{"id":263582,"date":"2024-10-31T14:18:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T14:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/31\/when-danger-sprang-from-the-screen-to-real-life-a-ukrainian-game-studio-battled-back\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:10:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:10:39","slug":"when-danger-sprang-from-the-screen-to-real-life-a-ukrainian-game-studio-battled-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/31\/when-danger-sprang-from-the-screen-to-real-life-a-ukrainian-game-studio-battled-back\/","title":{"rendered":"When danger sprang from the screen to real life, a Ukrainian game studio battled back"},"content":{"rendered":"

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They\u2019d been on edge for months. As winter wore on and Russian troops amassed on Ukraine\u2019s border, they prepared a fleet of well-stocked buses, whose drivers stood by around the clock just outside the company\u2019s headquarters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the troops invaded on Feb. 24, 2022, it was 4 o\u2019clock in the morning and in that eerie dawn, GSC Game World<\/a> had already activated their emergency plan to relocate their employees and their families to a small town near the Ukrainian border.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For this game studio, this wasn\u2019t a game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first day was chaotic and unnerving. For most, it began with frantic early morning calls to relatives across the country\u2026 Ask anyone how they found out, and they\u2019ll tell you as if it happened 10 minutes ago \u2013 something etched into memory forever,\u201d says Mariia Grygorovych, creative director at GSC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably the worst day of our lives. Certainly one of the worst. I wouldn\u2019t say there was outright panic. We had to stay focused every second. The emotional toll hit later, once most of the evacuation process was completed. But the fear was real, and so was the danger.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Group
Still from War Crime documentary showing evacuation of GSC Game World employees and families<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I realized I have a lot to lose\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

That danger left technical producer Vlad Lebedynets no other option but to flee his country to save his family. \u201cI just wanted to bring my pregnant wife to safety. Everything else didn\u2019t matter,\u201d he says. \u201cI realized I have a lot to lose.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were part of the first wave of employees and their families \u2013 about 500 altogether \u2013 who left Kyiv before making a new home in Prague. When he, his wife and his mother approached the Hungarian border on foot, in the snow, he brought only a backpack to carry a video card processor for his computer, two sticks of RAM and a couple of T-shirts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I needed was in it,\u201d says Lebedynets. \u201cI\u2019m not so attached to stuff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Man
Vlad Lebedynets (Photo by \u00a0Jamie Florance)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the time, however, his mother found that she was too attached to Ukraine to leave it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a meltdown when we were about to cross the border and went back to Kyiv. She was on a train the night the bombings began. And after a few days, a rocket hit the building in front of her house. Then, she decided to join us,\u201d Lebedynets says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But his 54-year-old father stayed in Ukraine. He served in the military when he was much younger and has recently been conscripted into the army. \u201cOf course I\u2019m worried about him. There\u2019s nothing I can do. I guess it\u2019s life,\u201d he says, shrugging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some GSC employees decided to defend their country and volunteered to serve in the military. Friends and relatives have died. About 200 of the studio staff are still in Ukraine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For many employees, including Lebedynets, who has been in the gaming industry for a dozen years, the last three with GSC, focusing on the job has become a welcome distraction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Man
Vlad Lebedynets working on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWorking on the game, working problems to find solutions, helped keep me a little bit sane,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a wild ride. And honestly, sometimes I wonder how the hell we managed to go through all of this. A team is always your second family and also is your second home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

His daughter is now 2 years old, and his game is about to be born.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frozen in time, full of surprises<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

GSC is in the homestretch of finishing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl<\/a>*, the sequel to an award-winning PC franchise that has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. Originally scheduled for release in 2022, it will at long last be available Nov. 20 on Windows 10\/11, Steam, Xbox and with Game Pass.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creating a bigger and better version of a beloved game is never easy, but this already arduous task was thrown off kilter by an invasion and war that forced an evacuation to another country and the re-creation of their studio there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While PC players may be familiar with previous iterations of the game, newcomers may need a little bit of a primer. First, the name: It\u2019s not what you think. Stalkers are bounty hunters who trespass into the post-apocalyptic exclusion zone. They need to acquire food, water, medicine and other supplies while fending off mutants and deadly anomalies in this first-person shooter game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fan
Fan cosplaying a stalker at Gamescom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They\u2019re the main characters who are trying to survive in the zone, the site of a disaster at the Chornobyl nuclear plant in 1986 (and in the game, it happens again in 2006). Hardcore fans have given stalkers something of a cult following, with cosplays at conventions and themed events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the game\u2019s barren environment, you are an explorer in a place frozen in time but full of surprises. Those drawn to horror and action-adventure movies, as well as dystopian science fiction, will see the appeal of this non-linear play.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The biggest difference from previous versions of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the addition of Unreal Engine 5, a 3D creation platform that provides tools and assets for game developers to create expansive worlds like the exclusion zone with unprecedented visual fidelity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the past, moving to and from major locations required players to download those experiences, which interrupted that journey of discovery. Now this open world flows from place to place without the need to wait for new locations to load, giving players a truly immersive experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Screenshot from the game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lebedynets grew up playing games on PCs and remembers playing the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. when he was in middle school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA guy from my class brought the game to school. It had just come out that day. I ran back home to my parents to ask for money, promised to do chores. I ran to the nearest store and got a collector\u2019s edition, my first licensed copy of the game. I promised my mom to keep my room clean for a month,\u201d he jokes. (That lasted three days.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it as a kid and to recreate this in a new game was a challenge, but I think we achieved it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the first time in the series\u2019 history, the new game will launch on consoles the same day as the PC launch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Screenshot from the game, showing perspective of being on a roof<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A once-dead zone comes to life<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was important to GSC to make the game as accurate as possible to real-life Chornobyl. Before the invasion, when the studio first embarked on the sequel, everyone who worked at the studio visited the exclusion zone, which was popular with tourists and only an hour from Kyiv.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team needed to understand what they were working with \u2013 to feel this unique place and its atmosphere. Most of the items in the game were scanned in the real exclusion zone,\u201d says game director and GSC CEO Ievgen Grygorovych, who is married to Mariia Grygorovych.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place of power, which is uniquely beautiful in every season \u2013 and yet it always looks different. You can see firsthand how a place, abandoned by humans due to a man-made disaster, has been reclaimed by nature. Trees grow, flowers bloom, but now without people. Isn\u2019t this the perfect setting to depict a post-apocalyptic world?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Screenshot from the game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grygorovych sees the zone as another character in the game. It can set rules, cause everyone to die or get hurt, and create special phenomena such as anomalies, arch-anomalies, mutants and radiation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone can imagine themselves taking a train, plane or bus to the exclusion zone and becoming the main character. They don\u2019t have any special skills,\u201d Ievgen Grygorovych says. \u201cThis narrative style allows anyone to connect with the character and feel like they could be in their shoes. It makes the story more immersive and personal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Important things never come easy<\/strong>\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n

Months before Mariia Grygorovych made her arrival into the world, her mother fled their home near the Chornobyl nuclear power plant after the disaster closed it in 1986, fearing the effects of radiation leaks on her unborn daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly 36 years later, Grygorovych, while leading the production of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 as its creative director, also decided to leave her home in Ukraine. This time, it was out of concern for the safety of not only her family, but GSC \u2013 her chosen family.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Boxes
Still from War Crime documentary showing boxes from GSC studio moving to new offices during evacuation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis story influenced my view of life. Because no system can be more important than people,\u201d she says in \u201cWar Game: The Making of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,\u201d<\/a> an in-depth documentary based on the studio\u2019s unprecedented journey to complete the game under such trying circumstances.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a responsibility to our employees: If we start something, we do it until the end,\u201d Grygorovych says in the documentary. \u201cImportant things never come easy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And for the GSC team, it hasn\u2019t been easy at all these past two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Man
Mykyta Horodyvskyi (Photo by Jamie Florance)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Made by Ukraine, made for the world <\/strong>\u00a0
\u00a0
Once the team picked up its work in Prague, the cultural mission of the game gained more traction, showcasing Ukrainian pride through music, artwork, language and storytelling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to deliver a truly cultural Ukrainian product worldwide and that\u2019s a whole different motivation,\u201d says Mykyta Horodyvskyi, GSC\u2019s community and social media manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make it clear that this is a Ukrainian game about the Ukrainian Chornobyl exclusion zone, made by Ukrainian developers, by a Ukrainian studio. And that through the game we are sharing our culture. We\u2019re not broken, we are fighting and that\u2019s represented in the game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Horodyvskyi, who joined the company in 2021, has been a PC gamer since the fourth grade and remembers playing the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. \u2013 though as a young boy, it was so scary at first, he had to ask a friend to come over and help him navigate through the dark screens and monsters. (The rating for the sequel is ESRB Mature 17+**.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

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