NEW STATE, whereas the lighting was switched to red during programs related to the PUBG Global Championship (PGC) 2021 to reflect the PGC’s signature color. When the lights changed, the entire booths were filled with red, marking the transformation of the promotional space for NEW STATE into an esports arena for PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
The lighting installation work also presented a challenge up to the opening of the booths. When the installation work began, we found that the illumination in the venue itself was lower than we had expected. Since the booths’ lighting is a key element that expresses NEW STATE’s identity, we decided to install additional lights. Fortunately, we were able to install lights that we had brought for other purposes and present the lighting colors and changes that we had painstakingly arranged.
“Rather than directly representing the game, we sought to create a space where we could present the culture of our game as a higher-level concept. This is what sets KRAFTON’s booths apart from the rest. It was important to consider how we could infuse KRAFTON’s own unique culture into the culture of the game show.”
– Kyungwoo Kim (BX Design Team)
# More stories to come as G-STAR continues
On the day of G-STAR’s opening, we were so ecstatic to greet our fans for the first time in two years that we forgot all about the past two months of agonizing work to prepare for G-STAR. While it was a shame that we couldn’t see their happy faces since everyone was wearing masks, many visitors viewed the booths and enjoyed the programs in safety. In particular, military cosplayers stayed at the KRAFTON booths to add even more to the lively atmosphere.
The photo zone inside the tram space was a breakthrough success. The photo zone is an area for visitor photographs that was decorated using NEW STATE’s brand colors and designed for fans to freely photograph themselves. The lighting and colors inside the photo zone were perfected through several tests in order to allow fans to take precious photographs. In response, the fans were enthusiastic about taking photographs and some even wanted to take the entire photo zone set-up home. We were proud of our successful efforts to present as memorable an experience as possible despite the limited space.
KRAFTON plans to continue providing fans with new experiences at G-STAR each year, since it is a valuable opportunity in which we can showcase the game that we developed and interact with the fans. Although G-STAR 2021 has only just ended, we’re already looking forward to G-STAR 2022, where we hope to meet with even more fans. We’re constantly prepared to make various endeavors to deliver KRAFTON’s new message to fans we have yet to meet.
“We truly treasure the opportunity to meet with the fans who love KRAFTON’s games. This process also helps KRAFTON to grow. I think it’s deeply meaningful for KRAFTON to keep working towards the continuation of the culture of game shows. This is a difficult time, but we would like to keep organizing more and more fun events alongside other game developers. KRAFTON still has so many stories to tell. We will strive to earn the support of our fans by taking on challenges and learning as we always have.”
– Kyosun Koo (BX Development Team)
▶ A Feast of Events! Inside KRAFTON’s Fun-Packed G-STAR 2021 Booths
