P/s. Perhaps a moderator could open this as a new news item. thks.
Hello ye good people, i bring ye the latest interview with the founder of Ksatria, Hans Sungkono. Originally published in The Straits Times, Singapore - Digital Life, 15 Oct 2008
PLAYING TO WINHans Sungkono loved the Lone Wolf books so much, he decied to develop it as a game. He speaks to OO GIN LEE.You could substitute his surname Sungkono with Solo because gaming and multi-portfolio businessman Hans likes to play the lone wolf.
Incidentally, Lone Wolf is also the title of the game that he is spinning off from the Lone Wolf gamebook series, of which he has been an avid fan since he was 10.
The series, by British author Joe Dever, sold over 9 million copies worldwide during its heyday from the mid-1980s to early 1990s.
While most studios in Singapore are backed by big international game companies like Koei, Luscasfilm, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, Hans 35, is taking a $10-million gamble – out of his own coffers – to turn the books into a video game. Meant for the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, it is targeted to be out in two years.
Of that sum, he has pumped in $4 million into a 24-man studio in Toh Guan Road, which he built from scratch over the last four years.
He will spend another $6 million to take the game to completion.
Hans, who jetsets where his business takes him, runs successful ventures back in Indonesia, his base. They range from the sale of fuel catalysts and excavators to the overhauling of power plant engines in a 50,000ha shrimp farm.
In the two-hour interview with Digital Life at his Singapore studio, he talks about his huge gamble.
“It takes millions of dollars to bring the game to completion. Even if it’s completed, you still need to find a publisher to launch the game and then you have to pray the game is well received by gamers.”
How did you get from being Lone Wolf fan to being the boss of the studio developing video game?I was such a big fan of the Lone Wolf series that I bought collectibles of the series. One day, I was on eBay looking at some Lone Wolf calendars and it turned out that the seller was Joe Dever himself. We became acquainted and he told me he was looking for investors for his new Magnamund games studio in France, which was developing the Massively Multiplayer Online Game version of Lone Wolf.
I was interested but France was too far away. So we agreed to create a studio in Singapore.
Was it tough to set up a studio here?Very. When we started in January 2005, we could not get enough experienced developers here and it was challenging to get foreign talent into Singapore because, at that time, the field was not in the radar of international developers. We also had problems getting employment passes for our staff. But we managed to convince the Ministry of Manpower with the help of Media Development Authority to relax the quota for us and we were able to bring in foreign talent eventually.
I understand Lone Wolf is built on your proprietary game engine. Can you elaborate it?One big issue we faced early on was whether we should license an established game engine like Unreal or build our own from scratch. The latter would take more time but I know I had to be self-reliant.
Two of my leading developers, Cedric and Frederic, who were originally from the French studio, were already developing their own game engine called KJAPI so I continued to invest in them. Lone Wolf is the showcase game to show the capability of our game engine.
I remember the game was only meant for the PC previously.The PC version is the easiest to develop but publishers today want a game to be on multiple platforms before they will invest in it.
What is your fear after all this investment?I have a vision for Ksatria – I want it to be the first truly local games studio to deliver an AAA title and to deliver its own game engine technology.
Frankly, it has been tough shouldering the burden alone. I am now looking for a local partner who can co-invest and run the studio together with me. Sometimes, I feel like it’s a project to go to the moon but I don’t want to lie on my deathbed regretting not doing something I should have done.
Cheers
