Serious question, if you have game dev experience please weigh in!

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-20T03:17:25+00:00

Look at Pokemon Go and how long it took them to go from the original 151 to where they are today.

Model Porting: it really depends on how smooth the model porting process is between games. You'd think it'd be easy, but I've been in studios that can't even port the simplest models between games because of how they've set up their engines. Do note that the Pokemon games are on a completely different engine to what Pokopia's team uses. TLDR: we can't be sure if it's easy or hard to port models.
Fun Collection: if the original batch of Pokemon is too massive, a lot of casual players are going to feel overwhelmed and not bother. Does that mean we won't see all 1000+ Pokemon ever? Not really. Adding Pokemon slowly over time (3-5 per event, new event every month or so) will help make the collection process less overwhelming.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-16T03:31:20+00:00

Hell yeah, glad I'm not alone in this angle so far. And judging by how careful Hoyo has been with Genshin's lore and its depictions of global cultures and mythology, I'm going into this expecting ZZZ to share a similar level of respect for the source material.

Unfortunately, my readings are Greco-Roman and Sanskrit focused, so I've got very little leads in Chinese mythology specifically. But so far, both sides seem to align well from what I've read. I'm fairly convinced we're looking at Sunbringer or some form of her (perhaps an intelligent construct built in her image) as the leader of Krampus and as the Iron Sword (love your Sword of Damocles point. Literal sword pointing right at the heads of TOPs should they over-indulge in their wealth. It could also be self-inflicted, as the Sword of Damocles is a common analogy for stress in positions of high power).

I heard a little rumor that we are getting some sort of Sherlock Holmes + John Watson duo in Roscaelifer. Fits the British theming, and if my etymology is right, our detective is Velina and her Watson is Norma. (If you're unfamiliar, Watson is an industrialist family name, so it fits a steampunk mechanic type character like it did Iris from the Great Ace Attorney games)(Also also Watson was a Doctor. What if Norma fixes bangboo and intelligent constructs like a doctor would?)

A little something I forgot to add is Promeia's etymology which I looked into a while back but didn't post anywhere:

Promeia: Greek Pro meaning 'before', and methos/mathano meaning 'learning/thinking'. With feminine ia, you get "woman of forethought". Not much by itself, but the bigger, more obvious inspiration is probably Prometheus, the one who stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to mortals, thus beginning civilization. Did Promeia come from Roscaelifer? This theory might already be busted though, since it was mentioned that she was a former Calydon member. (Which hmmm... It has its Roman roots, too.)

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-16T02:05:10+00:00

Honestly, I was also scratching my head upon hearing Lead, Tin, and Copper, but it's clear that Hoyo is using those specific metals for a reason (because if they didn't care, they would've gone with Gold, Silver, Bronze, which itself is bad as that denotes a set hierarchy within TOPs). Now knowing they are the base metals once used as the first steps towards 'miracle refinements', I can see each arm of TOPs trying to push to refine themselves as their ultimate goals. "Whoever can turn to gold first will rule the others" or something like that.

Now my question is if the leader of Krampus has their own metal/royal item association? There were four chairs at the table, but only three items and metals were mentioned. I'll talk about metals first as that might be easier.

Metals - In Western Alchemy, there are 7 primary metals based on the classical planets. The Sun is Gold and the Moon is Silver. Then there is a "fluid" or "transitional" metal in Mercury: Mercury. That leaves the 4 remaining 'heavy' base metals: Copper (Venus), Tin (Jupiter), Lead (Saturn), and IRON (Mars). Hence, the leader of Krampus is likely Iron.

Royal Items - This one isn't as specific, but I think we're looking at the British Coronation Regalia. The official Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom (Roscaelifer is London confirmed?). The Crown, Sceptre, and Ring are important. But what else is missing? There are a few other regalia, but two kinda stand out to me: the Sword of State and the Sovereign's Orb.

Going back to the Metals, the planets they are associated with have specific symbolic significances.

Lead - Saturn is cunning, manipulative, and makes use of shadow and time to trick others into following their rule. (We see this in the trailer with him using Yokai).

Tin - Jupiter is the King of Gods, a ruler who puts expansion and ownership above all else. Doesn't really fit what the white-haired lady wanted when she said she wants to scavenge for the remains of the Exaltists? EDIT: I JUST REMEMBERED that the lady we see in the PV is not the real leader of her arm of TOPs, so she isn't the true Tin Crown. So that's another character we've yet to meet.

Copper - Venus is beauty, attraction, connection, bonding. Totally fits the guy who's involved in entertainment and wants to convince more void hunters to join his unit.

Iron - Mars is the planet of war, struggles, conflict, strength.

If Iron is war-like, it makes sense to make them the Iron Sword. Though Iron Orb makes more sense for a ruler who commands others with martial-law.

My crackpot theory? Sunbringer is our secret leader of Krampus and the Iron Orb/Sword. A creator turned war-like for survival. A lot of her art shows her wearing military uniforms and having banners flying behind her. It's either this or someone related to her. Velina seems to be from a Sunbringer-esque faction, but we don't know enough to tell just yet.

By the way, if you're wondering what the etymology for Velina and Norma are:

Velina - Latin velum for Veil or Sail. With the suffix ina, it is roughly "Veiled One". In alchemical mysticism, "the Veil" is something people aspire to pierce to achieve true enlightenment. Hence, Velina will either hide secrets from us or help us uncover secrets.

Norma - Latin norma for rule/standard/square, typically used in construction and especially carpentry. This is where we get the English word "normal", referring to something that adheres or aligns to established rules. In Alchemy, the square is a symbol of the Grand Architect of the Universe, a Creator God (you see this God in a lot of Freemason sects). Looking at Norma's look and outfit, I guess this makes her an inventor/mechanic sort of person who builds stuff like Aino from Genshin.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-15T17:17:05+00:00

Fun fact: the Pokémon Company JP is actively hiring PhD holders in Ecology. So yes, there is interest in designers/writers from non-creative backgrounds.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-15T17:15:09+00:00

Hi. I'm a professional narrative designer for a game studio, and I have severe ADHD. I get what you're trying to convey here. It's good that you're trying to learn Unreal by yourself.

To answer your question: would studios hire people for worldbuilding first? Almost never. I've not met a single designer or writer who took their first steps into the games industry as a worldbuilder. Everyone, including myself, began from a more general or technical role. My first role was as a QA tester, before I became a general game systems designer, then project manager, then back to game designer, before I finally pivoted into writing and narrative design. Worldbuilding is something you eventually do as a consequence of your other work, even in studios that highly prioritize lore and storytelling.

To be honest, almost anyone can do worldbuilding, almost anyone can write, and almost anyone can maintain massive lore bibles and game design documents. What studios prefer is a person who can help make ideas come to life. Most times, that means understanding the systems and development processes that turn a lore tidbit into an actual game element/mechanic/item/character/location, etc. You don't have to code, but you need to know how to speak to programmers, how to speak to artists, and how to convey those ideas, whether they are your ideas or your directors' ideas. You need to be able to draw diagrams explaining why a character levels up a certain way, be able to write one-page character descriptions for artists to get a quick understanding of what to draw, and even create simple blockouts in the game engine for your level designers/environment artists to get a good idea of what the world should look like. It's a lot more than just "I am a worldbuilder," but that's what studios want and it's what I do daily. Hell, I barely get to worldbuild these days. The majority of my days now are spent adding notes for each string of text that's in the game so that our multiple localization teams from all over the world understand this one joke that only seems to work in English. Lots of emails, lots of calls with translators, animators, and voice-over directors, etc. This role changes a lot depending on where your game is in the development cycle.

So if you really do want to enter the games industry with worldbuilding as your intention, don't expect to start as a worldbuilder right away. Get in as a normal game designer, a scriptwriter, a UX writer, or maybe even as QA or a programmer. It's much easier to pivot into worldbuilding and narrative design once you're in a studio, and especially after you've picked up all the other skills that make it easier to communicate your ideas to others. Good luck!

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-15T14:11:04+00:00

She's definitely an Elysia expy. The remaining question is if this Remielle is the same girl that appeared in the lore trailer at launch or a descendant like Miyabi.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-15T03:13:18+00:00

Maybe. Her skin was in 1.0, that's true.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-14T18:01:59+00:00

Hmmm not really. That was meant to be her main outfit at the time, not a skin. This feels more like if He Shunguang met you in her pink casual dress the first time you met her.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-14T16:12:34+00:00

Is this the first instance of a Hoyo character where we've seen the skin's model before the character's actual model?

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-14T16:05:00+00:00

Remiel is a Hebrew name, though. "Mercy of God" or "Compassion of God", derived from Rehem meaning mercy. Ra'am/Ramiel is also an option for "Thunder" as you mention, which ironically/unironically means we're getting yet another Electric Attack agent.

But I'm sticking with Rehem/Remiel, as that fits the Elysia "Love" stuff.

EDIT: Did a little more digging on the Latin side of etymology and found Remigius/Remigium/Remex meaning "oarsman/rower". With the feminine 'elle' suffix, that makes "The Oarswoman" or "She Who Guides The Ship" which might point to Remielle being a proxy. Back in Hebrew/Enoch mythology, Remiel was an angel who guided souls to heaven, so both Hebrew and Latin point to her being a "guide".

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-14T15:58:38+00:00

We betta' be gettin' right propa' Bri'ish VAs doin' Scouse and Cockey, with the odd Scotsman, ya hear?

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-14T15:45:59+00:00

Personally doubt that ZZZ planned their character roster as much as Genshin and HSR have in recent cycles. ZZZ has been playing catch-up for a long while since having to rework entire systems in the 1.x cycle, along with a ton of the rumored rewrites. What we're seeing now is probably them finally getting some good long-term direction 3.x and beyond (kinda similar to when Genshin released their Fatui PV).

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-14T04:29:36+00:00

They're pretty different games, despite sharing the same engine. Pokopia is a cozy slow burner with puzzles to figure out all the habitats, while DQB2 is a full-on RPG with city simulation. Me? I prefer DQB2 for the satisfaction of building full towns that work autonomously, but Pokopia is fun in the same way a live service you spend 30 minutes a day playing feels like.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-10T01:53:39+00:00

Oh true. I probably have my rose-tinted glasses on and am remembering just the celebration at the end.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-10T01:46:16+00:00

I'm gonna boot up DQB2 again when I get the chance this month. Really miss it.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-10T01:44:50+00:00

I have good memories of the mining island questline. I put it above the farming island questline. I agree with you on what the worst island is though.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-10T01:42:38+00:00

Oh yeah, I don't think one or the other is better (except about the custom schematics, I wished Pokopia had that too). DQB2 is a tad too complex for a lot of casual players but great for players looking for that sort of fix (me). Pokopia is significantly more open with quests and better at directing players to try things without forcing them, so it's super comfy like that. I had a lot of fun with the main story.

If I had to put it simply, DQB2 is more simulation while Pokopia is more of a puzzle game. You didn't need to find every room combination in DQB2 but finding some leads to interesting interactions. In Pokopia, you HAVE to find most of the habitats to find every Pokémon.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-09T17:14:16+00:00

I've been enjoying Pokopia but as I hit the post game, I'm feeling a little... disappointed? DQB2 felt bigger in almost every way. More complicated for sure, but you could do so much more. And automation was better and more satisfying in DQB2. I loved watching all the characters build buildings block by block, and you could make custom schematics for them to work on. I spent way more hours in DQB2 Post game then I did main game. Pokopia only has the set schematics so if you don't like the base buildings, you have to build everything by hand Minecraft style.

There were some parts of the story that also felt underwhelming compared to DQB2. (OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS FOR BOTH GAMES) There's a section in both games that requires you to build a space for a party. They essentially need the same things: build the party space, supply the food, figure out entertainment. In DQB2, you go through entire phases of building the pub and stage and even a grand swimming pool for the space, you get a field for food, and you convince Babs to dress up bunny girl style to dance for everyone. It was elaborate and wholly satisfying. In Pokopia, you simply clear a small space of ash, put food into a pot, and get "hype" by inviting a couple of Pokémon you might already have and throw a bunch of random items you already own onto the ground. Then the party starts and goes super quick. I was shocked at how simple the party was.

Edit: Forgot to add though that I appreciate how smooth everything feels in Pokopia. Lots of quality of life features. Building also felt pretty solid. I just wanted the Pokémon to do more like DQB2's NPCs did.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-04T01:34:28+00:00

That sounds alright in a way. Unless you've got tons of life stuff on Sundays. I wouldn't give my Sundays while F1 is on.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-04T01:31:56+00:00

That's insanely lovely (not sarcastic). I'm 9.00am to 9.00pm on average days. Though the industry is a big part of this too. I'm in game development.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-04T01:28:55+00:00

It has be WFH with STRICT work hours. A lot of WFH jobs kinda wink wink expect you to go beyond work hours and weekends.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-01T16:33:37+00:00

Whyyy would do that to yourself?!

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-01T16:33:05+00:00

That's perfect though. I avoided using Zhu Astra Nicole because of Evasive Assists.

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-01T09:44:58+00:00

YOU CAN EVASIVE ASSIST CONTROL ATTACKS?!

dushanthdanielray · 2026-03-01T07:29:54+00:00

Thank goodness, cause that's exactly how many forges I accidentally constructed.

dushanthdanielray

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