IGG has released a look behind the scenes at the development ideas and processes behind Zu Online.

Today we will be continuing our discussion with the Zu team about the new game Zu Online from IGG.

While the lush landscape constantly splayed out before players may get all the attention, it is the details that really make this game. It wasn’t enough to simply design a game that feels like it might be somewhere in Asia, the design team wanted to bring a real feeling of culture to Zu. When exploring the world of Zu players will often come across structures unfamiliar to most Westerners, who are used to castles or forts. Whether it's the sloped, tiled roofs or the wide open courtyards and gardens, the architecture in Zu is designed to be as much a cultural history lesson as a map point or save point.

Knowing that the design team for Zu Online pays such close attention to details, is it any surprise that they would even strive to make Zu easier for players AND their computers? A unique feature that would probably have otherwise gone unnoticed is the seamless map transition. The design team felt that using up RAM on players computers to store different maps would be an unnecessary burden, so they designed their maps to seamlessly transfer from one to the next. No more waiting for the next map to load, while also reducing players computer lag. Now that's thinking outside the box.

Read more here.