Ukrainian studio Frogwares’ Epic MegaGrant ‘brings a little bit of extra stability’ during war

polygon.com:

Ukrainian forces have been defending the country from Russian invaders for more than 80 days now — throughout which Russian forces have destroyed cities, killed civilians, and forced more to flee. Months into the war, Russia’s attack has moved east as it looks to capture the Donbas region, with some refugees returning home to rebuild.

The war has “shattered the lives” of Ukrainian residents, Frogwares CEO Wael Amr told Polygon. Though some of Frogwares’ estimated 90-person team has been able to return to their homes, life and development is far from normal. Despite that, Frogwares is also announcing a new game, currently called Project Palianytsia, the company announced Thursday.

“As it stands now, everyone on the team is more or less safe and accounted for,” Amr said. “We haven’t lost anyone, though there are a handful of people who [we] are quite worried about. They are either serving in the military now as they signed up or they are in areas under Russian occupation and are prohibited from leaving.”

We are proud to share that we’ve received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games. <a href=«https://twitter.com/hashtag/EpicMegaGrants?src=hash&ref_src=» https: www.polygon.com>#EpicMegaGrants

Read our announcement for all the information: pic.twitter.com/XwShdGaQbO

The Sinking City and Sherlock Holmes developer announced Monday that it received an Epic MegaGrant from Unreal Engine and Fortnite developer Epic Games. Amr said the company has suspended development on its next open-world game and shifted the team to a different project, something “more streamlined in scale and scope,” Amr said, to allow for the flexibility necessary to create games during a war. That game is Project Palianytsia, which Frogwares said is a “horror