Howard Marks may be bringing a Korean game to the West, but do not expect a literal translation.

“[There has been] no localization in Korean games,” he pointed out. A certain stigma has often been associated with imports and translations and Marks wants to avoid that.

He has hired on Steven-Elliot Altman, a novelist who wrote “Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires”. Altman’s mission on 9 Dragons is to marry the Asian-themes and values of the game to something Western players can relate with.

He gave the example of Star Wars. It is a western style story, similar to the Greek epics. There is good vs. evil, a central hero on a mission, etc. Yet, it also folds in the more Asian idea of the Force.

With 9 Dragons, Marks wants to marry the familiar things people want in an MMORPG and its story with the unique twist of being a Ming Dynasty era martial arts game.