GamesRepublic celebrates Polish Game developers, “From Poland with Love” sale
Games Republic is proud to present a special price offer for a special occasion. November 11th is Poland’s 4th of July. It is our Independence day. A symbol of what we have craved for. We craved to be independent, to do things our way. And now, independent, we create games our way and celebrate our way. As a part of 11bit studios SA – the creators of the award winning This War of Mine – we are proud to offer you this production and many other fantastic Polish games up to 90% off.
We invite you to celebrate with us and see for yourself how we make games our way.
Gamedev in Poland is constantly growing. This War of Mine is a great example. It’s an indie game showing war from the perspective of civilians. In less than a year 11bit studios has received over 80 awards for this masterpiece, at the Independent Games Festival and trade shows in Brasil and Czech Republic among others.
GamesRepublic asked the Polish gamedev gurus several questions – read all about it below, starting with 11bit studios!
1) What compelled you to put morality in your game?
What we figured and what people who survived the war confirm, is that war is the hardest test for a man. If you stick to your principles, if you believe in something, war will put your faith to the hardest test. Trying to survive, sooner or later you’ll have to choose whether to sacrifice yourself or your principles. That’s why making a game about the burden of war, we had to deal with the issue of morality in war.
2) How long it took to develop the first playable version?
Prototyping started in early 2013, the game was announced in early 2014, and launched in the end of 2014. It took one year to make a playable version from the moment when we had the first idea. It’s worth noting that the basic concept was defined precisely – war from the perspective of civilians – so the main body of work was concerned with developing game mechanics that reflected this concept. And up to now, with all the updates and versions on various platforms, it’s been three years of work on This War of Mine.
3) This War of Mine tells a story that could take place in reality. Isn’t it easier to work with purely science fiction projects?
This War of Mine is a unique project. At its core it’s a mature experience for a mature gamer. Working on it, we were focused on gamers like us – folks in their thirties, with families, who play games not just for their entertainment value, but look for more serious matters, such as encountered in movies and literature. It wasn’t easy, but it’s not about making it easy – it’s about the quality of the narrative, or the quality of the story with gamer as a participant.
4) What is the status of the Industrial project?
We’re taking Industrial through successive iterations, fine-tuning it and adding new layers all the time, because our target is to create an unforgettable experience. And we will do it. With This War of Mine we set the bar really high, and now we’re setting it even higher. Industrial is a big and bold project. It has some fantastic elements, but also certain gravity, or shall we say, depth of maturity in its gameplay, because we feel comfortable creating a story for a mature player thanks to the experience gained working on This War of Mine.
Do you know anyone who haven’t heard about The Witcher 3? If you do, check if they’re alive. Let’s talk with people from CD Projekt RED who created this masterpiece.
1) How many people worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt?
The team behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt consisted of nearly 300 people — specialists of all sorts, mostly working here in our studios in Warsaw and in Cracow. Obviously, certain departments also used some outsourcing help when needed, but the vast majority of the work was done in-house.
2) In Witcher 3: Wild Hunt there’s a lot of jokes that really only work in Polish. Didn’t you worry that people won’t get them or will misunderstand them?
The core of the game, its premise, was written to appeal to gamers from all over the world. Obviously, there are some easter eggs that were inspired by Polish pop culture and it was up to our extremely talented localization team to adapt these jokes so they would be funny in all language versions.
3) Which one of over 250 awards do you consider the biggest honor?
All of them are very important to us — both the community choice awards and the ones coming from media representatives. Each recognition means that our philosophy and what we believe in is worth moving forward with and it’s the right way to go — be it our approach towards publishing free DLCs or gamer-centric design decisions.
4) Which free DLC was best received by gamers?
The answer is simple, it’s New Game+. Ever since we had started our FREE DLC initiative, tons of gamers kept asking us to add this mode to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. So when the time came to reveal the last element of our DLC puzzle, everyone was ecstatic. Both gamers, who got what they were requesting the most, and us, because we could make another community request come to fruition.
5) From what mythologies, besides Slavic, did you draw inspirations for the story?
As you mentioned, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is heavily based on slavic mythology but, of course, we took our inspiration from other places like Norse and Celtic myths as well as certain Asian fairy tales.
Flying Wild Hog used a clever viral video to announce their Shadow Warrior 2. Let’s talk with them!
1) What are samurai doing in Poland?
Long time ago… in the year 666 AD, three samurai, Lech-san, Czech-chan and Rus-kun arrived to Poland…
But seriously – with Hard Reset we proved that we have the FPS figured out. Devolver Digital, owners of the Shadow Warrior franchise, reached out to us with a cooperation proposal. The rest is history.
2) To paraphrase your viral – who wants some new Wang?
Everyone!
3) What’s the most exciting change in the sequel?
There’s a lot of them, but the most important is the four player co-op and weapon upgrade loot familiar from action RPGs. And the random map generator so you never get bored.
4) Lo Wang is the only named character in the co-op mode, the other ninjas are anonymous. Better to have just one hero?
There can be only Wang! It’s still undecided if the other ninjas remain nameless. But we made each player in co-op Wang to let everyone feel a part of the story during the cutscenes or when Wang talks with someone.
5) Lo Wang looks a lot younger than in his first adventure in 1997. Is this because of the healthy Japanese diet?
Rice, rice, it’s all about rice. And workout, hormone treatment, botox and hair transplant. And a company that can take an old game and transform it into a modern FPS with an oldschool feel, restoring Wang to his rightful place among the biggest heroes of our time!
IMGN.PRO is one of the biggest Polish publishers, with a strong offer in every genre. We asked them about their latest gem – Spintires.
1) 209 published games, that’s a reason to be proud. What is your personal favorite?
We always value the first games we publish, and in our case it was a set of SCS Software games published in retail in Poland. When I recall our origins, I think fondly of Euro Truck Simulator. I know of many businesses and people for whom this bestseller was a starting point of a great career – and that’s also the story behind IMGN.PRO. One year after the launch of Spintires we really appreciate this game, developed by just one (!) person. With half a million copies sold, I feel confident in saying that we deal with pure personal genius here.
2) You’re doing well in many genres. Isn’t it better to specialize in one genre, or one topic?
Because of our starting catalogue, many people pigeonholed us as „these simulator people”. So in a way we’ do specialize in this genre, and we had a lot of luck picking and working on quality titles. As developers, we just made our first steps in the horror genre (Kholat), and now we’re jumping into RPGs (Seven). But we’re not done with horror – it’s quite likely that gamers will hear yet about scary games from IMGN.PRO.
3) With Spintires, Dreamfall and Euro Truck series you made a lot of publicity. Why did you made such a sudden switch to Kholat?
We worked with many developers we felt comfortable collaborating with, no matter the genre. We were always interested in titles that had this “magnet” attracting the gamers. We always wanted to develop games and we weren’t short for ideas. Kholat was the first game made completely in-house in our studio in Bielsko-Biała.
4) There’s plenty of unexplained stories that could have served as the inspiration for Kholat. Why did you choose the Dyatlov Pass Incident?
The story of Dyatlov Pass incident is fascinating. It’s still unsolved, it’s still attracting people, just like it attracted us. We chose it because making a video game about it presented an interesting challenge. Remember that this tragedy actually happened, people really died on Dyatlov Pass, and creating a fictionalized story around these events required sensitivity and respect. We are satisfied with the final result – and we’re not alone, as the awards for Best Narration and Best Story at Games Connection Awards 2015 demonstrate.
You can get most of the gems mentioned above at Games Republic – online store owned by 11 bit studios → https://saving-content.gamesrepublic.com/promo/from-poland-with-love,213.html. Purely Polish hits with discounts up to 90%. Let’s celebrate!
