Hyung-Tae Kim is a well-known Korean developer in the gaming industry. He is famous for games such as Blade & Soul, Magna Carta, and the most recent Stellar Blade. Even before these games became popular he was well known for his captivating artwork. The Korean developer started by making background music for video games before switching to art, and design.
Hyung-Tae Kim has also ventured into the comic book industry, contributing to the Udon Street Fighter series and working as a guest cover artist. Kim is currently working in Shift Up Corp. as the CEO, and game director. He is also one of the key members of the development team of Shift Up’s upcoming action-adventure game Stellar Blade.
Fans praise Hyung-Tae Kim’s wife Jiyun Chae for her artwork
Hyung-Tae Kim is married to his fellow concept artist Jiyun Chae who works as an artist and designer at Shift Up Corp. Jiyun Chae has worked as an artist and designer for Shift Up games such as Destiny Child, and NIKKE to name a few.
Recently, fans got to see some of Jiyun Chae’s creative work when a social media user shared a few of her illustrious artworks online. User @NotHaru47 shared some of the characters drawn by Jiyun Chae via a tweet on X.
Some of the characters drawn by the CEO's wife pic.twitter.com/sQib7pUEye
— Haru47 ☭⃠🇩🇪🇲🇽🇺🇸🇯🇵新人ゲーム開発者 (@NotHaru47) March 30, 2024
@NotHaru47 further commented that fans shouldn’t be surprised if they get to see Miriam or any other skins referencing the NIKKE game in the upcoming Stellar Blade game.
While Jiyun Chae is a well-known designer among her peers, many were not aware of her contributions to some of Shift Up’s games. User @LuciferSynd was in awe of her work and tweeted
Oooooh! So it's her, doing the characters both for Destiny Child and Nikke! Holy crap, she's amazing!
Take that, western puritans!
— LuciferSynd | On Twitch (@LuciferSynd) March 30, 2024
A few other fans also commented on the post praising Jiyun Chae’s character designs
One of my favorite designs in Nikke.
— Just some otaku/只是一般的御宅族罢了 (@ultraheroinefan) March 31, 2024
She’s very talented!
— Daniel Jackson (@action2077) March 31, 2024
She is now top artist up there. She's done **steller** work
— mysticzawado (@mardastore) March 31, 2024
While fans are in awe of Jiyun Chae for designing some amazing characters for Shift Up’s games, some of these characters have also drawn criticism for the way women are depicted in them.
Stellar Blade lands in controversy for Eve’s design
Shift Up’s upcoming game Stellar Blade is surrounded by controversies for the female protagonist’s body design. After fans got to see Eve in numerous videos and screenshots circulating online, her design became one of the most discussed topics. While there are fans who have appreciated Eve’s stunning looks, especially her long hair, many criticized the s*xualized depiction of her character.
Many fans were also shocked when Hyung-Tae Kim spoke about the protagonist’s body design. “When it comes to the design, we put special attention on the back of the character because the player is always facing the back of the character when they’re playing. That’s what they see the most of, so we thought this was pretty important”, Kim said in an interview with GamesRadar+.
Kim’s design style of exaggerating the female characters is well known. This can also be seen in some of Shift Up’s games like NIKKE where players get to see female characters in eye-catching outfits. Additionally, when it comes to Stellar Blade, players will get a lot of options to customize Eve’s looks according to their preferences.
