Gloomy fairy -tale adventure ** The Tales of Bayun ** Russian studio Flyindogs became one of the winners of the first wave of the program Devdrive , which was organized " Gambling "," Canobus" And AG.Ru
On this occasion, we contacted Ilya Maksimenko , One of the founders of the studio and the creative director of the game, discussing the Slavic setting and the invented world of The Tales of Bayun, non -linearity and ending, gray morality and, of course, that very Kota Bayuna.
Tell us about The Tales of Bayun and your team.
The Tales of Bayun is my first project in the gaming industry, although many team members for several years in Gamdev have managed to work on many projects. This is a narrative adventure game with RPG elements. The basis of the gaming process is the choice of dialogs and actions affecting the plot. Very close to modern visual novels, but with certain differences: we added role -playing waging, system of characteristics and inventory, Point and Click elements.
The game consists of two episodes. In the first, it is necessary to help the hero achieve his cherished goal and simultaneously solve many problems. The player can go ahead, choose the most aggressive variants of dialogs, earn dashes and create an image of a cruel person.
But you can try to get the necessary information with cunning. Or try to help as many characters as possible. Or trust your own heart. And on these numerous "or", different options we are building reiglabia and variability.
We try to make the narrative both dynamic and fascinating. Most players want the constant development of the plot, unexpected turns, non -standard moves. The remaining gameplay mechanics with high -quality art, animations and sound accompaniment help to imbue the atmosphere of the game and feel the spirit of folk tales.
At the same time, we get a rather gloomy and in some way even a cruel game. We came up to the process thoroughly and created a thoughtful world with a diesel for fifty pages. With the elaboration of the world, by the way, helped us Anton Karelin – narrative with regalia, for which special thanks to him.
The world has its own mythology, its characters are well-known characters, whether Baba Yaga or something background. Slavic folklore is insanely deep. And he was not so revealed in the games.
Your team has more specialists who focus on the visual or on history? What do you have at the forefront?
At the forefront, we have a desire to make a quality and interesting project. A good game is a lot of elements that should work harmoniously, for the benefit of each other. And gameplay, and the plot, and pleasant music, and convenient management … And the key to creating a good game is a team job.
14 people work on the project, plus I and my partner. Many people work on a part-time, because we are an indie studio, we do everything with our own money … Of course, I would like to do a Ful-Time, make the project more ambitious, add a full-fledged combat system and the ability to rob cows, but we don’t really export the resources purely by resources.
How do you have a process of localizing text into English? Or, perhaps, you first write in English, and then translate into Russian?
No, that would be too harsh! The game is made by people for whom the chosen theme is close, this is our cultural code. Our entire team is Russian -speaking, international. We work remotely, we have no office. Someone from Georgia, someone from Montenegro, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Lithuania. This is a truly international project.
Regarding translation, we initially write the text in Russian, and then we translate with the help of a third -party contractor. Through the studio " Left ". We trusted them, they transferred us a demo, which has already been released in Steam. And I liked the translation – from what I looked. They were able to do everything as authentic as possible, and at the same time not to overdo it with the complexity of perception for https://richy-leo-casino.co.uk/ Western players.
What games and works as a whole were you inspired by creating The Tales of Bayun?
According to art, we were inspired by classic Russian artists and their Western colleagues. We have a very cool art department! The guys constantly watch new materials, create dozens of concepts, look for new references, improve and bring to the ideal the necessary elements … This is a very large volume of work.
From the point of view of the narrative, we look at Slavic folklore, but to take it as a base, without adaptation – not a very correct solution from the point of view. Now other times, other customs and rules of conduct. In addition, in terms of creating the narrative, the games are very different from books. Therefore, we take our favorite plots and characters, we take Afanasyev, Bazhov, just folk tales and traditions, plots from another fantasy … and we create our own concept of what our world will be, what plots will be and what all this will be based.
From the point of view of game design, we focus mainly on plot games. In this regard, the cool projects of our compatriots: "" Life and suffering of Mr. Brante " And Black Book. They went through their binge, I liked it very much, the guys well done. The coldness and doom of the world The Banner Saga also had its influence.
The Wolf Among Us.
And, of course, we constantly play and consider projects with interesting worlds, stories and characters. For example, games Telltale like The Wolf Among Us , Games Quantic Dream like Detroit: Become Human – We like how they give the plot and how much attention is paid to him. This, of course, is games Naughty Dog And Santa Monica. Kory Barlog And Neil Drakmann undoubtedly deserve all their regalia.
But we adequately assess our strength. We are a small and cozy adventure a couple of evenings after work in order to plunge into the new world, go with pleasure at one of the ends, see different options for the development of events, characters, relax, in a word. And we want to leave the players after the game warm sadness that arises when you go through a cool thing. So far we are moving in this direction.
There are several endings in the game, including secret. They depend on which way the hero will go: it pumps into force, into a trick or find a balance … Tell us what else can affect the ends? What to pay attention to the player?
I will not reveal all the secrets. We added hidden parameters to the game, and there are certain decisions that we make in the course of the game. And they affect the end of history to varying degrees. We do not make the episodes too long for this: so that, having played for a cunning character, but in the end, being at a broken trough, the player could immediately figure out where he turned the wrong way, began again and received a completely different ending.
One of the key characters is the cat Bayun. Tell us, he will be our guide to what is happening in the game or judge of the hero? And it will just constantly laugh at him?
Oh, Bayun has a much more important role than it might seem by demo. Caustic jokes and knuckles are far from everything that is in stock. In our game, gray moral. The cat will neither direct you or condemn you. He is a storyteller who himself saw a lot of stories. But he cannot resist the comments and statements of his own opinion. Sometimes Bayun can even drop something extremely important … but he will try to do it imperceptibly. And, of course, he has a certain skin interest.
By the way about gray morality: the game has different warring fractions, including supernatural ones, but, apparently, there is no absolutely good one there?
This is one of the pillars of the game. We wanted to show a difficult world with our problems, where there is nothing clearly good or clearly bad. Life is not easy. At one point, some character may seem good. In another – bad. But in fact, he only pursues his own goals.
Games often make it so that it is beneficial to be either absolutely evil or absolutely kind. We want to untie the players a little so that they can play the character that they want to be in a specific situation. Yes, and the main characters, to be honest, are not at all sinless, and their reputation is not distinguished by purity. So let the players decide for themselves how they behave along the game.
How you plan to develop the game? Are additions and updates planned? Or even spin-offs?
Our game consists of two episodes united by the general world and meta-gamples, but distinguished by heroes, characters, plot and other nuances. If the Tales of Bayun will like the players and will be commercially successful, we will make new episodes, because we really want to develop this world. The world of the party that we described and in which there are still many undisclosed topics: there is paganism, and miraculos-yudo fish-kit, and kitezh-grad, and firebog, and Koschey ..
But if the project does not pay off, we will tell you at least two finished stories. You know that unpleasant feeling when your favorite series is canceled after the next season: no answers, nothing is clear … This will definitely not be with The Tales of Bayun. Games development is always roulette, especially at such a time and for small teams. But we look at the future with optimism!
Do you have the success of the game's success? Planned good or even excellent sales?
I consider it a success if we sell about 50 thousand copies of the game. It will be good. 100 thousand copies are a mega-mustache. And if we overcome this line, then I will definitely jump with happiness. And we will most likely take care of the game on other platforms. On Switch , For example, on the console Microsoft And Sony. Maybe even on mobile devices.
But we will definitely finish this game and release. We do not plan to get into early access, we do not start crowdfunding – all potential expenses have already been calculated and taken into account.
How is it to be indie in modern conditions? Do you have enough finance and opportunities to create the necessary? What are the difficulties?
I would say that the 2022nd is the worst year to create an indie studio if we are talking about the CIS. February events are imposed on this and, in principle, the crisis in the markets. Last year, publishers and investors went into much more adventurous stories. At one point, the publishers wrote to us themselves, there was an interest, and then everyone disappeared sharply. It is now more profitable to take on typical projects in understandable and simple settings, which will definitely bring some profit.
To be an indie developer is completely difficult. But business sites and the ability to lead the team helps. And we also believe that even in such a difficult time we almost finished and released the project, then it will be even a little, but easier.
What games are you and the team are waiting for the nearby? What would you like to play, possibly from the old, but unexplored?
I would like to finally take up Elden Ring , otherwise I still can't get. I want to see what they are developing in 11 Bit Studios , which created This War of Mine And Frostpunk. As far as I remember, their new game with a 4 million budget in the fantasy setting of the Russian Empire.
Interestingly, in the end it will turn out Atomic Heart and second " Stalker ". Of course, we are waiting for the new God of War , And Starfield , And " Zelda ". We hope to wait sooner or later next The Elder Scrolls. But this is how it will work.
What would you like to tell the readers of "Gambrine" and "Canoba"? Or, perhaps, there is a question that you are not asked, but which you would like to answer?
I know that many want to develop games. This is a difficult path. This is many years of work, it is zeal and efforts. But the result is supermegrandit. Nowhere and never I felt just as cool and so in its place. If you have ideas, some achievements and your own projects, if you are in the team or work alone-do not give up your hands. Create, improve, and you will definitely succeed!
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