{"id":68465,"date":"2026-06-22T09:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T00:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=68465"},"modified":"2026-06-22T09:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T00:55:13","slug":"dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MINTROCKET&nbsp;released&nbsp;Dave the Diver\u2019s&nbsp;<strong>In&nbsp;the Jungle<\/strong>&nbsp;DLC&nbsp;on June 18 for PC (Steam\/Epic Games Store), PS4\/PS5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.&nbsp;This&nbsp;comes as another&nbsp;major expansion to the&nbsp;popular ocean exploration and sushi restaurant management&nbsp;game, which has sold over&nbsp;8 million copies worldwide&nbsp;to date.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the DLC,&nbsp;Dave and&nbsp;company&nbsp;venture into&nbsp;the&nbsp;jungle to investigate a mysterious lake, kicking off a&nbsp;new adventure&nbsp;set&nbsp;in a brand-new ecosystem. Players will&nbsp;establish&nbsp;a&nbsp;base in&nbsp;the village of&nbsp;Utara and explore uncharted&nbsp;waters.&nbsp;This time, Dave dives into a freshwater lake filled with&nbsp;aquatic&nbsp;life not seen in the original game. Priced at $9.99,&nbsp;the expansion&nbsp;offers&nbsp;around&nbsp;10 hours of&nbsp;new content.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AUTOMATON&nbsp;recently interviewed Jaeho Hwang, president of MINTROCKET and director of the Dave the Diver project.&nbsp;In this installment, we&nbsp;focus&nbsp;on behind-the-scenes stories from after the launch of the base game up to the present day, as well as Hwang\u2019s thoughts on&nbsp;\u201cwhat defines an indie game.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"DAVE THE DIVER - In the Jungle DLC Launch Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HCYultesGEg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 id=\"defining-indie-is-difficult-but-we-definitely-aren-t-indie\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Defining \u201cindie\u201d is difficult, but we&nbsp;definitely aren\u2019t&nbsp;indie&nbsp;<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>Jaeho,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;been a while. Since our last interview, Dave the Diver has become a&nbsp;bestseller. Has your life changed at all?&nbsp;Perhaps&nbsp;you&nbsp;treat yourself to&nbsp;sushi more often now?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Honestly, nothing has changed. MINTROCKET became its own company and I became president, but my&nbsp;everyday life&nbsp;is the same. I still commute&nbsp;by&nbsp;scooter and still&nbsp;eat&nbsp;McDonald\u2019s.&nbsp;\u2026But well,&nbsp;I guess I do eat sushi a bit more often now.&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;been to some nice places in Korea, but I still&nbsp;haven\u2019t&nbsp;visited any&nbsp;fancy sushi restaurants&nbsp;in Japan. A long time ago,&nbsp;I found this incredible restaurant in Kyoto&nbsp;that&nbsp;didn\u2019t&nbsp;even have a sign out front, and I remember thinking, \u201cIf I ever succeed, I want to come back here.\u201d I still&nbsp;haven\u2019t&nbsp;gone, though. Maybe&nbsp;once&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;a&nbsp;little more successful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014I take&nbsp;it&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>you\u2019ve&nbsp;gotten busier?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Yes, we currently have three projects&nbsp;in progress&nbsp;at once, and running the company itself also takes time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we were making Dave the Diver, we&nbsp;didn\u2019t&nbsp;know&nbsp;anything, so development took quite a while. The game&nbsp;ended up successful, but now&nbsp;we\u2019re&nbsp;dealing with a&nbsp;new&nbsp;kind of&nbsp;pressure. I&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;want to disappoint our players, so I&nbsp;make sure to&nbsp;dedicate time to&nbsp;the project, and&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;still personally&nbsp;writing&nbsp;the scenarios as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>There\u2019s&nbsp;something&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;wanted to ask you.&nbsp;When Dave the Diver became a hit, it was nominated as an indie game at a number of award shows.&nbsp;But at the time, MINTROCKET was still a&nbsp;sub-brand within Nexon Korea, so whether it could truly be called an indie developer was questionable.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>That&nbsp;ended up&nbsp;sparking&nbsp;heated debates over whether Dave the Diver deserved to be considered&nbsp;for&nbsp;the&nbsp;awards. Looking back now, how did you view the situation as someone directly involved?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I was surprised by just how&nbsp;heated&nbsp;the debate&nbsp;grew&nbsp;because&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;genuinely never expected it.&nbsp;We never thought of ourselves as an indie studio&nbsp;at all&nbsp;to begin with.&nbsp;I&nbsp;thought&nbsp;the term \u201cindie\u201d&nbsp;was used to describe businesses that were founded from scratch and&nbsp;operated&nbsp;independently.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our goal within Nexon Korea was to position ourselves as a studio that creates small-scale but&nbsp;well-made&nbsp;games, so&nbsp;internally, we never had any sense of being an indie team.&nbsp;But after&nbsp;Dave the Diver came out, especially in the West,&nbsp;where Nexon&nbsp;wasn\u2019t&nbsp;particularly well known, people&nbsp;saw&nbsp;it as&nbsp;just \u201cDave the Diver,\u201d&nbsp;a&nbsp;standalone&nbsp;game, rather than \u201ca new&nbsp;Nexon title.\u201d It used pixel art and was&nbsp;relatively small&nbsp;in scope, so many assumed it was an indie game. Then, once they found out that a major company like Nexon was involved,&nbsp;I think&nbsp;some people&nbsp;felt disappointed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That led to the whole debate over whether the game was truly indie,&nbsp;with people growing divided.&nbsp;It would have felt strange for us to actively step in and explain ourselves, so&nbsp;it was&nbsp;kind of a&nbsp;difficult position to be in. Fortunately, Korean media outlets and AUTOMATON published articles explaining that we had never considered ourselves indie developers,&nbsp;which helped&nbsp;us to some extent.&nbsp;We received a lot of criticism and backlash, but&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;also&nbsp;proud that the game generated so much discussion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1527\" height=\"857\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1527px) 100vw, 1527px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-001jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-001jpg.jpg 1527w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-001jpg-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-001jpg-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>So even now, you still&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;consider MINTROCKET an indie studio?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>No, of&nbsp;course not.&nbsp;We were under the umbrella of a major corporation and received support from them while making the game, so even now, I&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;consider us&nbsp;indie&nbsp;at all.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2026That said, trying to make&nbsp;relatively small-scale&nbsp;games that&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;generate huge profits inside a company with annual revenue exceeding&nbsp;$3 billion&nbsp;is difficult in its own way. Projects can get canceled, and&nbsp;getting&nbsp;upper management&nbsp;on board&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;easy either. As you know, smaller projects tend to be of lower priority.&nbsp;Those&nbsp;kinds of&nbsp;difficulties&nbsp;were part of why I eventually went from leading an internal team to becoming president of a subsidiary company.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Compared to&nbsp;actual&nbsp;indie developers, though,&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;always had a much better development environment and&nbsp;didn\u2019t&nbsp;face&nbsp;issues with&nbsp;funding. In that sense,&nbsp;I think the&nbsp;hurdles&nbsp;were much lower&nbsp;for us, and&nbsp;I have tremendous respect for indie developers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s&nbsp;still&nbsp;a lot of debate over which studios&nbsp;\u201ccount as indie\u201d&nbsp;and which&nbsp;don\u2019t, and&nbsp;I wish someone would&nbsp;come up with&nbsp;a proper definition. Right now,&nbsp;I feel like most&nbsp;companies get lumped into either \u201cAAA\u201d or \u201cindie,\u201d but I&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;think we really fit either category.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Personally, I think of us as something like \u201csingle-A\u201d rather than AAA,&nbsp;or&nbsp;maybe even&nbsp;\u201ctriple-I\u201d (iii, for \u201ctriple indie\u201d). I think these categories should be defined by factors like scale and creative direction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>Single-A or triple-I&nbsp;is&nbsp;an interesting way of putting it. Are there any studios you feel&nbsp;are comparable to your own in this sense?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I\u2019ve never actually met them, but I imagine Massive Monster, the studio behind Cult of the Lamb, is around&nbsp;a similar size.&nbsp;Their games have a really distinctive identity and&nbsp;an edgy appeal&nbsp;too.&nbsp;I&nbsp;think it would be great if there were a&nbsp;new term describing games like that,&nbsp;rather than being based&nbsp;on business size or&nbsp;source of&nbsp;funding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even&nbsp;established&nbsp;titles like Hades and Hollow Knight have solid financial backing now through their&nbsp;previous&nbsp;successes and new projects,&nbsp;and&nbsp;people still debate whether&nbsp;they\u2019re&nbsp;\u201cindie.\u201d&nbsp;That\u2019s&nbsp;why&nbsp;I think&nbsp;we&nbsp;need a&nbsp;definition based on a studio\u2019s scale and direction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014With you becoming<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;president of MINTROCKET, won\u2019t&nbsp;your&nbsp;business responsibilities increasingly take over?&nbsp;Do you think&nbsp;you\u2019ll&nbsp;be able to&nbsp;balance that with your work as a game director?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That\u2019s a good question.&nbsp;(laughs) It\u2019s definitely difficult.&nbsp;In the early days after we launched the company, I often had to coordinate with Nexon headquarters, and it took a&nbsp;lot of time to figure out exactly what we were allowed to do in terms of legal and financial matters. But now, the business team&nbsp;basically handles&nbsp;those things for me and keeps an eye on everything, so I get to spend about 70% of my time as a game director.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other&nbsp;hand, the&nbsp;remaining 30% I spend as company president is tough, and honestly&nbsp;quite tedious&#8230;&nbsp;Still,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;important to keep the company moving in the same direction, and&nbsp;I think&nbsp;building the right culture&nbsp;is crucial. There are also advantages to serving as both president and game developer, so&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;doing my best.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 id=\"learning-from-pragmata-and-reflecting-on-dave-the-diver-s-pacing-issues\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learning from&nbsp;Pragmata&nbsp;and reflecting on Dave the Diver\u2019s pacing issues&nbsp;<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>You come across as a&nbsp;voracious&nbsp;gamer and&nbsp;have mentioned liking titles like the Like a Dragon series, but could you tell me about any titles&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;recently played that caught your eye?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I\u2019ve been so busy this year that I&nbsp;haven\u2019t&nbsp;had much time to play games, which I think is a shame.&nbsp;Games are a trend-driven business, so the fact that I haven\u2019t been able to make enough time to play them feels like a problem in itself.&nbsp;That said,&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;managed to squeeze in a few&nbsp;here and there.&nbsp;I recently&nbsp;played&nbsp;Pragmata, which I really enjoyed and played through to the end.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>Pragmata&nbsp;is&nbsp;the kind of game&nbsp;you can complete even if&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;busy.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Yes, it was seriously&nbsp;incredible.&nbsp;People often say that modern AAA games&nbsp;aren\u2019t&nbsp;really&nbsp;creative&nbsp;anymore, since&nbsp;they tend to be&nbsp;sequels&nbsp;or \u201csomething-likes.\u201d&nbsp;But when I played&nbsp;Pragmata, I was amazed that even at that scale and budget, they could still introduce such&nbsp;novel&nbsp;mechanics and&nbsp;creativity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other than that, I also played the&nbsp;horror game REANIMAL,&nbsp;and I enjoyed&nbsp;Dispatch&nbsp;a lot too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Games are experiences you spend anywhere from five to twenty hours with.&nbsp;I think&nbsp;coming up with&nbsp;a new gameplay mechanic is something&nbsp;almost&nbsp;any developer can do&nbsp;to a certain extent,&nbsp;but keeping someone entertained for more than five hours is incredibly difficult.&nbsp;Some players felt that the latter half of Dave the Diver&nbsp;was a bit disappointing, so&nbsp;the games I just mentioned are&nbsp;all the more&nbsp;impressive to me \u2013 they stay engaging all the way through.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking at&nbsp;Pragmata, in particular, I&nbsp;think&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;a lot to learn from how it uses new mechanics and a&nbsp;new&nbsp;world to keep the entire experience tense and exciting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>Back when we first talked after I played Dave the&nbsp;Dive<\/strong><strong>r<\/strong><strong>,&nbsp;you mentioned that the pacing&nbsp;and tempo&nbsp;in the latter half of the game was one of its weak points. Do you feel that the updates and&nbsp;additional&nbsp;content have&nbsp;succeeded in&nbsp;addressing&nbsp;this?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Well, even now, one of the common criticisms is that the pacing falls apart once players reach the Sea People Village.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The core gameplay loop is catching fish and running the sushi restaurant. To be honest, if players just kept doing that forever, I think&nbsp;they\u2019d&nbsp;eventually get bored, so&nbsp;I&nbsp;believe changing&nbsp;the direction&nbsp;midway through the game was necessary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But at the same time, I also think we could have handled it much better.&nbsp;The pacing in the latter half is definitely something I look back on as a regret.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What surprised me was just how much players enjoyed the&nbsp;early stages&nbsp;of Dave the Diver. I was convinced&nbsp;they\u2019d&nbsp;start getting tired of it by the middle of the game, so I&nbsp;thought&nbsp;intentionally shifting&nbsp;the&nbsp;story\u2019s tone. But then people told us that&nbsp;wasn\u2019t&nbsp;quite right either.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After that, we&nbsp;continued&nbsp;adding things from the middle toward the end of the game, such as the&nbsp;Balatro&nbsp;collaboration,&nbsp;and while this did make things more entertaining, there was&nbsp;still&nbsp;criticism.&nbsp;It was simply the result of me being an inexperienced game designer. Next time, I want to create a game that stays satisfying from beginning to end.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1524\" height=\"858\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1524px) 100vw, 1524px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-002.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-002.jpg 1524w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-002-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-002-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>I\u2019ve&nbsp;been playing the game since its Early Access days myself, and I feel Dave the Diver has improved significantly over time.&nbsp;On that note,&nbsp;you\u2019ve released a large number of major free updates since launch.&nbsp;From a business standpoint, is that&nbsp;sustainable?&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Thankfully, Dave the Diver has become a long-selling title and&nbsp;remains&nbsp;profitable, so from a business perspective it&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;a problem.&nbsp;Part of it is also our way of&nbsp;expressing gratitude to our&nbsp;players. Personally,&nbsp;I felt Dave the Diver&nbsp;was still quite an incomplete game, so I wanted people to enjoy seeing Dave\u2019s world continue to expand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014<\/strong><strong>Have&nbsp;the updates&nbsp;helped&nbsp;boost&nbsp;sales of the base game?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That&#8217;s right.&nbsp;Our development team&nbsp;really loves this&nbsp;game, and if players come to see us as a team that cares deeply about its work and continues supporting it with new content over the long term, that&nbsp;would&nbsp;make us very happy, and&nbsp;it\u2019s also beneficial from a business standpoint. Investing resources into those updates&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;an issue&nbsp;for us at all.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014These days, even&nbsp;full-price&nbsp;games sometimes get labeled as \u201cabandoned\u201d if they stop receiving updates.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That\u2019s true.&nbsp;Maybe we&nbsp;could have made more money if&nbsp;we\u2019d&nbsp;moved on and released an entirely new game instead. (laughs) But&nbsp;that\u2019s&nbsp;okay.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some members of the team had never experienced this kind of success before, and the game received so much attention in the West.&nbsp;We\u2019ve&nbsp;had people send us letters, and some have even gotten tattoos inspired by the game.&nbsp;Those kinds of things make us&nbsp;want to keep working hard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 id=\"clearing-up-confusion-about-mintrocket-s-work-in-progress-games\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Clearing up confusion about MINTROCKET\u2019s work-in-progress games&nbsp;<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1182\" height=\"657\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1182px) 100vw, 1182px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-003.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-003.jpg 1182w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-003-380x211.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-003-768x427.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014Has the team grown&nbsp;in the meantime?&nbsp;Also, have there been&nbsp;personnel changes?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>When MINTROCKET became its own company,&nbsp;almost all&nbsp;of the core members stayed with us.&nbsp;If you look at the credits for the new&nbsp;DLC,&nbsp;you\u2019ll&nbsp;notice that&nbsp;nearly everyone&nbsp;who worked on it before is still here.&nbsp;We\u2019ve&nbsp;also announced several other games, so yes,&nbsp;we have&nbsp;expanded quite a bit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014On the subject of other&nbsp;games,&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;something&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;wanted to ask. MINTROCKET&nbsp;previously&nbsp;had&nbsp;titles like&nbsp;\u201cProject TB\u201d&nbsp;and&nbsp;\u201cNAKWON: LAST PARADISE\u201d&nbsp;listed on Steam.&nbsp;Since they&nbsp;were under the&nbsp;MINTROCKET name,&nbsp;they were referred to as&nbsp;\u201cthe next games from the Dave the Diver&nbsp;devs,\u201d&nbsp;but were you personally&nbsp;involved&nbsp;with those projects?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hwang:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>There\u2019s actually a reason for that.&nbsp;Back then, MINTROCKET was&nbsp;basically a&nbsp;sub-brand&nbsp;within Nexon&nbsp;responsible for developing a variety of different games, with&nbsp;Dave the Diver&nbsp;being&nbsp;just one of them. The idea was to serve as a sub-brand where teams could create games freely with limited resources.&nbsp;I&nbsp;wasn\u2019t&nbsp;even the leader of that organization. In other words, I&nbsp;had no involvement&nbsp;with Project TB or NAKWON: LAST PARADISE, but&nbsp;they\u2019re&nbsp;good games.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only titles&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;personally involved with now are the ones currently listed on MINTROCKET\u2019s official website. The other projects are being handled&nbsp;by&nbsp;Nexon.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"326\" height=\"208\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 326px) 100vw, 326px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-004.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68472\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;reason why&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;kept using the MINTROCKET name&nbsp;is because&nbsp;changing it would create confusion on storefronts and would require extra coordination with first-party platform holders.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So,&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;like to use this opportunity to make it clear: aside from Dave the Diver, I&nbsp;had no involvement&nbsp;in the games that were previously labeled as \u201cdeveloped by MINTROCKET\u201d before it became&nbsp;a&nbsp;company.&nbsp;They\u2019re&nbsp;good games, though!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2014I\u2019m&nbsp;glad the mystery\u2019s been solved! Thank you for your time.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mintrock.et\/en\/game\/game.php#davejungle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dave the Diver\u2019s&nbsp;In&nbsp;the Jungle&nbsp;DLC<\/a>&nbsp;is out now&nbsp;for PC (Steam\/Epic Games Store), PS4\/PS5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">[Interviewer, writer, editor: Misako Murayama]<br>[Interviewer, editor: Ayuo Kawase]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interview with MINTROCKET CEO and Dave the Dive director Jaeho Hwang about &#8220;defining indie,&#8221; the game&#8217;s success, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Interview with MINTROCKET CEO and Dave the Dive director Jaeho Hwang about the &quot;defining indie,&quot; the game&#039;s success, and more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interview with MINTROCKET CEO and Dave the Dive director Jaeho Hwang about the &quot;defining indie,&quot; the game&#039;s success, and more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T00:55:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T00:55:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1531\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"861\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Interview with MINTROCKET CEO and Dave the Dive director Jaeho Hwang about the \"defining indie,\" the game's success, and more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Interview with MINTROCKET CEO and Dave the Dive director Jaeho Hwang about the \"defining indie,\" the game's success, and more.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-06-22T00:55:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-22T00:55:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1531,"height":861,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"AUTOMATON WEST","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AUTOMATON WEST","Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/"},"author":{"name":"AUTOMATON WEST","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a55a3d979fa6362722fb27892d9614e4"},"headline":"Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-06-22T00:55:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-22T00:55:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/"},"wordCount":3060,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-header.jpg","articleSection":["Interviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/","name":"Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-22T00:55:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-22T00:55:13+00:00","description":"Interview with MINTROCKET CEO and Dave the Dive director Jaeho Hwang about the \"defining indie,\" the game's success, and more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260619-68465-header.jpg","width":1531,"height":861},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/dave-the-divers-developers-arent-indie-but-making-a-small-scale-game-under-a-corporation-came-with-its-own-set-of-challenges-we-talk-to-mintrocket\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dave the Diver\u2019s developers\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0indie, but making a small-scale game under a corporation came with its own\u00a0set of\u00a0challenges. We talk to\u00a0MINTROCKET\u2019s\u00a0Jaeho\u00a0Hwang\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a55a3d979fa6362722fb27892d9614e4","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/automaton-forum-moderator-100x100.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/automaton-forum-moderator-100x100.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/automaton-forum-moderator-100x100.jpeg","caption":"AUTOMATON WEST"},"description":"Delivering gaming news from Tokyo\/Osaka Japan.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG"],"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/automaton_en\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68465"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68474,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68465\/revisions\/68474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}