Gamania Day 1: Dream Drops and Langrisser Schwarz
Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom flew to Taiwan to attend the Gamania Game Show, where he got to experience the best of what's to come from Gamania. Today he focuses on Dream Drops and Langrisser Schwarz!
Just a half a week ago, I flew to Taiwan to join over a hundred members of the press from around the world to attend the very first Gamania Game Show, an event dedicated to showcasing Gamania's four new self-developed titles and other media creations. To most North Americans, Gamania may not be a household name, but in Asia they are the publishers of the Chinese edition of Lineage and MapleStory, two of the most influential eastern MMORPGs in the market. Over the past few years, Gamania has been expanding its ambitions beyond that of a publisher - as evidenced by the recent launch of its in-house developed Lucent Heart in North America - and the Gamania Game Show was a strong demonstration of where the company wants to be in the next few years.
Traditionally, Gamania has showcased its projects at the Tokyo Game Show, but with the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake destabilizing much of Japan's electrical output, they felt that the time was right to establish their very own company-focused convention. The day before the show, we went on a tour of the Gamania Headquarters in Taiwan. I was particularly impressed with the overall scope of the company, which includes: an R&D lab for user interface optimization; an eSports training room where their company sponsored eSports team, the Gama Bears, practice at Starcraft II, Kart Rider, and Counter-Strike Online; a company café (Gama Island); an in-house animation studio (creators of Hero: 108, a series co-produced with Cartoon Network); and even a walk-in customer support center, where players can air their in-game grievances to politely smiling Gamania representatives. Competitive Starcraft II fans might remember that Sen, one of the strongest Zerg players in the world, recently left FnaticMSI to join the Gama Bears, and we got the chance to drool at his incredible APM (actions per minute) before we became a flood hazard.
Day one at the Gamania Game Show kicked off at the gorgeous Hua Shan Historic Park, where the festivities began with a spectacular light show, a flashy dance group, and some mesmerizing ribbon acrobats. On the itinerary for the day was to check out the first two of Gamania's in-house developed titles, Dream Drops and Langrisser Schwarz, so I'll get right to them.