The lead producer of the game STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl talked about how the studio GSC Game World copes with the current situation and continues the development of the long-awaited project. At the same time, she confirmed the rumors that circulated earlier about the transfer of the company to Prague.
Updated [15:54]: The developers of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl have published two more new screenshots in addition to the previous two, which became part of the material on Wired. They show several locations of the Zone and various weapons, including an Ingram MAC-10 submachine gun and a shotgun.
New screenshots of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl in high quality
It is noted that long before the start of a full-scale war, the management of GSC Game World considered the possibility of opening a second office. But then no one thought that it should be done under such conditions. According to Hryhorovych, the choice of leagues in Prague is due to the hospitable atmosphere of the local gaming industry and the city’s landlords. Some employees of GSC Game World moved to Budapest before the war. Already after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, they were able to make a trip to the Czech Republic as part of an improvised advance reconnaissance group. Their tasks included inspecting offices and finding housing.
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GSC Game World prepared for a possible Russian attack and developed an evacuation plan for employees and their families.
“All winter, emergency buses with drivers who are ready for action were standing at the GSC office,” says Hryhorovych. “The evacuation plan with all dates and meeting places was also ready: employees knew about their organizational responsibilities should it be needed.”
Numerous warnings from Western partners and the recall of embassy employees from Kyiv clearly indicated the approach of war. The company offered to transfer part of its employees to Uzhhorod. About 200 employees and members of their families agreed to move to the western part of Ukraine, some more employees went to Budapest. Those who came to Uzhgorod packed one suitcase each and took all the equipment they could collect from the office.
Many hoped then that reason would prevail, and the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border would be limited to the rattling of weapons. It was assumed that the employees would soon be able to return to Kyiv if there was no escalation.
However, the reality turned out to be different, and on February 24, Russia launched a full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, which was accompanied by missile attacks on Kyiv and a number of other cities, bombing of fuel warehouses, attempts to land an amphibious assault in Gostomel, and multi-kilometer columns of Russian military equipment.
“Some people living in the Kyiv region were sure that Bucha or Irpin would be relatively safe under any scenario,” Hryhorovych said. “It’s a miracle we finally got them to leave, given all the horror that followed.”
After the start of the war, GSC Game World had to evacuate about 500 more people, including employees and their families. The most difficult thing was to take out children and domestic animals. The first few days after the invasion were complete logistical chaos. However, we managed to cope with all tasks and almost completely evacuate the company from Kyiv.
Today, GSC Game World has two offices. While 130 employees are still in Ukraine, some of them on the front lines defending their country, another 200 have moved to Prague. This city has now sheltered the main headquarters of the GSC. The development of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl continues, although the war has made adjustments to the process.
GSC employees who are still in Ukraine work remotely from home. At the same time, the usual workflow and conferences in Zoom are periodically interrupted by air alarm sirens. And because of Russian missile attacks on energy infrastructure facilities, we have to put up with limited energy supply and try to do as much as possible in time when energy is supplied and the Internet is relatively stable.
“We have a dream to return to our office in Kyiv, to work as before,” said Hryhorovych. “Everyone wants to go home. But some really have nowhere to go back. Every Ukrainian lost something in this war because of Russia.”
After a period of adaptation, the new headquarters in Prague became fully operational last October. The release of the game is scheduled for 2023. The company changed the title of the STALKER 2 shooter subtitle from Heart of ChErnobyl to the correct variant of Heart of ChOrnobyl to reflect the Ukrainian rather than the Russian spelling of the region. And GSC Game World refused to sell the game in Russia.
“It was a game about Chernobyl, which is actually located in the Kyiv region, made by a Ukrainian team before the war, and after the beginning of the invasion, it became something incomparably bigger,” said Hryhorovych. “Now this is a national product designed to show that Ukraine is not only exceptionally effective and brave on the battlefield, but also valuable in the sense of cultural heritage. This is what needs to be shown to the world.”
“The zone opens up a new world for us!”. GSC GameWorld released the opening cutscene of STALKER 2 and showed how the life of the developers changed after the start of the war
Source: wired
