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 Features
GameDev
Dateline: The Czech and Slovak Republics
This
article actually deals with game development in two independent
countries, not one. Until 1993, these two countries, the Czech and Slovak
Republics, were one state called Czechoslovakia (this is the name that
majority of people outside Europe still have fixed in their minds). Despite
their present separation, very close links still exist between the Czech
and Slovak Republics in all spheres of life, and the computer games industry
is no exception.
How
would you describe the current state of the computer game industry in
the Czech and Slovak Republics? How long has it existed?
The
history of the Czech and Slovak Republics is eventful and moving. From
the end of World War II, and in particular since 1948 when, unbelievably,
the Communists won elections, until 1989, there was a totalitarian regime
in power in Czechoslovakia. The Communists nationalized all privately-owned properties (that
is, they took over all factories and other means of production), they
did away with private enterprise, curbed the right for free expression,
and prevented the people from having any contact with people from Western
countries. The Communists ruined the national economy and impoverished
the country. And as far as the development of computers was concerned,
those in power severely restricted the public’s access. This resulted
in the opportunity for only a handful of citizens to become familiar with
computers. Even those that did have such access were forced to learn on
inferior and often obsolete units, the majority of which were locally
produced (to this day, I can still remember learning to use the PMD81,
the IQ151, and the PP01).
To
even imagine the commercial utilization of computers outside of Communist-dominated
fields was useless. It is important to remember that in those days, modems
were not being used in Czechoslovakia, so there was no access to information
from abroad via computer. In spite of the obstacles, a certain quantity
of foreign computers did manage to make their way across the border, usually
illegally. Computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Atari, and Commodore 64
became quite widely used. Personally, I bought my first Atari 800 XL in
1988, and it cost me approximately four times my monthly salary, quite
a steep price at the time.
As
far as gaming software was concerned, I would assert that in the beginning,
there was as much pirated software available as there was legal. Most
people did not consider computer games to be normal goods, and thus did
not realize that when they copied software onto their diskettes, it was
illegal. The first to deal with the issue of legality in software exchange
was a Czechoslovakian company, Ultrasoft, which was publishing a magazine
called The Bit, and had begun to sell original
Czech and Slovak games on the ZX Spectrum. Their price was approximately
$5, which was quite affordable; thus, these games sold very well. However,
this did not change the situation, and foreign games continued to be copied
illegally.
The
actual development of these games was still taking place on an amateur
level, with students being the most enterprising group, working mainly
in the evenings. Development of a game took anywhere from threeweeks to
three months, and very often there was a single developer who took care
of programming, graphics, script, and music (if there was any at all).
Typically,
the games for local distribution were mostly of the adventure type, either
with very simple graphics, or with none at all. But because of the fact
that they were in Czech or in Slovak (these two languages are very similar
and mutually perfectly understandable), they proved to be a great success.
Several games were sold to neighboring Poland, some were sold to foreign magazines
such as Your Sinclair, and so
on. This was of course taking place in the post-revolution years, between
1990 and 1992, when 8-bit computers were mercilessly being phased out.
Beginning
in 1990, Commodore Amiga computers were officially imported to the Czech
Republic, and were an immediate success, selling approximately 50,000
units. As our new democracy flourished and our economy began to function,
we began to catch up to the West in terms of the quantity of 8-bit computers
we possessed. Unfortunately, this era (1990-94) did not bring about any
progress as far as the legalization of selling computer games was concerned.
Naturally, as had occurred with the ZS Spectrum, several local games were
produced. They sold reasonably well, but one could still only dream about
a truly professional development studio. Several firms were trying to
sell the originals of foreign games, but sales could practically be counted
on the fingers of one hand.
The
turning point came in 1994, when a newly founded Anglo-Czech company called
Vision decided to sell imported games on a large scale. Financially sound,
Vision immediately began an effective advertising campaign in what was
in those days the only magazine about computer games existing, The
Excalibur. The Excalibur also began supporting and promoting strictly legal software, and
succeeded in creating the perception within the general populace that
pirated software was something that was wrong and to be frowned upon,
and that the only acceptable software was the legal kind. However, this
was not where the real problem lay. The true problem was the price. The
games were sold here at the same prices as abroad, about $50-60 a copy.
Considering that the average monthly salary those days was about $250
(it is now about $400), the purchase of a game represented a significant
chunk of the pay of the average Czech or Slovak. Nowadays, the prices
have settled at about $40, and sales are counted in the hundreds, occasionally
even in the thousands. Most of the foreign games available are still in
English (although we are neighbors with Germany, English is more widely
spoken here than German). Only the manuals and texts on packaging are
translated into Czech. While the distributors present this development
as some kind of miracle, the fact is that local regulations stipulate
at least a partial translation into the local dialect. Unfortunately,
only minor successes have been achieved in the drive to push down the
prices of imported games, and they are still being sold for virtually
the same prices as they are in the West.
Lack of interest on the part of foreign publishers may be blamed
for this, as well as the near monopoly existing in distribution, which
is controlled by the JRC Company.
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Introduction
