Oleksandr Senin, Starni Games: on cooperation with Slitherine Software, Unreal Engine as a driver for strategies, and attempts to tell the truth about the Russian-Ukrainian and World War II
Starni Games, a Kyiv-based game studio known for its Strategic Mind wargame series and Ukraine War Stories visual novel dedicated to the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, has recently released a new project, its eighth in 8 years – Headquarters: World War II. It’s a bit different from previous Starni Games titles and, in our opinion, opens up quite interesting prospects for the team. That’s why we decided to talk about the studio’s latest games and its future plans. Oleksandr Senin, the lead game designer and COO of Starni Games, answers the questions of Mezha.
Oleg Danylov: Olexandr, congratulations on the release of Headquarters: World War II, the studio’s eighth game. This project is different from your previous games, and perhaps most of all, because you are now working with Slitherine Software, a British company that controls perhaps 90% of the global wargame market. How does it feel to work with Slitherine? And in general, who came to whom, you to Slitherine or Slitherine to you?
Oleksandr Senin: Slitherine Software is interesting to work with and generally a pleasure to deal with. Despite the fact that they have been developing or publishing strategy games and wargames for about 30 years, they remain a fairly small company, so I think it’s easier to communicate and find common ground with them than with giant corporations. Our cooperation began in 2020 when our CEO, Ihor Tymoshenko, wrote a letter to the CEO of Slitherine Software and offered to cooperate.
At the time, we offered them to be the publisher of our future project, but they didn’t like the setting and the general idea of the game. At the same time, they knew our team from the Strategic Mind series of games, so they were not against cooperation and made a counteroffer – the joint development of Headquarters: World War II. After a few months of discussions, we agreed on all the details and got to work. To summarize, our team is responsible for developing the game, and Slitherine is responsible for publishing and promoting it. This is a very convenient partnership for us, as we have always had the most difficulties with game promotion.
Oleg Danylov: Headquarters: World War II uses almost the same game mechanics as the Strategic Mind games, except for the headquarters and supply network properties, but it is moved from the strategic level of regiments and divisions to the level of platoons and individual tanks. Whose idea was it to move to the tactical level, yours or Slitherine’s? And in general, what is more in this game – Starni Games’ vision or Slitherine Software’s instructions and wishes? For example, was it Slitherine’s requirement to refuse video cutscenes or did you decide to do it to reduce the cost of development?
Oleksandr Senin: Let’s just say that Slitherine had a general vision of the project – what kind of game they would like to publish. That is, they set the initial direction of development. Then we got to work and provided our suggestions, changes, etc. We wrote a design document for the game describing all the mechanics and then provided it to Slitherine for further discussion. In general, they gave us a high level of creative freedom, and rather gave us feedback and suggestions than dictated what to do and how to do it. Therefore, I would say that it is a joint vision – the idea of the project belongs to Slitherine, but then it is mainly our vision and implementation.
As for the in-game videos, we had a long discussion, which resulted in a joint decision to prioritize the development of other aspects of the game. In addition, we made an “action camera”, where at certain moments of the game the camera automatically shows key moments from close up. In other words, we decided to focus on the cinematic nature of the main gameplay rather than video cutscenes.
Oleg Danylov: Headquarters: World War II, like your previous games, uses the Unreal Engine, and the detail of the battlefield, especially when visualizing shots and the destruction of buildings, is really impressive. But UE seems to be a shooter engine, is it convenient to use it for wargames? And by the way, all these detailed French houses, coffee shop tables, cars, laundry on ropes, did you make all of this yourself or are these some purchased assets? How long did it take you to complete this project?
Oleksandr Senin: Unreal Engine was really created for shooters, but that doesn’t mean it’s not suitable for developing games of other genres. I don’t think I’m wrong to say that it’s the most popular engine among developers right now. Even some big companies that had their own engines are now switching to Unreal Engine anyway. Especially if it’s a project on PC and/or console. Therefore, there are no problems in using it to develop strategy games, on the contrary. When choosing an engine, you should rather look at the planned level of graphics of the project and where the game should be released – on PC or mobile platforms.
All the assets in the game were created by our 3D artists – every unit, house, coffee shop, car, and even a mushroom. The project took about three years in total, but only two people worked on it for the first 6 months – our CEO Ihor Tymoshenko and me. Together we planned the basic mechanics of the game, after which I wrote the documentation and coordinated everything with Slitherine, and Ihor was engaged in programming – creating the game’s architecture and preparing the basic tools for the team and the basic mechanics for the first demo.
Subsequently, our Lead 3D Artist Oleksandr Tuzynskyi created the first set of assets for the demo and developed the overall visual style. After the first demo was ready and Slitherine liked the game’s graphics, the whole team joined the project. The fact that there are a lot of visual details in the project – underwear on ropes, posters, etc. – is primarily due to Oleksandr Tuzynskyi, as he has always emphasized that this is very important because it makes the game world “alive” and realistic. In addition, we paid a lot of attention to the destruction of objects, both in terms of graphics and gameplay – we created a dynamic battlefield where houses and walls can be destroyed and this greatly affects the course of the battle.
Oleg Danylov: As I understand it, you are planning to add new campaigns to Headquarters: World War II new campaigns. Are you already working on some DLC, what will it be?
Oleksandr Senin: There are some thoughts on this, but I have to remind you that we are primarily engaged in the development of the game, and Slitherine is promoting it, so they, as the game’s publisher, should be the first to announce any further additions, etc. Currently, we are focused on supporting the game – fixing bugs, making certain improvements based on player feedback and suggestions. We are constantly monitoring the forums, collecting all the feedback and planning our next steps. It’s important for us that players see that we are with them, responding to their requests, solving problems, and gradually making the game even better.
Oleg Danylov: Having such a tactical level driver, roughly speaking, the level of units and individual tanks, don’t you have a desire to cover the events of the current Russian-Ukrainian war? The raid of the 95th Brigade in 2014, the liberation of Mariupol (2014), the battle for Savur-Mohyla (2014), the defense of Donetsk airport (2014-2015). Or the events of the beginning of the full-scale invasion, some key moments of the defense of Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, offensive operations in 2022, the liberation of Kherson, etc. And finally, at the tactical level, you can even show the key battles of the first liberation struggle and UPA operations during World War II. What do you think?
Oleksandr Senin: I will say that it really sounds very interesting, and I personally would like to work on such projects and honor our defenders. I also agree that the game’s mechanics are well suited for tactical battles, in particular for detailed modeling of the events of 2014-2024.
Oleg Danylov: Let’s go back a little bit to your previous game, Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty. This is a game about the Winter War, the Continuation War, and the Lapland War, which took place in Finland and have a lot in common with the current Russian-Ukrainian war. But it seems that the game, which was delayed due to the work on Headquarters: World War II and the outbreak of a full-scale war, has not found its player, with Spirit of Liberty’s sales lower than the previous installments in the series. Why did this happen? Will this be the last project in the Strategic Mind series?
Oleksandr Senin: Yes, indeed, Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty is the least successful game in the series in terms of sales. I can highlight several points. On the one hand, this is the fifth game in the series, so the mechanics and graphics of the game are not something fundamentally new – the main focus was on the story and interesting historical events. And the topic is not the most common, although we were very interested in it ourselves. So we were aware of the risks from the very beginning of the project.
However, the 86% rating on Steam shows that although the game did not become popular, players liked it. As for whether this is the last project in the Strategic Mind series, I hope not. However, if we continue the series, it will be only by making drastic changes in graphics, interface, etc. So, this may be the last game in the current generation of Strategic Mind games, but I really hope that we will be able to announce a “new generation” of this series someday.
Oleg Danylov: By the way, in the alternative campaign Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty, which has a very interesting historical background, Finland helps the Germans capture Murmansk, Leningrad, and even Moscow. But this time, there was no hysteria in the Russian media, as in the case of Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg. Wasn’t there enough video of the Finnish parade on Red Square?
Oleksandr Senin: To be honest, we did not expect such hysteria last time either. Then, in my opinion, several things coincided, and there was a very specific “timing”. Now the focus of attention has shifted to other events, including the real war, so this is probably not so “interesting” for the Russian “media” anymore. And the parade was probably not enough. Although, in my opinion, Finnish tanks on the ruined Red Square near the burning wreckage of the Kremlin after the Finns’ victory in an alternative history campaign is even better than any parade.
Oleg Danylov: In 2022, you released a free collection of visual novels Ukraine War Stories dedicated to the full-scale invasion and partly based on the experience of Starni Games employee Oleksandr Androshchuk, who spent a week in Bucha under occupation. According to SteamDB, about 30 thousand players have tried the game. As I understand it, it was primarily a therapeutic project for the team itself and an attempt to draw the attention of Western players to the war in Ukraine. Are you satisfied with what you managed to realize?
Oleksandr Senin: Yes, indeed, you have described everything quite correctly. Although I have to say that it was difficult to work on the project. On the one hand, it really gave us a sense of being involved in these events and contributing to a common cause – Ukraine’s victory, at least in the information field. On the other hand, the project presents very complex topics and events, so it was difficult for us emotionally. In addition, there were ethical difficulties, which is why we initially positioned the project as a charity project – we did not receive a single hryvnia from it. Of course, it cost us a certain amount of money to develop, but we saw it as our contribution to a common cause.
We are pleased with the result. About 40,000 players from all over the world were able to learn more about the first weeks of the war in Ukraine, and, most importantly, not just read about it in the news, but to feel more vividly the horrific events that civilians faced during the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and empathize with the characters in our stories. We have received a lot of feedback from different parts of the world that Ukraine War Stories has made people look at the war in Ukraine in a new way, and many words of support for our country.
Oleg Danylov: All of your games, even your latest ones, have Russian as one of the languages. As I understand it, you hope to convey to Russian-speaking players, both in Russia and abroad, the truth about the Second World War, which was replaced by outright lies in Russia. Do you really think this will work? Is there anyone else there to reach out to?
Oleksandr Senin: I should add that some of our games have been blocked by Roskomnadzor, and in the case of Ukraine War Stories, the game was blocked in Russia at the stage of review by Steam employees. However, I believe that there are a certain number of people in different countries who are used to speaking Russian, and we should at least try to provide them with adequate information and not leave them at the mercy of Russian propaganda.
It is difficult for me to judge whether there is someone to reach out to or not. But I think, if we take the whole world, I hope that there is. Our job is to give people an opportunity and a choice. And then it’s up to them to decide whether to listen to our projects or to the rewritten history of World War II in a Russian textbook. For example, when I talk to players from different countries, I often see, for example, people from the United States who sincerely repeat the fictions of Russian propaganda, and they don’t even speak Russian. What can we say about the Russian-speaking audience… I believe that we should fight for objective information and its delivery, and not leave it solely to the Russian media and modern pro-government literature. Again, this is not about “counter-propaganda” but about an objective view in spite of propaganda.
Oleg Danylov: Wait, so Steam employees can block games by region based on their own desire and vision of the situation? Is this political censorship on the part of Steam?
Oleksandr Senin: In general, everything is fine in terms of censorship on Steam – there is no censorship. But when the game is reviewed, they may have doubts about the compliance of the game’s content with the local legislation of a particular country.
For example, they once told us that we might have to block Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism in Germany because it has the symbols of the Socialist Party (hammer and sickle). But I explained to them that in Germany, the symbols of the German Socialist Party are banned, while in our country, the USSR is a different socialist party, although the symbols are exactly the same. They asked their lawyers, agreed, and did not block anything.
In the case of Ukraine War Stories, they also warned us that the game violated Russian law and would therefore be blocked in that region. This time I didn’t even bother to ask what exactly we were violating. I can only assume that at least the law “on discrediting the army of the Russian Federation” or something like that, but that’s just my own guess. In this case, in the fourth month of the full-scale war, I saw no point in arguing about this statement.
As far as I understand, Valve themselves are not interested in blocking anything. But they do have a task to avoid lawsuits, fines, blocking, etc. from governments of certain countries. Therefore, their position seems to me quite clear and adequate – they try not to violate the laws of the countries where the platform operates. So, if something is prohibited in a country, they can impose point restrictions in that region in consultation with the developers to avoid prosecution.
Oleg Danylov: I understand. And finally, here’s a question. The wargame genre has always been a haven for only the most devoted fans of military history, but it seems that the days of Panzer General, when almost everyone played wargames, have long since passed and the genre’s fans are becoming fewer and fewer. So we’re talking about tens of thousands of copies sold, sometimes hundreds of thousands, and to put it bluntly, you can’t make money on a Ferrari with wargames. Do you have any desire to experiment with some other formats?
Oleksandr Senin: There is a desire and always has been. We have never set ourselves any restrictions on the genre or setting, but it so happened that until now we have made only wargames about the Second World War. I hope you will see more games from Starni Games in another setting or genre.
Oleg Danylov: Thank you for your answers, Oleksandr. Good sales and inspiration for your future projects.