21 Aug 2024 at 14:00

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While its neighbouring countries already have one or more major video game hits, Slovakia cannot claim the same. But as game development is becoming increasingly important, that could soon change. One such game could be Vivat Slovakia, an open-world game by the small Bratislava-based development team Vivat in the style of the (infamous) Grand Theft Auto series.

The Slovak Spectator spoke to Roman Lipka, the game’s producer, about its development, what inspired the team members to create the game and why Slovakia is missing a major gaming hit.

When the film adaptation of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather was being shot, one of the major mafia families was initially not keen on the idea because they feared stereotypes. In the end, however, an agreement was reached. Has anything similar happened to your team?

People who were involved in organized crime in Slovakia in the wild 1990s are more or less proud of their past. Many years ago, when we were just starting to write the script, it was relatively easy for us to gather information. Criminals who are now free or alive mostly work as taxi drivers, drive drunken youths home from clubs or work as security guards. They remember that time fondly because it was the peak of their lives.

Our nameless advisers were drivers and bodyguards for big mafia figures. In reality, they were just big, burly guys who knew each other from the neighborhood, the gym, and the parks where they grew up. They were just 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 and couldn’t do. That’s why no one dared to challenge them back then – and everyone likes to talk about those times.

The game is often referred to as the Slovakian GTA. How accurate is this statement?

GTA, an abbreviation for the Grand Theft Auto series, is now considered a genre of its own; 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 walk around, drive, shoot, complete missions and do whatever he wants. So yes, in terms of setting, Vivat Slovakia is the Slovak or maybe Eastern European GTA. However, since our entire game budget was probably equal to the monthly consumption of major studios like Rockstar Games (the creators of the GTA series), we cannot compete in terms of technology and content. If GTA5 is a Bentley, Vivat Slovakia is a Lada. But even this Lada has its clientele that has not been served so far.

Where did the idea for the game come from?

Most of the original members of Team Vivat used to be active in the modding scene, especially on the older GTA games. To do something like this, 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 around these games was very strong. We got to know each other on forums and created new content for both countries, such as signs we see on Slovak and Czech roads, or translating textures from “No Parking” to “NEPARKOVAŤ”.

It’s hard to explain to players from major countries where games are localized. The very fact that Mafia: City of Lost Heaven had a Czech dub left an indelible impression on a whole generation of Slovaks and Czechs. Both fueled 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 make it come true ourselves.

The Mafia and GTA games tell a fictional story. Why did you decide to set the game in real time and base it on true events? To what extent did the facts influence the fictional story?