Interview with Y.GRAM, ‘Aeko And Friends: Number Maze’
Q1. Could you please briefly introduce yourself?
Hello, I’m Gon, the Lead of the Builder Studio at Y.GRAM. I’m the creator of Aeko And Friends: Number Maze. Nice to meet you.
Q2. What exactly is Aeko And Friends: Number Maze?
Aeko And Friends: Number Maze is an escape experience packed with diverse math games and adventures. The background of the experience, the Number Maze, is also the setting for the first episode of Aeko And Friends Season 2, scheduled to air on EBS next year. You can think of it as a surprise gift we’ve prepared ahead of the broadcast of Aeko And Friends Season 2.
Q3. You mentioned the ‘first’ episode… does that mean the second and third episodes will also be turned into experiences?
That’s right (laughs). We plan to tell the story of Aeko And Friends as they fight against the Magumau, the gang that’s taken control of Numberland. We’ve already completed planning for more than 10 different experiences for the next episodes, and some of them are already in production. We’re preparing experiences with a different charm from the first episode, Number Maze, so please look forward to them.
▲ Next Experience Still Shots
Q4. I heard that this is your first time publishing an experience. How do you feel?
Yes, it’s my first time publishing an experience. It was a great feeling to see our experience featured on the main page of The Sandbox, watching the ratings fill up. It made me feel like a lot of people are enjoying it. Especially when Sebastien visited Number Maze, it felt like an unexpected gift.
▲ Sebastien exploring Number Maze
Q5. Releasing the experience prior to the animation broadcast is quite a fresh approach. Was it possible because you had the existing IP of Aeko And Friends?
Yes, we have the IP of the math play animation Aeko And Friends. Aeko And Friends Season 2 expands the worldview and characters of Season 1 into the metaverse. We wanted to provide a different experience by adding game missions and live broadcasts to transform it from a ‘watching’ animation to an ‘experiencing’ animation. That’s why we decided to release the experience before the animation aired.
Q6. What are the differences from the traditional animation, and what specific aspects did you focus on during the experience process?
The main difference from traditional animation is that you don’t just passively ‘watch’; players can actively ‘experience’ it through The Sandbox. Each episode has its own story, and it was also a fun process to think about how to implement it within GameMaker. While Aeko And Friends is targeted at young children, we aimed to create an experience that would appeal to a broader age range, including upper elementary school students to adults, through various forms of brain quizzes beyond simple arithmetic operations.
Q7. I heard that you are selling character NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace in addition to experiences. Are there any special benefits for purchasing NFTs?
Yes, we are currently selling ILK character assets on the NFT marketplace. You can purchase 13 ILK character NFTs, including popular characters such as Molang, Pucca, and Egg&Bugs. The lineup will continue to expand in the future. If you own character NFTs, you can not only use them as NPCs in The Sandbox game, but you will also enjoy a variety of premium benefits, such as periodic revenue sharing, free admission to offline and online events, and eligibility to participate in airdrops.
https://www.sandbox.game/ko/map/?lat=-4&lng=96&zoom=5&x=96&y=-4
Q8. ILK? When I searched, I saw familiar characters like Molang and Pucca. Are they the same characters we know?
Yes, they are. They are the same Molang and Pucca that are loved by many people. ILK is an abbreviation for ‘I Love Karacter’, a metaverse brand with voxel sub-characters of various global characters.
Q9. It feels like a character planning agency in the metaverse world, as it expands character IP into the metaverse and connects with fans. I’m curious about Y.GRAM’s future vision.
Exactly. Y.GRAM is a Meta Contents Company. We believe that the desire to meet your favorite characters in a variety of digital experiences is increasing in the Web 3.0 era. Our goal is to secure the metaverse usage rights of characters through ILK, create new content, and provide diverse customer experiences.
Q10. Lastly, any words for the fans of Aeko And Friends Number Maze and The Sandbox users?
Aeko And Friends Season 2 started with the question of how we could make learning math concepts more fun. We hope you will give lots of love and attention to the Aeko And Friends series and ILK, which will be open sequentially starting with Number Maze.
