Moonster Games
Five years of cultural adaptation: Japanese and Korean games rethought for European audiences, starting with GoSu.
2010–2015 · Moonster Games, Moonster Games Asia · Graphic design, adaptation, art direction
Context
Moonster Games publishes games from Japan and Korea in Europe. The first project, in 2010, was GoSu, a card game by Kim Satô, with a graphic approach that broke with the genre’s codes. Eleven months of development, thousands of playtests, nearly 3,000 prototypes distributed: the game sold out in nine days.
What was at stake
Adapting a game is not just translating the rules: what gets noticed and understood in Tokyo or Seoul is not necessarily noticed in Paris or Essen.
The work
Graphic design, boxes and advertising for GoSu and its Kamakor expansion, then the adaptation of a series of Asian titles.
- Hattari, from Oink Games (In a Grove in Japan), with Jun Sasaki
- Koryo and Choson, by Gary Kim
- Streams, by Yoshihisa Itsubaki
- Texas Zombies, after Cat & Chocolate by Ryo Kawakami
- Court de Tennis, from Happy Baobab
- Fame Us, Ryū, Minivilles
Results
Three As d’Or nominations: Fame Us in 2012, Koryo in 2014, Minivilles in 2015.