Evgeniy Kulik says, “I’d say that perhaps half of our studio works under constant threat of death.”
Evgeniy is the technical producer of Stalker 2 Heart of Chornobyl. The game was developed by Kyiv based developer GSC Game World.
Fans of the original game, released in 2007, had been waiting for this title for some time.
It is possible that it would not have happened due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
BBC Newsbeat spoke with Evgeniy to find out how the developers of Stalker 2 kept going despite losing their colleagues in war and why they feel it’s important to finish the game.
Chernobyl was the site of a nuclear accident that was the worst ever in the history of mankind.
In 1986, the country was controlled by the Soviet Union. An explosion occurred at the nuclear power station 90 miles from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The blast caused a fire to burn for 10 days and sent a plume radioactive smoke throughout Europe.
The Ukrainian government began to allow tourists to the area even before the Russian invasion.
The original Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was set in an alternate timeline where a nuclear disaster had occurred, resulting in a variety of mutant creatures and unnatural phenomena.
The players were given the role of an individual who had to explore the post-apocalyptic world and navigate the various factions battling for control of the wasteland.
Even 30 years after the event, the decision to set the game on the site was controversial. One developer said that “the blood flowed through our veins and was still warm”.
Stalker 2 was announced in 2010, with the intention of building on the survival gameplay style of the original.
GSC Game World announced in 2018 that it is working towards a release date of April 2022.
Just two months earlier, Russian troops and aircraft began crossing the border with Ukraine.
War had begun.
Stalker 2 will be released on PC and Xbox this November. However, a documentary on the making of the video game was released last week.
It shows members of a development team discussing the dawning realization that Russia was about invade.
Mariia Grygorovych, the lead producer of the film, remembers ordering buses to be waiting outside her company’s offices in Kyiv to transport employees and families to Ukraine’s Western Border.
Just over 180 people made the trip when the invasion began. 139 chose to stay behind to help with the war effort.
Some have joined the army while others have worked on Stalker 2 between their duties.
Those who fled eventually built a second studio, in Prague, Czech Republic, and rebuilt motion capture and audio from scratch.
It also features the members of the team that stayed in Ukraine, talking about their experiences fighting for their country and continuing to work on this game.
“We load our guns with one hand and play our game with the opposite,” says one.
Rejecting Russia
Evgeniy told Newsbeat that many of Stalker 2’s Russian fans were unsupportive in the early days of war.
The subtitle of the game was changed to Heart of Chornobyl after the conflict began, to reflect the Ukrainian spelling of its name.
GSC has also refused to release the game for Russian audiences.
The developers have blamed Ukraine’s opponent for its regular attempts to hack into its servers.
Evgeniy says, “We tried to get support from them.” “But we got a lot more negativity than support,” says Evgeniy.
“So, we decided to join the sanctions.”
Ukraine has kept cultural events going in wartime. It won Eurovision 2022, and its largest festival made a return this summer.
Evgeniy also feels that Stalker 2 is no different.
“We would like remind the world that Ukraine can do great games once more,” he says.
“Games are part and parcel of culture, just as music, movies, books, arts, and so on.
“So, yeah. It is an important work for the world.”
Evgeniy says that the studio owes its work to the staff who have moved or joined the military.
The studio also wants honor friends and colleagues that have died, like Volodymyr Yazov, who was killed defending Bahkmut against Russian troops.
Evgeniy says, “All those people worked really hard to make it happen. We should really push ahead to make this thing happen and appreciate their efforts.”
“To make it happen in the memory”
YouTube has War Game: The Making of Stalker 2.
Listen to Newsbeat at 12:45 & 17:45 on weekdays. You can also listen here.
Read More @ www.bbc.com