Celebrating AFK Journey, our Best Game of 2024

AFK Journey enchanted us with its exceptional visuals, breathtaking animation and rich fantasy world. We loved it so much that it took home our Best Game of 2024 award. To celebrate this achievement, we sat down with AFK Journey’s producer Jiangyuan He to chat about how the team set out to craft our favourite game of 2024.

Jiangyuan He: I'm really thrilled! It means a lot to our team and serves as great motivation. While AFK Arena was a successful game, we didn't get this kind of recognition back then. In a way, I feel like we've gone beyond both AFK Arena and our past selves.

You play as Merlin, the legendary mage who once saved the land of Esperia. Now, with fresh threats on the horizon, you'll meet different heroes along your journey, helping them navigate their trials to uncover their own 'sword', which in our lore symbolises 'power'. Together, you unite your powers in an epic quest to save the world.

We wanted to evoke a feeling of joy and adventure and, with our motto of 'Go Beyond Expectation', we see AFK Journey as a vibrant, easy-going escape into the world of Esperia. By mixing idle gameplay with elements of RPG, strategy and social features, we hope that we’ve created something truly special that wows our players and goes beyond their expectations.

The idea actually sparked during an AFK Arena player meetup. One player shared his struggle with feeling aimless while battling through levels. That really made us think and inspired us to infuse AFK Journey with a richer narrative and an immersive world that players can really connect with.

While AFK Journey definitely draws inspiration from AFK Arena, it's not limited by it. It's common for sequels to adjust for different game genres and so we’ve adapted story themes based on this game’s design to ensure that we’re providing the best player experience.

The Chinese name for the AFK series means 'Sword and Expedition', so we focused on the sword aspect with the story. Our narrative team drew upon the familiar 'sword in the stone' idea to keep the lore accessible and engaging for everyone. As for why you’re an amnesiac, well your memories play a key role in the game and will slowly be revealed in the upcoming seasons, so stay tuned.

Our art team drew inspiration from murals, stained glass, illustrated books and much more. Art comes in many forms but the core concepts are often the same. For our 3D characters, adding textures to 2D designs was tricky, so we used techniques from other arts. Things like gold filigree in murals and Chinese paintings and foil stamping and lamination in books gave us the visual effects that we needed.

Our art team's creative spirit embraces all sorts of styles and genuinely believes that every character has something special to offer. And so we want players to feel that unique connection with every character that they meet. After all, it's about creating a vibrant world for everyone to enjoy!

It’s definitely a challenge! We start by setting design goals for new game modes, blending our long-term plans with player feedback. After defining the modes and giving them appropriate focus tags, we brainstorm different paths and pick the most exciting one to fine tune until it’s launched.

Our focus is on crafting new content that matches players' comfort zones while welcoming their feedback. By constantly staying attentive and making improvements, we strive to build a cohesive experience that keeps everyone engaged and happy.