Cocone sets out to meet customers worldwide!

Centennial - Virtual world where diverse races and species co-exist!

We are proud to announce that as part of Cocone's challenges for 2023, our teams are preparing new and exciting Avatar Life Beyond Your Universe (ABU) services with a global goal and mind.

Over the course of 3 upcoming Cocone Stories, we will introduce and provide detailed insight into each of the 3 global services that Cocone teams are currently preparing for.

Today's Cocone Story edition will introduce the first among our upcoming global services, called Centennial

Centennial is a metaverse city set in the near future. Here, you can customize your avatars (Centennials), create your own space, buy and sell houses, nurture and interact with life forms called Alter Egos, and engage with people from around the world through the joy of music. ‘Centennial City’ is a virtual world, where you can meet various races, diverse life forms, and experience anything you desire. It's a unique opportunity to meet with people anywhere in the world!

Centennial features unique avatars with a focus on unique and expressive eye designs, allowing for the expression of various races, skin tones, body types and personalities. Furthermore, through “Alter Egos”, unique creatures represented by animals, alien life forms, robots and other unique life forms, customers can more actively reflect their individuality and form attachments. Centennials and Alter Egos can customize and decorate their living spaces, called “Sanctuary”, and even engage in buying and selling activities with each other.

The unique expression method through MOOD symbols is also extremely captivating. Through various symbols customers can actively express their emotions, which adds a strong appealing element for global customers. Another significant feature of Centennial City is music. In addition to the main theme song that represents the world of Centennial City, there are region-specific theme songs, which capture the characteristics of each area, further enhancing the uniqueness of the service. The evolving beats within Alter Egos evolve and transform into music, creating amazing experiences throughout the service where music becomes a captivating element that leads to customer interest and immersion.

"Within Cocone’s services, customers have the freedom to define their own individuality. They are not bound by various concepts that define them in the real world, such as skin color, gender, age, or nationality. Through the medium of avatars, they can live as new beings different from the real world. Cocone strives to create a service that allows our customers to experience such a world. They are not bound by various concepts that define them in the real world, such as skin color, gender, age, or nationality. Through the medium of avatars, they can live as new beings different from the real world. Cocone strives to create a service that allows our customers to experience such a world."

This is the identity of our services, as stated by Chun Yanghyun, Chairman of Cocone. Looking at the opening lines of the Centennial service proposal, we can discover the vision of the service we aim to provide to our customers.

'Who am I? Where is this place?’ Upon waking up, I find myself in a deserted city with a sign that reads “Centennial City”. Many people can be seen around me in the same situation, devoid of any previous memories. Unlike those who had just awakened, some individuals were more well-dressed and seemed familiar with their surroundings as they moved about. - Intro to the Centennial proposal.

In the unique world of Centennial City, distinct from the real world, we hope that our customers can fully express their individuality and live as a different being from reality.

Centennial unveiled, let's learn a bit more!

1:1 Q&A with Centennial Planning, Design and Development Crew

Did you already feel the unique charm of Centennial, being prepared by Cocone M? But wait, there's more! Let's dive into the progress and plans of Centennial service through a Q&A session with the Cocone M crew directly involved in its production process!

Q1. Which aspects are you focusing on while collaborating with artist Mari Kim?

Yoon Suyoung (Designer) -

(In my work), I am focusing on capturing the unique characteristics and personality of artist Mari Kim's Eyedoll characters, which are incredibly charming. I am putting a lot of effort into adjusting the proportions of the facial features to emphasize the details of the distinctive, large and vibrant eyes. Also, we are striving to incorporate the diverse preferences of our global customers into fashion designs. For example, when targeting North American customers who prefer mature and sophisticated fashion styles, we have designed avatars with a taller and slender body shape compared to our existing Cocone services. As a result, the avatars look beautiful in all outfits, resembling professional models no matter what they wear. When preparing for new services, there is always uncertainty, which can make it more difficult and challenging. However, thanks to the bright and positive energy from artist Mari Kim and other crew members, we are proceeding without worries or anxieties.

Q2. What aspects of Centennial do you think customers will appreciate the most? -

Centennial offers a really wide variety of fashion items that feature bold and attractive styles not easily worn in real life. This aspect will greatly appeal to customers who value diversity and individuality. Additionally, we are preparing avatars with various body types beyond the slim physique, such as curvy and glamorous, which gives us a great advantage in terms of diversity. Also, in my encounters with global customers I have noticed that they have different mindsets and perspectives compared to the customers in Japan and Korea. For instance, while customers in East Asia generally prefer lighter skin tones, global customers tend to prefer tones similar to their own skin tone. I am curious to see how customers will respond to the styles that reflect realism in avatars. I firmly believe that Centennial's uniqueness will resonate strongly on a global scale. Furthermore, the presence of Alter Egos, which coexist with Centennials, take on special forms that align with the Centennial universe, such as animals, insects, extraterrestrials, and robots. I believe this will greatly appeal to global teenagers.

Q3. What new challenges are you taking on with Centennial?

Lim Hyungkyu (Client Developer) -

Centennial is the first unity project for Cocone M and holds great significance as the first combination of 2D and 3D. We are also developing a new avatar base from scratch due to changes in avatar proportions. And we are putting effort into the base development of all these new attempts, so that they can be utilized in future projects as well. I believe these efforts will help us to further expand Cocone's services in the future.

Sung Younseok (Server Engineer) -

We are also making various attempts in server development. We are establishing processes for reusable base development, ER-D, sequence diagram development, and test code writing, which can be used in projects after Centennial is completed. Also, we are strengthening our developer capabilities by using the latest technologies such as JAVA 17, MongoDB Atlas, AWS EKS, and AWS ECR. Since this is the first global project pursued by Cocone M, we are putting in our utmost effort to provide the best service without any incidents or issues.

Q4. Do you have any fears when meeting new customers?

Seoung Hyunkyoung (Service Planning) -

There's a saying, 'When service planning, convey unfamiliar emotions!'. (Likewise), we are planning our service in a way that maintains Centennial's unique characteristics, while maintaining the universality that allows global customers to develop deep emotions. In reality, global customers have a wide variety of preferences, so we are always deeply contemplating whether the universality and personality we have envisioned will be accepted as intended or conveyed differently from our intentions. However, our expectations far outweigh any fears. I am excited about continuously learning about the universal cultures and unique sensibilities of global customers, and the process of incorporating them into our services. It brings me great excitement to be able to engage in such rewarding work!

Q5. What do you feel when creating Centennial?

Ahn Soyeon (UI/UX Designer) -

In terms of tone and manner, this Centennial project was different from what I have done before, so I had many concerns while working on it. However, these concerns led to exciting exploration and research. In order to enter the global market, I tried out various apps and games widely used in the North American market, watched popular dramas and found it interesting and fun to explore various perspectives. Until now, I have created mostly cute and bright UI designs, but this time, I feel like I am taking on a new challenge by creating GUI with a more mature and chic feel targeting the North American market. I hope customers will appreciate our efforts as much as we have prepared for it!

Min Joohee (Service Planning) -

It's my first time participating in a project targeting global customers, so it's not easy and brings concern, but there are also many things I am looking forward to. I am curious to find out which of the various planning aspects, such as avatars, 3D interior coordination, and the nurturing of mysterious life forms called Alter Egos, will capture the attention of global customers the most. I am also excited about the process of improving the content based on positive feedback in the future.

Q6. What kind of service do you hope Centennial will become for customers?

Bae Soowoong (Localization/Operation) -

Imagine if a teenage girl from Kansas, a university student in her 20s in Hawaii, and an office worker in her 30s living in Europe could all become friends within Centennial service? It's very thrilling to think about such possibilities. I hope Centennial will allow customers from all over the world to communicate in one place! Filled with this anticipation, every day feels like I am preparing for the opening of a bakery, where our crew works hard to produce delicious products that will please the customers when the doors open at 10 a.m. Although it can be tiring at times, we are all working together for the same goal, and this fills me with excitement and anticipation.

Kang Kyeongpyo (UI/UX Designer) -

I hope Centennial can become a service that provides comfort to those who have experienced communication difficulties or have been hurt in the real world due to limitations. A service that provides customers with a place to freely express their identities and communicate with many people in the virtual world created by Cocone. I hope Centennial will play this role in the future.

Please look forward to our next Cocone Story edition introducing more exciting ABU services for the global market!

Cocone ONE

Cocone ONE Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Seoul) 3-1-8 Wakabayashi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-0023, Japan Written by: Cocone ONE PR team, mailto:pr@cocone-one.com)