MapleStory Worlds is the latest venture from Nexon to bear the famous MapleStory name, but it's not exactly a sequel to the long-running free-to-play MMORPG nor is it even a game at all. MapleStory Worlds is a content creation platform akin to Roblox Studio, leaning on MapleStory's 20 years of content and whopping 30 million assets to help users realize their own gaming ideas. Aside from the assets and art style, MapleStory Worlds also stands out thanks to a robust set of social features and direct support from Nexon with user projects.
The Best War Games sat down with MapleStory Worlds senior producer Dennis Bernardo to chat about the new creation platform, and Bernardo went into detail about how Nexon intends to foster a new generation of game developers. MapleStory Worlds' toolset is deliberately accessible while powerful enough to enable a staggering variety of ideas to be expressed, and Nexon's direct involvement in user projects is intended to help burgeoning developers find their footing and learn how to succeed in the industry.
MapleStory Worlds Interview: Producer Talks Platform Capabilities, Creator Features, and Monetization
The Best War Games chats with MapleStory Worlds senior producer Dennis Bernardo about how MapleStory Worlds can turn creators into professional developers.
MapleStory Worlds Is Accessible and Powerful
MapleStory Worlds' creation tools can be separated into two modes: Design mode and Pro mode. Design mode is the accessible, drag-and-drop method that requires no coding or advanced game design knowledge, allowing less experienced content creators to come to grips with the assets and quickly develop simpler ideas. The Pro mode, on the other hand, unlocks the MapleStory World's full potential with a much more sophisticated assortment of tools. With this progression from straightforward to advanced, there's a gentler learning curve involved and users might start with an idea in Design mode, then swap over to Pro mode once they're comfortable.
With the Pro mode, we're really heavily leaning into giving players more advanced tools to create a much wider variety of options and genres that is only really limited by their imagination. I think there's probably going to be some differences in the types of games that you're going to see coming out of players using the Design mode versus the Professional mode, and I think that's okay. I think one of the goals that we have is to onboard creators to use whatever mode feels comfortable to you.
Bernardo anticipates some disparity between Pro and Design mode projects in terms of what they can accomplish, but that comes with the territory. That said, the user-friendly design mode certainly doesn't lack power. With 30 million assets available and an intuitive creative process, users with good ideas that aren't necessarily technically demanding can deliver meaningful experiences. They just might have some trouble straying too far from MapleStory's MMORPG format, although that's not a hard limit either.
Nexon Is Personally Supporting MapleStory Worlds Creators
Bernardo emphasized that the goal of MapleStory Worlds is to inspire and support a new wave of developers, and Nexon appears to be taking this goal seriously. Along with providing the toolset and assets, Nexon will be getting directly involved with select projects, mentoring and even playtesting to help creators realize their project's full potential. MapleStory Worlds creators who catch Nexon's eye may find themselves effectively operating like a fully-fledged indie game studio.
As Bernado explained, "As somebody who works in the game industry, I want everybody to do what I do. We want everybody to love the games that they are playing but also love the process and learn about the process of making games. So we want to make that easier. A lot of the things that we're doing are centered around that. We've partnered with organizations that teach kids to code, and we want to introduce the concept of game development in a fun way for people even as young as elementary school."
But it's more than that, with Bernado further explaining,
We're running programs that target people who are in college in game design programs, introducing MapleStory Worlds into their curriculum. We want a wide variety of people to learn about the process of game development and if that's something they really take a liking to and want to create their own experiences, and they have all this creativity but they don't have the tools to do so. They can hopefully make a career out of it, and that's what we'd love to see.
Following in the footsteps of other notable game projects, MapleStory Worlds is even being introduced to school curriculums, and Nexon has teamed with organizations aimed at teaching youngsters about game design. As projects like MapleStory Worlds continue to lower the barrier to entry for aspiring developers, it's Bernardo's hope that all of these combined resources bring about promising new careers in the games industry.
MapleStory Worlds is available now in North America and South America for PC.