Vortex Gaming

On July 24th, 'Supervive' officially launched after a lengthy early access period.

'Supervive' is a competitive game with familiar yet new rules, blending various popular genres. It's based on a 3-person team from a 'top-down' perspective, featuring battle royale rules on a large map that gradually shrinks. Despite its flat background, it adds depth by utilizing aerial maneuvers, a glider system, and an RTS-style vision system.

Also noteworthy is its 'character-based' nature, fitting the current trend. As evidenced by the main developers' backgrounds, diverse 'Hunters' with unique playstyles appear in the game, and the 3-person team system allows for countless Hunter combinations within the game.

Of course, even with meticulous design, things can't all go smoothly from the start, especially for a first game. 'Supervive' underwent several tests starting around the fall of 2024 to address its shortcomings. After a final CBT in January of this year, it entered 'Early Access,' using the time to gather final feedback before its official release.

During its early access period, 'Supervive' showed a remarkably successful debut. While only playable through Nexon in Korea and Japan, it received over 16,000 positive reviews on 'Steam,' where it was available in other regions, earning a 'Very Positive' rating and recording approximately 48,000 concurrent players.

Here, it's worth examining the 'developers' backgrounds' mentioned earlier. 'Theorycraft,' the developer of 'Supervive,' is an indie studio founded by key developers from well-known game companies like 'Riot Games,' 'Blizzard Entertainment,' and 'Bungie.' 'Supervive' is a project started by individuals who have long served one of the world's top live service games, 'League of Legends.'

Despite already being at the top, the key figures at Theorycraft have come together from the ground up for a new challenge. I'd like to briefly introduce them.

■ Joe Tung, CEO

Joe Tung, who went by the nickname 'New001' at Riot Games, is a veteran developer with over 15 years of experience in the gaming industry, starting his career at Bungie. He began his career working on the final stages of 'Halo 2,' and then played a central role as the lead producer for 'Halo 3.' He then served as the executive producer for 'Halo Reach' and the first 'Destiny,' gaining experience in successfully leading large franchises.

Joe Tung later joined Riot Games and worked there for about seven and a half years, serving as the Global Executive Vice President. He contributed to providing continuous value to users worldwide, overseeing the publishing and development of Riot's core franchises, especially 'League of Legends (LoL).' In particular, he played a central role in organizational operations and strategic direction, leading not only game development but also brand expansion.

One of his proudest projects during his tenure was 'Teamfight Tactics (TFT).' Although it seemed unlikely to succeed at first, he pushed forward with development at an incredible pace and led it to official release. After experiencing 'Auto Chess' on the recommendation of design lead Andrei, he judged that the genre had a future and immediately pushed the project forward, which led to a hot response from the market. He also contributed to the creation of the K/DA project, marking a turning point in Riot's expansion of music content.

Joe Tung's reason for founding Theorycraft was simple. He wanted to escape the structural limitations of a large organization and the role of a manager, and to be deeply involved in the essential aspects of game development again. His choice to rediscover the most enjoyable moments in making games has become a reality at Theorycraft. Currently, as the founder, he leads the development direction and still hasn't lost his passion as a player, dedicating 2,800 hours to just the 'Shrike' Hunter in Supervive.

■ Michael Evans, CTO

Michael Evans is a skilled developer who has built his career in the FPS genre for a long time. His career began on the 'Halo' multiplayer team, and he later joined Blizzard's 'Overwatch' as the first gameplay engineer, participating in the design of the initial core systems. This experience has deeply influenced his technical philosophy ever since.

He joined the Valorant project as an early member and worked as the technical lead for about seven years. Although it started with a small team of about five people, the project grew to a huge scale. Since the goal was direct competition with Counter-Strike, a very high level of precision was required, from server response speed to hit registration accuracy and UI responsiveness. Michael faithfully implemented these technical requirements, creating the foundation for Valorant's current status.

In particular, what he considers most important is the 'player experience.' He focuses heavily on configuring the system so that players don't feel invisible latency and optimizing tools so that designers can experiment repeatedly. This approach demonstrates his philosophy of pursuing both stability and completeness.

After successfully completing a large-scale project, Michael Evans joined Theorycraft to explore new possibilities in a smaller, more focused team. As CTO, he leads all aspects of technology and is responsible as the decision-maker for all technical choices. In the past, he implemented someone else's vision, but now his new challenge is to directly design and implement his own vision.

■ Jessica Nam, Executive Producer

Jessica Nam, who has been active under the name 'Safelocked,' has been deeply involved in the growth of League of Legends for over 11 years at Riot Games. Early in her career, she led the Champion Design Team, starting with the remakes of Orianna and Yorick, and was responsible for the overall development of multiple champions from Leona to Varus. She has also played a central role in the design of fan-favorite champions such as Riven, Ahri, and Lulu.

She later led the team as the LoL Executive Producer, overseeing not only champion design but also overall game operations and development. She contributed to the creation of champions with complex worldviews and gimmicks, such as Camille, Sett, Kaisa, Sylas, and Viego, and was recognized for her deep expertise and leadership within Riot. She also participated in the development of the TFT mobile version, supporting its expansion into the strategy genre.

Jessica's favorite characters in her League of Legends champion design career are Ahri, Wukong, and Riven. She found great joy in the process of working on Ahri and Wukong, reinterpreting mythological symbols in a modern way and incorporating them into the gameplay. In the case of Riven, she recalled that it was a very meaningful project for her personally, as she attempted a new play pattern by introducing fighting game-style combos.

Jessica felt a deep attraction to Theorycraft because former colleagues, including Joe Tung and Michael Evans, were together. She said that the opportunity to take on a new challenge with colleagues she had worked with to create games was rare, so she readily accepted the offer. Currently, as the Executive Producer of Supervive, she leads the game as a whole and demonstrates a cheerful yet serious leadership, even participating as the voice of the character's emoticons (although it was secretly recorded).

웹진 인벤정재훈 기자
2025-07-24