At the recent Asia Pacific Game Show in Singapore, Jaeho Hwang, CEO of Mintrocket, the developer of "Dave the Diver", announced some follow-up plans: he intends to develop a series of new games around the IP of "Dave the Diver", featuring different characters and exploring diverse game genres.
Hwang's vision has been supported by parent company Nexon, which spun Mintrocket out of the development team and gave it greater autonomy. This change allows Mintrocket to focus more on game development rather than having to pitch ideas and business plans to the parent company.
Hwang revealed that although Dave the Diver is loved by players for its casual style, he hopes to dig deeper into the character's personal story in future works. He plans to create an indie game for each character, telling how they met and what life they lived before the Blue Hole.
Hwang Jae-ho specifically mentioned the character Cobra, whose backstory is based on his previous project, Demon Factory. Cobra was a former arms dealer who retired due to a revocation of his license and eventually came to the Blue Grotto due to a series of incidents. Hwang Jae-ho hopes to enrich the game's narrative by telling the story of Cobra, as well as the backgrounds of other characters.
Although Mintrocket now has greater autonomy, Mr. Hwang said he wants the company to remain small to facilitate communication and consensus. He envisions an ideal team size of between 20 and 30 people, one that can be flexible and expand if necessary. Hwang did not rule out that there may be more teams of similar size in the future, or get involved in the distribution business, but he stressed that Mintrocket will not develop into a huge team.