Video games don’t have to be fun, but they do have to evoke emotions. These are the words that guide the Polish developer from the 11 Bit studio Paweł Miechowski. He has been in the gaming world for a quarter of a century. The emergence of the bold idea dates back roughly a decade, to the time when he was involved in the title This War of Mine. The game, whose theme is unfortunately still relevant today, caught the attention of not only the world media, but also political agencies.
Categorizing This War of Mine in the “survival simulator” category is perhaps too mild. A much more accurate title for the title would be “suffering simulator”. The emergence of the strategy, the story of which takes place in a besieged city, was inspired by the war in Sarajevo, according to the Polish developer. Instead of a soldier who kills enemies with a machine gun in the front line, however, the player finds himself in the shoes of a simple civilian through it. He has only one task in front of him – to wait for the end of the war.
The idea of creating a title, the theme of which is more relevant than ever years later, came to the developers by accident. “It was an ordinary conversation over a cigarette and a beer with a friend. We were discussing how the gaming scene was changing. Games were getting more and more serious and we felt that we were getting old. I was 35 at the time. I would hardly find time to play for a hundred hours a long game. So first we wanted to make something shorter, but all the more intense,” recalls Miechowski in an interview with Aktuálně.cz during the bustle of the fifth annual Prague Comic-Con.
Studio 11 Bit, where it now works as a communications & brand partnerships expert, is now attracting the attention of the world’s game journalists, especially in connection with the construction strategy of Frostpunk 2, which is to be released in full version this June.
However, it achieved its first big success ten years ago after the development team set out to create a title that would make players cry. “It sounded crazy at the time. Our lead designer, Michał Drozdowski, brought an interview with Steven Spielberg to the meeting and said, ‘Look, he says that one day there will be a game that makes people cry the way movies can make them cry. Let’s make it.'” describing.
According to Miechowski, the team immediately agreed on the ambition. Before long, Paweł’s brother, 11 Bit CEO Grzegorz Miechowski, came and presented the developers with an unusual idea. “He read a series of interviews with people who survived the war in Yugoslavia. And he said, you know, let’s make a play about exactly that. Let’s describe how f*cking life was for those people,” he says.
The studio management was unsure if a title that targets such intimate emotions could succeed among gamers. “Anyway, we knew we had done a good job. The design was exceptionally good, as was the story, which I helped write. So I brought the game to the Game Developers Conference and showed it to the press,” he recalls. According to him, they were from the “crazy” sample.
The interest from “higher places” stopped the developer
No similar game, which would focus on the life of civilians in war, was created before the work of the 11 Bit studio. Why this is so, Miechowski does not dare to guess. According to him, however, the reason why the title originated in Poland is clearer. “If you look at cult Polish films that have become popular abroad, they are dramatic, tragic and depressing stories about war and dying. I think it’s the reverberations of the war that left a deep scar on Poland,” he says.
Due to the attention of the general public, the Atlantic Council, an American forum focused on the field of international relations, or Wilton Park, the executive office of the British Foreign Office, became interested in the video game. “It was strange. An American called me one day and said he wanted to know who was behind This War of Mine. I think the political establishment wanted to know what kind of thinking was behind a game that could have such a cultural impact. Interest it also took off in higher places in Poland, many politicians wanted to take advantage of the success,” admits the developer.
According to Miechowski, the success was probably also helped by good timing. “It helped that the game came out at a time when war games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor were hugely popular. But they trivialized the image of war. In both cases, you’re just a soldier who shoots and wins the war yourself. And suddenly the guys from Poland, who make a play about suffering.”
The game was a hit in Russia
The developer admits that political organizations seemed to think that the video game could be used as a propaganda tool. It also played a role in the approach of some Russian media. “The title was very popular among the players there, so the media was always interested in it. I feel that Russian journalists sometimes try to drag me into their political agenda, especially when they talk about the situation in Ukraine. Sometimes I felt that I they tried to force me to say something different, to figuratively blur my attitude. And I don’t like that,” he says.
According to the developer, some editors have even expressed concern about the statement that studio 11 Bit issued after the start of the full invasion of Ukraine two years ago. In addition to the team expressing their full support for Ukraine, the developers announced that they will donate all profits from the sale of This War of Mine to the Ukrainian Red Cross to support the victims. They raised almost a million dollars in aid and their comments on the war went viral on social media.
Responses to the game are still coming from Ukraine. Years after the release of the video game, people living in the war-torn territory are thanking the developers for how faithfully their title depicts the life of a civilian at war. “We’ve gotten quite a few emails and letters. They often say it’s amazing how accurate the game is,” says Miechowski. However, he sees the fidelity of the game as a double-edged sword.
From fun to a learning tool
Although This War of Mine was not based on a book, in 2021 the work made it onto the list of recommended school reading for high school students over the age of 18 due to its educational nature. According to the developer, the Polish Prime Minister and the Ministry of Education were responsible for including the video game among the official educational materials.
“It was a great success. On the other hand, remember that there are now millions of Ukrainians living in Poland. There are Ukrainian children in every classroom. And some of them openly admit that they do not want to talk about the situation in Ukraine, and they have no desire to play a game that it shows life against the background of war. For some, it’s cathartic and allows them to let go of bad experiences, and for others, it’s so traumatic, and I totally understand that,” he explains. This is also why playing the game is an optional activity in schools.
The idea to introduce a video game into the school curriculum came about four years ago. “I honestly don’t know who came up with it anymore, but it was like, ‘You know, this game has such a big cultural impact that maybe it should be in schools.’ but during one meeting of ministries and industry,” he recalls.
Before long, information from the prime minister’s office arrived in the studio. “He thought it was a great idea,” says Miechowski. However, the studio was surprised that he came to a sudden decision during the ongoing election campaign of President Andrzej Duda. “We understood that he wanted to support him in the campaign, and that’s politics we didn’t want to get involved in,” he adds.
In the end, however, the studio agreed with the government to officially include the game in the curriculum. “We said – well, we agree with that, but if the ministry wants to announce this news in public, we will be the ones to push it to keep the promise. Because, you know, politicians are politicians. They can promise something and then nothing not to do,” Miechowski states. However, in the end, the developers got their way.
Photo author: Jakub Plíhal
A quarter of a century in the gaming industry
Paweł Miechowski has been in the video game industry for a quarter of a century. He thus had the opportunity to observe from the center of the action the way in which ambitious Polish and Czech developers rose from scratch to global recognition. “It was relatively easy for both countries to start developing the game industry, also because there was always a good intellectual background in our regions, full of talented mathematicians and programmers. But it was not immediately. While publishing studios already existed in the West, the scene was in motion, attracting investors and magazines dedicated to games were already being created long ago, small companies that had no financial background just started to appear here,” the forty-five-year-old man recalls today.
According to Miechowski, the developers initially had to start a company, invest money in it, and then travel to the West and win the attention of a publisher who allowed them to send the title to the world. “My friend Daniel Vávra, the head of the Warhorse studio, and I have reminisced many times about the beginnings. His story is very similar. He had a great game, but he had to go to the West, find publishers and investors in order to actually finish the game and bring it to market,” he describes.
The most fundamental breakthrough, according to Miechowski, came with the advent of digital video game distribution, which allowed companies to become independent from publishers. “Studios got the opportunity to self-publish games on Steam, on Xbox, on PlayStation and other platforms. There was a chance to develop marketing in our companies, and all the income went to your company at once, and not to the publisher,” he says.
