Black Desert Online Releases 2 Interviews With Staff about Remastered Update

Black Desert Online's remastered update launched on August 23 and it led to a surge in the game's playerbase with new and returning players up 600% and 243% respectively. The number of daily active users is up 20% week over week. To celebrate the occasion, Pearl Abyss released 2 staff interviews talking about what it took to make the Remastered version of the game. Check them out below:

Interview #1 With Audio Director Hwiman 'Croove' Ryu:

Q. Please introduce yourself.

“Hello, my name is Hwiman Ryu, many know me as Croove, and I am the audio director at Pearl Abyss.”

Q. How did Pearl Abyss decide to take on the audio remaster project?

“It was such a long time ago, I don’t remember exactly how we came to reach the decision, but Daeil Kim, our chair and development director suggested we try re-recording our audio with an orchestra a while ago, starting with our title song. He asked if it will make a big difference from the computer-generated songs, and I told him it wouldn’t - it might even make it less exciting and our players may not like it.”

“So I said why don’t I go ahead and write a new song for an orchestra recording? From then on I starting writing not just the title, but complementary songs and that’s how the audio remaster took off.”

Q. As you said, many songs in the game got a makeover, but is there a song in particular that was changed the most?

“There are so many songs that we put so much effort into, all are memorable. If I have to pick one, I would say the Balenos – Velia, place where players encounter at the beginning of the game. Before the remaster, the theme song of Velia was very dreary, black and white, but we recorded the song with an orchestra to add colors and make the song more extravagant.”

“To be honest, it’s the first time we’ve ever worked with an orchestra, and we had to write so many new songs to fill out the game. This whole process was a new challenge and very special to me.”

Q. Tell us about the different orchestras you worked with for the audio remaster. Any songs you want to recommend to players?

“We worked with 3 different orchestras.”

“In Prague, Czech Republic, we worked with the orchestra to record mostly the battle songs in the Balenos and Serendia regions. All of the battle songs are complex and hard to play, but the team did a great job. I would recommend listening to the Battle of Apocalypse in particular.”

“In Germany, we recorded all the Overture songs for the soundtrack. In particular, the Balenos – Overture was a MIDI recording, but we changed it to an orchestra recording. The change is subtle, but it’s worth a listen to see what’s changed.”

“In Budapest, Hungary, we recorded some of the battle songs for the Calpheon soundtrack, and the Kamasylvia Overture. Not all of the audio has been updated for Calpheon, but players will be able to listen to the soundtrack after the Medea region update.”

“All three orchestras were extremely talented and a pleasure to work with.”

Q. I noticed rock music in the remastered audio as well. What inspired you to take on the new endeavor?

“I always want to introduce our players to many different types of music, and rock style music is something I’ve wanted to experiment with for a while now. In the remaster, we added a rock song in each region, such as the Cron Castle in Balenos and Castle Ruins of Serendia.”
“Some may say the rock music does not go with the game, but we do stay within the boundaries of the game’s settings and make sure the sound complements the contents of the game.”

Q. The remastered audio is much more realistic and immersive. How did you record all the background sounds in the game?

“We do use computer-generated audio for some of the background audio, but we recorded a lot of the sounds from real-life sources for the remaster. We took equipment out to mountains, Jeju Island and forests to capture different sounds in nature to the best of our abilities.”

“The hardest part of doing this was that the high-performance mic picked up sounds we did not need, such as airplanes and the sound of cows far away. It was a challenge, but I would like to pursue this further and record more sounds for the game.”

Q. One of the signature sounds in Black Desert Online is the cry sound that world boss makes when they appear in the field. Were the world boss sounds remastered as well and how are the sounds produced?

“There were a lot of requests internally to improve the boss cries, as it is an important part of the game to grab players’ attention immediately. At first, we were just going to pull from our source of audio files to create a new sound, but we scaled up the project and ended up putting a lot of our resources toward the production to create something entirely new.”

“In terms of how we produce the boss cries - since the sounds do not exist in real life, we use a modulating program, among other methods, to manipulate and create new sounds.”

Q. I understand many of the NPC voices were re-recorded for the remaster. Can you tell me of any characters in particular that underwent drastic improvements?

“Yes, re-recording NPC voices was a major part of the remaster. For some characters, we used the same voice actors and gave them different acting directions, for others, we switched voice actors.”

“We used a new voice actor for Jordan, a NPC from Serendia who is very dynamic. Jordan is full of greed and undergoes drastic change throughout the plot after being betrayed. The new voice actor did a great job in portraying Jordan’s greed and his internal transformation.”

“Another character to look out for is the Goblin. My son loves Spongebob, and when I saw and heard Squidward, I knew the voice actor would be perfect for the Goblin, so we reached out to him and luckily, he agreed to do the part.”

Q. Do you have any last words for Black Desert Online players?

“I think online players are quite different from console game players in how they enjoy games, and console players tend to place more importance on a game’s audio features. Even so, I hope our online players enjoy our new, more immersive Black Desert world.”

Interview #2 With Lead Engine Director Kwang Hyun Ko

Q. Please introduce yourself.

“Hi, my name is Kwang Hyun Ko, and I am the lead engine director at Pearl Abyss. I was also in charge of remastering the graphics for Black Desert: Remastered.”

Q. Black Desert Online is famous for high-quality graphics above all else, so why did you decide to remaster the graphics?

“It’s been a few years since the release of Black Desert Online, and a lot of new technology has surfaced since then. All of us here at Pearl Abyss are never quite satisfied with the end product and constantly try to apply changes, small and big, to update the graphics of the game. The remaster was a result of this.”

Q Tell me about the process of the remaster. How long did it take and what kind of work did the remaster require?

“The entire process took over a year, and there were many ups and downs. The biggest challenge was to pursue the highest quality of graphics, while making sure that existing players could access the remaster without having to
upgrade the specifications of their PCs.”

Q In your pursuit of constant improvement, are there any games in particular you benchmark, or see as your biggest competition?

“I don’t necessarily benchmark a specific game, but try to study and keep up with the latest technology, for instance, by taking part in events such as the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and Siggraph.”

“I am pleased with the remastered graphics and believe it adds to our competitiveness against the leading games, especially in North America and EU, that also apply the most advanced technologies to their graphics.”

Q Which aspects of the remastered graphics are you most proud of?

“It was a team effort and I think everyone on the team will have a different answer to this, but overall, every aspect of the remastered graphics had to fall into sync to create what we ended up with. So no, there is no one specific end product, but I hope players will take note of the entire graphics of the game and its enhancements.”

Q At the Black Desert: Remastered Showcase in Seoul, you spoke of several graphics techniques that were core components of the remaster. Can you explain some of them to me in plain English?

Physically-based rendering (PDR)
“This refers to modeling and expressing an object’s reaction to light in real life. In games, this is applied to surface textures and their reaction to light to express matte, shiny, etc. textures. It is also applied to express how different materials react to light, such as metals and non-metals.”

Image-based lighting (IBL)
“IBL is the process of capturing the real-world lighting as an image to apply to the game’s graphics. In real life, everything we see is made up of light, but it’s hard to express everything in light alone in a game, so we produce an image of the light’s reflections and reactions to input into the game.”

Post processing with YEBIS
“Post processing refers to anything done to the graphics at the final stages of production to enhance the image. Examples in the remaster include out focusing, motion blur, glare (to show the different shapes and direction of light), shaft and the use of on-screen information to express reflections. We used YEBIS middleware, one of the most advanced post-processing technologies available, and the results were impressive.”

Q One area where the graphics enhancements are drastically noticeable is the metal armor. Can you explain how the look of different fabrics and materials were remastered?

“The metals turned out well as the result of applying IBL. For non-metals as well, the reflection of light is different from every angle, so we used IBL and other techniques to express these textures in a lifelike manner, and that’s why everything looks more realistic.”

Q Are there any things aspects of the graphics that still need improvement?

“There’s a list of things we are looking to improve in the near future based on player feedback, but the two main areas we are focusing on is the over-the-top brightness and performance.”

“The brightness is the result of trying to replicate what the eyes see in real time. As a result, the screen turns too bright at certain times, such as going from a dark to bright space and vice versa. Right now, we are taking into account player feedback to make the necessary adjustments.”

“Even before the remaster, performance improvement is something we received a lot of feedback on. This will take a bit more time, and we are applying new technologies where we can to enhance the performance.”

“Another problem players have been reporting is aliasing, or the appearance of rough edges around the outer pixels of an image. This can be taken care of with Anti-Aliasing (AA), or the process of smoothing out the edges of digital images. We are also researching and experimenting with Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA) and the functions of Dynamic Resolutions as an alternative solution.”

Q Any last words for Black Desert Online players?

Thank you for your interest in Black Desert Online and for all your feedback – they are very helpful. We plan to live up to all the love and expectations of our players by continuously updating the game with the latest technologies for the best MMORPG experience.