The gaming industry became a “real deal” during the last two decades. The two biggest centers of gaming were, are, and will be Japan and the United States of America. On the other side, what about Europe and especially Slovenia?
The Slovenian video games industry is a small one, but with its own pearls. For example, the famous smartphone app Talking Tom Cat was developed in Ljubljana from a Slovenian company. Moreover, this is the place of such video games events and expos like Slovenia Game Conference and Na meji nevidnega.
Europe has a big gaming audience, as well. The biggest countries will develop this industry for sure because creativity is a niche that can be monetized endlessly. However, the industry in small countries often lies in enthusiasm, and people who are passionate about their job. Therefore, they create adorable indie projects that are simple and unique. This movement became quite popular in times of fundraising popularity.
Therefore, we propose to define together some interesting titles, games, studios, and events of the Slovenian game industry. It should be fun, so come on!
Slovenian Studios and Games
Outfit7
This is the most famous Slovenian game developing studio. They are the team that created Talking Tom, the game hit on Android and Apple smartphones. The company was established in July 2004, in Ljubljana, by Samo and Iza Login. Now, the company operates from London, Ljubljana, Barcelona, Mumbai, Pissouri, Hong Kong, and Beijing, and the headquarters are located in Cyprus.
They started from a football app and a travel guide to Iceland, however, they were not successful, so they came up with an idea of an app for children with anthropomorphic cat repeating users sentences with a higher “helium squeak” pitch voice, Talking Tom. The app became very popular, so they continued adding new friends to Tom.
Therefore, Outfit7 created approximately 40 sequels, including talking hippo, bird, hedgehog, dinosaur, robot, bacteria, giraffe, fairy, dog, Angela, Pierre, ginger, jetski, candy, cake, etc.
Arxel Tribe
It is the company founded and created by Slovene architects Matjaž Požlep and Diego Zanco back in 1991. They developed such games:
· The Final Cut, an adventure game with item collecting and puzzle-solving as the main focus on game mechanics. The game uses full-motion videos to reveal the plot and have 3D characters with 2D backgrounds.
· Faust, a graphic adventure game. It was inspired by Goethe’s Faust, so it tells a story of the main character fighting with the demon Mephistopheles.
· Paulo Coelho’s trilogy based adventure games including such titles as Pilgrim: Faith as a Weapon, The Legend of the Prophet and the Assassin, and The Secrets of Alamut.
· Ring: The Legend of the Nibelungen, a point and click adventure game. It is based on Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, so the game uses performances of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from 1958 to 1964, conducted by a famous British orchestra conductor, Georg Solti.
· Casanova: The Duel of the Black Rose, an adventure puzzle solving game containing “seduction-based interface”.
· Hannibal – the Game, based on the book with the same name.
· Mistmare, an action role-playing game that tells a story of alternative Medieval Europe. It is one of the most underrated, one of only three games that received a zero-star review in the Computer Gaming World magazine.
· The Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games, a real-time strategy video game with an emphasis on resource-gathering and city-building.
· The Messenger, an adventure game, that tells a story of mystical artifacts called Satan’s Keys from the Louvre Museum.
As well as some other titles:
- Pompei, 2000
- Nounours / Big Teddy, 2000
- Adada, 2001
- Paddington Bear, 2001
- Primitive Wars, 2001
- Dreamstreet, 2002
ZootFly
This was the video game developer company, founded in Ljubljana, in 2002. Now, it is defunct since 2013. Basically, they were developing action-adventure games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The studio was a member of the International Game Developers Association.
Their most successful game was Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death that made $45 million and has a score of 91% user ratings on Steam.
Their developed video games archive includes:
· Hollow, the first studio’s game that was never published. In this one, the player plays as a US journalist named Tyler Kilmore, who had been arrested for murdering his fiancée during their return to the disco-totalitarian state of Centrope.
· Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory, a game developed for Xbox and PC. This is the first part of the realistic World War II warfare tank simulator. The game includes scenes of Stalingrad defense as well as the battle of Kursk.
· Panzer Elite Action: Dunes of War, the extension to the previous one including North America battle campaigns.
· Toy Wars, a small downloadable game.
· Prison Break: The Conspiracy, an action-adventure game, released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. This one is based on Fox Network television series Prison Break.
· The Expendables 2 Videogame, the game created for the Ubisoft studios.
· Narco Terror, a shoot ’em up genre game. It is created on the basis of the previous one.
· Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death, the last and most successful game published by 505 Games studio, developed for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Live Arcade download for Xbox 360. The game raised $45 million worldwide on a $5 million budget.
Video Games Set in Slovenia
A DLC to Battlefield 1, a first-person shooter video game created by DICE EA and published by Electronic Arts, depict three of the bloodiest battles of World War I: Slovenia, Passchendaele in Belgium, and River Somme in France
Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection, a gathering of two games Command & Conquer (1995) and Red Alert (1996), gives a player an opportunity to experience battles in Yugoslavia.
Jalopy, a military simulation video game. Here, the main character passes through East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Turkey on his trip with his uncle.
Games Expos and Shows
Slovenia Games Conference
This one is the expo dedicated to developers and studios. It is held in the form of a conference, where there are professional speakers developers from all over the world who share their knowledge with the audience by delivering presentations and speeches.
Last year’s event hosted approximately 600 listeners and 30 speakers from 10 different countries. This is the perfect way for professionals to meet people from the Slovenian games industry and beyond. Despite the fact that it is a one-day event, speakers cover a wide range of topics, including development, graphic design, game design, animation, 3D, and so on.
Moreover, the conference provides indie expo. Here, you can present to all the auditory attending the event, including potential publishers and investors. It is a hob for young teams or single developers to do some quality networking. Everybody can leave an application on the official website. Selected applicants will get two free tickets and one indie presentation table. After the expo, all the presentations will be eligible for the Best Indie Game and Audience Choice awards.
The conference usually is placed in the Exhibition and Convention Centre in Ljubljana. This year, it is scheduled for Saturday, October 3. However, due to the current situation with the pandemic, the status of the Slovenia Games Conference still remains unclear.
Official site: sloveniagames.com/
Na meji nevidnega
This event is usually called the Slovene Comic Con. This is an annual meeting point of cosplayers, board gamers, collectors, Slovene artists, comics readers, lecturers, video gamers, foreign guests, and movie watchers. Here, you can play new games, look at incredibly realistic costumes, buy geek products, and participate in workshops with our special guests, as well as in one of the different competitions.
The awards of the event include such nominations:
- Best stories
- Best costumes
- Best painted figures
- Best artworks
The event is usually held in the Exhibition and Convention Centre, in Ljubljana as well as the previous one. It was intended to happen on September 18 of this year, but due to the pandemic crisis, it was postponed for January 16 of the next year.
Official site: nmn.si/en/
There is a Game for Everyone
The game industry is a significant and complicated field of entertainment nowadays entertaining. Here, there is a big turnover of funds, so the players in this arena are big corporations. The most famous ones are Nintendo and Sony from Japan, Microsoft, and Rockstars from the United States of America, or Ubisoft from France. Obviously, their headquarters are located in those big countries with the exception of small studios from other countries.
On the other side, sometimes it happens that such cities as Ljubljana can become a small center of the local video game industry. Here, there are game studios that create decent games as well as gaming events and expos. The most popular are the Slovenia Game Conference and the Na meji nevidnega which were postponed this year because of the pandemic crisis.
Also, Slovenia became a home for a Talking Tom Cat application for Android and Apple smartphones. Therefore, even a small country can become a center of the gaming industry if there are enthusiastic and passionate people living there.
