I am David, founder of Russian game studio Wooden Monkeys, the developer behind Save Koch. We've just released a demo of our new game Song of Farca, so AMA!

As a fellow zemlyak, I gotta admit I don’t know much about gamedev in my own country. However, I know it is a pretty successful industry, one of a few where people actually earn decent money.

Was it hard to start a studio on your own in Russia? I’m sure there is a whole story to it. And more general question, is there a chance for an experienced gamer to start a career in, for example, your studio? Or any other? In past Soviet reality. Also, did you originally plan to release your cyberpunk-themed game right after 2077 hype? I’d say it a smart move, but idk if it was the plan.

Anyway, I wanted to leave a comment to support you, and I hope the game finds success, so your studio will thrive. I wish you all the best in your journey.

Glad to see a fellow comrade here, thank you!

1. Starting a studio on your own in Russia? I'd say it's not so difficult. First, you work for over 10 years in game studios, gain some experience, meet cool people and learn from them, and then you quit everything for good and decide to make games that you would like to play yourself.
2. Tbh nobody really interested in experienced/unexperienced gamers in game development (harsh but true), every company need specialists. With skills in one direction or another. The simplest direction you can enter without having much skills is QA, BUT! Trust me, testing games is not as fun as it seems at first glance. I MEAN AT ALL.
3. Actually no we started a pre-production of our cyberpunk-themed game long before Cyberpunk 2077 release, but yeah, we saw a lot of umm copycats like Cybersomething 2069? Smart move indeed!

I hope I managed to answer your questions! <3

Edit: typos :(

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Hiya my dude, sorry for your keyboard! Alas, a working input devices is above any hard or soft skill in gamedev. What's more important, you have to learn how to convince any employer that you know how to get shit done. For example, in your case you could copy empty space ( ) or underline mark (_) to use in your message instead of writing full message without breaks! 😄

Also notable things:

1. Be ready that making games is not as funny as playing games
   
2. Forget about 8h working day
   
3. Be ready to generate ideas and ways of implementation immediately

Sorry I'm playing Save GME right now, can you come back later when I'm rich?

HOLD MY YOLO BRÖDER 💎 HOLD FOR HARAMBE 🙌

THIS IS THE WAY 🚀 TO THE MOON 🌕

How about we talk about Navalny instead?

Thank you for your interest in the situation in our country, everyone is hugely concerned now! I'm trying to avoid any specific proclamations not to put my coworkers or me in a dangerous position here, we just hope that everything will end rightly. 🙏

Hey Dave, where did the name wooden monkeys come from? Best of luck with your game!

Thanks! I believe when we decided to make cool games, we were naming the studio to sound like a cool rock band… Or maybe we just stick to reject humanity return to monke thing? 🦍

I like your style. Can you please purchase the rights to chaos overlords and made a remastered edition?

Keep up all the good work!

Wait wasn't it released on GOG like a decade ago? 🤔

Yeah, just checked – it was indeed, even with a good pack of goodies like manuals, OST in FLAC, etc. Is this edition that bad?

Oh, and thank you for kind words! Think it'll be last one for today, I'd like to stay longer, but it's nearly 2 at night in Moscow now.

What's your favorite modification (mod) of all time, for any game?

Black Mesa for Half-Life perhaps? I know, boring af answer, but it's really hard to remember all of them, especially a bit less popular ones. :(

Which is the best ways for indie devs to distribute games now days? Or what platform for that matter. For example doesn't GoG offer better conditions or still Steam is the best?

In my experience, Steam is still strong. But, luckily, you don't have to choose really as all popular platforms are open for indie devs unless you are so great at negotiations that you made it to the exclusive deal with one.

P.S. I wish more devs and publishers, no matter AAA or indie, paid attention to GOG, they're kinda cool. Or maybe I just like underdogs?

How long do you think Reddit will stay a viable option for indie game marketing given that this is the fourth post I've seen today and I'm already sick of it?

Well while I myself see nothing wrong with creators looking for all possible ways to communicate with people and show them their creativity, I think Reddit will stay a viable platform for indie devs for a long time, depends exactly on how many people be sick of it & inner subreddits rules. I'm sorry this kind of posts pop up on your feed so often, I guess sometimes even 'gaming' flair on AMA posts can't help people filter content. But thanks for passing by anyway! 🧐

Why'd you take money to promote Koch Industries?

It's pretty obvious that the worlds most violent, criminal and predatory brands use bland names and produce content with the same keywords to counter-program the narrative.

Good luck, lol.

Whaddaya mean promote Koch Industries? 🤔🤔🤔

We just made a game called Save Koch, because the protagonist's name is Jeffrey Koch (common german family name, basically translates as a cook), it was never related to any company with similar naming. I even had to google Koch Industries to learn what's that exactly (since I'm not from NA).