Slovak GTA developer: 90s Bratislava surpasses any fictional story
Vivat Slovakia will come with different language packs.
While its neighbouring countries have already had one or more big videogame hits, Slovakia cannot say the same. But with game development gaining attention and importance, this might change soon. One such game could be Vivat Slovakia, an open-world game made by the small Bratislava-based developers Team Vivat in the vein of the (in)famous Grand Theft Auto series.
The Slovak Spectator talked to Roman Lipka, the producer of the game about its development, what inspired the team members to make the game, and why Slovakia lacks a big gaming hit.
When the film adaptation of Mario Puzo's The Godfather was being made, one of the major mafia families initially didn't like the idea, because they were afraid of stereotypes. But in the end, an agreement was reached. Did your team encounter something similar?
People involved in organised crime during Slovakia's wild 90s are more or less proud of their past. Many years ago during the early stages of scriptwriting, gathering information was relatively easy for us. Criminals who are now free or alive mostly work as taxi drivers, driving drunk youngsters home from clubs, or as security guards. They like to reminisce about that period because it was the peak of their lives.
Our unnamed consultants were big mafia figures' drivers and bodyguards. But in reality, they were just big hulking guys, who knew each other from the neighbourhood, gym, parks where they grew up. They were simply lucky that after the fall of socialism and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia the state was in such chaos that even the police didn't really know what they could or couldn't do. So, no one dared to challenge them back then—and everyone loves to talk about such times.
The game is often referred to as the Slovak GTA. How accurate is that?
GTA, an abbreviation for the Grand Theft Auto series, is considered a genre in itself today; more specifically, an open-world action-adventure. Vivat Slovakia is a game set in the open world of a real city, Bratislava. The player can run around, drive, shoot, and complete missions and do as they please. So yes, in terms of setting, Vivat Slovakia is the Slovak, or maybe Eastern European GTA. However, since our entire game budget was probably equivalent to a one-month burn rate of big studios like Rockstar Games [creators of the GTA series], in terms of technology and content we cannot compete. If GTA5 is a Bentley, Vivat Slovakia is a Lada. But even that Lada has its clientele, one that has been unserved until now.
Where did the idea for the game come from?
Most of the original members of Team Vivat used to be involved in the modding scene, especially the older GTA games. To do something like that, you need to understand how the game engine [set of tools used to create a game] works so that the game doesn't crash after the modifications. The Czech-Slovak community centred around these games was very strong. We got to know each other at forums and created new content for both countries, such as signs that we see on Slovak and Czech streets, or translating textures from NO PARKING to NEPARKOVAŤ.
For players from large countries, where games are localised, this is hard to explain. Just the fact that Mafia: City of Lost Heaven had Czech dubbing left an indelible mark on an entire generation of Slovaks and Czechs. Both of these things fuelled our hopes and childhood dreams that one day, we would have our own GTA or our own Mafia. Many of us never gave up on this childhood dream and decided to try to create it ourselves.
The Mafia and the GTA games tell a fictional story. Why did you decide to set the game in a real period and base it on real events? How much did the facts influence the fictional story?
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