Inside Level Zero’s war-torn game development
May 31, 2023“All of my goals and dreams were erased in an instant starting from Feb. 24 and were replaced with the simple principles of making sure that my family and I were safe. Any material things had lost their value. Everything seemed like a dream made real, literally. It was only possible to fall asleep when my body was completely exhausted, and when I woke up, I wanted to believe that none of this was real.”
Like so many living in Ukraine, life for Alex Pimenov, co-founder of Ukraine-based studio Doghowl Games, changed forever in February 2022.
Just a month after founding the studio and Doghowl landing a publishing deal for their inaugural game–Level Zero–they would see their daily lives impacted in ways that were once unimaginable. Work on the game ground to a halt in the first weeks following the war, but soon Pimenov and the rest of the team decided that they couldn’t put their lives on hold and returned to working on the project.
“The team consists of very good people right now who support each other and who are all united by the single goal of making a great project, which is what we are doing now,” he said. “The war resulted in certain changes to Ukrainian game development and has given us incredible experience in dealing with extreme unforeseeable circumstances.”
In a March interview, Pimenov described what war-time game development is like, how the asymmetric horror title Level Zero has evolved since its early development, and the inspirations the team draws from to make the game using Unreal Engine.
To read the rest of this story, which first ran on May 31, 2023, visit the Epic Games Store.
