2024-02-13 04:38:19
A world of pagan gods, myths and faith, but also a path to redemption. The forthcoming Czech video game Vranygrai will transport players to the time before the creation of the first Slavic state in Central Europe – Great Moravia. In the shoes of a priest who is grieving for his deceased sister, they set out on a journey to find answers and the culprits. “Perhaps there is more hidden in his past than one might expect,” suggests developer Ivan Kubál.
A massive bearded Slav, reminiscent of a Viking warrior in his appearance, is to come to terms with his past in the first part of the planned Czech trilogy Vranygrai. “Difficult childhood and the war turned him into a numb man. Fights and death do not arouse much emotion in him, he takes them pragmatically, even laxly. For him, that’s just the way it is. You can even say that he is so disgusted with life that he doesn’t even does not weigh,” describes the hero of the story, the developer and founder of Dire Badger studio Ivan Kubál, for Aktuálně.cz.
The name of the forthcoming video game Vranygrai means “cry of crows” in Old Slovak. Their croaking was considered by the Slavs as a harbinger of bad events. “Such which are the basic premise of the emerging game. Who knows, maybe they can be a warning for the player,” suggests the developer.
Crows are also one of the symbols of the goddess Morana. It was she who became an important character in the entire story. It will appear to the protagonist as part of mythological encounters. “Thanks to a psychic, Volkh will be able to look face to face with Slavic gods and creatures from fables and legends. Only she can help him on his way to what he is looking for,” Kubál carefully reveals the plot of the game. In terms of genre, it will be an action adventure story. The studio bet on a strong story based on historical events from the time of the creation of Great Moravia.
The concept of the goddess Morana for the video game Vranygrai was designed by the artist Tomáš Létal. The studio has not yet published the picture anywhere. | Photo: Tomáš Létal (client: Dire Badger Studio)
Kubál worked alone for a long time on the video game. He admits that in the future, development and marketing alone would not be enough. This is also why he expanded his until recently three-member team to include graphic artist Maria Benešovská and screenwriter Michaela Štálová. Kristína Nemcová helps him with social networks. “Classically, it started as a project in my spare time, in the evenings. It didn’t become a full-time job until last summer,” he says.
When writing the script, Dire Badger studio is inspired by archeological sources and fiction. Side story lines are based on local superstitions and fairy tales. In order for the developer to orient himself in them and try to create a believable game world, he also consulted the script for the video game with the historian Kateřina Brzobohata.
However, historical accuracy had to go aside in several passages of the story in the context of a more entertaining gameplay. “I manipulated the timeline of events a lot,” admits Kubál. For example, the fall of the Avar Khaganate appears in Vranygrai. The Avars, who ruled a large part of Central and Eastern Europe for almost 250 years, are perceived domestically mainly as enemies of the Slavs. However, the upcoming game wants to show nomads in a different light. “We don’t want to immediately classify them as the bad guys. We even rewrote the script for that. Originally, Volga’s sister was supposed to die during their raid,” reveals the developer.
Photo: Dire Badger Studio
The story of Vranygrai was also reflected in the books of Juraj Červenák, a Slovak writer whose work focuses mainly on the fantasy genre. He became famous mainly thanks to books about the barbarian Conan or the legendary Czech hero Bivoj. “Some of Červenák’s works also touch on Great Moravia. Thanks to that, I found my way to the topic,” explains Kubál, where the idea for the origin of the protagonist hung with fur came from.
In the world of video games, developers were largely inspired by the Polish game series The Witcher or the German Gothic. However, Vranygrai will be far from the work of the CD Projekt Red studio, which adapted the story from the pen of writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Likewise, it will not use overly detailed RPG elements that the player would not be able to fully utilize in a shorter game. “Maybe Gothic is relevantly simple and has a small world. I’ll admit, I don’t like the trend of huge games that are three hundred hours long. I can’t play it myself, I just don’t have the time,” he admits. That is also why his upcoming title Vranygrai will have around eight hours.
The map of the game, which promises an area of two by two kilometers, will also be smaller. On it, players will be able to get to know the real locations of the former Great Moravia. “The story of the priest begins in the Poľany area, we will visit the Kalamárka, Zvolen and surrounding estates, forgotten by time,” says the developer.
In connection with the development of Kubál, there are currently two major concerns. The first is optimization, the correct setting of which ensures that the player will be able to enjoy the same high-quality and smooth experience regardless of the platform on which the title is launched. The game’s graphic modifications also make wrinkles for him. “It’s not my priority. But I’m a little scared that my game won’t be forgotten because of how it will look,” he admits modestly.
The concerns may stem from the criticism the studio faced when the first trailer was released. People blamed the developers for its not quite ideal technical processing. “The image in the video from the first stages of development did not run smoothly. Some comments also criticized the graphics, but I did not deal with it. I was compensated by the positive feedback, which was more,” says Kubál, who, according to him, managed to solve the original problems.
A much more fundamental challenge could be financing the project. “I am looking for investors and publishers. I would like them to be good companies with whom I will get along in the future,” he adds. The game is developed in the Unity Engine and is currently in the first phase of testing. When it will be released is not yet fixed. However, according to Kubál, players could experience the story of the Slavic priest in about two years.
Learning how to make video games is easy these days, says a developer
Kubál managed to get into the video game industry thanks to a sudden whim, but according to him, he always wanted to work in the field of culture. He briefly devoted himself to music, but his musical career did not materialize. “I was a guitarist in a band, but I couldn’t do it at all. Despite that, my love for music didn’t let me go,” he says with a smile. He therefore decided to apply to the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts, where he studied music management.
Thanks to this, he was later able to become a production manager at the National Theater in Brno, to be part of the team of the theater association Cirk La Putyka and to work at the international festival Tanec Praha. “Then covid hit the culture. As a result, I started to reevaluate my career,” he recalls. It was at that time that he decided to invest his free time in online game development courses.
Learning how to develop games was easy for Kubál. “There are many handy tutorials on the Internet. But many of them are also misleading or of poor quality. I bet on paid lessons, thanks to which I soon managed to create small prototypes of simple shooters and platformers,” he says. The developer also tested his skills by participating in job auditions. “It wasn’t so much about getting a job. I enjoyed the process – getting an assignment and coming up with a game,” he says.
After two years of training according to instructional videos, he decided to try his luck and through an acquaintance got in touch with the HR of the well-known American studio Hangar 13. In 2017, it was merged with the domestic company 2K Czech, which became famous thanks to the Mafia series. “I exchanged a few words with him, I was wondering if they were also hiring people who are not from the industry, but who are eager to try. No one answered. Half a year later, I received an offer that they were opening a position as an assistant producer in Prague,” he says .
He worked in the company for over two years before he decided to devote himself fully to Vranygrai. “I was first an assistant, later a producer in the Prague branch. Thanks to my work, I got to know the development studio inside and out,” he says. He is now investing his experience in building the team behind the Dire Badger studio.
An essential component of Vranygrai will also be atmospheric music, which Kubál and his team did not underestimate. The background to the story was composed by Jan Balcar, the main composer of the association Cirk La Putyka. “He is a real magician. I approached him because I know him well and I know how incredibly vast his abilities in the field of music are,” concludes the developer. Right after the first test, it was clear to Kubál that he had made the right choice.
Still unpublished footage. Dire Badger Studio has revealed a video from the making of the Vranygrai jingle
Video: Music: Jan Balcar / Vocals: Petra Majerčíková / Edit: Rebeka Kopkáš Uličná / Client: Dire Badger Studio