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A History of Korean Gaming

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Table of Contents

HG101 Index

가람과 바람 Garam & Baram
Founded: 1995 (team)
April 1999 (company)
Status: defunct
Key People: :
Team leader (in Mips, Kama)
양승운 Yang Seungun:
President (Garam & Baram company)
:
Team leader (in intoCore, VSCom)
:
Team leader (in Grigon Entertainment)
Website: kama.co.kr/~gab (offline)
gab.co.kr (offline)
www.grigon.co.kr (offline)

미라스페이스 Mira Space
Founded: 1998?
Status: defunct
Key People:
Team leader
Website: www.miraspace.com (offline)
www.grigon.co.kr (offline)

큰 바위 얼굴 Keun Bawi Eolgul / 그리곤엔터테인먼트 Grigon Entertainment
Founded: April 1998
Status: defunct (August 2009)
Key People: :
President
Website: www.grigon.co.kr (offline)

Profile:

Garam & Baram's (the name means "River & Wind") roots go all the way back to 1992, when Kim Mukwang began working on a homebrew game based on the cyberpunk manhwa Heavy Metal 6, accompanied by Yang Kwangsub. Earnest work under the name only startet when a team of developers that had met through BBS got a license for their latest manhwa adaption project, Park Sungwoo's Legend of 8 Dragons. This was when most of the long-time members joined: Kim Byungchul (who himself had developed the homebrew RPG Mips Soft. There they helped out with Mips' Campus Heroes and the unreleased City Buster, but before Legend of 8 Dragons was completed, tensions arose and the team left Mips Soft, who finished the game in a slapdash manner1.

The next stop for Garam & Baram was Kama Digital Entertainment, the newly founded game division of Kama Entertainment. Tucked away in Kama's basement (where they once only barely managed to save their work from a flooding), they had to suffer much pressure from the publisher, and were forced to release their first game, Leithian, in a very unfinished state. During this phase Kim Boyoung joyned to help out with the graphics, but as an aspiring author she was soon "promoted" to write the team's games' scenarios, while one Miyamoto Musashi became the main illustrator2. Fed up with the working conditions, the team finally established their own company in April 1999, with the help of Yang Kwangsub's parents (the official president of the company was his father). To publish the independently developed game Seal, Garam & Baram went back to Kama Digital Entertainment, as their own company was in financial difficulties and folded soon after the game's release3. More conflicts with the puplisher about magazine bundle rights for Garam & Baram games followed4.

Mira Space was a team of career changers that met at Game School. Using a lecture room at an university as their "office", they programmed the surprise hit adventure Zaphie, after which they had no difficulties finding investors for their following projects. An animation company called Amito was interested in the team5, but it eventually joined Grigon Entertainment in November 2000.

Jo Byeonggyu, who had founded Keun Bawi Eolgul ("Big Rock Face"; it was renamed to Grigon Entertainment in September 1999), approached the game industry by scouting for promising development teams. After short stints at intoCore (June to November 2000) and the internet sports news provider VSCom (December 2000 to May 2001) Garam and Baram also joined Grigon as its 2nd team in May 20016. Art director Kim Mukwang later described Jo Byeonggyu as the first company president with a genuine interest in games he'd ever met. This was also the first time for the teammembers to live a regular employee's life with fixed working hours7. By that time a lot of new members joined the team, including a new leader, Han Jongku, who had worked together with Kim Mukwang on the unreleased Dojisan Geomjirim8.

Both teams at Grigon Entertainment went on with their own projects, but their history from 2002 onwards is not as well documented. Both were supposed to work together on the 3D action game Shadow9, but never finished it. In 2004 it was reported that Garam & Baram had left the company and co-founded Sonov (now named Choirock Games, a subsidiary of the children's entertainment giant Sonokong)10, but only Han Jonggu has been the only key member spotted in association with Sonov, as producer of the extremely short-lived MMORPG L.I.F.E. Online11. The others actually scattered into many different directions: Kim Mukwang worked at JoyOn Entertainment in 2005, between many freelance works12, Kim Boyong started a career of writing Science-Fiction short stories13, while Kim Byungchul remained with Grigon Entertainment until end, which came in August 2009, shortly after the company entered the KOSDAQ Stock Exchange and failed there14. Its most profitable property, Seal Online, had already been taken over by YNK Partners (a subsidiary of YNK Korea, the service provider for the game) in February 200715.


Games:

8용신 전설 (8 Yongsin Jeonseol) / The Legend of Eight Dragons - Windows (1998)


The Legend of Eight Dragons

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



The Legend of Eight Dragons

레이디안 (Leithian) - Windows (March 1999)


Leithian

Leithian

Leithian


Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Leithian

Leithian

Leithian

제피 (Zaphie) - Windows (August 1999)


Zaphie

Zaphie

Zaphie

Zaphie


Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Zaphie

Zaphie

Zaphie

Zaphie

씰 (Seal) / Seal: Travelers of Destiny - Windows (April 14th, 2000)


Seal: Travelers of Destiny

Seal: Travelers of Destiny

Seal: Travelers of Destiny

Seal: Travelers of Destiny


Japanese cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Seal: Travelers of Destiny

Seal: Travelers of Destiny

Seal: Travelers of Destiny

Seal: Travelers of Destiny

크러쉬 어드벤스 (Crush Advanced) - Windows (February 7th, 2002 [open beta])


Crush Advanced


Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Crush Advanced

제피 2 (Zaphie 2) - Windows (February 27th, 2002)


Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2


Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2

Zaphie 2

나르실리온 (Narsillion) - Windows (March 4th, 2002)


Narsillion

Narsillion

Narsillion


Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Narsillion

Narsillion

Narsillion

천랑열전 (Cheollang Yeoljeon) - Windows (February 7th, 2003)


Cheollang Yeoljeon

Cheollang Yeoljeon

Cheollang Yeoljeon


Regular cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.


Limited Edition cover



Cheollang Yeoljeon

Cheollang Yeoljeon

Cheollang Yeoljeon

씰 온라인 (Seal Online) - Windows (July 16th, 2003 [open beta]; January 14th, 2004)


Seal Online

Seal Online


Poster

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Seal Online

Seal Online

큐링온라인 (Q Ring Online) - Windows (October 31th, 2005 [open beta]; January 5th, 2006)


Q Ring Online

Q Ring Online


Artwork

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Q Ring Online

Q Ring Online

겜블던 (Gambledon) - Windows (March 23rd, 2006)


Gambledon

Gambledon


Artwork

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



Gambledon

Gambledon

카툰네트워크 유니버스: 퓨전폴 (Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall) - Windows (January 14th, 2009)


FusionFall

FusionFall


US Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.



FusionFall

FusionFall

Unreleased Titles:

더 라스트 헤비 미션 (The Last Heavy Mission) (1999)

Sole Survivor (2000)

서바이벌 포스 (Survival Force) (2000)

쉐도우 (Shadow) / Metal Grub (2001)

크래쉬 Crush (2001)

레나온라인 Rena Online (2003)

칸헬 (Canhel) (2008-2009)

References
1. http://www.gamespot.co.kr/ArticleView.asp?artice_id=00000010014854
2. http://www.gamespot.co.kr/ArticleView.asp?artice_id=00000010014853
3. http://www.gameshot.net/common/con_view.php?code=AA00002496 and http://www.gamespot.co.kr/ArticleView.asp?artice_id=00000010014852
4. Kama authorized magazine bundles for both Leithian and Seal within less than a year of their initial releases without consulting with Garam & Baram, which many die-hard G&B fans as well as certain team members viewed as betrayal. http://web.archive.org/web/20000302022154/http://www.gab.co.kr/kama.html, http://web.archive.org/web/200101240735/http://www.gab.co.kr/bundle.html and http://www.gamespot.co.kr/ArticleView.asp?artice_id=00000010011206. Of course, a Kama Digital Entertainment employee named Yi Beomseon also went on record with a contrary account for all the troubles, blaming the developer's business and working ethics as the cause. http://k.daum.net/qna/view.html?qid=07Cos.
5. PC Power Zine 1/2000, page 183 and PC Power Zine 2/2000, page 216
6. http://web.archive.org/web/20040125022054/www.grigon.co.kr/company/company_1.htm
7. http://www.gamespot.co.kr/ArticleView.asp?artice_id=00000010014851
8. PC Power Zine 2/2001, page 211
9. PC Power Zine 11/2001, page 209
10. http://www.gameshot.net/common/con_view.php?code=AC40c9976e13f97
11. http://www.thisisgame.com/board/view.php?id=144813&category=10
12. http://blog.naver.com/gmaker0627?Redirect=Log&logNo=90025412657
13. http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/author/info/AuthorInfo.laf?authorid=1001212401&orderClick=LCA&Kc=SETLETauthortheme
14. http://www.gamechosun.co.kr/article/view.php?no=62126
15. http://game.donga.com/33521/


A History of Korean Gaming

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Table of Contents

HG101 Index