What Went Right

1. Evolved but the Visuals are Still Nom

In Nom, the backdrops were plain, and when Nom rotated the playfield by jumping, then the color just changed. Also, the surface was expressed as dotted line. The reason why I used dotted lines in Nom was because if solid lines were used, it will be difficult to notice that Nom was running. Therefore, I used dotted lines so users could notice the screen scroll.

However, I had to realize if I used these dotted lines again in Nom 2, it would disappoint users. The challenge faced was that if I used dazzling and splendid graphics, then it wouldn’t be Nom - it would turn out to be just an ordinary action platform game. I started to think about the type of graphic design that would be much more dense and attractive than Nom, but also had to fit Nom’s original image concept.

The difference between other typical platform type action games and Nom is that Nom uses very simple and atypical type graphics. I was having a hard time deciding how to fill the backdrops. Moreover, I also needed to consider the file size of the images. So I looked outside of the game to solve this problem. I walked around the streets and department stores to observe the new type of patterns that were fashion trends. At that time, patterns that were in sequence was the vogue, so I decided to apply this type of pattern to Nom 2's backdrops.

When I first applied these new patterns, it looked like cheap wallpapers, so I blurred the boundary lines of the pattern to give a much more natural look. Each stage had its own pattern design and the graphic design was quite abstract. As the stage levels got higher, the design concept also tended to be more mysterious. Each stage only used one 20x20 pixel (it may vary depending on the handset’s screen size) sized image, which saved a lot of memory during runtime.

The new part of Nom 2's backdrops is that the land has upward and downward slopes, caves, etc. All the new geographical features are in black, and these features affect the game difficulty level. Splendid looking backdrops were scrolling, and coupled with black colored landscapes, gave the look of 20th century pop art. This result satisfied me and it really looked like NOM style art. In order to enhance the screen scrolling speed, the entire backdrop was saved on the back buffer.

2. Deal with the Boss with Just One Button

One of the key strengths of Nom is that it only uses one button to play the game. However, in Nom 2 there are various types of bosses, so I also had to figure out how Nom could fight these enemies by using only one button. Make the boss approach Nom and attack the boss by using one button? That sounded too simple. So I created various attack moves for Nom. The first was when NOM encountered “Forgetful Brain.”

Successful attacking had to be executed by matching the exact hitting point of the pointer in order to make Nom attack the boss. Nom would have to attack before the boss moves down and hits Nom. The second boss, which is the “Tongue that has a Strong Partiality”, attacks Nom by sticking out its tongue. At that point Nom jumps on the tongue which then retracts, and presents an opportunity to kick the boss’ nose. I personally liked this the most, and thought of it as a piece of art.

The third boss “NUM (another Nom)” comes up to Nom and engages in a fist fight. The screen is divided in half, and an arrow moves left and right. Press the key at the right time when the arrow points toward NUM and he will get hit. On the other hand, if the arrow points toward Nom, then Nom will get hit. The fun part of this is that the arrow has to point Nom in order to win the battle. Because the NUM is Nom's other self, if Nom gets hit, NUM will feel the pain.

People complained about this system saying that it was hard to match the exact timing of the arrow, but this was all calculated before people played the actual game. The reason why I designed it this way was because it is a dilemma to hit one’s other self, and this type of mental conflict was implemented into the game system. If you concentrate hard and match the exact timing, it won’t be that hard to attack in the right direction.

3. Out of Body System

The theme of Nom 2 is “Out of Body.” The basic hypothesis of this theme is that if the spirit splits from the body, it could move separately. I implemented this theory into an entirely new type of game play by dividing Nom into 2 parts: upper side and lower side, which represents the “Out of Body” concept. The user may control the upper Nom by using number 1 key and the lower Nom by using number 3 key. These two characters move separately and have to defeat different enemies and overcome different obstacles.

By controlling 2 different characters simultaneously, a user’s brain has to work separately, and gets a weird feeling from this. It is just as if the two hands are from different people. The “Out of Body” system may be played at a later part in the game.

4. Unique Sound System

In the original Nom version, TTS (converting text into voice) was used to make the voice of “ Nom”. I tried to follow NOM’s unique tradition by creating the voice of Nom 2 using a voice recorder. The voice used in Nom 2 is mine, and after recording I converted it to a robot style voice. The menu music has a TB303 (electronic Instrument that uses basslines) feel, and uses a short loop melody. The background music is a type of Euro-Techno and for addictiveness I maintained a tempo of 137 BPM (to make the game addictive, I matched the beat of the music to a human’s elevated heart beat).

The interesting part is that Nom is 135BPM and Nom 2 is 137BPM. The reason why I gave the games that difference is because within those 2 years (the gap between Nom and Nom 2), I thought that the patience of ordinary people became shorter than it was in the past. If we look around our everyday lives we could see that we have gotten faster in terms of thinking, making decisions, etc. than we have in the past. I believed that this kind of movement ought to affect game play as well.

Also, in the boss stages I remixed “Kookak (Korean Classical Music)” and “Techno” to give off more tension. If the handset supports stereo sound, then the user will have an even better sound experience better.

5. ECG (External World Contact Game)

The most unique feature in Nom 2 is the ECG feature. Users can send messages to outer space by playing Nom 2. In order to send a message, the user has to clear all the stages and the story of Nom 2. After the user clears the last stage the user will see the ending of the game and will meet an existing creature (alien). Following that, there will be a short conversation between the characters about the importance of eternal love, and after that point the user may type in a message that is desired.

The reason why I put this kind of feature in the game is because I wanted to do something beyond the notion of gaming. Nowadays, people can log on to the internet and play online games with other users that live throughout the world. However, I wanted something more special than just a “game,” such as reaching outside the world. NOM2 was not only the first game to do this, but what also made it special is that it was done by “mobile.” Users will type in messages into the 16x16 box, where they can arrange dots and write or draw whatever they want. The message is then converted into binary bytes and sent to a server, and stored for months until other messages are ready.

Once ready, these messages will be sent to a NSAU (Ukraine Space Agency) satellite, which is the world’s second largest satellite, having a diameter of 70m. The messages will be sent to outer space using this satellite. This will serve the hope of mobile game users by sending their dreams to outer space. Isn’t that a great experience? Also, everything is FREE if the user sees the ending of the game.

As of August 26th of last year, we have sent more than 160,000 messages from our users to a galaxy which is 45 light years away from earth. This was the first time in world history to send a huge amount of messages in a short period of time, and it all happened by playing a simple mobile game! It would be a great experience if the aliens would respond to those messages 90 years later.