The developers looked at a number of MMORPGs such as Phantasy Star Online, Ultima Online, and Final Fantasy XI for inspiration. The prior works of character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and scenario writer Kazunori Itō (Ghost in the Shell) were also an influence.

One of the news articles and forum posts that appear in the game talk about the announcement of a new nonexistent handheld device from Bandai called the "WonderHawk", touted as the successor to the also nonexistent device the "WonderSwan Revolution". In reality, the only new models Bandai made after the original WonderSwan were the WonderSwan Color and the SwanCrystal. All three were originally meant to be competitors to the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, and all three were outsold by them, leading to the WonderSwan's discontinuation in 2003, the year after this game's release in Japan.